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Chapter 9 Work teams and Groups

Work Teams and Groups

 Chapter Introduction

 9-1Groups and Work Teams

 9-2Why Work Teams? o 9-2aBenefits to Organizations o 9-2bSocial Benefits to Individuals

 9-3Group Behavior o 9-3aNorms of Behavior o 9-3bGroup Cohesion o 9-3cSocial Loafing o 9-3dLoss of Individuality

 9-4Group Formation and Development o 9-4aGroup Formation o 9-4bStages of Group Development o 9-4cPunctuated Equilibrium Model o 9-4dCharacteristics of a Mature Group

 9-5Task and Maintenance Functions

 9-6Factors that Influence Group Effectiveness o 9-6aWork Team Structure o 9-6bWork Team Process o 9-6cDiversity o 9-6dCreativity

 9-7Empowerment and Self-Managed Teams o 9-7aEmpowerment Skills o 9-7bSelf-Managed Teams

 9-8Upper Echelons: Teams at the Top o 9-8aDiversity at the Top o 9-8bMulticultural Top Teams

 Chapter 9In Review o Learning Outcomes o Key Terms o What about You? How Much Diversity Is on Your Team? o Test your knowledge

Chapter Introduction

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Work teams emphasize shared leadership, mutual accountability, and collective work products.

Learning Outcomes

 9-1 Define group and work team.

 9-2 Explain the benefits organizations and individuals derive from working in teams.

 9-3 Identify the factors that influence group behavior.

 9-4 Describe how groups form and develop.

 9-5 Explain how task and maintenance functions influence group performance.

 9-6 Discuss the factors that influence group effectiveness.

 9-7 Describe how empowerment relates to self-managed teams.

 9-8 Explain the importance of upper echelons and top management teams.

 Groups and Work Teams  A groupgroupTwo or more people with common interests, objectives, and continuing interaction.is

formed when two or more people have common interests, objectives, and continuing interaction. A work teamwork teamA group of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common mission, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.is a group of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common mission, performance goals,

and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. All work teams are groups, but not all groups are work teams. Groups emphasize individual leadership, personal accountability, and exclusive work products. Work teams emphasize shared leadership, mutual accountability, and collective work products.

 Work teams are task-oriented groups, though in some organizations the word team has a negative connotation for union members. Work teams make valuable contributions to the organization and are important to the need satisfaction of members.

 Several kinds of work teams exist. Some are like baseball teams in that members have set responsibilities, others are like football teams in that members have coordinated action, and still others are like doubles tennis teams in that members have primary yet flexible responsibilities. Another analogy for work teams is that some operate like groundskeeping crews in that all members work synergistically toward a single

goal. Although each type of team may have a useful role in the organization, the individual expert should

not be overlooked. At the right time and in the right context, individual members must be allowed to shine.

 Teams and groups do not all work face-to-face. Advanced computer and telecommunications technologies

enable organizations to be more flexible through the use of virtual teams. Organizations use virtual teams to access expertise and the best employees around the world. Whether traditional or virtual, groups and teams continue to play a vital role in organizational behavior and performance at work.

 9-2 Why Work Teams?  Teams are very useful in performing work that is complicated, fragmented, and/or more voluminous than

one person can handle. Harold Geneen, while chairman of ITT, said, “If I had enough arms and legs and time, I’d do it all myself.” Obviously, no one person in an organization can do everything by himself, not only because of the limitations of arms, legs, and time, but also expertise, knowledge, and other resources. However, individual limitations can be overcome through teamwork and collaboration. World-class U.S. corporations, such as Motorola Inc., are increasingly deploying work teams in their global affiliates to meet

the competition and gain advantage. Motorola’s “Be Cool” team in the Philippines has a family atmosphere (and may even begin a meeting with a prayer) yet is committed to improving individual and team performance.

9-2a Benefits to Organizations

Teams make the most significant contributions to organizations when members can put aside individual interests in favor of unity. This joint action is called teamworkteamworkJoint action by a team of people in which individual interests are subordinated to team unity.. Complex, collaborative work tasks and activities tend to require considerable amounts of teamwork. When knowledge, talent, and abilities are dispersed across numerous workers and require an integrated effort for task accomplishment, teamwork is often the only solution.

A recent movement toward team-oriented work environments has championed empowerment through collaboration rather than self-reliance and competition. Teams with experience working together may produce

valuable innovations, and individual contributions within teams are valuable as well. Larry Hirschhorn labeled this structure “the new team environment,” founded on a significantly more empowered workforce in the industrial sectors of the American economy. (See Table 9.1 for a comparison of new and old environments.) In this new environment, teams must bring together members with different specialties and knowledge to work on complex

problems. The ability to do so improves team performance and psychological well being.

Table 9.1

New Team Environment versus Old Work Environment

New Team Environment Old Work Environment

Person comes up with initiatives.

Team has considerable authority to chart its own steps.

Person follows orders.

Team depends on the manager to chart its course.

Members form a team because people learn to collaborate in the face of their emerging right to think for themselves. People both rock the boat and work together.

Members were a team because people conformed to direction set by the manager. No one rocked the boat.

People cooperate by using their thoughts and feelings. They link up through People cooperated by suppressing their thoughts

New Team Environment Old Work Environment

direct talk. and feelings. They wanted to get along.

SOURCE: L. Hirschhorn, Managing in the New Team Environment: Skills, Tools, and Methods (San Jose: Authors Choice Press). © 2002. Reprinted with permission.

Characteristics of a Well-Functioning, Effective Group

 The atmosphere tends to be relaxed, comfortable, and informal.

 The group’s task is well understood and accepted by the members.

 The members listen well to one another; most members participate in a good deal of task-relevant discussion.

 People express both their feelings and their ideas.

 Conflict and disagreement are present and centered around ideas or methods, not personalities or people.

 The group is aware and conscious of its own operation and function.

 Decisions are usually based on consensus, not majority vote.

 When actions are decided, clear assignments are made and accepted by members of the group.

SOURCE: D. M. McGregor, The Human Side of Enterprise (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960).

9-2b Social Benefits to Individuals

On an individual level, team or group members derive benefits from the collective experience of teamwork. These individual benefits are best organized into two categories. One set of benefits accrues from achieving psychological

intimacy, while the other comes from achieving integrated involvement.

Psychological intimacyPsychological intimacyEmotional and psychological closeness to other team or group members.is emotional and psychological closeness to other team or group members. It results in feelings of affection and warmth, unconditional positive regard, opportunity for expression, security and emotional support, and nurturing. Failure to achieve psychological intimacy may result in feelings of emotional isolation and loneliness. This can be especially problematic for chief executives, who sometimes report experiencing loneliness at the top. However, although psychological intimacy is valuable for emotional health and well-being, it need not necessarily be achieved in the work setting. Many executives satisfy their need for intimacy with a rich home life.

Integrated involvementIntegrated involvementCloseness achieved through tasks and activities.is closeness achieved through tasks and activities. It results in enjoyment of work, social identity and self-definition, being valued for one’s skills and abilities, opportunities for power and influence, conditional positive regard, and support for one’s beliefs and values. Failure to achieve integrated involvement may result in social isolation. Whereas psychological intimacy is based more in emotion, integrated involvement is based in behavior and activity. Integrated involvement contributes to social psychological health and well-being.

9-3 Group Behavior

Group behavior has been a subject of interest in social psychology for a long time, and many different aspects of group behavior have been studied over the years. We now look at four of those aspects: norms of behavior, group cohesion, social loafing, and loss of individuality. Group behavior topics related to decision making, such as polarization and groupthink, are addressed in Chapter 10.

9-3a Norms of Behavior

The standards that a work group uses to evaluate the behavior of its members are its norms of behaviornorms of behaviorThe standards that a work group uses to evaluate the behavior of its members.. These norms may be written or unwritten, verbalized or not verbalized, implicit or explicit. As long as individual members of the

group understand them, the norms can be effective in influencing behavior. They may specify what members of a group should do (such as a specified dress code) or not do (such as executives not behaving arrogantly with employees).

Norms may exist in any aspect of work group life. They may evolve informally or unconsciously, or they may arise in response to specific challenges, such as firefighters’ disciplined behavior in responding to a three-alarm fire in a

manner that protects the group. Morality norms are more important than competence norms when it comes to

making decisions about improving the status of one’s work group. Performance norms are among the most important group norms from the organization’s perspective. Even when group members work in isolation on

creative projects, they display conformity to group norms. Group norms of cooperative behavior within a team

can lead to members working for mutual benefit, which in turn facilitates team performance. On the other hand,

verbal expressions of negativity can be detrimental to team performance and a violation of group norms. Organizational culture and corporate codes of ethics, such as Johnson &Johnson’s credo (recall Figure 2.3), reflect behavioral norms expected within work groups. Finally, norms that create awareness of and help regulate

emotions are critical to groups’ effectiveness.

9-3b Group Cohesion

The interpersonal glue that makes the members of a group stick together is group cohesiongroup cohesionThe interpersonal glue that makes members of a group stick together.. Group cohesion can enhance job

satisfaction for members and improve organizational productivity. Highly cohesive groups are able to manage their membership better than work groups low in cohesion. In one study of 381 banking teams in Hong Kong and the United States, increased job complexity and task autonomy led to increased group cohesiveness, which

translated into better performance. A recent study found that when there is a fit between the group’s values and those of the organization, groups will report more cohesion and exhibit higher levels of organizational citizenship

behavior (OCB). In addition to improved performance, highly cohesive groups can lead to the maintenance of close relationships among the members. We will discuss group cohesion in further detail when we examine the common characteristics of well-developed groups.

9-3c Social Loafing

Social loafingSocial loafingThe failure of a group member to contribute personal time, effort, thoughts, or other resources to the group.occurs when one group member comes to rely on the efforts of other group

members and fails to contribute her own time, effort, thoughts, or other resources to a group. This may create a real drag on the group’s efforts and achievements. Some scholars argue that social loafing, also known as free riding, is a rational response to feelings of inequity or situations in which individual efforts are hard to observe. However, it shortchanges the group, which loses potentially valuable resources possessed by individual members.

One method for countering social loafing is a member self-evaluation system. If members must formally review their contributions to the group, they are less likely to loaf. Identifying individual contributions to the group product also counters loafing. If each group member is responsible for a specific input, an individual’s failure to contribute will be noticed by everyone.

9-3d Loss of Individuality

Social loafing may be detrimental to group achievement, but it does not have the potentially explosive effects of loss of individualityloss of individualityA social process in which individual group members lose self- awareness and its accompanying sense of accountability, inhibition, and responsibility for individual behavior.. Loss of individuality is a social process through which group members lose self-awareness and its

accompanying senses of accountability, inhibition, and responsibility for individual behavior. People may engage in morally reprehensible acts and even violent behavior as committed members of their group or organization when their individuality is lost. Loss of individuality was one of several contributing factors to the riot that

destroyed sections of Los Angeles following the Rodney King verdict in April 1992. Yet loss of individuality is not always negative or destructive. The loosening of normal ego control mechanisms in the individual sometimes leads

to prosocial behavior and even heroic acts in dangerous situations.

9-4 Group Formation and Development

After its formation, a group goes through predictable stages of development. If each of the stages is successfully negotiated, the group emerges as a mature and tightly knit entity. One logical group development model proposed by Warren Bennis and Herbert Shepard delineates four stages following the group’s formation: mutual acceptance,

decision making, motivation and commitment, and control and sanctions.

According to this group development model, a group addresses three issues: interpersonal issues, task issues, and

authority issues. The interpersonal issues include matters of trust, personal comfort, and security. Trust, in particular, is a key issue for any company in its working relationships. The task issues include the mission or purpose of the group, the methods the group employs, and the outcomes expected of the group. The authority issues include decisions about who is in charge, how power and influence are managed, and who has the right to tell whom to do what. This section addresses group formation, each stage of group development, and the characteristics of a mature group.

B. M. Bass and E. C. Ryterband, Organizational Psychology, 2nd ed. (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1979).

W. G. Bennis and H. A. Shepard, “A Theory of Group Development,” Human Relations 9 (1956): 415–438.

9-4a Group Formation

D. L. Fields and T. C. Bloom, “Employee Satisfaction in Work Groups with Different Gender Composition,” Journal of Organizational Behavior 18 (1997): 181–196.

9-3d Loss of Individuality

E. Diener, “Deindividuation, Self-Awareness, and Disinhibition,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37 (1979): 1160–1171.

S. Prentice-Dunn and R. W. Rogers, “Deindividuation and the Self-Regulation of Behavior,” in P. Paulus, ed., Psychology of Group Influence (Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1989): 87–109.

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9-4a Group Formation

Diversity is an important consideration in the formation of groups.

Formal and informal groups coalesce in organizations for different reasons. Formal groups are sometimes called official or assigned groups, and informal groups may be called unofficial or emergent groups. Formal groups such as project task forces, boards of directors, and temporary committees come together to perform specific tasks. An example of a formal group was the task force assembled by the University of Texas at Arlington to design the Goolsby Leadership Academy. Chaired by the associate dean of business, the task force was composed of seven members with diverse academic expertise and business experience. The task force established a five-year plan to

inaugurate the select undergraduate program, which cultivates advanced leadership skills in its Goolsby Fellows and Associates.

Informal groups evolve in the work setting to gratify a variety of member needs not met by formal groups. For example, organizational members’ inclusion and affirmation needs might be satisfied through informal athletic or specialized interest groups. Athletic teams representing a department, unit, or company may achieve semiofficial status, such as the AT&T National Running Team that uses the corporate logo on its race shirts.

Diversity is an important consideration in the formation of groups, as it can enhance performance and lead to new ways of thinking. One study of gender diversity among U.S. workers found that men and women in gender-balanced

groups had higher job satisfaction than those in homogeneous groups. Organizations have been challenged to blend culturally and linguistically diverse peoples into effective work groups since America’s founding. This task was especially demanding during the early years of the 1900s, when waves of immigrant workers arrived from numerous European nations.

In addition to ethnic, gender, and cultural diversity, there is interpersonal diversity, which may be indicated by different needs for inclusion, control of people and events, and affirmation from others. Successful interpersonal relationships are the basis of group effort, a key foundation for business success.

9-4b Stages of Group Development

All groups go through stages of development, some more successfully than others. Mature groups are able to work through the interpersonal, task, and authority issues inevitable at the highest echelons of the business world. The path to maturity does not always go smoothly, however. Immature groups often experience personality clashes and

other fault lines (i.e., potential breaking points within the group) at various stages of development.

The Five-Stage Model Bruce Tuckman’s five-stage model of group development proposes that team behavior

progresses through five stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. These stages and their properties are illustrated in Figure 9.1.

Figure 9.1Tuckman’s Five-Stage Model of Group Development

© Cengage Learning 2013

Dependence on guidance and direction is the defining characteristic of the forming stage. At this point, team members are unclear about individual roles and responsibilities and tend to rely heavily on the leader to answer questions about the team’s purpose, objectives, and external relationships. Moving from this stage requires that team members feel they are part of the team. During this time, it may also be beneficial for leaders to encourage

team members to get to know each other on an interpersonal level before focusing on task performance.

Team members compete for position in the storming stage. As the name suggests, this is a period of considerable conflict as power struggles, cliques, and factions within the group begin to surface. Clarity of purpose increases, but uncertainties still exist. This is also the stage in which members assess one another with regard to trustworthiness, emotional comfort, and evaluative acceptance. The group leader’s coaching style is key during this stage of development, as team members may challenge her.

Agreement and consensus are characteristic of team members in the norming stage. It is during this period that roles and responsibilities become clear and are accepted. The group’s focus will turn from interpersonal relations to decision making and task accomplishment. Insignificant decisions may be delegated to individuals or small teams, while larger decisions will be discussed and decided by the entire group. The group may address questions of authority, such as the necessity of a primary spokesperson and the delegation of roles within the group. Wallace Supply Company, an industrial distributor of pipes, valves, and fittings, found employee teams particularly valuable

in raising and answering questions of authority. The teams concluded that leadership ought to be facilitative and that certain responsibilities could be delegated to teams themselves.

As a team moves into the performing stage, it becomes more strategically aware of its mission and purpose. In this stage of development, the group has successfully worked through interpersonal, task, and authority issues and can stand on its own with little interference from the leader. Disagreements are resolved positively with necessary changes to structure and processes attended to by the team. A mature group is able to control its members through the judicious application of positive and negative sanctions based on the evaluation of specific behaviors. Recent research shows that evaluation biases stemming from liking someone operate in face-to-face groups but not in

electronic groups, such as virtual teams. Members at this stage do not need to be instructed but may ask for assistance from the leader in regard to personal or interpersonal development.

The final stage of group development is the adjourning stage. When the task is completed, everyone on the team can move on to new and different things. Team members retain a sense of accomplishment and feel good knowing that their purpose was fulfilled. The leader’s role at this point is primarily to recognize the group’s achievements. But unless the group is a task force or other informal team, most groups in organizations remain at the performing stage and do not disband as the adjourning stage suggests.

9-4c Punctuated Equilibrium Model

Though it is still highly cited in team and group research, Tuckman’s model may be unrealistic from an organizational perspective. Research has shown that many teams experience relational conflicts at different times and in different contexts. Connie Gersick proposes that groups do not necessarily progress linearly from one step to another in a predetermined sequence but alternate between periods of inertia with little visible progress toward goal achievement. Progress is punctuated by bursts of energy as work groups develop. It is in these bursts that the

majority of work is accomplished. For example, a task force given nine months to complete a task may use the first four months to choose its norms, explore contextual issues, and determine how it will communicate. The final five months would then be dedicated to executing the task itself.

9-4d Characteristics of a Mature Group

A mature group has four characteristics: a clear purpose and mission, well-understood norms and standards of conduct, a high level of group cohesion, and a flexible status structure.

Purpose and Mission

The group’s purpose and mission may be assigned (as in the example of the Goolsby Leadership Academy task force) or emerge from within the group (as in the example of the AT&T National Running Team). In the case of an assigned mission, the group may embrace the mission as stated or reexamine, revise, or question it. The importance of mission is exemplified by IBM’s Process Quality Management, which requires that a process team of no more

than twelve people develop a clear understanding of the group’s mission as the first step in the process. The IBM approach demands that all members agree to go in the same direction. The mission statement is converted into a specific agenda, clear goals, and a set of critical success factors. Stating the purpose and mission in the form of

specific goals enhances productivity and performance far more effectively than individual goal setting.

Behavioral Norms

Behav-ioral norms, which evolve over time, are well-understood standards of behavior within a group. They are benchmarks against which team members are evaluated by other team members. Although some become written rules, such as an attendance policy or an ethical code, other norms remain informal, such as dress codes and norms

about after-hours socializing. Additionally, behavioral norms may evolve around performance and productivity. For example, productivity norms can influence the performance of sports teams in office leagues as well as in the

professional realm.

A group’s productivity norm may or may not be consistent with the organization’s productivity standards. A high- performance team sets productivity standards above organizational expectations, average teams set productivity standards consistent with organizational expectations, and noncompliant or counterproductive teams set productivity standards below organizational expectations, sometimes with the intent of damaging the organization or creating change. Usually, however, behavioral norms affect organizational culture in a beneficial way for all.

Group Cohesion

Group cohesion enables a group to exercise effective control over its members in relation to its behavioral norms and standards. Among the threats to a group’s cohesion are goal conflict, unpleasant experiences, and domination of a subgroup. Groups with low levels of cohesion have greater difficulty exercising control over their members and enforcing their standards of behavior; hence, they are more vulnerable to such threats. Specifically, work-related tensions and anxieties increase in highly cohesive teams and decrease in teams low in cohesion, as depicted in Figure 9.2. This relationship suggests that cohesion has a calming effect on team members.

Figure 9.2Cohesiveness and Work-Related Tension* The measure of tension at work is based on group mean response to the question “Does your work ever make you feel ‘jumpy’ or nervous?” A low numerical score represents relatively high tension.

Note: Product–moment correlation is 0.28, and critical ratio is 4.20; the group cohesion–tension relationship is highly significant at the .001 level.

SOURCE: S. E. Seashore, Group Cohesiveness in the Industrial Work Group, 1954. Research conducted by Stanley E. Seashore at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. Reprinted by permission.

Having Good Meetings

Dan Rosensweig, CEO of Chegg, which rents textbooks online and by mail, has some basic strategies for keeping team meetings productive. First, they stick to the clock. That means starting on time and ending on time. Second, no technology. That means BlackBerrys and iPhones are off, and there’s no Twitter, no Facebook, and no e-mail. Using these kinds of strategies to keep meetings focused can help make them more productive. As Rosensweig puts it, “Wherever you are, be all in.”

SOURCE: D. Rosensweig, “Corner Office: Remember to Thank Your Star Players,” interview by A. Bryant, The New York Times (July 9, 2010), http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/business/11corner.html?_r=1, accessed July 20, 2010.

In addition, actual productivity was found to vary significantly less in highly cohesive teams, making them much more predictable. The actual productivity levels, though, were primarily determined by the productivity norms within each work group. Thus, highly cohesive groups with high production standards were very productive, but highly cohesive groups with low productivity standards were unproductive despite their high level of cohesion. Nevertheless, no matter what the productivity was, member satisfaction, commitment, and communication were greater in highly cohesive groups.

Group cohesion is influenced by a number of factors, most notably time, size, the prestige of the team, external pressure, and internal competition. Usually cohesion evolves gradually throughout group development. In other words, the more time a group spends together, the more cohesive it will be. Also, smaller groups—those of five or seven members, for example—tend to be more cohesive than those of more than twenty-five, although cohesion does not decline much with size after forty or more members.

Groups like the U.S. Navy Blue Angels are highly cohesive.

© Christopher Parypa/ Shutterstock.com

Prestige or social status may enhance a group’s cohesion as well. More prestigious groups, such as the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds or the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, are highly cohesive. However, even groups of very low prestige may be highly cohesive as a result of other factors tending toward cohesion, such as the aforementioned factors of longer time together and smaller group size. Finally, external pressure and internal competition are two other factors influencing group cohesion. Although the mechanics’ union, pilots, and other internal constituencies at Eastern Airlines had various differences of opinion, they all pulled together in a cohesive fashion in resisting Frank Lorenzo when he came in to reshape the airline before its demise. Whereas external pressures tend to enhance it, internal competition usually decreases cohesion within a team. One study found that company-imposed pressure disrupted

group cohesion by increasing internal competition and reducing cooperative interpersonal activity.

Status Structure

Status structureStatus structureThe set of authority and task relations among a group’s members.is the set of authority and task relations among a group’s members. It may be hierarchical or egalitarian, depending on the group. Successful resolution of the authority issue within a team results in a well-understood status structure of leader–follower relationships. Where leadership problems arise, it is important to find solutions and build team

leader effectiveness. Although groups usually have just one leader, teams tend to share leadership. For example, one person may be the team’s taskmaster, who sets the agenda, initiates much of the work activity, and ensures that the team meets its deadlines. Another team member may take a leadership role in maintaining effective interpersonal relationships in the group. Hence, shared leadership is very feasible in teams. An effective status

structure results in role interrelatedness among group members. Bill Perez and Bill Wrigley have promoted interrelatedness through a tag-team style of cooperation in leadership that has served the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company well.

9-5 Task and Maintenance Functions

An effective group or team carries out various task functions to perform its work successfully and various

maintenance functions to ensure member satisfaction and a sense of team spirit. Teams that successfully fulfill these functions afford their members the potential for the social benefits of psychological intimacy and integrated

involvement we discussed at the beginning of the chapter. Table 9.2 presents nine task and nine maintenance functions in teams or groups.

Table 9.2

Task and Maintenance Functions in Teams or Groups

TASK FUNCTIONS MAINTENANCE FUNCTIONS

Initiating activities Supporting others

Seeking information Following others’ leads

Giving information Gatekeeping communication

Elaborating concepts Setting standards

Coordinating activities Expressing member feelings

Summarizing ideas Testing group decisions

Testing ideas Consensus testing

Evaluating effectiveness Harmonizing conflict

Diagnosing problems Reducing tension

© Cengage Learning 2013

Task functionsTask functionsAn activity directly related to the effective completion of a team’s work.are those activities directly related to the effective completion of the team’s work. For example, the task of initiating activity involves suggesting ideas, defining problems, and proposing approaches and/or solutions to problems. The task of seeking information involves asking for ideas, suggestions, information, or facts. A study of security analysts found that the quality of colleagues’ work helped to improve and maintain the quality of individual member

performance. Effective teams have members who fulfill various task functions as they are required.

Different task functions vary in importance throughout the life cycle of a group. For example, during the engineering test periods for new technologies, the engineering team needs members who focus on testing the practical applications of suggestions and those who diagnose problems and suggest solutions. The effective use of task functions leads to the success of the group. In one case, the successful initiation and coordination of an

emergency room team’s activities by the senior resident saved the life of a knife wound victim. The victim was stabbed one-quarter inch below the heart, and the team acted quickly to stem the bleeding, begin intravenous fluids, and monitor the victim’s vital signs.

Maintenance functionsMaintenance functionsAn activity essential to effective, satisfying interpersonal relationships within a team or group.are those activities essential to the effective, satisfying interpersonal relationships within a group or team. Following another group member’s lead may be as important as being a leader. Communication gatekeepers within a group ensure balanced contributions from all members. Because task activities build tension within teams or groups, tension-reduction activities are important to drain off negative or destructive feelings. In a study of twenty-five work groups over a five-year period, humor and joking behavior were

found to enhance the social relationships in the groups. The researchers concluded that performance improvements in the twenty-five groups indirectly resulted from improved relationships attributable to the humor and joking behaviors. Maintenance functions enhance togetherness, cooperation, and teamwork, enabling members to achieve psychological intimacy while furthering the success of the team. Jody Grant’s supportive attitude and comfortable demeanor as chairman and CEO of Texas Capital Bancshares enabled him to build a vibrant bank in the aftermath of the great Texas banking crash. Grant was respected for his expertise and his ability to build relationships. Both task and maintenance functions are important for successful groups and teams.

9-6 Factors that Influence Group Effectiveness

Work team effectiveness in the new team environment requires management’s attention to both work team

structure and work team process. In addition to how the team is structured and what the team does, diversity and creativity are emerging as two areas with significant impact on team performance.

9-6a Work Team Structure

Work team structure issues include goals and objectives, operating guidelines, performance measures, and role specification. A work team’s goals and objectives specify what must be achieved, while the operating guidelines set the organizational boundaries and decision-making limits within which the team must function. The goal-setting process discussed in Chapter 6 applies to work teams, too. In addition to these two structural elements, the work team needs to know what performance measures are being used to assess its task accomplishment. For example, a medical emergency team’s performance measures might include the success rate in saving critically injured patients and the average number of hours a patient is in the emergency room before being transferred to a hospital bed.

Finally, work team structure requires a clearly specified set of roles for the executives and managers who oversee the work of the team, for the work team leaders who exercise influence over team members, and for team members. These role specifications should include information about required role behaviors, such as decision making and task performance, as well as restrictions or limits on role behaviors, such as the limitations on managerial interventions in work team activities and decision making. Expectations as well as experience may be

especially important for newcomer role performance in work teams.

9-6b Work Team Process

Work team process is the second important dimension of effectiveness. Two of the important process issues in work teams are the managing of cooperative behaviors and the managing of competitive behaviors. Both sets of behaviors are helpful in task accomplishment, and they should be viewed as complementary. Cooperative teamwork skills include open communication, trust, personal integrity, positive interdependence, and mutual support. On the other hand, positive competitive teamwork skills include the ability to enjoy competition, play fair, and be a good winner or loser; to have access to information for monitoring where the team and members are in the competition; and not to overgeneralize or exaggerate the results of any specific competition. In a study of reward structures in seventy-five four-member teams, competitive rewards enhanced speed of performance, while cooperative rewards

enhanced accuracy of performance.

Work team process issues have become more complex in the global workplace, where teams are composed of members from many cultures and backgrounds. This complexity is increased by the presence of virtual work teams operating on the global landscape. In addition to the process issues of cooperation, competition, and diversity, three other process issues are related to topics we discuss elsewhere in the text. These are empowerment, which is discussed in the next major section of this chapter; team decision making, which is discussed in Chapter 10; and conflict management and resolution, which are discussed in Chapter 13.

9-6c Diversity

Diversity also plays a large role in how effective work groups and teams are. Diversity in a group is healthy, and members may contribute to the collective effort through one of four basic styles: the contributor, the collaborator,

the communicator, or the challenger. The contributor is data driven, supplies necessary information, and adheres to high performance standards. The collaborator sees the big picture and is able to keep a constant focus on the mission and urge other members to join efforts for mission accomplishment. The communicator listens well, facilitates the group’s process, and humanizes the collective effort. The challenger is the devil’s advocate who questions everything from the group’s mission, purpose, and methods to its ethics. Members may exhibit one or more of these four basic styles over a period of time. In addition, an effective group must have an integrator,

especially when the group is a cross-functional one, where different perspectives carry the seeds of conflict. However, cross-functional teams are not necessarily a problem. Effectively managing cross-functional teams of

artists, designers, printers, and financial experts enabled Hallmark Cards to cut its new product development time

in half.

Diversity in a group is healthy.

© Dean Drobot/ Shutterstock.com

Virtual Workforce Managers and Freelance Teams

Xerox, Alpha Consulting, Kelly Services, MedFocus, and UBM TechWeb are among the organizations employing virtual workforce managers. These managers are more like conductors who must build their own freelance teams of skilled professionals and then orchestrate them to work like musicians even if the ensemble never meets face to face. Teamwork is at the heart of good business and freelance teams are essential for startup businesses looking to scale operations flexibly as well as large companies who outsource bits of projects. Virtual workforce managers are a key to overseeing the entire process, from recruiting the team to final product. Building and orchestrating freelance teams is the key to these managers’ success. Once they have recruited a team of skilled professionals, they must be able to use social enterprise technology to guide them through each step of the work process. To be effective, the manager and the team must work seamlessly like the conductor and musicians in an orchestra, functioning with well-orchestrated interdependence. Virtual workforce managers must be seasoned in order to understand teams, teamwork, and the work itself.

SOURCE: A. Konrad, “Virtual-Workforce Manager,” Fortune (July 23, 2012): 32.

Dissimilarity

Recent research in diversity has focused on the effect of dissimilarity within a team. This issue is often studied in relation to social identity theory and self-categorization theory. Since creativity concerns new ideas, some amount

of dissimilarity is necessary within a team in order for creativity, novelty, and innovation to blossom. Although creativity is discussed in some detail in Chapter 10, we address it briefly here in the context of teams.

We defined diversity in Chapter 1 in terms of individual differences. Recent relational demography research finds that demographic dissimilarity influences employees’ absenteeism, commitment, turnover intentions, beliefs, work

group relationships, self-esteem, and OCB. Thus, dissimilarity may have positive or negative effects in teams and on team members. Racial dissimilarity may also impact the extent to which team members communicate with each

other and develop a sense of group identity. While value dissimilarity may be positively related to task and

relationship conflict, it is negatively related to team involvement. This fact highlights the importance of managing dissimilarity in teams, being open to diversity, and turning conflicts about ideas into positive outcomes.

Functional background is one way to look at dissimilarity in teams. One study of 262 professionals in thirty-seven cross-functional teams found that promoting social identification with functional background helped individuals

perform better as team members. Another study of multifunctional management teams in a Fortune 100

company found that functional background predicted team involvement. Finally, in a slightly different study of 129 members on twenty multidisciplinary project teams, informational dissimilarity had no adverse effects when

there was member task and goal congruence.

Structural Diversity

Structural diversity concerns the number of structural holes, or disconnections between members, within a work team. One research study examined structural diversity and performance of nineteen teams in a wood-products company. The investigators were interested in demographic diversity among team members as well as the structural diversity, or presence of structural holes, in the teams. Neither race nor gender was a demographic factor that influenced the proportion of structural holes within the teams. However, age diversity significantly improved structural integrity. Hence, greater variance in age within a team leads to more member-to-member connections and fewer member-to-member disconnections.

Are disconnections of team members good or bad for the team? What are the consequences of having more or fewer structural holes between team members? Teams with few structural holes may have problems with creativity, while teams with a high proportion of structural holes may have difficulty coordinating. These observations led the researchers to conclude that there is a curvilinear relationship between structural diversity, or structural integrity, and team performance. The teams with moderate structural diversity achieve the best performance. This research is important because it points out that managers should look at the overall structure and network of relationships within their work teams in addition to the individual characteristics of team members

in attempting to achieve the best performance from these teams.

9-6d Creativity

Creativity is often thought of in an individual context rather than a team context. However, there is such a thing as team creativity. In a study of fifty-four research and development teams, team creativity scores were explained by

aggregation processes across both people and time. In another study of creative behavior, a Korean electronics company found that individual dissimilarity in age and performance, as well as functional diversity within the team, positively affected individual employees’ creative behavior.

Some think that the deck is stacked against teams as agents of creativity. Leigh Thompson, a management and organizations professor at Northwestern University, thinks differently and suggests that team creativity and divergent thinking can be enhanced through greater diversity in teams, electronic brainstorming, training

facilitators, membership change in teams, electronic brainstorming, and building a playground. These practices can overcome social loafing, conformity, and downward norm setting in teams and organizations. Team members might exercise care in timing the insertion of their novel ideas into the team process so as to maximize the positive

impact and benefits.

Empowerment and Self-Managed Teams

To be successful, teams require a culture of empowerment in the organization in which they are implemented. This is especially true of self-managed teams, discussed shortly, which are designed to take on responsibilities and address issues traditionally reserved for management.

Empowerment may be thought of as an attribute of a person or of an organization’s culture. As an organizational

culture attribute, empowerment encourages participation, an essential ingredient for teamwork. Quality action teams (QATs) at FedEx are the primary quality improvement process (QIP) technique used by the company to engage

management and hourly employees in four- to ten-member problem-solving teams. The teams are empowered to act and solve problems as specific as charting the best route from the Phoenix airport to the local distribution center or as global as making major software enhancements to the online package-tracking system.

Empowerment may give employees the power of a lightning strike, but empowered employees must be properly

focused through careful planning and preparation before they strike.

To be successful, teams require a culture of empowerment in the organization in which they are implemented.

9-7a Empowerment Skills

Empowerment through employee self-management is an alternative to empowerment through teamwork. Whether through self-management or teamwork, empowerment requires the development of certain skills if it is to be enacted effectively.

Competence skills are the first set of skills required for empowerment. Mastery and experience in one’s chosen discipline and profession provide an essential foundation for empowerment. New employees and trainees should experience only limited empowerment until they demonstrate the capacity to accept more responsibility.

Empowerment also requires certain process skills. The most critical process skills include negotiating skills,

especially with allies, opponents, and adversaries. Allies are the easiest people to negotiate with because they agree with you about the team’s mission and you can trust their actions and behavior. Opponents require a different negotiating strategy; although you can predict their actions and behavior, they do not agree with your concept of the team’s mission. Adversaries are dangerous, difficult people to negotiate with because you cannot predict their actions or behaviors and they do not agree with your concept of the team’s mission.

A third set of empowerment skills involves the development of cooperative and helping behaviors. Cooperative people engage in encouraging, helpful behavior to maximize the gains for everyone on the team. The alternative orientations to cooperation are competitive, individualistic, and egalitarian approaches. Competitive people are motivated to maximize their personal gains regardless of the expense to other people. This motivation can be very counterproductive to the team. Individualistic people are motivated to act autonomously, though not necessarily to maximize their personal gains. They are less prone to contribute to the efforts of the team. Egalitarian people are motivated to equalize the outcomes for each team member, which may or may not be beneficial to the team’s well- being. Paradoxically, the team members who need the most help often get the least help because helping behaviors

often target the most expert team members, a dynamic that actually compromises overall team performance.

Communication skills are a final set of essential empowerment skills. These skills include self-expression skills and skills in reflective listening. Empowerment cannot occur in a team unless members are able to express themselves effectively as well as listen carefully to one another.

9-7b Self-Managed Teams

Self-managed teamsSelf-managed teamsA team that makes decisions that were once reserved for managers., also called self-directed teams or autonomous work groups, are teams that make decisions that were once reserved for managers. Self-managed teams are one way to implement empowerment in organizations. Even though self-managed teams are self-directed, that fact does not negate the influence of managers. In fact, managers

have an important role in providing leadership and influence. There is strong support for the use of soft-

influence tactics in managers’ communication with self-directed teams, which yields more positive results.

A one-year study of self-managed teams suggests that they have a positive impact on employee attitudes but not on

absenteeism or turnover. Evaluative research is helpful in achieving a better understanding of this relatively new way of approaching teamwork and the design of work. Such research helps establish expectations for self-managed teams. Nevertheless, there are risks, such as groupthink in self-managed teams, that must be prevented or managed

if the team is to achieve full development and function.

It is noteworthy that one evaluation of empowerment, teams, and Total Quality Management (TQM) programs found that companies associated with these popular management techniques did not have higher economic

performance. Other evaluations of self-managed teams are more positive. Southwest Industries, a high- technology aerospace manufacturing firm, embarked on a major internal reorganization in the early 1990s that included the creation of self-managed teams to fit its high-technology production process. Southwest’s team approach resulted in a 30 percent increase in shipments, a 30 percent decrease in lead time, a 40 percent decrease

in total inventory, a decrease in machinery downtime, and almost a one-third decrease in production costs. An overall positive history has resulted in U.S.-based multinational corporations increasingly using self-managed teams in their global operations.

© Corbis/Photolibrary

SOURCE: D. Hambrick, “The Seasons of an Executive’s Tenure”, keynote address, the Sixth Annual Texas Conference on Organizations, Lago Vista, Texas, April 1991.

9-8a Diversity at the Top

From an organizational health standpoint, diversity and depth in the top management team enhance the CEO’s

well-being. From a performance standpoint, the CEO’s top management team can influence the timing of the performance peak, the degree of dysfunction during the closing season of the CEO’s tenure, and the rate of decline in organizational performance. Thus, diversity and heterogeneity in the top management team help sustain high levels of organizational performance at the peak and help maintain the CEO’s vitality. A study of 207 U.S. firms in eleven industries found that functional diversity of top management teams had a positive effect on firm

performance as the proportion of leaders in the same location increased.

The presence of a so-called wild turkey in the top management team can be a particularly positive force. The wild turkey is a devil’s advocate who challenges the thinking of the CEO and other top executives and provides a counterpoint during debates. If not shouted down or inhibited, the wild turkey helps the CEO and the team sustain peak performance and retard the CEO’s dysfunction and decline. For example, former Secretary of State Colin Powell enhanced President George W. Bush’s administration by exercising an independent voice. Often taking a more moderate position on policy issues than either the secretary of defense or the vice president, Powell brought variance and value to President Bush’s administration.

Leaders must develop communication strategies to bring together team members who are functionally, intellectually, demographically, and temperamentally diverse so that they can act in ways that complement one another. It is out of dissimilarity that strength is developed, and it is out of similarity that connections are built. Therefore, top management should strive for a balance of dissimilarity and similarity within work teams.

The wild turkey is a devil’s advocate who challenges the thinking of the CEO and provides a counterpoint during debates.

© Mike Neale/ Shutterstock.Com

Most organizations report benefits from increased diversity.

We conclude that the leadership, composition, and dynamics of the top management team have an important influence on the organization’s performance, leading, in some cases, to a change from having only one CEO to having more than one. Current research has shown a dramatic increase in the number of co-CEO arrangements in

both public and private corporations. While more common in Europe than in the United States, a historical U.S. example of a co-CEO arrangement includes a three-member team created by Walter Wriston while he was chairman at Citicorp (now part of Citigroup).

9-8b Multicultural Top Teams

Homogeneous groups, in which all members share similar backgrounds, are giving way to token groups, in which all but one member come from the same background; bicultural groups, in which two or more members represent each of two distinct cultures; and multicultural groups, in which members represent three or more ethnic

backgrounds. On the negative side, diversity within a group may increase the uncertainty, complexity, and

inherent confusion in group processes, making it more difficult for the group to achieve its full productivity. On the positive side, most organizations report benefits from increased diversity, such as Merck, which attributes its long-term success to its leadership model that promotes diversity. Chairman, President, and CEO Ray Gilmartin values diversity in Merck’s top management team because he believes that it sparks innovation when employees with different perspectives work together to offer solutions. Diversities of age and educational specialization within top management teams were found in other studies to have a positive effect on team performance, especially when

members needed to participate in cognitive tasks. A recent study found that the performance of top management teams was greatly increased when the CEO had numerous shared experiences with executives from other

companies and cultures. The advantages of culturally diverse groups appear to include the generation of more and better ideas while limiting the risk of groupthink, to be discussed in Chapter 10.

In Review

What about You? How Much Diversity Is on Your Team?

This exercise allows you to explore the level of diversity on your team. Listed below are words that describe a variety of individual differences in the workplace.

Categories and Types of Diversity

Surface-Level Deep-Level

Social-category differences

 Race

 Ethnicity

 Gender

 Age

 Religion

 Sexual orientation

 Physical abilities

Differences in knowledge or skills

 Education

 Functional knowledge

 Information or expertise

 Training

 Experience

 Abilities

Differences in values or beliefs

 Cultural background

 Ideological beliefs

Personality differences

 Cognitive style

 Affective disposition

 Motivational factors

Organizational-or community-status differences

 Tenure or length of service

Categories and Types of Diversity

Surface-Level Deep-Level

 Position title

Differences in social and network ties

 Work-related ties

 Friendship ties

 Community ties

 In-group memberships

Think about the level of diversity you have on your team.

1. Which of the above-listed attributes are in your team? 2. What attributes contribute to team effectiveness/performance? 3. What diversity characteristics need to be added to your team to make it more effective?

SOURCE: Adapted from E. Mannix and M. A. Neale, “What Differences Make a Difference?” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 6 (2005): 31–55.

In Review

Test your knowledge

1. What is the difference between a group and a team? 2. What are the components of Tuckman’s Five-Stage Model? 3. Describe the four characteristics of mature groups. 4. Describe five task and five maintenance functions that effective work teams must perform. 5. What are the benefits and potential drawbacks of self-managed teams?