17 June 2014

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Pembangunan Eksekutif Sektor Awam Negeri (PESAN)

Managing Group & Team

Presented by Learning Facilitator: Sa’adilah Haji Abdillah

INSAN, JKM

17 June 2014 2

Roadmap

Groups and teams

Characteristics of teams

Reasons for team failure

Leading teams

Improving team performance

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Groups and Teams

Group

Two or more persons who are interacting in such a way that each person influences and is influenced by each other person.

Team

A group of people committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which the team members hold themselves mutually accountable.

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Comparing Work Teams and Work Groups

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The Popularity of Teams

Teams typically outperform individuals when tasks require multiple skills, judgment, and experience

Teams are a better way to utilize individual employee talents

The flexibility and responsiveness of teams is essential in a changing environment

Empowered teams increase job satisfaction and morale, enhance employee involvement, and promote workforce diversity

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Types of Work Teams

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Virtual Team

Virtual Team

Groups of geographically and/or organizationally dispersed coworkers who interact using a combination of telecommunications and information technologies to accomplish an organizational task.

Virtual teams may be temporary, existing only to accomplish a specific task. Or they may be permanent and address ongoing matters.

Membership is often fluid, evolving according to changing task requirements.

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Group Dynamics

Group Norms The informal rules that groups adopt

to regulate and regularize group members’ behavior.

Group Cohesiveness The degree of interpersonal

attractiveness within a group, dependent on factors like proximity, similarities, attraction among the individual group members, group size, intergroup competition, and agreement about goals.

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What It Takes to Be a Team Player

Personality

Individualism versus collectivism

Interpersonal Skills

Conflict management skills

Collaborative problem solving skills

Communication skills

Management Skills

Develop and establish goals

Control, monitor, provide feedback

Set work roles and assign tasks

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Team Member Roles

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Challenges to Creating Team Players

Managers attempting to introduce teams into organization face the most difficulty:

When individual employee resistance to teams is strong

Where the national culture is individualistic rather than collectivist

When an established organization places

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Workforce Diversity’s Effects on Teams

Fresh and multiple perspectives on issues help the team identify creative or unique solutions and avoid weak alternatives

The difficulty of working together may make it harder to unify a diverse team and reach agreements

Although diversity’s advantages dissipate with time, the added-value of diverse teams increases as the team becomes more cohesive

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Checklist 13.1 How to Build a Productive

Team

Have clear mission/purpose.

Set specific performance goals.

Compose the right team size and mix.

Have an agreed-upon structure appropriate to the task.

Delegate the authority to make the decisions needed, given their mission.

Provide access to or control of the resources needed to complete their mission.

Offer a mix of group and individual rewards.

Foster longevity and stability of membership.

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Characteristics of High-performing Work Teams

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Why Teams Fail: The Leadership, Focus, and Capability Pyramid

Source: Adapted

from Steven

Rayner, “Team

Traps: What

They Are, How to

Avoid Them.”

National

Productivity

Review. Summer

1996, p. 107.

Reprinted by

permission of

John Wiley &

Sons, Inc.

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Checklist 13.2 Symptoms of Unproductive Teams

Nonaccomplishment of goals.

Cautious, guarded communication.

Lack of disagreement.

Malfunctioning meetings.

Conflict within the team.

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The Challenge of Team Leadership

Becoming an effective team leader requires: Learning to share information

Developing the ability to trust others

Learning to give up authority

Knowing when to leave their teams alone and when to intercede

New roles that team leaders take on Managing the team’s external

boundary

Facilitating the team process

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Leading Productive Teams

Team Leader Skills

Coaching, not bossing

Help define, analyze, and solve problems

Encourage participation by others

Serve as a facilitator

Team Leader Values

Respecting fellow team members

Trusting fellow team members

Putting the team first

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Team Leader Roles

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Team Leader Behaviors

Druskat, V.U. & J.V. Wheeler. (2004). How to Lead a Self-Managing Team

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Typical Leader Transition Problems

Perceived Loss of Power or Status

Unclear Team Leader Roles

Job Security Concerns

The Double Standard Problem

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Stages of Team Development

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The Leader’s Role in Creating a Self-Managing

Team

Forming

The teams and their leaders begin working out their specific responsibilities.

Training is the leader’s main task.

Storming

Questions typically arise regarding who is leading the team and what its structure and purpose should be.

The leader ensures that team members continue to learn and eventually exercise leadership skills.

The Leader’s Role in Creating a Self-Managing Team (cont’d)

Norming

Team members agree on purpose, structure, and leadership and are prepared to start performing.

The leader’s job is to emphasize the need for the team to temper cooperation with the responsibility to supervise its own members.

Performing

A period of productivity, achievement, and pride as the team members work together to get the job done.

Adjourning

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How to Improve Team Performance

Select members for skill and teamwork.

Establish challenging performance standards.

Emphasize the task’s importance.

Assign whole tasks. Send the right

signals. Encourage social

support. Make sure there are

unambiguous team rules.

Challenge the group regularly with fresh facts and information.

Train and cross-train.

Provide the necessary tools and material support.

Encourage “emotionally intelligent” team behavior.

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Providing an Organizational Context

That Supports Teams

Team Work

Approach

Organizational

Structure

Organizational

Systems

Organizational

Policies

Employee

Skills

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Designing Organizations to Manage Teams

Source: Adapted from James H. Shonk, Team-Based

Organizations (Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1997), p. 36.

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Pros and Cons of Group Decision Making

Pros

More points of view

More ways to define the problem

More possible solutions/alternatives

More creative decisions

Stronger commitment to decisions

Cons More

disagreement and less problem solving

Desire for consensus (groupthink)

Domination by a single individual

Less of commitment to the group decision

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Signs That Groupthink May Be a

Problem

Source: Adapted from information provided in Irving James, Group Think: Psychological

Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascos, 2nd ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982).

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Improving Group Decision Making

Devil’s-Advocate Approach

The group appoints a person to prepare a detailed counterargument that lists what is wrong with the group’s favored solution and why the group should not adopt it.

The aim is to ensure a full and objective consideration of the solution proposal.

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Improving Group Decision Making (cont’d)

Brainstorming

A creativity-stimulating technique in which prior judgments and criticisms are specifically forbidden from being expressed and thus inhibiting the free flow of ideas, which are encouraged.

Brainstorming rules: Avoid criticizing others’ ideas until all

suggestions are out on the table.

Share even wild suggestions.

Offer many suggestions and comments as possible.

Build on others’ suggestions to create your own.

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Improving Group Decision Making (cont’d)

The Delphi Technique A multistage group decision-making

process aimed at eliminating inhibitions or groupthink through obtaining the written opinions of experts working independently.

Process steps Identify the problem.

Solicit the experts’ individual opinions on the problem.

Analyze, distill, and then resubmit these opinions to other experts.

Continue this process for several more rounds until the experts reach a consensus.

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Improving Group Decision Making (cont’d)

The Nominal Group Technique 1. Each group member writes down his or

her ideas for solving the problem at hand.

2. Each member then presents his or her ideas orally, and the person writes the ideas on a board for other participants to see.

3. After all ideas are presented, the entire group discusses all ideas simultaneously.

4. Group members individually and secretly vote on each proposed solution.

The solution with the most individual

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Improving Group Decision Making (cont’d)

The Stepladder Technique 1. Individuals A and B are given a problem

to solve, and each produces an independent solution.

2. A and B develop a joint decision, and meet with C, who has analyzed the problem and arrived at a decision.

3. A, B, and C discuss the problem and arrive at a consensus decision, and are joined by D, who has analyzed the problem and arrived at a decision.

4. A, B, C, and D jointly develop a final group decision.

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Improving Group Decision Making (cont’d)

How to Lead a Group Decision-Making Discussion 1. See that all group members

participate and contribute.

2. Distinguish between idea getting and idea evaluation.

3. Do not respond to each participant or dominate the discussion.

4. Direct the group’s effort toward overcoming surmountable obstacles.

5. Don’t sit down.

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Content

Concluding Comments

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