Group dynamics for teams daniel levi pdf

Group Dynamics for Teams 5th Edition

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Group Dynamics for Teams

5th Edition

Daniel Levi California Polytechnic State University, San Luis

Obispo

Los Angeles London

New Delhi Singapore

Washington DC

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Brief Contents

1. Acknowledgments 2. About the Author 3. Introduction 4. PART I: CHARACTERISTICS OF TEAMS

1. Chapter 1. Understanding Teams 2. Chapter 2. Defining Team Success

5. PART II: PROCESSES OF TEAMWORK 1. Chapter 3. Team Beginnings 2. Chapter 4. Understanding the Basic Team Processes 3. Chapter 5. Cooperation and Competition 4. Chapter 6. Communication

6. PART III: ISSUES TEAMS FACE 1. Chapter 7. Managing Conflict 2. Chapter 8. Power and Social Influence 3. Chapter 9. Decision Making 4. Chapter 10. Leadership 5. Chapter 11. Problem Solving 6. Chapter 12. Creativity 7. Chapter 13. Diversity

7. PART IV: ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT OF TEAMS 1. Chapter 14. Team, Organizational, and International Culture 2. Chapter 15. Virtual Teamwork 3. Chapter 16. Evaluating and Rewarding Teams 4. Chapter 17. Team Building and Team Training

8. Appendix: Guide to Student Team Projects 9. References 10. Index

Detailed Contents

1. Acknowledgments 2. About the Author 3. Introduction 4. PART I: CHARACTERISTICS OF TEAMS

1. Chapter 1. Understanding Teams 1. Learning Objectives 2. 1.1 Defining Groups and Teams 3. 1.2 Purposes and Types of Teams

1. How Teams Are Used by Organizations 2. Classifying Teams

4. 1.3 Why Organizations Use Teams 1. Job Characteristics 2. Organizational Characteristics

5. 1.4 History of Teams and Group Dynamics 1. Foundations of Teamwork 2. Foundations of Group Dynamics

6. Leading Virtual Teams: Virtual Meetings and Virtual Collaboration— Selecting Technologies to Use for Your Team

7. Summary 8. Team Leader ’s Challenge 1 9. Survey: Attitudes Toward Teamwork 10. Activity: Working in Teams

2. Chapter 2. Defining Team Success 1. Learning Objectives 2. 2.1 Nature of Team Success

1. Completing the Task 2. Developing Social Relations 3. Benefiting the Individual

3. 2.2 Conditions for Team Success 1. Team Composition 2. Characteristics of the Task 3. Group Process 4. Organizational Context

4. 2.3 Characteristics of Successful Teams 5. 2.4 Positive Psychology View of Team Success 6. 2.5 Using Teams in the Workplace

1. Benefits of Teamwork 2. Problems of Teamwork 3. When the Use of Teams Becomes a Fad

7. Summary 8. Team Leader ’s Challenge 2 9. Activity: Understanding Team Success

5. PART II: PROCESSES OF TEAMWORK 1. Chapter 3. Team Beginnings

1. Learning Objectives 2. 3.1 Stages of Teamwork

1. Group Development Perspective 2. Project Development Perspective 3. Cyclical Perspective 4. Implications of Team Development Stages

3. 3.2 Group Socialization 4. 3.3 Team Goals

1. Value and Characteristics of Goals 2. Hidden Agendas

5. 3.4 Team Norms 1. How Norms Are Formed 2. Impact of Team Norms

6. 3.5 Application: Jump-Starting Project Teams 1. Team Warm-Ups 2. Project Definitions and Planning 3. Team Contract

7. Leading Virtual Teams: Starting a Virtual Team 8. Summary 9. Team Leader ’s Challenge 3 10. Activity: Observing Team Norms 11. Activity: Developing a Team Contract

2. Chapter 4. Understanding the Basic Team Processes 1. Learning Objectives 2. 4.1 Motivation

1. Social Loafing 2. Increasing Team Motivation

3. 4.2 Group Cohesion 1. How Cohesion Affects the Team’s Performance 2. Building Group Cohesion

4. 4.3 Team Roles 1. Role Problems

2. Types of Team Meeting Roles 5. 4.4 Task and Social Behaviors

1. Value of Social Behaviors 6. 4.5 Team Adaptation and Learning

1. Reflexivity 2. Using Feedback 3. Group Process Observations

7. Leading Virtual Teams: Motivating Participation in Virtual Meetings 8. Summary 9. Team Leader ’s Challenge 4 10. Activity: Observing Task and Social Behaviors

3. Chapter 5. Cooperation and Competition 1. Learning Objectives 2. 5.1 Teamwork as a Mixed-Motive Situation 3. 5.2 Why Are People in Teams Competitive?

1. Culture 2. Personality 3. Organizational Rewards

4. 5.3 Problems With Competition 1. Communication and Goal Confusion 2. Intergroup Competition 3. When Is Competition Appropriate?

5. 5.4 Benefits of and Problems With Cooperation 1. Benefits of Cooperation 2. Problems With Cooperation 3. Competitive Versus Cooperative Rewards

6. 5.5 Application: Encouraging Cooperation 1. Common Goals 2. Rebuilding Trust and Communication 3. Encouraging Altruistic Norms 4. Negotiating Cooperation

7. Leading Virtual Teams: Building Trust and Social Relationships 8. Summary 9. Team Leader ’s Challenge 5 10. Survey: Cooperative, Competitive, or Individualistic Orientation 11. Activity: Understanding Competitive Versus Cooperative Goals

4. Chapter 6. Communication 1. Learning Objectives 2. 6.1 Communication Process

1. Verbal Communication

2. Nonverbal Communication 3. Communication Within Teams

3. 6.2 Flow of a Team’s Communications 1. Dysfunctional Information Processing Within the Team 2. Gender and Communication 3. Building Trust 4. Psychological Safety 5. Communication Climates

4. 6.3 Emotional Intelligence 5. 6.4 Facilitating Team Meetings 6. 6.5 Communication Skills for Team Meetings 7. Leading Virtual Teams: Running Virtual Meetings to Ensure

Everyone Is Following the Agenda and People Arrive at the Same Understanding

8. Summary 9. Team Leader ’s Challenge 6 10. Survey: Team Emotional Intelligence 11. Activity: Observing Communication Patterns in a Team

6. PART III: ISSUES TEAMS FACE 1. Chapter 7. Managing Conflict

1. Learning Objectives 2. 7.1 Conflict Is Normal 3. 7.2 Sources of Conflict 4. 7.3 Impact of Conflict

1. Benefits of and Problems With Conflict 2. Conflict in Work Teams 3. Conflict Management

5. 7.4 Conflict Resolution Approaches 1. Two Dimensions of Conflict 2. Comparing Different Approaches to Conflict Resolution

6. 7.5 Managing Team Conflicts 1. Preparing for Conflicts 2. Facilitating Conflicts 3. Virtual Team Conflicts 4. Negotiating Conflicts

7. Leading Virtual Teams: Reducing Conflict and Developing Collaboration

8. Summary 9. Team Leader ’s Challenge 7 10. Survey: Conflict Resolution Styles

11. Activity: Observing Conflict Resolution Styles 2. Chapter 8. Power and Social Influence

1. Learning Objectives 2. 8.1 Definitions of Power and Social Influence

1. Conformity 2. Obedience

3. 8.2 Types of Power 1. Bases of Power 2. Influence Tactics

4. 8.3 Power Dynamics 1. Status and the Corrupting Effect of Power 2. Unequal Power in a Team 3. Minority Influence 4. Impact of Interdependence

5. 8.4 Empowerment 1. Degrees of Empowerment Programs 2. Successful Empowerment Programs

6. 8.5 Application: Acting Assertively 1. Power Styles 2. Use of Power Styles 3. Encouraging Assertiveness

7. Leading Virtual Teams: Ensuring Dissenting Voices Are Heard and Empowering the Team

8. Summary 9. Team Leader ’s Challenge 8 10. Activity: Using Power Styles—Passive, Aggressive, and Assertive

3. Chapter 9. Decision Making 1. Learning Objectives 2. 9.1 Value of Group Decision Making

1. Advantages and Disadvantages of Group Decision Making 2. When Are Group Decisions Superior to Individual Decisions?

3. 9.2 Approaches to Group Decision Making 1. Evaluating Group Decision-Making Approaches 2. Normative Decision-Making Theory

4. 9.3 Decision-Making Problems 1. Causes of Group Decision-Making Problems 2. Group Polarization 3. Groupthink

5. 9.4 Decision-Making Techniques 1. Nominal Group Technique

2. Delphi Technique 3. Ringi Technique 4. Evaluation of Decision-Making Techniques

6. 9.5 Application: Consensus Decision Making 7. Leading Virtual Teams: Encouraging Agreement on a Decision 8. Summary 9. Team Leader ’s Challenge 9 10. Activity: Making Consensus Decisions 11. Activity: Group Versus Individual Decision Making

4. Chapter 10. Leadership 1. Learning Objectives 2. 10.1 Alternative Designs of Leadership for Teams

1. Characteristics of Team Leadership 2. Shared Leadership 3. Leader Emergence

3. 10.2 Approaches to Leadership 1. Trait or Personality Approach 2. Behavioral Approach 3. Situational Approach 4. Contingency Approach

4. 10.3 Situational Leadership Theory 5. 10.4 Self-Managing Teams

1. Leading Self-Managing Teams 2. Motivating Self-Managing Teams 3. Success of Self-Managing Teams

6. 10.5 Application: The Functional Approach to Leading Teams 1. Providing a Context for Teams 2. Facilitating Internal Operations 3. Team Coaching

7. Leading Virtual Teams: New Approaches to Leadership in Virtual Teams

8. Summary 9. Team Leader ’s Challenge 10 10. Survey: Leadership Styles 11. Activity: Observing the Leader ’s Behavior

5. Chapter 11. Problem Solving 1. Learning Objectives 2. 11.1 Approaches to Problem Solving 3. 11.2 Descriptive Approach: How Teams Solve Problems 4. 11.3 Functional Approach: Advice on Improving Team Problem

Solving 1. Factors That Improve Team Problem Solving 2. Factors That Hurt Team Problem Solving

5. 11.4 Prescriptive Approach: Rational Problem-Solving Model 1. Problem Recognition, Definition, and Analysis 2. Generating Alternatives and Selecting a Solution 3. Implementation and Evaluation

6. 11.5 Problem-Solving Teams 7. 11.6 Application: Problem-Solving Techniques for Teams

1. Problem Analysis 2. Criteria Matrix 3. Action Plans 4. Force Field Analysis

8. Summary 9. Team Leader ’s Challenge 11 10. Activity: Using Problem-Solving Techniques

6. Chapter 12. Creativity 1. Learning Objectives 2. 12.1 Creativity and Its Characteristics 3. 12.2 Individual Creativity 4. 12.3 Group Creativity

1. Problems With Group Creativity 2. Brainstorming 3. Strengths of Team Creativity 4. Creativity as an Ongoing Team Process

5. 12.4 Organizational Environment and Creativity 6. 12.5 Application: Team Creativity Techniques

1. Brainstorming 2. Nominal Group Technique and Brainwriting 3. Selecting a Solution 4. Multiple-Stage Creativity Approaches

7. Leading Virtual Teams: Virtual Creativity 8. Summary 9. Team Leader ’s Challenge 12 10. Activity: Comparing Different Creativity Techniques

7. Chapter 13. Diversity 1. Learning Objectives 2. 13.1 The Nature of Diversity

1. Why Diversity Is Important Now 2. Types of Diversity

3. How Diversity Affects a Team 3. 13.2 Problems of Diversity

1. Misperception 2. Emotional Distrust 3. Failure to Use Team Resources

4. 13.3 Causes of Diversity Problems 1. Diversity as a Cognitive Process 2. Team Leader 3. Diversity as a Social Process

5. 13.4 Effects of Diversity 1. Research on the Effects of Diversity on Teams 2. Cross-Functional Teams

6. 13.5 Application: Creating a Context to Support Diversity 1. Increasing Awareness 2. Improving Group Process Skills 3. Creating a Safe Environment 4. Improving Organizational Issues

7. Summary 8. Team Leader ’s Challenge 13 9. Survey: Attitudes Toward Diversity 10. Activity: Understanding Gender and Status Differences in a Team

7. PART IV: ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT OF TEAMS 1. Chapter 14. Team, Organizational, and International Culture

1. Learning Objectives 2. 14.1 Team Culture 3. 14.2 Defining Organizational Culture 4. 14.3 Organizational Culture and Teamwork 5. 14.4 Dimensions of International Culture

1. Individualism Versus Collectivism 2. Power and Status 3. Uncertainty and Risk Avoidance 4. Comparing the United States and Japan

6. 14.5 International Differences in Teamwork 7. 14.6 Transnational Teams

1. Characteristics of Transnational Teams 2. Creating Effective Transnational Teams

8. Leading Virtual Teams: Dealing With Cultural Issues 9. Summary 10. Team Leader ’s Challenge 14 11. Survey: Individualism–Collectivism

12. Activity: Evaluating a Team’s Culture and Cultural Context 13. Activity: Comparing United States and Japanese Teams

2. Chapter 15. Virtual Teamwork 1. Learning Objectives 2. 15.1 Use of Communication Technologies

1. Communication Technologies and Teams 2. Characteristics of Communication Technologies

3. 15.2 Communication Impacts 1. Status Differences 2. Anonymity 3. Miscommunication 4. Communication Norms

4. 15.3 Team Impacts 1. Task Performance in Virtual Teams 2. Decision Making 3. Social Relations

5. 15.4 Selecting the Right Technology 1. Factors to Consider When Selecting Technology 2. Matching Technology to the Team and Task

6. 15.5 Challenge of Virtual Teams 1. Team Building in Virtual Teams 2. Future of Virtual Teams

7. Summary 8. Team Leader ’s Challenge 15 9. Activity: Developing Netiquette for Virtual Teams 10. Activity: Experiencing Teamwork in a Simulated Virtual Team

3. Chapter 16. Evaluating and Rewarding Teams 1. Learning Objectives 2. 16.1 Team Performance Evaluations

1. Types of Evaluations 2. Types of Measures 3. Participation in the Evaluation Process 4. Problems and Biases With Team Evaluations

3. 16.2 Reward Systems 1. Types of Approach 2. Hybrid Approaches

4. 16.3 Rewarding Individual Team Members 1. Changing Base Pay 2. Skill-Based Pay

5. 16.4 Team and Organizational Reward Programs

1. Team Recognition Programs 2. Organizational Rewards

6. 16.5 Relationship of Rewards to Types of Teams 1. Types of Teams 2. Linking Rewards to Types of Team

7. Summary 8. Team Leader ’s Challenge 16 9. Survey: Individual Versus Team Rewards 10. Activity: Evaluating and Rewarding a Project Team 11. Activity: Team Halo Effect

4. Chapter 17. Team Building and Team Training 1. Learning Objectives 2. 17.1 What Is Team Building?

1. Organizational Context of Team Building 2. Evaluating Team-Building Programs

3. 17.2 Does Your Team Need Team Building? 4. 17.3 Types of Team-Building Programs

1. Goal Setting 2. Role Clarification 3. Interpersonal Process Skills 4. Cohesion Building 5. Problem Solving

5. 17.4 Team Training 1. Training the Team Together 2. Planning for the Transfer of Training

6. 17.5 Types of Training 1. Team Resource Management Training 2. Cross-Training and Interpositional Training 3. Action Learning

7. Summary 8. Team Leader ’s Challenge 17 9. Activity: Team Building 10. Activity: Appreciative Inquiry of Teamwork

8. Appendix: Guide to Student Team Projects 1. A.1 Starting the Team

1. Team Warm-Ups 2. Development of a Team Contract 3. Leadership and Meeting Roles 4. Managing Team Technology

2. A.2 Planning and Developing the Project

1. Challenge the Assignment 2. Generation of Project Ideas 3. Brainwriting Method 4. Project Planning 5. Roles and Assignments 6. Reevaluation of the Project and Approach

3. A.3 Monitoring the Project and Maintaining Teamwork 1. Team Meetings: Sharing Information, Making Decisions, and

Tracking Assignments 2. Group Process Evaluations 3. Managing Problem Behaviors 4. Milestone: Midpoint Evaluation

4. A.4 Performing Team Writing 1. Overall Strategy 2. Division of Work

5. A.5 Wrapping Up and Completing the Project 1. Milestone: Precompletion Planning 2. Team Evaluations 3. Celebrating Success and Learning From the Experience

9. References 10. Index

Acknowledgments

Many people helped shape this book. My understanding of work teams, including both manufacturing and professional teams, was fostered by the many opportunities I had to study and consult with actual teams in industry. Andrew Young, Margaret Lawn, and Don Devito created a number of opportunities for me to work with teams in the United States and abroad. Most of my research and consulting on work teams was performed with Charles Slem, my partner at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. As a teacher of group dynamics, I learned by coteaching with Fred Stultz and Robert Christenson. In addition, I had the opportunity to work with engineering teams at Cal Poly as part of a NASA-supported program to improve engineering education. Daniel Mittleman, associate professor of Computing and Digital Media at DePaul University, helped me understand the impacts of virtual teamwork and contributed to the Leading Virtual Teams sections of the book. David Askay, assistant professor of Communications Studies at Cal Poly, wrote the Communication chapter (Chapter 6) and contributed ideas and sections on the impacts of diversity and the use of technology by teams. Finally, the psychology, business, and engineering students in my group dynamics and teamwork classes have helped teach me what is important about how teams operate.

The support of various editors at SAGE Publications has been invaluable. I have also benefited from the many anonymous academic reviews of the book and proposed revisions. In addition, Kathy Johnston and Sara Kocher labored diligently to improve my language and make the text more readable. My wife, Sara, deserves special credit for her thoughtful reviews and supportive presence throughout this process.

For comprehensive reviews of the manuscript, I would like to thank the following reviewers:

Mark A. Arvisais, Towson University

Kerrie Q. Baker, Cedar Crest College

Anita Leffel, The University of Texas at San Antonio

Russell O. Mays, Georgia Southern University

Kevin L. Nadal, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

C. Kevin Synnott, Eastern Connecticut State University

About the Author

Daniel Levi is a professor in the Psychology and Child Development Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, California. He holds an MA and a PhD in environmental psychology from the University of Arizona. He teaches classes in teamwork and in environmental and organizational psychology. His teamwork class was designed primarily for engineering and business students at Cal Poly. He has conducted research and worked as a consultant with factory and engineering teams for companies, such as Nortel Networks, TRW, Hewlett-Packard, and Philips Electronics. In addition, he has worked on international team research projects in Europe and Asia. Dr. Levi’s research and consulting with factory teams primarily focused on the use of teams to support technological change and the adoption of just-in-time and quality programs. This work examined a variety of team issues, including job redesign, training, compensation, supervision, and change management approaches. His work with professional teams primarily was accomplished with engineering design teams. These projects examined the use of concurrent engineering, self-management, and the globalization of teams. The topics of this work included the impact of information technology on teams, facilitation and training needs for professional teams, and the impacts of organizational culture and leadership. Early work on the present book was sponsored by an engineering education grant from NASA. This project focused on the development of teamwork skills in engineering students working on multidisciplinary projects. This project led to the development of cases and activities for learning teamwork skills and research on teamwork training, and evaluating and rewarding student teams. Recent research on student teams examines gender and cross-cultural issues, social support within teams, and bullying and hijacking in student teams.

David Askay is an assistant professor in the Communications Studies Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He earned a PhD in Organizational Science from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (2013) and teaches in the areas of groups, organizations, and technology.

Introduction

There are two sources of information about teamwork. First, there is a large body of research in psychology and the social sciences called group dynamics that examines how people work in small groups. This research was collected over the past century and has developed into a broad base of knowledge about the operation of groups. Second, the use of teams in the workplace has expanded rapidly during the past three decades. Management researchers and applied social scientists have studied this development to provide advice to organizations about how to make teams operate more effectively. However, these two areas of research and knowledge often operate along separate paths.

The purpose of this book is to unite these two important perspectives on how people work together. It organizes research and theories of group dynamics in order to apply this information to the ways in which teams operate in organizations. The concepts of group dynamics are presented so they are useful for people who work in teams and also to enlarge their understandings of how teams operate. It is hoped that this integration helps readers better understand the internal dynamics of teams so they can become more effective team leaders and members.

The larger goal of this book is to make teams more successful. Teams are important in our society, and learning teamwork skills is important for individual career success. This book presents many concepts related to how teams operate. In addition, the chapters contain application sections with techniques, advice for leading virtual teams, case studies (called Team Leader ’s Challenge), surveys, and activities designed to develop teamwork skills. The appendix contains tools and advice to help students in project teams. Teamwork is not just something one reads about and then understands; teamwork develops through guided experience and feedback. This book provides a framework for teaching about teams and improving how teams function.

Overview

The seventeen chapters in this book cover a wide range of topics related to group dynamics and teamwork. These chapters are organized into four parts: characteristics of teams, processes of teamwork, issues teams face, and organizational context of teams. An appendix provides advice and tools to support student project teams.

Part I: Characteristics of Teams

Chapters 1 and 2 provide an introduction to group dynamics and teamwork. Chapter 1 explains the differences between groups and teams. This chapter also examines the purpose of teams in organizations and why they are increasing in use. It concludes with a brief history of both the use of teams and the study of group dynamics.

Chapter 2 explores the characteristics of successful teams. It explains the basic components necessary to create effective teams and examines the conditions and characteristics of successful work teams. It presents both traditional perspectives toward team success and a positive psychology perspective. In many ways, this chapter establishes a goal for team members, whereas the rest of the book explains how to reach that goal.

Part II: Processes of Teamwork

Chapters 3 through 6 present the underlying processes of teamwork. Chapter 3 examines the processes and stages that relate to forming teams. Team members must be socialized or incorporated into teams. Teams must establish goals and norms (operating rules) to begin work. These are the first steps in team development.

Chapter 4 presents some of the main processes and concepts from group dynamics that explain how teams operate. Working together as a team affects the motivation of participants both positively and negatively. Team members form social relationships with one another that help define their identities as teams. Teams divide tasks into different roles to coordinate the work. The behaviors and actions of team members can be viewed as either task oriented or social, both of which are necessary for teams to function smoothly. Teams are dynamic entities that adapt to changes and learn how to work together more effectively.

One of the underlying concepts that define teamwork is cooperation. Teams are a collection of people who work cooperatively together to accomplish goals.

However, teams often are disrupted by competition. Chapter 5 explains how cooperation and competition affect the dynamics of teams.

Team members interact by communicating with one another. Chapter 6 examines the communication that occurs within teams. It describes the communication process, how teams develop supportive communication climates, and the effects of emotional intelligence on communication. The chapter also presents practical advice on how to facilitate team meetings and develop skills that help improve team communication.

Part III: Issues Teams Face

The third part of the book contains seven chapters that focus on a variety of issues that teams face in learning to operate effectively. Chapter 7 examines conflict and conflict resolution in teams. Although conflict often is viewed as a negative event, certain types of conflict are both healthy and necessary for teams to succeed. The chapter explains the dynamics of conflict within teams and discusses various approaches to managing conflict in teams.

Chapter 8 describes how power and social influence operate in teams. Different types of power and influence tactics are available to teams and their members; the use of power has wide-ranging applications and effects on teams. In one important sense, the essence of teams at work is a shift in power. Teams exist because their organizations are willing to shift power and control to teams.

The central purpose of many types of teams is to make decisions. Chapter 9 examines group decision-making processes. It illustrates operative conditions when teams are better than individuals at making decisions and the problems that groups encounter in trying to make effective decisions. The chapter ends with a presentation of decision-making techniques that are useful for teams.

Chapter 10 presents leadership options for teams from authoritarian control to self- management. The various approaches to understanding leadership are reviewed, with an emphasis on leadership models that are useful for understanding team leadership. The chapter examines self-managing teams in detail to illustrate this important alternative to traditional leadership approaches.

The different methods that teams use to solve problems are examined in Chapter 11. The chapter compares how teams solve problems with how teams should solve problems. The chapter presents a variety of problem-solving techniques to help improve how teams analyze and solve problems.

Creativity, which is one aspect of teams that often is criticized, is discussed in Chapter 12. Teams can inhibit individual creativity, but some problems require teams to develop creative solutions. The chapter examines the factors that discourage creativity in teams and presents some techniques that foster team creativity.

Chapter 13 examines how diversity affects teams: the problems, causes, and effects. In one sense, if everyone were alike then there would be no need for teamwork. Teams benefit from the multiple perspectives inherent in diversity; however, group processes need to be managed effectively in order to realize these benefits.

Part IV: Organizational Context of Teams

The final section of the book presents a set of issues that relate to the use of teams in organizations. Chapter 14 examines the relationship between teams and culture. Culture defines the underlying values and practices of a team or organization. Teams develop cultures that regulate how they operate. Work teams are more likely to be successful if their organization’s culture supports them. International culture has many impacts on teamwork. Transnational teams need to develop a hybrid culture that mediates the cultural differences among its members.

Although teams often are thought of as people interacting directly with one another, Chapter 15 examines the impacts of teams that interact through technology. Virtual teams comprise members who may be dispersed around the world and use a variety of technologies to communicate and coordinate their efforts. The selection and use of these technologies changes some of the dynamics of the teams operations.

Chapter 16 examines approaches to evaluating and rewarding teams. One of the keys to developing effective teams is creating a mechanism to provide quality feedback to teams so they can improve their own performance. Performance evaluation systems help provide feedback, while reward programs motivate team members to act on this information.

Team building and the various approaches for improving how teams operate is the focus of Chapter 17, the final chapter. Organizations use team-building techniques to help teams get started, overcome obstacles, and improve performance. Teamwork training helps develop people skills so that everyone can work together more effectively.

Appendix: Guide to Student Team Projects

One of the reasons students want to learn about group dynamics is to improve the effectiveness of their teams at work and school. As a teacher of group dynamics and teamwork, I require students to work on a large project throughout the course. Working on their team project provides the students with an opportunity to try out the ideas they are learning in the course.

The Guide to Student Team Projects contains some of the tools and advice that students need to successfully complete a team project. The appendix covers topics, such as how to start a team, plan a team project, monitor the progress of the team and project, write as a team, and end the team. This is practical advice on techniques and activities to help improve the team’s performance.

The student project teams in my classes range from five to seven members who are randomly appointed to the team. They are given a large and poorly structured assignment, requiring them to clarify and negotiate the specifics. The teams must conduct periodic group process evaluations so that they regularly discuss and try to improve the teamwork process. Although I grade the quality of the team’s final product, the students grade the performance of the individual team members. (This is a very important step, and we spend class time discussing how to do this.)

Although this is a guide for student projects, the tools in the appendix are useful for many types of project teams.

Learning Approaches

Learning how to work in teams is not a matter of simply reading about group dynamics. Fundamentally, teamwork is a set of skills that must be developed through practice and feedback. In addition to presenting information about how teams operate, this book contains four other types of material that are helpful for developing teamwork skills: application sections, case studies, surveys, and activities.

Many chapters in the book incorporate application sections. The purpose of these sections is to provide practical advice on applying the concepts in the chapters. These sections focus on presenting techniques rather than theories and concepts. These techniques can be applied to the existing teams or can be used with a team in a class to practice the skills. In addition, most of the chapters contain an application section called Leading Virtual Teams, which provides practical advice for dealing with the group dynamics problems created by working in a virtual team setting.

All chapters end with case studies and teamwork activities. The case studies, called

Team Leader ’s Challenge, present a difficult team problem and contain discussion questions for providing advice to the team’s leader. The cases use a variety of student and work teams. By using the concepts in the chapter, the cases can be analyzed and options for the team leaders developed.

Eight of the chapters contain brief psychological surveys that examine a personal orientation toward a teamwork issue presented in the chapter. Survey topics range from attitudes toward teamwork, to cooperativeness, to preferred conflict styles, to opinions about team rewards. Discussion questions after the surveys help students and other team members understand the impact of individual differences on teamwork.

The teamwork activities examine a topic in the chapter and then include a set of discussion questions designed to apply what has been learned to actual teams. Some of the activities are structured discussions or small-group exercises. However, most of the activities are structured observations of how teams operate. One of the most important ways to improve both one’s teamwork skills and the operation of teams is to learn how to be a good observer of group processes. These observation activities are constructed to develop these skills.

There are several options that can be used for the observation activities. If the observers belong to functioning teams, then they can observe their own teams. For example, a teamwork class might have students working on project teams. Use the observation activities to study and provide feedback to the project teams, or create groups in class settings and give group assignments. There are many books on small-group activities to use to create assignments for the groups. Small-group discussions of the Team Leader ’s Challenges provide an alternative activity to observe how groups interact. A class can use several groups with an observer assigned to each group or a single group that performs while being surrounded by many group process observers. Finally, ask students to find a team that they can observe as part of an ongoing class project.

Each of the activities includes objective, activity, analysis, and discussion sections. The structure of the activities makes them suitable for homework assignments or for entries in group dynamics journals. The basic structure of the written assignments includes answering the following questions: What did you observe? How did you analyze this information? How would you apply this knowledge?

By working through the applications, cases, surveys, and activities presented here, team members gain practical skills and knowledge that can be directly applied to improve the operations of their teams and the ultimate success of teamwork.

PART I Characteristics of Teams

1 Understanding Teams

A team is a special type of group in which people work interdependently to accomplish a goal. Organizations use many different types of teams to serve a variety of purposes. The use of teams to perform work has a long history, but during the past few decades organizational teamwork has changed: It has expanded rapidly because of changes in the nature of jobs and the structure of organizations. The scientific study of group dynamics provides useful insights about how teams operate and how they can be improved.

Learning Objectives

1. What are the characteristics of a group? 2. How is a team different from a group? 3. How are teams used by organizations? 4. How are work groups different from teams and self-managing teams? 5. Why is the use of teams by organizations increasing? 6. What are the main historical trends in the use of teams? 7. How has the study of group dynamics changed over time?

1.1 Defining Groups and Teams

A group is more than just a collection of people. There is a difference between the people who are in a park, the work group that is assembling a product, and the team playing football. To define the differences between collections of people, groups, and teams, researchers use several approaches that vary depending on which features are considered important.

One approach is to describe the social characteristics of a group (see Table 1.1). A group exists for a reason or purpose and has a goal shared by the group members. The people in a group have some type of relationship or are connected to one another. They recognize this connection, and it binds them together so they collectively share what happens to fellow group members. From a teamwork perspective, this interdependence is probably the most important characteristic of a group. Group members interact and communicate with one another. Often, communication is viewed as a central process of a group. The people in a group recognize and acknowledge their membership in a collective. Formal and informal rules, roles, and norms of the group control the interactions of group members. The people in a group influence one another, and the desire to remain in the group increases the potential for mutual influence. Finally, a group satisfies members’ physical and psychological needs such that individuals are motivated to continue their participation in the group.

SOURCE: Johnson, D., & Johnson, F. (1997). Joining together: Group theory and group skills (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

From a psychological perspective, two processes define a group: social identification and social representation (Hayes, 1997). Social identification refers to the recognition that a group exists separately from others. It is the creation of a belief in “us versus them.” Identification is both a cognitive process (classifying the

world into categories) and an emotional process (viewing one’s group as better than other groups). Social representation is the shared values, ideas, and beliefs that people have about the world. Over time, belonging to a group changes the ways its members view the world. The group develops a shared worldview through member interactions.

Most definitions of teamwork classify a team as a special type of group. To some theorists, the distinction between groups and teams is fuzzy. They consider teams to be simply groups in work settings (Parks & Sanna, 1999). Other theorists focus on how the behavior of teams differs from that of typical groups. Teams have been defined as structured groups of people working on defined common goals that require coordinated interactions to accomplish certain tasks (Forsyth, 1999). This definition emphasizes one key feature of a team: that members work together on a common project for which they all are accountable. However, other qualifiers can be used to distinguish groups from teams.

One common distinction relates to application. Teams typically are engaged in sports or work activities. They have applied functions, and the roles of team members are related to their functions. For example, members of sports teams have specific assigned roles, such as a pitcher or shortstop on a baseball team. Teams usually exist within larger organizations. Their members have specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities related to their tasks. This is why researchers typically do not talk about a family as a team; in a family, roles are inherited and not directly related to tasks. This distinction appears in research on groups and teams. Research on groups typically is conducted in laboratory settings, whereas research on teams typically is done in field studies that focus on the use of teams in the workplace (Kerr & Tindale, 2004).

Group is a more inclusive term than team. Groups range in size from two to thousands, whereas teams have a narrower range of sizes. A dating couple may be considered a group, but not a team. Political parties and social organizations are groups, but not teams. A team typically is composed of 3 to 12 people who interact with one another directly (although this interaction may occur through communication technology). A team is not simply people who belong to the same group or who are jointly functioning in the same place. Katzenbach and Smith (1993) focus on performance in their definition of teamwork. In addition to team members having a common purpose, performance goals are connected to this purpose, for which everyone in the team is held mutually accountable. They also believe the concept of a team should be limited to a fairly small number of people with complementary skills who interact directly. This helps distinguish teams from work groups, whose members jointly do the same tasks, but do not require

integration and coordination to perform the tasks.

Hayes (1997) focuses on power in her definition of teams. She believes a team must actively cooperate to achieve its goals. For this to occur, a team must have independence, responsibility, and the power to operate. A team is not a group of people who perform a task under the rigid control of an authority figure. For a group to become a team, it must be empowered and must have some authority to act on its own. In addition, team members are more likely to work together cooperatively and provide assistance to one another than are members of other types of work groups.

Because there is no firm dividing line between a group and a team, the use of these terms in this book is somewhat arbitrary. When referring to research on group dynamics, especially laboratory research, the term group is used. When talking about applications in work environments where people are interdependent, the term team is used. For the in-between cases, group and team are used interchangeably.

1.2 Purposes and Types of Teams

Organizations use teams in a variety of ways. Because of this variety, there are many ways to classify teams and these classifications help explain the psychological and organizational differences among different types of teams. One important distinction is the relationship of the team to the organization. Teams vary depending on how much power and authority they are given by their umbrella organizations.

How Teams Are Used by Organizations

Teams are used to serve a variety of functions for organizations. The day-to-day operations of organizations can be shifted to teams (e.g., factory production teams, airline crews). Teams can be formed to provide advice and deal with special problems. For instance, teams might be created to suggest improvements in work processes. Teams can help manage coordination problems by linking different parts of organizations. Budget or planning committees might be composed of members from several departments, for example. Finally, teams can be used to change organizations by planning for the future or managing transitions.

Obviously, a teams’ configuration can be very mixed. Concurrent engineering teams are teams composed of members of an organization whose task is to oversee the design, manufacturing, and marketing of new products. Affiliation in a concurrent engineering team is normally part of the day-to-day activity of people working in research and development. However, other members of the team may be there on a part-time, temporary basis to deal with coordination, special problems, and implementation of change. Research and development staff may define the characteristics of a new product, while representatives from other departments may comment on issues related to production and marketing.

Sundstrom (1999) identifies six types of work teams on the basis of the functions they perform:

1. Production teams, such as factory teams, manufacture or assemble products on a repetitive basis.

2. Service teams, such as maintenance crews and food services, conduct repeated transactions with customers.

3. Management teams, composed of managers, work together, plan, develop policy, or coordinate the activities of an organization.

4. Project teams, such as research and engineering teams, bring experts together

to perform a specific task within a defined period. 5. Action or performing teams, such as sports teams, entertainment groups, and

surgery teams, engage in brief performances that are repeated under new conditions and that require specialized skills and extensive training or preparation.

6. Finally, parallel teams are temporary teams that operate outside normal work, such as employee involvement groups and advisory committees that provide suggestions or recommendations for changing an organization.

Classifying Teams

Teams can be classified by ways other than the types of activities they perform (Devine, Clayton, Philips, Dunford, & Melner, 1999). Researchers have suggested classifying teams by whether they are permanent or temporary, how much internal specialization and interdependence they require, and how much integration and coordination with other parts of the organization are needed (Mohrman, 1993; Sundstrom, DeMeuse, & Futrell, 1990). One of the most important distinctions among types of teams is how much power they are allocated (Hayes, 1997). When an organization uses teams rather than individual workers to perform tasks, it is giving the teams some power and authority to control the operations of its members. This shifting of power affects leadership, decision making, and how the work activities of team members are linked.

There are three options for organizing people into work groups: a work group, a team, or a self-managing team. The differences among these options are presented in Table 1.2. Work groups are part of the organization’s hierarchical system. Supervisors or managers who control the decision-making process lead these work groups. Group members typically work on independent tasks that are linked by the supervisor ’s direction or by the work system.

Teams are given some power and authority so they are somewhat independent of the organization’s hierarchy. Their leaders are selected by management and given some managerial power. Team leaders can use a variety of techniques for making decisions, such as using the teams to provide advice about decisions (consultative), having the teams vote, or using consensus to make decisions. Team members’ work activities are interdependent and coordinated by the leaders.

SOURCE: Adapted from McGrath, J. (1984). Groups: Interaction and performance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Self-managing teams are given significantly more power and authority than traditional work groups and are more independent of an organization’s hierarchy. Team members typically select their leaders; as a result the leaders have limited power and must facilitate—rather than control—their teams’ operations. The leaders must rely on democratic or consensus decision making because they have no authority to make teams accept decisions. The work of team members is highly interdependent, and all team members work together to coordinate activities.

1.3 Why Organizations Use Teams

The traditional approach to organizing people to perform a task is called scientific management (Taylor, 1923). In this approach, managers or technical experts analyze a task and divide it into small activity units that are performed by individuals. The system is designed such that each activity unit is linked to other activity units, and individuals work separately to complete the entire task. It is the role of management to design the system and control the operations of the workers. It is the role of the workers to perform a specific activity. In other words, managers think and control and workers act.

This traditional approach works very well under certain conditions. It requires that the task remain the same for some time because it is difficult to change the system. It requires that the process not be too complex or easily disrupted because the workers doing routine activities are unaware of what happens in other parts of the system. It focuses on productivity and often ignores concerns about quality and customer service because these factors require more commitment to the job. It assumes that there are workers who are willing to perform routine activities under controlled situations. Under these conditions, scientific management is the best approach, and the time and expense of developing teams is not needed.

Teams are important, however, when the goal is to improve the way a product is made or a service is provided; when the job is complex; when customer service and quality are important; or when rapid change is necessary. These are the conditions that create the need for teams (Helper, Kleiner, & Wang, 2010). Modern organizations are shifting to teamwork because of changes in the characteristics of jobs and organizations.

Job Characteristics

Many jobs are changing from routine to nonroutine work (Mohrman, Cohen, & Mohrman, 1995), which encourages the use of teamwork. Nonroutine jobs involve more complexity, interdependence, uncertainty, variety, and change than routine jobs. Jobs of this type are difficult to manage in traditional work systems, but are well suited for teamwork.

Nonroutine jobs are found in a number of contemporary work settings. Teams are a good way to handle factory jobs that have become increasingly complex because of technology or other factors (Manufacturing Studies Board, 1986). The individual factory worker operating a single machine all day is being replaced by a team of

workers who monitor, troubleshoot, maintain, and manage a complex and integrated work system. Because the technology is integrated, the workers must be as well.

These changes also affect professional work. Imagine designing a new product for the marketplace. Design, manufacturing, marketing, and sales of the product require expertise from a variety of disciplines and support from many parts of an organization. Given that few individuals possess all the necessary knowledge and expertise to bring a product to completion, a diversity of knowledge is gained by using a team approach. In addition, using team members from several departments enhances support within the organization for the new product. The team members help coordinate the project throughout the organization.

The complexity of a problem or task often requires multiple forms of expertise. No one person may have all the skills or knowledge to complete a task or solve a problem, but a team may have sufficient expertise to deal with the task or problem. Complexity also implies that problems may be confusing or difficult to understand and solve. Here, the value of teamwork is not in multiple forms of expertise, but rather in multiple perspectives. People learn from the group interactions in teams, which helps them to gain new perspectives in analyzing problems and developing solutions.

Organizational Characteristics

The rate at which change is increasing in business and society is phenomenal. Markets are expanding, and competition is progressively more global. It is difficult to keep up with these changes using traditional approaches to organizational design; the changing business environment is forcing organizations to change the way they operate. Communications technology allows organizations to create new ways to integrate their operations. Businesses know they need to reduce costs, improve quality, reduce the time spent creating new products, improve customer service, and increase their adaptability to an increasingly competitive environment.

As organizations change to meet contemporary demands, new organizational characteristics increase the importance of teamwork (Mohrman et al., 1995). One significant new characteristic of this change is a shift to simpler organizational hierarchies, a transition driven by the desire to save costs and increase flexibility by reducing layers of management. To a certain extent, teams have replaced managers, and teams now often carry out traditional management functions.

Teams provide a way to integrate and coordinate the various parts of an

organization and do this in a more timely and cost-effective manner than traditional organizational hierarchies. Teams execute tasks better, learn faster, and change more easily than traditional work structures, which are all characteristics required by contemporary organizations.

1.4 History of Teams and Group Dynamics

The use of teams in organizations has changed significantly over the past century. During that period, the scientific study of group dynamics has evolved into an interdisciplinary research field.

Foundations of Teamwork

The Industrial Revolution shifted most work organizations to a hierarchical approach that used scientific management to design jobs (Taylor, 1923). Manufacturing jobs were simplified, and professionals and managers were brought in to ensure that the production system operated efficiently. Scientific management was a system that worked well, but that also created problems: It alienated workers, who then became increasingly difficult to motivate. It became more difficult to set up as technical systems increased in complexity. It was inflexible and difficult to change. Finally, it was difficult to successfully incorporate new goals other than efficiency (such as quality).

The scientific management model of organizations began to be questioned during the 1920s and 1930s because of social problems in the workplace. The Hawthorne studies—research projects designed to examine how environmental factors, such as lighting and work breaks affected work performance—inadvertently revealed that social factors had an important impact on performance (Mayo, 1933). In some cases, because people were being studied, they tried to perform better (what social scientists now call the “Hawthorne effect”). In other cases, group norms limited or controlled performance. For example, studies of the “bank wiring room” showed that informal group norms had a major impact on the performance of work groups (Sundstrom, McIntyre, Halfhill, & Richards, 2000). The “group in front” frequently engaged in conversation and play, but had high levels of performance, while the “group in back” engaged in play, but had low levels of performance. The work groups enforced group production norms: Members who worked too fast were hit on the arm by coworkers, a practice known as binging. In addition to the substantial impact on productivity of these informal work group norms, work groups were able to effectively enforce norms, resulting in positive or negative benefits to the organization.