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CHAPTER 9 - UNDERSTANDING WORK TEAMS LEARNING OUTCOMES

After reading this chapter, students should be able to: 1. Explain the growing popularity of work teams in organizations. 2. Describe the five stages of team development. 3. Contrast work groups with work teams. 4. Identify four common types of work teams. 5. List the characteristics of high performing work teams. 6. Discuss how organizations can create team players. 7. Explain how managers can keep teams from becoming stagnant. 8. Describe the role of teams in continuous process improvement programs. Opening Vignette SUMMARY Tape Resources, Inc. is a classic small company selling blank videotapes and audiotapes to businesses. Its most popular tapes carry price tags ranging from $10 to $25, and the company doesn't try to compete on price. Its strategy is to offer superior service to its customers. Growing fast, the company has fewer than 15 employees, with annual sales approaching $5 million. To continue the growth, the owner implemented a commission incentive plan that he thought would excite his six-person sales staff and promote teamwork among them. Once a sale is completed, it goes to the shipping department for packaging and delivery. Yet the new sales incentive program was met with almost immediate resistance in the company. Employees that had been excluded from the incentive program felt resentful. Salespeople who once cooperated with one another became reluctant to spend time away from the phones or help fellow employees on other tasks. As a result of Barnard's "great idea," nearly all of the company's employees had become territorial and began looking out for themselves! Was the sales incentive system flawed? Yet over a three-month period, several Tape Resources employees formed a team to win a sales contest sponsored by BASF. For that opportunity, the employees came together as a unified group to achieve that goal. Teaching notes 1. As a class, analyze the vignette and list the details of Bernards incentive plan on the board. 2. Based on the little information in the vignette, do the same thing with the BASF contest. 3. Now ask students to note where the two incentive systems differ, even if they have to speculate due to the limited information provided about BASF. 4. What changes would Bernard need to make to make his incentive program accomplish his goals? I. THE POPULARITY OF TEAMS A. Introduction 1. More than two decades ago, when companies introduced teams, they made news. 2. Today, it's the organization that doesn't use some form of team that is noteworthy. 3. The current popularity of teams comes from the fact that teams typically outperform individuals when the tasks being done require multiple skills, judgment, and experience. 4. As organizations restructure themselves to compete more effectively and efficiently, they are turning to teams as a way to better utilize employee talents. 5. Teams can serve as a source of job satisfaction as they empower team members.
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A. What Are the Stages of Team Development? 6. Most teams find themselves in a continual state of change. 7. There's a general pattern that describes how most teams evolve. a) See Exhibit 9-1. 8. Forming is characterized by a great deal of uncertainty about the group's purpose, structure, and leadership. a) This stage is complete when members think of themselves as part of a team. 9. The storming stage is one of intragroup conflict. a) There is resistance to the control that the group imposes on individuality. b) When complete, there will be relatively clear leadership within the team. 10. Norming stage is one in which close relationships develop and members begin to demonstrate cohesiveness. a) There is now a stronger sense of team identity and camaraderie. b) It is complete when the team structure solidifies and members have assimilated a common set of expectations. 11. The fourth stage is performing. a) The structure is fully functional and accepted by team members. b) For permanent teams, performing is the last stage of their development. 12. For temporary teams, there is an adjourning stage. 13. Some researchers argue that the effectiveness of work units does increase at advanced stages. a) Although generally true, what makes a team effective is complex. 14. Under some conditions, high levels of conflict are conducive to high group performance. 15. Teams do not always proceed clearly from one stage to the next. a) Sometimes several stages are going on simultaneously. 16. It is better to think of these stages as a general framework. B. Aren't Work Groups and Work Teams the Same? 1. A group is two or more individuals who have come together to achieve certain objectives. 2. A work group is a group that interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions that will help each group member perform within his/her area of responsibility. a) Work groups have no need to engage in collective work that requires joint effort. b) There is no positive synergy. 3. A work team, on the other hand, generates positive synergy through a coordinated effort. 4. Exhibit 9-2 highlights the main differences between work groups and work teams. 5. Management is looking for that positive synergy that will increase performance. a) The extensive use of teams creates the potential for an organization to generate greater outputs with no increase in (or even fewer) inputs. 6. Nothing inherently magical in the creation of work teams guarantees this positive synergy, and its accompanying productivity. Teaching Notes _______________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
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II.

TYPES OF WORK TEAMS A. See Exhibit 9-3 C. What Is a Functional Team? 1. Functional teams are composed of a manager and the employees in his or her unit. 2. Issues such as authority, decision making, leadership, and interactions are relatively simple and clear. 3. Functional teams are often involved in efforts to improve work activities or to solve specific problems within that particular functional unit. D. How Does a Problem-Solving Team Operate? 1. Twenty years ago, teams typically were composed of five to twelve hourly employees from the same department who met for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency, and the work environment. a) Problem-solving teams. b) Members share ideas or offer suggestions on how work processes and methods can be improved. 2. One of the most widely practiced applications were quality circles. a) These are work teams of eight to ten employees and supervisors who share an area of responsibility. b) They meet regularly to discuss their quality problems, investigate causes of the problems, recommend solutions, and take corrective actions. c) They assume responsibility for solving quality problems, and they generate and evaluate their own feedback. d) These teams are rarely given the authority to unilaterally implement their suggestions. B. What Is a Self-Managed Work Team? 3. A self-managed work team is a formal group of employees who operate without a manager and are responsible for a complete work process or segment that delivers a product or service to an external or internal customer. 4. This kind of team has control over its work pace, determination of work assignments, etc. 5. Fully self-managed work teams even select their own members and evaluate performance. 6. As a result, supervisory positions take on decreased importance and may even be eliminated. E. How Do Cross-Functional Teams Operate? 1. This type of team consists of employees from about the same hierarchical level but from different work areas in the organization. a) They are brought together to accomplish a particular task. 2. Cross-functional teams are also an effective way to allow employees from diverse areas within an organization to exchange information, develop new ideas, solve problems, and coordinate complex tasks. 3. But cross-functional teams can be difficult to manage. a) The early stages of development are very often time-consuming, as members learn to work with diversity and complexity. b) This difficulty with diversity has the ability to be turned into an advantage. (1) The diversity that exists on a work team can help identify creative or unique solutions. (2) The lack of a common perspective due to diversity usually means that diverse team members will spend more time discussing relevant issues, decreasing the likelihood of a weak solution.
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4. As team members become more familiar with one another, they become a more cohesive group. a) But the positive aspect of this decline is that a "team bond" is built. b) And this can do more than anything else to overcome the initial difficulties. Teaching Notes _______________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ F. Are Virtual Teams a Reality Today? 1. A virtual team is an extension of the electronic meetings discussed in Chapter 4. 2. A virtual team allows groups to meet without concern for space or time and enables organizations to link workers together that in the past couldn't have been done. 3. Team members use technology advances to solve problems-even though they may be geographically dispersed or a dozen time zones away. a) VeriFone example. Teaching Notes _______________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ III. CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE WORK TEAMS A. Introduction 4. Primary characteristics of high-performance work teams are summarized in Exhibit 9-4. 5. High-performance work teams have both a clear understanding of the goal to be achieved and a belief that the goal embodies a worthwhile or important result. a) These goals encourage individuals to direct energy toward team goals. b) Members are committed to the team's goals, know what they are expected to accomplish, and understand how they will work together to achieve those goals. 6. Effective teams are composed of competent individuals. a) They have the relevant technical skills and abilities and the personal characteristics required. b) They are capable of readjusting their work skills--job-morphing--to fit the needs of the team. c) High-performing teams have members who possess both technical and interpersonal skills. 7. Effective teams are characterized by high mutual trust among members. a) Members believe in the integrity, character, and ability of one another. b) Members of an effective team exhibit intense loyalty and dedication to the team. c) Members redefine themselves to include membership in the team as an important aspect of the self. d) Unified commitment is characterized by dedication to the team's goals and a willingness to expend extraordinary amounts of energy to achieve them. 8. Effective teams are characterized by good communication.
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a) Members convey their ideas among team members in a form that is readily and clearly understood. b) Their communication is also characterized by feedback from team members and management. 9. Effective teams tend to be flexible and continually making adjustments. a) Team members must possess adequate negotiating skills. b) The members have to be able to confront and reconcile differences. 10. Effective leaders can motivate a team to follow them through the most difficult situations. a) Leaders help clarify goals. b) They demonstrate that change is possible by overcoming inertia. c) They increase the self-confidence of team members, helping members to realize their potential more fully. d) Effective team leaders are taking the role of coach and facilitator. 11. The final condition necessary to making an effective team is a supportive climate. a) The team should be provided with a sound infrastructure, proper training, an understandable measurement system, an incentive program, and a supportive human resource system. b) The infrastructure should support members and reinforce behaviors that lead to high levels of performance. Teaching Notes _______________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ IV. TURNING INDIVIDUALS INTO TEAM PLAYERS A. Introduction 12. Some individuals prefer to be recognized for their individual achievements. 13. In some organizations, too, work environments are such that only the "strong" survive. 14. Creating teams in such an environment may meet some resistance. 15. Teams fit well with countries that score high on collectivism. B. What Are the Management Challenges of Creating Team Players? 16. Employees' success, when they are part of teams, is a function of how well the team as a whole performed. 17. To perform well as team members, individuals must be able to communicate openly and honestly with one another, to confront differences and resolve conflicts, and to place lower priority on personal goals for the good of the team. 18. The challenge of creating team players will be greatest where a) the national culture is highly individualistic. b) the teams are being introduced into an established organization that has historically valued individual achievement. c) This describes, for instance, what faced managers at AT&T, Ford, Motorola, and other large U.S. companies. 19. In contrast, the challenge for management is less demanding when teams are introduced where employees have strong collectivism values--such as in Japan or Mexico. 20. The challenge of forming teams will also be less in new organizations that use teams as their initial form of structuring work. a) Saturn Corporation, the ability to be a good team player was a hiring prerequisite.
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G. What Roles Do Team Members Play? 1. High-performing work teams properly match people to various roles. 2. There are nine potential roles that work team members often can "play." a) See Exhibit 9-5. 3. Creator-innovators are imaginative and good at initiating ideas or concepts. a) They are typically very independent and prefer to work at their own pace in their own way--and very often on their own time. 4. Explorer-promoters like to take new ideas and champion their cause. a) They are good at picking up ideas from the creator-innovator and finding the resources to promote those ideas. b) They often lack the patience and control skills to ensure that the ideas are implemented. 5. Assessor-developers have strong analytical skills. a) They're at their best when given several different options to evaluate and analyze before a decision is made. 6. Thruster-organizers like to set up operating procedures to get things done. a) They set goals, establish plans, organize people, and establish systems to ensure that deadlines are met. 7. And, somewhat like thruster-organizers, concluder-producers are concerned with results. a) Their role focuses on insisting that deadlines are kept and commitments fulfilled b) Concluder-producers take pride in producing a regular output to a standard. 8. Controller-inspectors have a high concern for establishing and enforcing rules and policies. a) They are good at examining details and making sure that inaccuracies are avoided. b) They want to check all the facts and figures to make sure they're complete. 9. Upholder-maintainers hold strong convictions about the way things should be done. a) They will defend the team and fight its battles strongly supporting fellow team members. b) These individuals provide team stability. 10. Reporter-advisers are good listeners and don't tend to press their point of view on others. a) They tend to favor getting more information before making decisions. b) They perform an important role in encouraging the team to seek additional information and discouraging the team from making hasty decisions. 11. The linkers overlaps the others. a) This role can be "played" by any of the previous eight roles. b) Linkers try to understand all views. c) They are coordinators and integrators. d) They dislike extremism and try to build cooperation among all team members. 12. If forced to, most individuals can perform in any of these roles. a) Most have two or three they strongly prefer. 13. Managers need to select team members on the basis of an appropriate mix of individual strengths, and allocate work assignments that fit with each member's preferred style. Teaching Notes _______________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ H. How Can a Manager Shape Team Behavior?
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1. The three most popular ways include proper selection, employee training, and rewarding the appropriate team behaviors. C. What Role Does Selection Play? 2. When hiring team members, the organization should ensure that applicants can fulfill their team roles. a) Some job applicants lack team skills. b) If team skills are woefully lacking, don't hire that candidate. c) A candidate who has some basic team skills but needs more refinement can be hired on a probationary basis and be required to undergo training. Dilemma in Management Must Employees Work on a Team? SUMMARY Jennifer Singleton, BA in business administration from the University of South Florida, worked with Cable News Network (CNN) in its Paris, France, bureau. After several years at CNN, Jennifer earned a master's degree. Two years later, Jennifer graduated in the top 10 percent of her class, and accepted a job from PSINet doing market research. After about four months on the job, Jennifer was assigned to a cross-functional team looking at ways the company could reduce inventory costs. This cross-functional team was to be a permanent structure. Jennifer was not happy; she felt that she was not a team player, she even bragged at times about being a loner. She didn't like the "added" time it took to get things done, she preferred to do things without discussing them, and she didn't like the idea of having her performance dependent on others. Questions 1. Do you think that Jennifer's boss should have allowed her to decide for herself whether she would join the team? 2. Do you think that everyone should be expected to be a team player, given the trends that we're seeing as we near the twenty-first century? Teaching notes 1. This is a tough question. More and more companies are going to teams. Yet, clearly there are a number of employees who don't want to or aren't able to be productive team members. 2. In the discussion with students in class, ensure that students explore these issues: Is empowering employees consistent with forcing employees to be team members? Are teams appropriate in all businesses, industries, and/or corporate settings? Is there a place for individual contributors in a team-based organization? Is training individual contributors to be team members ethical? I. Can We Train Individuals to Be Team Players? 1. Performing well in a team involves a set of behaviors, which can be learned. 2. People who were raised on the importance of individual accomplishment can be trained to become team players. 3. Training specialists can conduct exercises that allow employees to experience the satisfaction that teamwork can provide. 4. The workshops offered usually cover such topics as team problem solving, communications, negotiations, conflict resolution, and coaching skills. 5. Outside consultants can provide a learning environment in which workers can gain practical skills for working in teams.

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J. What Role Do Rewards Play in Shaping Team Players? 1. The organization's reward system needs to encourage cooperative efforts rather than competitive ones. 2. Lockheed Martin's Space Launch Systems has organized its 1,000+ employees into teams. a) Rewards are structured to return a percentage increase in the bottom line to the team members on the basis of achievement of the team's performance goals. 3. Promotions, pay raises, and other forms of recognition should be given to employees for how effective they are as a collaborative team member. a) Individual contribution is balanced with selfless contributions to the team. 4. Managers cannot forget the inherent rewards that employees can receive from teamwork. a) Work teams provide camaraderie. 5. There are inherent rewards being on a team-it's exciting and satisfying to be part of a successful one. Teaching Notes _______________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ K. How Can a Manager Reinvigorate a Mature Team? 1. Effective teams can become stagnant. a) Initial enthusiasm can give way to apathy. b) Time can diminish the positive value from diverse perspectives as cohesiveness increases. c) Teams don't automatically stay at the "performing" stage. d) Familiarity and team success can lead to contentment and complacency. 2. Mature teams, also, are particularly prone to suffer from groupthink. a) Mature teams early successes are often due to having taken on easy tasks. b) As time passes, the team has to begin to tackle the more difficult issues. 3. What a manager can do to reinvigorate mature teams, four suggestions. a) See Exhibit 9-6. b) Prepare team members to deal with the problems of team maturity. (1) Remind team members that they are not unique. c) Offer refresher training. (1) Provide them with refresher training in communication, conflict resolution, team processes, and similar skills. d) Offer advanced training. (1) Mature teams can benefit from training to develop stronger problem-solving, interpersonal, and technical skills. e) Encourage teams to treat their development as a constant learning experience. (1) Just as organizations use continuous improvement program, teams should approach their own development as part of a search for continuous improvement. Teaching Notes _______________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ V. CONTEMPORARY TEAM ISSUES L. Why Are Teams Central to Continuous Process Improvement Programs? 1. The essence of continuous improvement is process improvement, and employee participation is the linchpin of process improvement. 2. As one author put it, "None of the various processes and techniques will catch on and be applied except in work teams." 3. All such techniques and processes require high levels of communication and contact, response, adaptation, and coordination and sequencing. 4. Teams provide the natural vehicle for employees to share ideas and implement improvements. a) McDonnell-Douglas example. b) Examples from Ford Motor Company and Allegiance HealthCare Corporation. 5. Ford began its continuous improvement efforts in the early 1980s, with teams as the primary organizing mechanism. a) The teams should be small enough to be efficient and effective. b) be properly trained in the skills their members will need. c) be allocated enough time to work on the problems they plan to address. d) be given the authority to resolve the problems and implement corrective action. e) have a designated "champion" who helps the team get around roadblocks that arise. 6. At Allegiance HealthCare, teams of people from different levels within the company are used to develop goals and objectives that are linked to the organization's strategic initiatives, and deal with quality problems that cut across various functional areas. M. How Does Workforce Diversity Affect Teams? 1. Managing diversity on teams is a balancing act. 2. Diversity typically provides fresh perspectives on issues but it is difficult to manage. 3. The strongest case for diversity is when teams are engaged in problem-solving and decisionmaking tasks. a) Heterogeneous teams bring multiple perspectives to the discussion, increasing the likelihood that the team will identify creative or unique solutions. b) The lack of a common perspective usually means diverse teams spend more time discussing issues, which decreases the chances that a weak alternative will be chosen. 4. The positive contribution that diversity makes to decision-making teams undoubtedly declines over time. 5. Expect the value-added component of diverse teams to increase as members become more familiar with each other and the team becomes more cohesive. 6. Studies tell us that members of cohesive teams have greater satisfaction, lower absenteeism, and lower attrition from the group. a) Yet cohesiveness is likely to be lower on diverse teams. 7. So here is a potential negative of diversity. a) It is detrimental to group cohesiveness. b) If the norms of the team are supportive of diversity, then a team can maximize the value of heterogeneity while, at the same time, achieving the benefits of high cohesiveness. Teaching Notes _______________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________

SUMMARY
1. Teams have become increasingly popular in organizations because they typically outperform individuals when the tasks being done require multiple skills, judgment, and experience. 2. The five stages of team development involve; forming--people join the team and define the team's purpose, structure, and leadership. Storming--intragroup conflict over control issues. Norming--close relationships develop and the team demonstrates cohesiveness. Performing--the team is doing the task at hand. 3. A work group is 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. There is no positive synergy that would create an overall level of performance greater than the "sum of the inputs." A work team, on the other hand, generates positive synergy through a coordinated effort. 4. The four most popular types of teams are functional teams (composed of a manager and the employees in his or her unit); problem-solving teams (typically composed of hourly employees from the same department who meet to discuss ways of improving quality, etc.); self-managed teams (a formal group of employees who operate without a manager and are responsible for a complete work process); and cross-functional teams (consisting of employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from different work areas in the organization, brought together to accomplish a particular task). 5. High-performing work teams are characterized by clear goals, unified commitment, good communications, mutual trust, effective leadership, external support, internal support, negotiating skills, and relevant skills. 6. Organizations can create team players by selecting individuals with the interpersonal skills to be effective team players, providing training to develop teamwork skills, and rewarding individuals for cooperative efforts. 7. As teams mature, they can become complacent. To keep this from occurring, managers need to support mature teams with advice, guidance, and training if these teams are to continue to improve. 8. Continuous improvement programs provide a natural vehicle for employees to share ideas and to implement improvements as part of the process. Teams are particularly effective for resolving complex problems.

REVIEW AND APPLICATION QUESTIONS Reading for Comprehension

1. Contrast self-managed and cross-functional teams; and virtual and face-to-face teams. Answer A self-managed work team is a formal group of employees who operate without a manager and are responsible for a complete work process or segment that delivers a product or service to an external or internal customer. This kind of team has control over its work pace, determination of work assignments, etc. Fully self-managed work teams even select their own members and evaluate performance. As a result, supervisory positions take on decreased importance and may even be eliminated. The cross-functional type of team consists of employees from about the same hierarchical level but from different work areas in the organization. They are brought together to accomplish a particular task. Cross-functional teams are also an effective way to allow employees from diverse areas within an organization to exchange information, develop new ideas, solve problems, and coordinate complex tasks. A virtual team is an extension of the electronic meetings discussed in Chapter 4. A virtual team allows groups to meet without concern for space or time and enables organizations to link workers

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together that in the past couldn't have been. Team members use technology advances to solve problems-even though they may be geographically dispersed or a dozen time zones away. 2. What problems might surface on teams during each of the five stages of team development? Answer Students' responses should include an explanation of each stage. Forming is characterized by a great deal of uncertainty about the group's purpose, structure, and leadership. The storming stage is one of intragroup conflict. Norming stage is one in which close relationships develop and members begin to demonstrate cohesiveness. The fourth stage is performing--the structure is fully functional and accepted by team members. Groups might not become productive at any stage. A group may be stalled at one stage when it needs to grow to the next, etc. 3. How do virtual teams enhance productivity? Answer A virtual team allows groups to meet without concern for space or time and enables organizations to link workers together that in the past couldn't have been. Team members use technology advances to solve problems-even though they may be geographically dispersed or a dozen time zones away. Students might refer to the VeriFone example in the text to illustrate this. 4. In what ways can management invigorate stagnant teams? Answer Effective teams can become stagnant. What a manager can do to reinvigorate mature teams is summarized in Exhibit 9-6. Prepare team members to deal with the problems of team maturity. Provide them with refresher training in communication, conflict resolution, team processes, and similar skills. Offer advanced training to develop stronger problem-solving, interpersonal, and technical skills. Encourage teams to treat their development as a constant learning experience. 5. Why do you believe mutual respect is important to developing high-performing work teams? Answer Effective teams are characterized by high mutual trust among members. Members believe in the integrity, character, and ability of one another. Respect is an important component of trust. Members redefine themselves to include membership in the team as an important aspect of the self.

Linking Concepts to Practice

1. How do you explain the rapidly increasing popularity of work teams in the countries, such as the United States and Canada, whose national cultures place a high value on individualism? Answer The current popularity of teams comes from the fact that teams typically outperform individuals when the tasks being done require multiple skills, judgment, and experience. As organizations restructure themselves to compete more effectively and efficiently, they are turning to teams as a way to better utilize employee talents. Teams can serve as a source of job satisfaction because team members are frequently empowered. 2. "All work teams are work groups, but not all work groups are work teams." Do you agree or disagree with the statement? Discuss. Answer A work group is a group that interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions that will help each group member perform within his/her area of responsibility. Work groups have no need to engage in collective work that requires joint effort. There is no positive synergy. A work team, on the other hand, generates positive synergy through a coordinated effort. Exhibit 9-2 highlights the main differences between work groups and work teams. 3. Would you prefer to work alone or as part of a team? Why?

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Answer Students' responses will vary based on personal opinion. Some individuals prefer to be recognized for their individual achievements. In some organizations, too, work environments are such that only the "strong" survive. 4. Describe a situation in which individuals, acting independently, outperform teams in an organization. Answer When time is of the essence, choices are limited, the group lacks the expertise that the individual has, etc., and an individual will outperform a group. 5. Contrast the pros and cons of having diverse teams. Answer Diversity that exists on a work team can help identify creative or unique solutions. The lack of a common perspective due to diversity usually means that diverse team members will spend more time discussing relevant issues, decreasing the likelihood of a weak solution.

MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP TEAM SKILL-BUILDING EXERCISE: Building Effective Work Teams

Purpose: This exercise is designed to allow class members to (a) experience working together as a team on a specific task and (b) analyze this experience. Time: Teams will have 90 minutes to engage in steps 2 and 3. They will need another 45-60 minutes to critique and evaluate the exercise. Instructions: 1. Class members are assigned to teams of about six people. Once you explain what they are to do, you should release them. a. Provide each team its own instruction sheet. 2. Each team is required to: a. Determine a team name b. Compose a team song 3. Each team is to try to find the following items on its scavenger hunt: a. A picture of a team b. A newspaper article about a group or team c. A piece of apparel with the college name or logo d. A drinking straw e. A ball of cotton f. A piece of stationery from a college department g. A Post-It pad h. A 3.5" floppy disk i. A beverage cup from McDonald's j. A pet leash k. A book by Ernest Hemingway l. An ad brochure for a Ford product m. A test tube n. A pack of gum o. A college catalog 4. After 90 minutes, all teams are to be back in the classroom. a. The team with the most items on the list will be declared the winner. b. The class and you will determine whether or not the items meet the requirements of the exercise. 5. Have each team engage in self-evaluation. Specifically, it should answer the following: a. What was the team's strategy? b. What roles did individual members perform?
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c. How effective was the team? d. What could the team have done to be more effective?
6. Full class discussion will focus on issues such as: a. What differentiated the more effective teams from the less effective teams? b. What did you learn from this experience that is relevant to the design of effective teams?
[Source: Adapted from M. R. Manning and P.J. Schmidt, "Building Effective Work Teams: A Quick Exercise Based on a Scavenger Hunt," Journal of Management Education, August 1995, pp. 392-398.]

DEVELOPING YOUR COACHING SKILL

SUMMARY Effective managers are increasingly being described as coaches who provide instruction, guidance, advice, and encouragement to help team members improve their job performance. Steps in Practicing the Skill 1. Analyze ways to improve the team's performance and capabilities. 2. Create a supportive climate. 3. Influence team members to change their behavior. Practicing the Skill 1. Collaborative efforts are more successful when every member of the group or team contributes a specific role or task toward the completion of the goal. 2. To improve your skill at nurturing team effort, choose two of the following activities, and break each one into at least six to eight separate tasks or steps. 3. Be sure to indicate which steps are sequential, and which can be done simultaneously with others. 4. What do you think is the ideal team size for each activity you chose? Making an omelet Washing the car Creating a computerized mailing list Designing an advertising poster Planning a ski trip Restocking a supermarket's produce department Teaching tips 1. Exercise is self-explanatory.

A CASE APPLICATION: Developing Your Diagnostic and Analytical Skills Distribution at Hewlett-Packard
SUMMARY Even well-managed organizations don't always work as efficiently and effectively as management would like, example Hewlett-Packard. One of the characteristics that distinguishes an outstanding organization is its ability to know when problems need to be addressed and then proceed to do something about it. The job of correcting this problem fell on the shoulders of HP's distribution manager, Loretta Wilson. Wilson quickly assembled a team of experts--both from within and external to the organization, including logistics, systems, and operations experts. They quickly assessed the situation and concluded that a new, high-tech facility was needed. Loretta's team was successful. The new distribution facility is getting its orders filled within the four-hour limit as contractually required. By consolidating the previous six independent facilities into one operation, productivity has risen by more that 33 percent.

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Questions: 1. Why do you think a team was needed for the design of a complex project like the distribution center for HP? How would you classify this team? Answer The complexity of the project, the need for expertise, commitment, and quality in the solution all contribute to the need to use a team. It's a problem-solving team. 2. Do you believe that the advantages accrued from specialization (see Chapter 5, Organizing) are lost or diminished when individuals from different specialties are put together on a team? Discuss. Answer Students' answers will vary but should recognize the advantages of diversity, better quality decisions, more commitment to the decision, etc. However, the decision will take longer, and there will be more time spent on forming and storming due to the diversity. 3. Do you think Loretta Wilson's team achieved its objective? Explain. Answer Students' answers will vary. Generally they should see that the team did accomplish its task. 4. Using the 9 characteristics of a high-performing work team (Exhibit 9-4), describe each of the 9 elements as they relate to the case. Use examples where appropriate. If a characteristic was not specifically cited in the case, describe how it may have been witnessed in this project. Answer High-performance work teams have both a clear understanding of the goal to be achieved and a belief that the goal embodies a worthwhile or important result. This team had clear goals. Wilson clearly assembled a team of competent individuals with the relevant technical skills and abilities and the personal characteristics required. Whether or not the team was characterized by high mutual trust is difficult to determine with the information available. There seem to be effective teams characterized by good communication. How much flexibility and continual adjustments were necessary is not clear. Wilson seems to have motivated the team to follow them through the most difficult situations. How supportive the climate is unknown.

DEVELOPING YOUR INVESTIGATIVE SKILLS: Using the Internet

Visit www.prenhall.com/robbins for updated Internet exercises.

ENHANCING YOUR WRITING SKILLS: Communicating Effectively

(For ideas regarding the use of these exercises in your course, please refer to the Teaching Tips in the Preface of this Manual.) 1. "Teams create conflict among its members and conflict can lead to lower productivity. Management, then, should not support the concept of teams." Build an argument to support this statement, and one to show why the statement is false. Then, take a position on one side of the argument and support your argument. 2. Describe why work teams are more acceptable in Japan than in the United States or Canada? Explain how Japanese firms in the United States can still use teams even though the cultural dimensions are different. 3. In two to three pages, explain whether you would prefer to work alone or as part of a team. What does your response indicate in terms of organizational cultures in which you might work? Explain.

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