TEAMWORK SKILLS

"Working together as a team means winning

together as a team."
"Coming together is a beginning...
Keeping together is progress...
Working together is a success."
 Team
• “A distinguishable set of two or more
individuals
• who interact dynamically, interdependently
and
• adaptively to achieve specified, shared and
• valued objectives”
(Bowers, Clint A., et.al)
 Team
• “Group of people with a full set of complementary
skills required to complete a task, job or project.
• Team members operate with a high degree of
interdependence, share authority and responsibility
for self-management, are accountable for the
collective performance and work toward a common
goal and share rewards.
• A team becomes more than just a collection of
people when a strong sense of mutual commitment
creates synergy, thus generating performance
greater than the sum of the performance of its
individual members.”
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/team.html
 Teamwork
 A joint action by two or more people.
 Each person has complementary skills.
 Express individual interests and opinions.
 To achieve common goals.
 Teamwork
• “Teamwork is the definition of cooperative
members of a same group working together to
obtain the same goal.”
• “The process of working collaboratively with
a group of people, in order to achieve a goal.”
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/teamwork.html
 Team Characteristics
• A team consists of two or more people who work
interdependently over some time period to
accomplish common goals related to some task-
oriented purpose.
– A special type of “group.”
– The interactions among members within teams revolve
around a deeper dependence on one another than the
interactions within groups.
– The interactions within teams occur with a specific task-
related purpose in mind.
 Formal and Informal Groups
• Formal group
– formed by the organization.
– have designated work assignments and specific tasks.
– appropriate behaviors are established by and directed
towards organizational goals.
• Informal group
– formed by friends (friendships and common interests).
– are of a social nature.
– occur naturally in the work place in response to the
need for social contact.
Table 11-1
Types of Teams
 Stages of Team Development
• Forming - try to understand the boundaries in the
Forming team and get a feel for what is expected of them.
• Storming - remain committed to ideas, triggers
Storming conflict that affects some relationships and harms
the team’s progress.
Time

Norming • Norming - realize that they need to work together

to accomplish team goals.
• Performing - members are comfortable working
Performing within their roles, and the team makes progress
toward goals.
• Adjourning – members experience anxiety and
Adjourning other emotions as they disengage and ultimately
separate from the team.
Tuckman’s Five-Stage Theory of Group
Development
 Team Composition
• Team composition is the mix of people who make up
the team.
• Role is defined as the behaviors a person is expected
to display in a given context.
– Leader–staff teams - the leader makes decisions for the
team and provides direction and control over members
who perform assigned tasks.
– Team task roles refer to behaviors that directly facilitate
the accomplishment of team tasks.
– Team building roles refer to behaviors that influence the
quality of the team’s social climate.
– Individualistic roles reflect behaviors that benefit the
individual at the expense of the team.
 Group Member Roles

• Roles
– Expected behaviors for a given position
• Task roles
– Task-oriented group behavior
– Keep the group on track
• Maintenance roles
– Relationship-building group behavior
– Keep the group together
9-13
Team and Individualistic Roles
 Effective Teamwork—A Ten-Step Model

1. Establish Direction and Goals.

2. Establish Clear Roles and Ground Rules for Teams.

3. Establish Accountability.

4. Develop Team-Leadership Skills.

5. Develop Communication Skills.

6. Develop Conflict-Management Skills.

7. Establish a Well-Defined Decision-Making Process and Empower Team Members.

8. Establish Positive Team Behaviors.

9. Recognize and Reward Team Performance.

10. Make Teamwork Part of the Culture.

SMART Goal Setting

S
M
A
R
T
 Skills needed for teamwork

Listening
Questioning
Pervading
Respecting
Helping
Sharing
Participating
 Teams
A group becomes a team when:
1.Leadership becomes a shared activity
2.Accountability shifts from strictly individual to
both individual and collective
3.The group develops its own purpose or
mission
4.Problem solving becomes a way of life, not a
part-time activity

9-18
 Team Building
• Team building
– experiential learning aimed at better internal
functioning of groups

9-19
 How to Build Trust
1. Communication
2. Support
3. Respect
4. Fairness
5. Predictability
6. Competence

9-20
 Teamwork conflict
What is conflict?
* In everyday speech, conflict is seen as a fight, a struggle, or
the clashing of opposed principles (e.g. Concise Oxford
Dictionary, 1983).

* An alternative is to define conflict as a process that begins

when one individual or group perceives differences between
oneself and another individual or group over something that
is important (Thomas, 1992).
 Case study 1: What causes conflict?
Florence and Shirley were team members in the bakery department. Both had the
responsibility to clean the display unit, but Florence felt that she was doing it much
more often than Shirley. She mentioned this to Shirley, but Shirley felt that they
were cleaning the unit on a fairly equal basis. There was a difference in perception
that was unresolved.

To keep peace in the team, Florence didn't press the issue. As time went on,
however, she began to resent the fact that Shirley still didn't do her share. Finally
one day, while cleaning out the display, she stopped what she was doing and
stormed into the other room to confront Shirley. This time she was very angry and
emotional, which then caused Shirley to react the same way. Each took a position
and locked into it. The argument continued until the team leader stopped it and
moved them to another room. After talking through the situation, it was finally
resolved.

The seeds of this conflict were planted when the issue was originally discussed but
left unresolved...at least to Florence. Florence stuffed the emotions into her belly
and didn't really deal with them. Eventually, her feelings grew in intensity and
finally "blew" all at once.
 Case study 2: What causes conflict?
Pierre was a consultant with a successful business who had started doing work for Sam,
another consultant. Sam would hire out Pierre's services and take a fee in the process.
One day Sam called and said he had a lead if Pierre wanted to take it. Sam indicated on
the phone that "this isn't the kind of work we are interested in, so if you want to bid it and
get the work, just pay me a finders fee." Pierre was successful in getting the work and
communicated this to Sam. Sam immediately began telling Pierre how he wanted him to
do the work. Pierre thought the work was his alone because of what Sam had said and
communicated this to Sam. Their discussions were cordial and businesslike.

Two weeks later, Pierre received a nasty letter from Sam's lawyer indicating he had stolen
the work from Sam. Pierre attempted to contact Sam, but Sam wouldn't talk with him.
Pierre was hurt and angry, and began talking to lawyers. Then he realized that more
money would be spent on the conflict than the contract was worth, so tried another
method. Pierre wrote Sam an email telling his rendition of the story, and offering to do the
work under Sam's company name, and pay Sam the agreed finders fee. After some
continued discussions, Sam agreed. The work was performed, everyone received their
appropriate share of the fee, and the problem was resolved. After the work was complete,
Pierre decided never again to work with Sam.
 Case study 3: What causes conflict?
Two supervisors, Bill and Don, had been given instructions to reduce their group size by two
people. Having only 10 people in each group, this was a sizeable reduction. Bill's personality
tended to favor people. He was generally more sensitive to people, and was a caring,
thoughtful supervisor. Don was just the opposite. He was more concerned with group
production, and considered people's feelings secondary to the work.

They met to discuss the staff reduction. Bill discussed that he had assembled his group and
discussed openly with them the need for the reduction. He said the group talked about what
could be done for the people who would be leaving. Could they help with job searches,
resume writing, and referrals? The group even discussed reducing everyone's hours and
maintaining the ten people for a while. Bill said that he had finally asked for volunteers, and,
in fact, two people said they would allow themselves to be "downsized" out. Bill was happy
with the outcome.

Don was outraged. He couldn't believe Bill had done something so irresponsible. "What," he
said "if they were your two best people, or people you had just invested training dollars in?"
He said Bill should be more concerned with what the group will look like after the dust
settles. They argued about how this downsizing should occur with all the emotion and
passion they could muster. It was a real conflict.
Reactions to conflict
 Reactions to conflict
 Avoiding: those who avoid conflict, denial is never a good way to resolve
any conflict, since it is just a way to hide and not facing. Communication is
important and sometimes you need to be really sharp and sensitive,
observe your teamwork.
 Competing: means domination, and therefore another way to make
conflict management another issue itself.
 Accommodation: means the member is going to be less committed and
involved since feeling left behind leads to isolation
 Collaboration: having team members ready to collaborate always
empowers effectiveness, since they are willing to get involved in conflict as
much as in work and achievements.
 Compromising: once a member feels part of the team and understand its
role and value, making him aware of the conflict relevance is easier so that
he can commit to help resolving it.
 Conflict is Not Always Bad
 It improves the group’s situation. Conflict forces team members to face
possible defects in a solution and thus produce better answers.

 Workers are more productive. Instead of trying to avoid conflict and

becoming distant, team members can concentrate on the task at hand.

 It is a stress reliever. By getting a conflict out in the open, group members

are given a chance to vent their emotions and release tensions. Once the
conflict is resolved, the group members may even grow closer.

 It changes the organization of the group. By acknowledging a conflict,

group members may discover what they are truly best suited to do.
• “A successful team is a group of many hands
but of one mind”. —Bill Bethel