Seminar Project

TEAMWORK
Why Teams in this Course?
♦ You will work on teams in your careers
– How many have already?
♦ Recruiters look for team skills
– Surveys of employers
♦ Better functioning teams produce better results
♦ A skill that needs practice
♦ Senior project is coming!!!!
 Power of Teams
♦ Complex problems that require innovation
are best solved by teams.
♦ Creative collaboration – The process of
shared creation where two or more
individuals come together to solve a
problem in a way that neither could have
though of on their own.
♦ Innovation is the only competitive
advantage left.
♦ Teamwork Quotes and Proverbs
Teamwork: Simply stated, it is less me Teamwork doesn't tolerate the
and more we. inconvenience of distance

Teamwork is the fuel that allows None of us is as smart as all of us.

common people to attain
uncommon results.

The whole is greater than the sum of We must all hang together, or
the parts. assuredly, we shall all hang
separately.

Coming together is a beginning. Coming together, sharing together,

Keeping together is progress. working together,
Working together is success succeeding together.
Definition of Team
♦ Team
– A group of people who work together to achieve a
common purpose.
– Practice five tenets of cooperative learning

♦ Group
– Collection of individuals
– No common purpose
– Do not follow five tenets
Five Tenets
♦ Positive interdependence
– Rely on each other to accomplish goals
– If a member fail to do their part all suffer

♦ Individual Accountability
– For individual work
– Understanding all parts of final product
Five Tenets Continues
♦ Face-to-face promotive interaction
– Mutual feedback
– Give and take guidance
– Challenge on another
♦ Appropriate use of teamwork skills
– Leadership, Communication, Conflict
management and Decision making
♦ Regular assessment of team functioning
– Periodically asses functioning of the team
Effective teamwork

Firms are constantly looking out for strategies

that will help them to cope with complexity
and competition.

Greater dynamism in the economic and social

environment has prompted many firms to
review their resource deployment and
productivity strategies
Effective Team performance requirments:

♦ It needs people with technical expertise.

♦ It needs people with the problem solving and
decision making skills to be able to identify
problems, generate alternatives, evaluate those
alternatives and make competent choices.
♦ Teams need people with good listening,
feedback; conflict resolution and other inter
personal skills.
Characteristics of effective
teams
♦ Effectiveness:

Ansoff(1972) :effectiveness is a strategic

concept which relates to the exploitation of
profit potential in an organization

Johnson and Scholes (1989) :effectiveness is

a measure of the way which resources can
be used in an organization
Characteristics of effective
teams
♦ Efficiency:

Hofer and Schendal (1986)efficiency is the

actual ratio of outputs to inputs

Johnson and Scholes (1989): efficiency is a

measure of how well resources have been
utilized while effectiveness is the ability to
harmonize that capability with the external
environment.
Empirical studies of teamwork
there have been many studies conducted on the way
that groups and their members behave and interact.
compared to individuals, groups produce more
solutions, and better solutions, to problems.

Some subsequent empirical studies, summarized in:

♦ increasing extent of teamwork and team briefings
♦ collaboration and decision making in groups
♦ communication and rivalry
♦ evaluation of quality circles
Extent of team working, team
briefings and feedback
♦ teamwork has become more widespread
♦ supported by the Industrial Research Society (IRS)
(1995) and Incomes Data Services (IDS) (1992)
who add that most large organizations in their
study used team briefings
♦ managers who are trained to give feedback in team
situations can facilitate more effective teams.
Collaboration and decision-making

♦ Group collaboration can lead to more innovative

and riskier decisions than those taken by
individuals and this is known as the “risky shift”
phenomenon.
♦ In certain circumstances, the decisions taken by
groups are more conservative.
♦ Increased complexity in business has led to greater
use of group problem-solving techniques.
 Communication and rivalry
♦ The way that groups interact and learn is seen as
important
♦ There is a direct relationship between the quality of
communication and group performance
♦ effectiveness is related to the extent to which groups
learn, particularly from failure to win in intergroup
rivalry
♦ Applicable to hospitality operations where
departmental communication affects the quality of
the product offering and customer satisfaction
Quality circles and management
attitudes
♦ Since the 1980s, Japanese firms have been
particularly successful in positively harnessing
employee involvement, originally through the
medium of quality circles
♦ business improvements from quality circles are
unsustainable in the longer term, primarily
because of interventions made by middle
management
♦ quality circles can work in some organizations
A systems model of effective teams

♦ Elton Mayo : effectiveness of work groups resides

in the degree of motivation, co-ordination and
unity of purpose
♦ A team may be regarded as an open system which
interacts with its environment in the process of
transforming inputs to outputs.
♦ systems theory provides a discipline of thinking
which “provides insights into problems which
were previously obscure and illogical”
A systems model of effective teams

♦ teamwork can be studied in a three-stage sequence

in which the vital transformational processes are
termed “throughputs”

♦ The model maps the criteria by which effective

teams may be recognized, and identifies those
inputs and throughputs which lead to successful
outputs
 INPUTS THROUGHPUTS OUTPUTS

Processes
Cohesiveness Task performance
Climate group
Communication Individual outputs
configuration
Decision-making Other outputs
Task activities
Maintenance activities
♦ Inputs: Inputs are those factors which are often
controlled or influenced by management, and
include climate and group configuration.

♦ Climate: Climate is a social psychological

concept which refers to the organizational
ambience in which teams work

♦ Group configuration: Configuration factors are

important to an effective team. These include size,
the membership balance and the blend of talent
♦ Team processes: Effective teams share clear and
well understood goals which are accepted by
members

♦ Cohesiveness: Cohesion in effective teams is

optimized.

♦ Communication: Communication must be clear,

accurate and be honest and open
♦ Decision making: The characteristics of effective
decision making in teams are that it should be
conducted according to established procedures
which should be known to all

♦ Task activities: Task activities are those which

enable the team to manage itself effectively

♦ Maintenance activities: Effective teams are those

which are aware of internal forces and monitor and
review them
♦ Outputs:

Successful outputs are those outcomes which satisfy

organizational or personal goals, or which are
compared to pre-determined criteria. The success of
outputs may be assessed by a number of
stakeholders, including the organization itself and
the people within it, shareholders, suppliers and
media commentators

 Task performance
 Individual outputs
 Other outputs
Task performance

♦ May be judged on a number of criteria include

quality and productivity

♦ Teams which perform tasks well are able to create

more time and to reduce schedule delays and cost
overruns
Individual outputs

♦ Another outcome of successful team performance

is personal satisfaction and development of team
members

♦ Greater frequency of meetings may lead to

increased social interaction and feelings of warmth
and respect as well as care and concern in the
group
Other outputs
♦ Member satisfaction may result in tangible and
less tangible rewards
♦ Tangible rewards and recognition lead to positive
reinforcement and a greater likelihood of repeating
the desirable behavior
♦ Stott and Walker (1995): organizational support
and rewards should be distributed to the team and
not to individuals
♦ Other less tangible outputs of effective teams
include the capacity to face mistakes openly and
learn from them
Conclusion
♦ Teamwork is an umbrella term which is often
understood to represent the degree of co-operation
that exists in teams or between teams, but more
empirical research is needed to articulate the
components of effective teamwork, particularly in
service contexts.

♦ One approach towards unpacking this complex

concept is through the descriptive systems model
♦ while specially formulated teams perform useful
functions, management should focus on improving
the team processes of naturally occurring work
groups

♦ effective teamwork can be measured by individual

and group outputs which are a product of inputs
and throughputs

♦ This research should incorporate the values and

attitudes of team leaders and members who seem
to exert the greatest influence on team
development and ultimate effectiveness