Team Development.html

Team Development

Tuckman's (1965) classic work on how groups and teams form identifies five stages of group development.

• Forming is characterized by uncertainty or confusion about the purpose, structure, and leadership of the group. There is a tendency to focus on group members' efforts to understand and define their objectives, roles, and assignments within the group. This stage is complete when individuals begin to view themselves as part of a group.
• Storming is marked by conflict and confrontation. It is emotionally intense and may involve competition among members for desired assignments and disagreement over appropriate task-related behaviors and responsibilities. It is essential that conflict is managed rather than suppressed. Suppression is likely to create negative effects that can seriously hinder group functioning in later stages.
• Norming is characterized by cooperation, collaboration, and open exchange of information. Differences of opinion are accepted, and there is an active attempt to achieve mutually agreed-upon goals and objectives. Behavioral norms are established and accepted.
• Performing is the stage when the group is fully functional. Group structure is set, and the role of each member is understood and accepted. The group focuses energies, efforts, and commitments on accomplishing the tasks it has accepted. For some groups, this level remains constant. For others, development is ongoing.
• Adjourning is the stage of termination of group activities. Some groups are permanent and never reach the adjourning stage. Temporary groups (e.g., committees, project groups) are disbanded when their purposes are fulfilled. This stage can be marked by very positive emotions centering on successful task accomplishment and achievement. However, it may also engender feelings of loss, disappointment, or even anger.

Reference:

Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological            Bulletin, 63(6), 384–399.

Although there is no universal classification for describing different types of teams, some common team types include:

• Problem-Solving Teams: Formed to deal with a current or potential issue.
• Cross-Functional Teams: Consists of members from different functional departments (e.g., research and development, marketing, sales, etc.) for a variety of possible purposes.
• Virtual Teams: Geographically dispersed members assembled using various technologies to accomplish goals.
• Research and Development Teams: Used to develop new products.
• Self-Managed Teams: Empowered to perform certain activities based on the procedures, policies, and decisions made by the team.

Team Behavior.html

Team Behavior

Several interrelated principles are important for stimulating effective team behavior.

• Team thinking: Members need to know how to function as a team. Training might be required to enhance team problem-solving skills, interpersonal skills, conflict management, and creative thinking. Teams fail when the members do not function as a unit.
• Empowerment: Teams need the authority to make the decisions and act upon the responsibilities they have been given. Teams need to have space to develop their own work procedures and accountability systems. Teams that lack authority are generally less effective.
• Communication: Team members require information. Traditionally, information has been the domain of management. Many teams fail because management is unwilling to share necessary information with the teams it creates.
• Rewards: Most organizational rewards systems are individually based. However, to stimulate effective team behaviors, teams should be rewarded as a unit.
• Size and skills: Generally, teams should be kept as small as possible to complete the team tasks. Larger sizes introduce greater potential for interaction and decision-making problems. However, attention should be given to make sure that team members collectively possess the necessary skills, information, and experience to complete the team assignment.
• Common purpose: Teams should be given a reason to exist that is embraced by all the team members. Teams fail when members prioritize personal goals over team goals or when teams splinter and pursue different goals.

An organization may have many groups, but not every group of people is a team. Many of the systems principles discussed in Week 1 also apply to teams. For example, teams exhibit wholeness (every member affects and is affected by every other member) and nonsummativity (the whole is greater than the sum of its parts). Additional characteristics of a team include:

• A team is small enough for members to be aware of each other and have consistent interactions.
• Members have a sense of belongingness or membership.
• A team operates by norms and procedures that are accepted by members.

Team members have a mutually interdependent purpose where the success of each is dependent on the others.

Decision Making.html

Decision Making

Have you ever thought about how you make a decision? Do you decide only after conducting research on a variety of alternatives, weighing the risks associated with each alternative, and consulting affected parties, or do you tend to rely on your intuition? Research (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly, & Konopaske, 2012) has shown that the following best practices help in making the highest-quality decisions:

• Establish specific goals and objectives for the organization and determine how progress toward the goals and objectives will be measured.
• Identify problems that may get in the way of achieving these goals and objectives.
• Create multiple realistic alternatives to achieve these goals and objectives.
• Assess the alternatives and select the one that will provide for the best outcome.
• Implement the decision through the use of transparent communication.
• Gauge the decision progress on a preset, periodic basis.

Reference:

Gibson, J., Ivancevich, J., Donnelly, J., & Konopaske, R. (2012).            Organizations: Behavior, structure, processes (14th ed.).            New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin

Groups usually take more time to reach a decision than do individuals, but bringing specialists and experts together has benefits. The mutually reinforcing effect of their interaction can result in better decisions, especially when members have highly diverse backgrounds and the group periodically adjusts its goals and objectives. In fact, a great deal of research has shown that consensus decisions with five or more participants are superior to decisions made by individuals, by majority vote, and by the leader on many issues.

Additional Materials

View the PDF transcript for Behavioral Influences on Decision Making 

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