Working in teams
Types of teams
Teams are groups of two or more people who: exist to fulfill, are independent, influence one another
and perceive themselves to be a team.
Informal groups in organizations are groups that exist primarily for the benefit of their members →
not a team!! Exist because of the innate drive to bond, social identity, emotional support and to
achieve personal objectives.
There are 3 team characteristics
1. Permanence → how long a team exists
2. Skill diversity → variety of member skills and knowledge
3. Authority dispersion → degree decision making responsibility is distributed through the team
(high) or centralized (low).
Self-directed teams
This are cross-functional work groups that are organized around work processes and complete entire
pieces of work requiring several independent tasks.
They have multiple success factors:
• They are responsible for entire work processes
• High interdependence within the team, independent from other teams
• Autonomy to organize and coordinate work
• Wort site supports teams communication + job enrichment
Departmental teams
Teams that consist of employees who have similar or complementary skills and are located in the
same unit of a functional structure.
Task force teams
Cross-functional teams whose members are usually drawn from several disciplines to solve a specific
problem.
Team type Team permanence Skill diversity Authority dispersion
Self-directed High Medium to high High
Departmental High Low to medium Low
Task force Low Medium to high Medium
Virtual/remote teams
Members operate across space, time, and firm’s boundaries, they are linked through information
technologies.
Success factors:
• Member characteristics
• Flexible use of various communication technologies
• Fairly high task structure
• Opportunities to meet face to face
Advantaged and disadvantages of teams
Teams do not always fulfill the potential that they have.
,Advantages
• Breadth of knowledge and expertise
• Diversity of perspectives
• Potential for synergy and creativity
• Legitimacy of process and acceptance of solution
This can lead to better decisions, products, information sharing and coordination. There will also be a
higher employee motivation/engagement
Disadvantages
Like process losses → resources expended towards developing and maintaining teams instead of a
task.
Brook’s law → adding people will slow down a project
Social loafing → The ringelmann effect mentions that group performance was better than individual
performance, but performance per person decreased.
You can minimize social loafing by making individual performance more visible, or by increasing
employee motivation.
Team effectiveness
Team effectiveness model
Organizational and team environment
Best environment for teams:
• Broad supportive resource pool available
• Frequent communication encouraged by workplace design and technology access
• Team based rewards
• Possible external motivating forces → like competition
• Supportive and inspiring leader
Team design
There are multiple characteristics which make tasks ideal for teamwork
• Complex tasks divisible into specialized roles
• Well-structured tasks
• Low task variability + high task analyzability
• Higher task interdependence
There are different levels of task interdependence:
, Team size is also very important!!
Smaller teams (smaller than 6) are better because: there is less process loss, faster team
development, more engaged with the team and feel more responsible for team’s success. But the
team must be large enough to accomplish a task!!
Best composition for teams:
Team members must be motivated, able and understand their roles
Team diversity is important → have diverse knowledge, skills, perspectives and values
Team members should work well with other team members!! → the 5 C’s
The 5 C’s model → team members must engage in task work and team work
• Task work → behavior that complete the assigned tasks
• Teamwork → 5Cs behaviors that support the team
Team processes
Team development as membership and competence
1. Developing team identity/membership formation
2. Team competence development → forming and coordinating routines with others + shared
team mental models
Team development model:
Forming: Learn about each other, evaluate membership
Storming: conflict, members are proactive, compete for roles
Norming: roles clear, consensus in objectives, team mental model
Types of teams
Teams are groups of two or more people who: exist to fulfill, are independent, influence one another
and perceive themselves to be a team.
Informal groups in organizations are groups that exist primarily for the benefit of their members →
not a team!! Exist because of the innate drive to bond, social identity, emotional support and to
achieve personal objectives.
There are 3 team characteristics
1. Permanence → how long a team exists
2. Skill diversity → variety of member skills and knowledge
3. Authority dispersion → degree decision making responsibility is distributed through the team
(high) or centralized (low).
Self-directed teams
This are cross-functional work groups that are organized around work processes and complete entire
pieces of work requiring several independent tasks.
They have multiple success factors:
• They are responsible for entire work processes
• High interdependence within the team, independent from other teams
• Autonomy to organize and coordinate work
• Wort site supports teams communication + job enrichment
Departmental teams
Teams that consist of employees who have similar or complementary skills and are located in the
same unit of a functional structure.
Task force teams
Cross-functional teams whose members are usually drawn from several disciplines to solve a specific
problem.
Team type Team permanence Skill diversity Authority dispersion
Self-directed High Medium to high High
Departmental High Low to medium Low
Task force Low Medium to high Medium
Virtual/remote teams
Members operate across space, time, and firm’s boundaries, they are linked through information
technologies.
Success factors:
• Member characteristics
• Flexible use of various communication technologies
• Fairly high task structure
• Opportunities to meet face to face
Advantaged and disadvantages of teams
Teams do not always fulfill the potential that they have.
,Advantages
• Breadth of knowledge and expertise
• Diversity of perspectives
• Potential for synergy and creativity
• Legitimacy of process and acceptance of solution
This can lead to better decisions, products, information sharing and coordination. There will also be a
higher employee motivation/engagement
Disadvantages
Like process losses → resources expended towards developing and maintaining teams instead of a
task.
Brook’s law → adding people will slow down a project
Social loafing → The ringelmann effect mentions that group performance was better than individual
performance, but performance per person decreased.
You can minimize social loafing by making individual performance more visible, or by increasing
employee motivation.
Team effectiveness
Team effectiveness model
Organizational and team environment
Best environment for teams:
• Broad supportive resource pool available
• Frequent communication encouraged by workplace design and technology access
• Team based rewards
• Possible external motivating forces → like competition
• Supportive and inspiring leader
Team design
There are multiple characteristics which make tasks ideal for teamwork
• Complex tasks divisible into specialized roles
• Well-structured tasks
• Low task variability + high task analyzability
• Higher task interdependence
There are different levels of task interdependence:
, Team size is also very important!!
Smaller teams (smaller than 6) are better because: there is less process loss, faster team
development, more engaged with the team and feel more responsible for team’s success. But the
team must be large enough to accomplish a task!!
Best composition for teams:
Team members must be motivated, able and understand their roles
Team diversity is important → have diverse knowledge, skills, perspectives and values
Team members should work well with other team members!! → the 5 C’s
The 5 C’s model → team members must engage in task work and team work
• Task work → behavior that complete the assigned tasks
• Teamwork → 5Cs behaviors that support the team
Team processes
Team development as membership and competence
1. Developing team identity/membership formation
2. Team competence development → forming and coordinating routines with others + shared
team mental models
Team development model:
Forming: Learn about each other, evaluate membership
Storming: conflict, members are proactive, compete for roles
Norming: roles clear, consensus in objectives, team mental model
