Build powerful work teams for lasting organizational and competitive success.

6. Understanding Work
Teams

7. In today’s business
world, teams are
EVERYWHERE, as a
means for
management to
democratize
organizations.

8. • Interacts primarily to share information
and make decisions.
• The Group’s performance is just a
collection of each’s personal
contributions.
• In work teams, members coordinate
their efforts and work together.
8
Work Groups

9. • Problem-solving teams: 5-12 employees
get together a few hours each week to
discuss ways to improve things.
• Self-managed work teams: Teams that
solve problems AND implement solutions
and are responsible for outcomes.
• Cross-function teams: Members from
different areas at the same level come
together to accomplish specific tasks.
9
Teams

10. • Virtual Teams: Dispersed members use
technology to maintain contact. They
collaborate online, use videoconferencing
(Skype)
• Multi-team Systems: Collections of 2
or more interdependent teams that
share a goal.
10
Teams

11. What Makes Teams
“EFFECTIVE.”

13. Building Trust in
Teams

17. Personalities

19. Organizational
Demography
(Diversity)

20. • 2 major research studies conclude
demographic diversity is unrelated to
overall team performance.
• 1 research found race and gender are
negatively tied to performance.
• Leadership can improve the performance
of diverse teams.
• Keeping teams small is the key to
improving group effectiveness.
• High performing groups contain people
who prefer to work in teams.
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Member Diversity

21. Team Processes

22. • Common plan and purpose: Clear sense
of what needs to be done and how.
• Specific goals: Specific, measurable, and
realistic performance goals.
• Team efficacy: effective teams believe
they can succeed.
• Mental models: mental representations
of the key element’s in the team’s
environment that members share.
• Conflict levels: Conflict isn’t always bad.
22
Team Processes

23. Conflict in Teams

26. Turning People into
Team Players

27. • Select people that can deliver on their
team roles.
• Provide training to build team skills
(communication, negotiation, conflict
resolution.)
• Foster a strong TEAM dynamic (we’re in
it together.)
• Reward cooperative behavior.
• X.
27
Making Team Players

31. DISCUSSION
Is it a good idea to reward
good team players?

32. Teams NOT Always
the Solution

33. Teamwork Not Always Desired
• Requires more time and resources.
• Benefits don’t always exceed the costs.
• Does the work REQUIRE or will it
BENEFIT from the collective effort?
• Can the work be done better with more
than one worker?
• Are the members of the group inter-dependent?
• Does the work create a common purpose
or set of goals for group members.
33

34. What this all means
for managers.

35. • The best teams all share common
characteristics.
• Successful teams have good leadership,
trust, performance and rewards that
reflect team contributions.
• Successful teams have members who
believe in the team’s capabilities.
• Difficult to create team players when
society rewards and promotes individual
behavior.
35
Management Impact