Innovation and CreativityThe Group : Nurturing Team Work2014, Merve KAYA

The Group: Nurturing Team Work

• Understanding between a group and a team differences• Understanding stage of group

development process• Understanding main reasons why

teams fail• Understanding of team problem

solving• Understanding the value of

brainstorming• Understanding advantages and

disadvantages of three different problem solving techniques

Introduction• There are lots of famous people and we had already

known something about them. For example; football player David Beckham or famous basketball player Dennis Rodman. In the world who don’t have an idea about Bill Gates of Microsoft. The examples are endless.

• The mistake is we often make is to forget taht these people are not alone. They are part of a team which supports, and often delivers their vision and goals. These shows us result of our education system, which focuses on personal performance.

• In the other facts; Michelangelo could not have a painted the Sistine Chapel without the help of a group of artisans.

• Or Thomas Edison, the American inventor who generated inventions like the telegraph, telephone, light bulb and photograph, had a team of 14 people to help him implement his dreams.

What is a group and how is it different from a team?• A group can be defined as two or more individuals

and independent, who work together to implement particular objectives. Groups have two forms;

Formal Group Informal Group• Formal Group must have specific tasks to perform.

Frontline hotel employees are an examples of a formal group. They all have their own roles and responsibilities.

• Informal Group does not have any formal structure and generally not organization-leader.

• The team can be defined as:

A small number of people with complementary skills who have common purpose, goals.

• You can take any team , a pop group , it is quite clear taht each member has a specific role. In the end, they are part of a some thing bigger.

Why do people join teams?• We can show four specific reason for this;1)Security ; people feel more stronger when they joined a team.Because it helps to stress associated with a new job and team members supports each others.2)Self-Esteem ; people who are the participate a group get a strong sence of self-worth. Team members is finding suitable solutions to problems at hand.3)Power ; It has been proposed taht people can succeed more by leading a team.4) Goal achievement ; Personal achieve personal organizational goals by being part of team. In today, personals needs to combine their talent , power or knowledge to achieve their personal goals.

The team development process

• Similarly to organizations and products, work teams also all of these things have own development process. The team development process have five stages ;

Forming;Storming;Norming;Performing;Adjourning;

• The Forming Stage ; These stage about which members try to figure out and what they are supposed to be doing. This stage is characterized with team’s goals , structure and directions.

• Storming Stage ; These stage when members accept the fact taht there is a team for the first time, but hey often experience conflict , while they try to determine how hey fit into the evolving power structure of team. These stage important because of these stage sometimes groups have problems during the early stages of their development.

• Norming Stage ; In these stage is where first relationships develop and the team members begin to organize themselves. Also this stage group identity the acceptable behaviour. Also this stage team members try to find solutions to the problems in hand by discussing them openly with each others.

• Performing Stage ; This stage is identify taht team loyalty , where there is problem by all team members and where conflicts are resolved efficiently.

• Adjourning Stage ; occurs when teams have succeed their goals or when the task is completed and team members are moving for the other challenge. This stage, group’s member reactions different some of them proud of results, or the others can feel sad which they have development a product together cause they need to seperate this rapport also the other members can do criticize the effectiveness of team

All of stages of forming , storming, norming, performing and adjourning provide a useful framework to understanding of team development process.

Why do teams fail?• Teams have not always succeeded in securing their

objectives and hence which taht describe of the frame why teams fail.

Hidden Agendas; This means that same team members create their rules, create their own careers instead of thinking about organization’s goals.

Lack of understanding; Misunderstanding with team members for example it can be happen when team member are brought together for the first time.

Lack of leadership; This is happening usually when the team leader does not have good management skills and personalities. Because the leader just can do balance of team.

• Wrong mix of team members; Every team members have different personality , characteristic and profeciency . A team must be balanced which danger at generating too many ideas or no ideas at all.

• Unhealthy team environment; The team members can not work effectively if team members don’t feel relax, confortable when they are working together.

• Treating a team like a group; Some organization label a group as a team , however then the team cannot do nothing more than collecting people.

• Psychological phenomena taht can cause teams to fail; This is really important taht if team members do their best, there are phychological events taht effect group’s performance,opposite event also negatively effect the performance. Following parts about phychological phenomena and their effects on team working.

• Blind conformity;The human nature to want to be liked and to be accepted by others. There have been several experiments which relevant how people engage in illogical or wierd behaviour in order to guarantee acceptance by a group.

For example nearly 50 years ago Solomon Asch who is a social phychologist did several laboratory experiments in his studies which about group’s social behaviours like negative side of group dynamics. In this research, a group of seven to nine volunteer includes which figured table with label as A. In these experiments there are 3 different line and A line and researcher asks to the groups are which of these 3 lines similar to the A. But in these group there are just one real person, the other six-seven people are Asch’s assistants which hey are doing role to effecting real person decision. All of assistans first of all give answers and then real volunteer gives his/her decision. The end of the these research onlu 20 per cent of the volunteer can give decion independent. The other 80 per cent gave answer what the other group members gave. The test result shows taht pressure of the other group member’s idea effected the decisions.

The Asch Experiment.mp4

GroupThink• Researchers have studied about this subject past four

decades. Janis (1972) did some research about groupthink with American foreign policy such as Korea, Vietnam and he tried to find why these committees made such bad decision. And he discovered the group cohesiveness had a negative effect on outcomes. Loyalthy effects on the quality of the decision.

Groupthink limited decision making because;Courses of action were accepted by everyoneNobody in these committees was not think about

alternative routes for solving problems.Group failed cause hey ignored the facts which did not

support the group’s view.

• Jonis has suggestion for best groupthink decisions;

1. Each team member must be encouraged their opinions.

2. Leaders should be prepared must do criticism for their actions.

3. Get advices for the same policy from different groups with different leaders.

4. Periodically divide the group into subgroups.5. Invite outsiders taht the group for talking

their reactions.6. Someone from group should play the

«devil’s advocate» role7. Reconsider the action plan when the

decision is given.

Social Loafing • This term was defined by Thompson as; who is

studying in a group , group members if feel physically alone in the group who does not want to work much.

• Some of main reason given by researcher;Equity of effort : «Everyone else is goafing off, so

why should not I?» They should also invest minumum effort to the project.

Loss of personal accountability: «I’m lost in the crowd, so who cares?»

Motivational loss due to the sharing of rewards: «Why should I work harder than the others when everyone gets the same reward?»

Co-ordination loss as more people perform the task: «We’re getting in each other’s way»

Creative teams : what do we know?• Creative teams, applies the inputs-processes-

outcomes model which is developed by Hackman and Morris(1975)

• Inputs: Encapsualate all the necessary thing of a team such as materials or human resources.

• Processes: Shows the dynamic interactions about team members as they work together on the way to achieving their goals.

• Outcomes: Refer to the task and non-task-related results of a team’s operation.

Team Inputs• Inputs represent the design and characteristic of a

team such as size of team or how many time groups members have worked together.

Team Size : Group size has a critical role of group performance. Researchers who they are Bouchard and Hare (1970), found that for team member numbers five,seven and nine members, the average output was 66,44 and 40.In Standford University classmates Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard and Larry Page and Sergey Brin tried to define team size like that big enough team for necessary knowledge, skills and capabilities while at the same time should be small enough for members to work together without any difficulty.

• Katz and Allen’s research with 50 R&D teams identified an inverse relationship between team longevity and innovativeness.

• Positive project performance that these teams experienced , new members coming together and generating fresh viewpoints or concepts,while developing a better understanding of each other’s knowledge, skills and abilities.

• They identified a number of reasons why the performance long-term teams have problems

The project teams must be manage generation problems. In the team there are lots of different age of people . However old team members generally have limits their knowledge and solving to new problems.

The team members sometimes ignore the important knowlodges and they become isolated from important resources which that effected the project performance.

Team Longevity

• Typically associate creative work with advertisers, engineers, musicians, film directors, video game developers and scientists.

• Developing new product or making improvements to an existing product often requires the very careful co-ordination and co-operation of people within departments, across functional divisions , at different hierarchical levels within an organization, and across sites and departments that may form part of an external collaborating company.

Task

Knowledge,skills and abilities• It is not a cliché to think that if you want great

performance you need great people.• Everyday , engineering, design and marketing

teams try to solve problems for is delivered products to customer

• In the other , without ‘input’ there can be no ‘output’ because there is nothing on which to operate.

• Some team members will be better at defining the problem, others can be better brainstorming.

• Resources include an array of elements : sufficient funds, material resources,systems and processes for work.

• Managers must decide on the resources which the team will work with them.

Resourcing The Team

Team Composition• In the team’s composition has really important part for

creating successful team.• Teams should be achieved in terms of:Knowledge,skills,attributesPersonality features required in the design of an effective

team.When a team is too homogeneous , it tends to under-

perform and generation of creative outcomes.

Team Processes• Action Processes: refer to the dynamic activities that

team members undertake. • Communication is a key action process in team working.• Face-to-face communication is still the dominant way of

exchanging knowledge and ideas.• Creative problem solving is another critical action

process in the team working. It has three key stages.First, clearly define the problem.Second, generate ideas taht could potentially solve the

problem.Final, decide on the most feasible and valuable

solutions.• Team problem solving is focusing on brainstorming.

Brainstorming• Alex Osborn, one of founders and executives of the

advertising firm Battern, Barton, Durstine, and Osborn (BBDO)- generated this technique.

• Team meetings were generally creating new ideas , especially from junior staff. He noticed junior people were not expression their thoughts or ideas in front of the senior colleagues at these meetings.

• With this method , people feel freedom to speak their minds.

• Brainstorming is a method that using brain to storm a problem.

• Creative process involves two steps; First, Idea generation Second, idea evulation• Brainstorming generally focus on the first stage. In this

stage that problem definition and preparation which combining with old ideas.

Rules for successful brainstorming

• There are four rules for brainstorming.• First, during the brainstorming session, criticism of

ideas should be abolished. From our early years at school , in the university we learn to use our judgement rather than our creativity; we learn to show off ‘smartness’ by criticizing other people’s ideas.

• For example ; Pop Idol , the reality entertaintment show, became an instant hit not onlu due to its original concepts. Cause some of the judges have been highly critical of the participants performances.

• Second, brainstorming is taht participants should welcome ‘free wheeling’. In other words, the wilder the idea the better. Brainstorming sessions need to be daring in generating wild ideas. No matter how unrealistic or unconventional.

• Third, brainstorming sessions are encouraged to ‘go for large quantities of ideas’. The greater is the probability of coming up with a set of new and useful ideas. His rule suggests taht quantity of ideas leads to quality.

• Fourth, his argues that ‘combination and improvement need to be sought’ in a brainstorming session. Participants should build on each other’s ideas. Better ideas or the reconfiguration of existing ideas into novel solution.

• These four rules are critical to the success of the brainstorming process and for the creative output of team problem solving.

• Brainstorming has been used in many different fields, such as : social services, government policies, military affairs, hospitals, education, advertising.. Etc.

Advantages of the brainstorming session

• The generation of hundreds of ideas: not important being realistic or not.

• Support the organizational memory: combine previous knowledge from old problems. It can be helpful for future brainstorming.

• Impressing clients: Clients are usually impressed by the ideas. They may also collect ideas fastly.

• Improved morale: ’Feel-Good-Factor’, when participants contribute to the success of company or project.

• Gain better understanding of each other: A mix of people from different departments and different levels of management are brought together in a brainstorming setting.

• Enjoyment: Brainstorming is all about generating valuable ideas in a relaxed manner. In brainstorming contribute their ideas ; they often draw and come up with diagrams.

• Personal growth and well-being : This process of personal development can be of high importance to individual’s thinking skills.

• Think up improvements : The systematic use of brainstorming sessions may help a team to identify things that are not going well and need to be changed or improved.

• Relatively inexpensive : Brainstorming is a relatively inexpensive technique that does not require a lot of time in preparation or execution.

Disadvantages of the brainstorming session

• The generation of ideas without screening them : Although brainstorming may generate hundreds of ideas, the method does not include any kind of screening or evolution. Creative problem solving must be aimed at selecting those ideas.

• It may not always be the answer to your problems : Brainstorming sessions must be followed all rules . If any of conditions are not met, outcome of the session is likely to be less successful.

Electronic Brainstorming• The use of computers to interact and exchange ideas , making easier

contribute their ideas , since no one would know whose ideas were whose. This technique allows team members to generate a large quantity of ideas by sitting at their own desk and by being electronically connected to other participants. At the same time , they have evolved to enable users to interact with other team members over the Web. There are five stages of the electronic brainstorming process:

• 1)Generating Ideas : Each participant inputs his/her ideas relevant to the topic into the computer at will. They have access to the pool of ideas generated and archived into the computer. Also team members can communicate each others in the primary channels of communication.

• 2)Editing Ideas : The aim is to organize ideas so that team members can identify similar ideas and combine them or eliminate some ideas.

• 3)Evaluating Ideas : Ideas are then evaluated and prioritized by each participant anonymously. A voting tool can be of importance for selecting best ideas.

• 4)Implementing Ideas : Electronic brainstorming cannot implement the best ideas. Many electronic brainstorming software packages have a ‘plan-of-action’ tool where action steps are identified.

• 5)Action : The team ends the session with ideas.

Electronic Brainstorming disadvantages

• It is not gurantee for problem solving.• It needs fastly connection for implementing the

ideas to computer.• There are too many ideas in there , which may

result in idea overload.• Electronic brainstorming sessions require

computers and special softwares for brainstorming and it is relatively expensive way than face-to-face way.

Brainwriting• This is the another problem solving techniques and it is calling

that ‘Brainwriting’. It requires the team members who attend a brainstorming session. In this way , team members does not has to wait for their turn to say their ideas.

• There are several versions of brainwriting. First one is commonly known as Individual Poolwriting Technique . To begin , each team member silently writes ideas on a piece of paper and places the paper in the centre of the table. Each participant then draws one of the table and adds more ideas. This exchange of papers carries on until the end of the session. After several turns, most of team members have ideas and comments.

• In the second version of brainwriting, labelled as ‘brainwalking’. Sheets of papers are posted in the walls of a room and team members silently walk around the room, read what is on the paper and add their ideas. Benefits of that participants can view all comments at the same time. But it does not have anonymity cause all team members can see who wrote the comments.

• Several advantages ;Many people do not feel relax when they are

speaking even in front of the small group. Individuals do not have to wait to speak.Brainwriting participants can produce a greater

number of ideas.

Nominal Group Technique (NGT)• NGT developed by Delbecq and Van de Ven at the

University of Wisconsin in 1968. In this method difference is participants never interact. In this method every participants wrote his/her idea . Then group declare different letters for these ideas and every group member vote the ideas. After that they are calculating the result of vote which one is more important or which one has less importance, they are finding using a table for votes.

Trust• Trusting has highlights the importance of people’s

ability to associate with each other.• Importance of trust in teams as the foundation for

taking risks, creating useful ideas, and solving problems.

Conflict• Researchers have ideas the impact taht conflict has

on idea generation and decision making. Recent studies have highlighted several benefits of conflicts that have not previously been considered.

• Conflict may be useful for generating ideas and processes higher- quality decisions.

Team cohesiveness• Cohesiveness have several positive influences on

team interactions and creativity.• Team with increased creative performance by

interpersonal liking ; team laugh and smile more together and share increasing feelings of psychological safety.

Moderators of team performanceTask Type• Task type, selection of project, does not onlu specify the

work to be done that need developing for future work. It is interesting the note that when team members recognize the need for creativity in order to get the job. This increasing experiment with new ideas, technologies, materials, components, markets or processes.

Team leadership• Leadership style facilitates creativity and innovation in

teams.• Supportive supervisors effects the team members such as

positive feelings and more consantrate and it is effecting the their professional growth.

• The most important things for team leaders , they need to build an effective work team and made up of individuals who trust and communicate well with each other, who are willing to challange each other’s ideas and who are supportive of the work they are doing.

• They should also be in a position to balance employees freedom and responsibility, without domination or control , while at the same time to show concern for employees feelings and needs, generously recognize creative work by individuals and teams, and encourage them to voice their concerns, provide feedback and facilitate skill development.

Team Outcomes• The main focus on performance outcomes, such as the

quality and quantity of ideas generated and on team member satisfied.

• Why is the potential of brainstorming sessions not realized in brainstorming studies?

There are three factors taht may explain this:1) Evaluation apprehension(concern,worry) : Brainstorming participants contribute their ideas because hey worry about what other people would think of them.2) Social loafing : Individuals working in teams may not feel as accountable as they would if they were working alone , and hence may reduce their efforts.3) Production blocking : Brainstorming participants may think their idea generation is blocked cause their inability to express their ideas if hey have to wait for their turn to talk.

Conclusion• In these presentation examined; how people work together in

teams effectively more than sum of individual achievements.

• Summarize;- A group can be defined as two or more individuals, interacting

and independent, who work together to achieve particular objectives. There are two type of groups as formal and informal.

- People want to join teams for a variety of reasons. Leading a team helps individuals to deal with their own insecurities.

- Team working usually requires the effective management of individuals.

- The literature on creativity problem solving methods like electronic brainstorming, brainwriting and the Nominal Group Techniques (NGT).

• In addition to examining the direct effects of team inputs and proceses on team performance, researchers such as task type and team leadership.

THE END…

Merve KAYA

SE.mervekaya@gmail.com