TEAMS AND TEAMWORK

TEAMS AND TEAMWORK

• People have the need to work in teams. There is a desire to work with others and enjoy the benefits of your work and your successes together; these…satisfactions are as important today as they have ever been.-Andy Grove, Chairman of Intel, Inc.

• I learned a long time ago that in team sports or in business, a group working together can always defeat a team of individuals even if the individuals, by themselves, are better than your team…If you’re going to empower people and you don’t have teamwork; you’re dead.-John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems

TEAMS IN ORGANIZATIONS

• “Two heads are better than one”

• “Too many cooks spoil the broth”

• “A camel is a horse put together by committee.”

• Most tasks in an organization are more complicated than a single person can achieve alone.

• Teams are more and more common in today’s workplace.

• Managers have to figure out the best way to use teams to EVERYONE’S advantage.

TEAMS IN ORGANIZATIONS

• For understanding:

• A team is a collection of people who regularly interact to achieve a common goal.

• Teamwork is the PROCESS of people actively working together to accomplish common goals.

• Before we get started today.

TEAMWORK PROS AND CONS

• There are 4 roles that managers must perform in order to deal with the challenges of teams.

• 1. Supervisor – Head of the team.

• 2. Facilitator – Peer leader and networking hub.

• 3. Participant – Be a member of the team. Work, do your bit, contribute.

• 4. Coach – Get the team through problems. Do not always be involved. Show them how.

TEAMWORK PROS AND CONS

• One problem with teams is “Social loafing.” This is the tendency of some people to avoid responsibility. It is also called “free-loading” or “free-riding.”

• To fight this, managers need to give proper responsibilities to everyone, give everyone a meaningful task, and try to allow connections to form between members.

• Managers have to know when teams are the best choice for a task. They also have to know how to work with and within a team.

• Keeping teams small and tasks simple and clear makes it easier to identify free riders.

TEAMWORK PROS AND CONS

• Some other common problems:

• Personality conflicts

• Differences in personality styles

• Tasks not clear

• Badly identified problems, unclear schedules

• Not everyone is ready to work.-Motivation?-Conflicts with other priorities?

• Low enthusiasm for group work-lack of progress?-Meetings without purpose.

TEAM LEADER SKILLS

• Go to W108

WHY MEETINGS FAIL

• Meetings are very often pointless. A lot of employees hate hearing “meeting.” They see it as a waste of time.

• It is important that if meetings are held, to actually do things that are suggested in them.

• They are important: information is shared to everyone at once, in person. Decisions are made at them

• SEVEN SINS OF DEADLY MEETING

• 1. People arrive late, leave early, don’t take it seriously.

• 2. Meeting is too long: sometimes twice as long.

• 3. People do not stay on topic: easy distractions.

• 4. People unwilling to tell the truth.

• 5. Right information is not available, decisions are postponed.

• 6. Decisions are not put into action.

• 7. Things never get better, mistakes keep getting made in future meetings.

SYNERGY AND THE USEFULNESS OF TEAMS

• Synergy is the creation of a whole greater than the sum of its individual parts.

• Happens when a team uses all the resources available to it.

• Results in much more action than possible by a bunch of individuals.

• Being part of a team can have a very positive effect on each worker. -Attitudes and behaviours.

WHAT DO TEAMS OFFER?

• More resources for problem solving

• Improved creativity and innovation

• Improved quality of decision making

• Greater commitment to tasks

• Higher motivation through collective action

• Better control and work discipline

• More individual need satisfaction

FORMAL AND INFORMAL GROUPS

• Formal groups – officially recognized and supported by the organization.

• This could be a department, a unit, or a division.

• It would usually have a supervisor, a manager, or a team leader.

• Managers are part of the team they run, and also part of a team on the level above them.

• Informal groups – unofficial and develop from interests and relationships shared by members.

• Not recognized by the organization.

• Present in all organizations.

• Interest groups, friendship groups, support groups

TRENDS IN THE USE OF TEAMS

• The trend is towards MORE teams in the workplace. This allows more employee empowerment.

• Technologies and new methods allow for different kinds of teams.

COMMITTEES, PROJECT TEAMS, AND TASK FORCES

• Committees-work on a special task on a continuing basis-Led by a chairperson (chosen by the organization)

• Project Teams/Task Forces-Same as a committee, but broken up after the taskis complete.-Very specific tasks.

CROSS FUNCTIONAL TEAMS

• Cross–functional teams have members from different functional units of an organization.

• Members would come from sales, marketing, engineering, finance, operations, etc.

• Everyone would put input from their department in so the goal would achieve the different departments’ needs.

VIRTUAL TEAMS

• These are teams that work together and solve problems through computer-based interactions.

• What are some benefits?

• Drawbacks?

VIRTUAL TEAMS

• Virtual teams should begin with social messaging that allows members to exchange information about themselves to personalize the process

• Members should be given clear roles so they can focus while working alone and know what others are doing.

• Members must join and be a part of the team with positive attitudes that support a willingness to work hard to meet team goals.