Robbins & Judge

Organizational Behavior

Understanding
Understanding Work
Work Teams
Teams

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 Robbins & Judge
Organizational Behavior
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Chapter
Chapter Learning
Learning Objectives
Objectives
 After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
– Analyze the growing popularity of teams in organizations.
– Contrast groups and teams.
– Compare and contrast four types of teams.
– Identify the characteristics of effective teams.
– Show how organizations can create team players.
– Decide when to use individuals instead of teams.
– Show how our understanding of teams differs in a global
context.

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Why
Why Have
Have Teams
Teams Become
Become So
So Popular?
Popular?

 Great way to use employee talents

 Teams are more flexible and responsive to changes in the
environment
 Can quickly assemble, deploy, refocus, and disband
 Facilitate employee involvement
 Increase employee participation in decision making
 Democratize an organization and increase motivation
 Note: teams are not ALWAYS effective and so it is
important to take a look at how to deploy teams
effectively
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 Differences
Differences between
between Groups
Groups and
and Teams
Teams
 Work Group
– A group that interacts primarily to share information and to make
decisions to help each group member perform within his or her area of
responsibility
– No joint effort required so their performance is merely the summation
of each group member’s individual contribution.
– There is no positive synergy that would create an overall level of
performance greater than the sum of the inputs.

 Work Team
– Generates positive synergy through coordinated effort. The individual
efforts result in a performance that is greater than the sum of the
individual inputs (2+2 = 4+)
Synergy: the combined power of a group of things when they are
working together that is greater than the total power achieved 10-5
by each working separately
Comparing
Comparing Work
Work Groups
Groups and
and Work
Work Teams
Teams

E X H I B I T 10-1
E X H I B I T 10-1

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 44 Types
Types of
of Teams
Teams
 Problem-Solving Teams
– Composed of 5 to 12 employees from the same
department who meet for a few hours each week
to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency,
and the work environment
• These problem-solving teams rarely have the
authority to unilaterally implement any of their
suggestions.
• Merrill Lynch created a problem-solving team to
figure out ways to reduce the number of days it
took to open a new cash management account.
By suggesting cutting the number of steps from
46 to 36, the team reduced the average number of
days from 15 to 8.

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 44 Types
Types of
of Teams
Teams
 Self-Managed Work Teams
– Problem-solving teams only make recommendations.
Some organizations have gone further and created self-
managed teams that not only solve problems, but also
implement solutions and take responsibility for outcomes.
– Self-managed teams compose of 10 to 15 people who
take on the responsibilities of their former supervisors
• Self-managed teams do not typically manage conflicts
well. When disputes arise, members stop cooperating and
power struggles ensue, which leads to lower group
performance.
• However, when team members feel confident that they can
speak up without being embarrassed, ejected, or punished
by other team members—in other words, when they feel
psychologically safe—conflict is actually beneficial and
boosts performance
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 44 Types
Types of
of Teams
Teams

 Cross-Functional Teams
– Employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from different
work areas, who come together to accomplish a task
• Today, cross-functional teams are so widely used it is hard to imagine a
major organizational undertaking without one.
• Cross-functional teams are an effective means of allowing people from
diverse areas within or even between organizations to exchange
information, develop new ideas, solve problems, and coordinate complex
projects.
• Of course, cross-functional teams are no picnic to manage. Their early
stages of development are often long, as members learn to work with
diversity and complexity. It takes time to build trust and teamwork,
especially among people from varying backgrounds with different
experiences and perspectives. 10-9
 44 Types
Types of
of Team
Team
 Virtual Teams
– Teams that use computer technology to tie together physically
dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal
• They collaborate online—using communication links such as wide-area
networks, videoconferencing, or e-mail—whether they’re a room away
or continents apart.
 Characteristics
– Limited socializing
– The ability to overcome time and space constraints
 To be effective, management should ensure:
– Trust among team members
– Close monitoring of the progress
– To publicize the efforts and products of the team
throughout the organization
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