V. M.

Patel Institute of Management

[1] BACKGROUND

1.1 Why Have Teams Become So Popular?

When companies like, W.L.Gore, Volvo and General Foods introduced teams in
to their production processes, it made news before no one else was doing it. Today it’s
just the opposite. It’s the organization that doesn’t use teams that has become
newsworthy. Approximately 80 percent of Fortune500 companies now have half or more
of their employees on teams. And 68 percent of small U.S. manufacturers are using teams
in their production areas.

How do we explain the current popularity of teams? The evidence suggests that
teams typically outperform individuals when the tasks being done require multiple skills,
judgement and experience. As organizations have restructured themselves to compete
more effectively and efficiently, they have turned to teams as a better way to use
employee talents. Management has found that teams are more flexible and responding to
changing events than are traditional departments or other forms of permanent groupings.
Teams have the capability to quickly respond, assemble, deploy, refocus, and disband.

Teams are increasingly becoming the primary means for organizing work in
contemporary business firms. In fact, this trend is so widespread that business students
are learning about teams through first-hand experience.

However, in its recent resurgence it is cross functional and multidisciplinary team

working that is seen as an important ingredient of success. This form of collaboration is
vital to solving complex problems fast, gaining commitment to change and tapping the
full reservoir of latent energy and ideas possessed by most of the organizations.

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1.2 Teams Work to Save Lives in Tsunami-Stricken Asia

When one of the most popular earth-quakes on history struck deep beneath the
Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004, more than 2, 25, 000 people were killed in the
flooding. Almost immediately, teams of relief workers around the world were on their
ways. In such immediate response situations, a common problem is team coordination –
both within and between teams. For example in the Indonesian province of Aceh, 175
tons of supplies waited at the airport for distribution because the proper equipment wasn’t
there. In addition, food distribution experts were lacking and, there was even confusion
about where food should be sent. Anticipating such problems in India, IBM installed a
complex computer system to coordinate aid among relief centers. This system helped set
priorities so relief workers could respond quickly to most needy sites.

Even world leaders had to learn about to be team players. When the tsunami first
hit, many nations obviously wanted to send help. President Bush wanted a “CORE
GROUP” of countries –India, the United States, Australia and Japan to coordinate relief
work. France said that it would oversee aid to Sri Lanka and British Prime Minister Tony
Blair proposed that U.K., since it was chair of the G8 group of industrialized nations,
coordinate the relief work. But to be truly effective, these nations and their leaders had to
work together as a team.

This tragedy illustrates both the necessity of teamwork and the challenges of coordinating
within and between teams.

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1.3 Role of effective team in organization

In any organization the team serves to be an essential part depending on the work that is
required in that particular organization. Whenever there is the complexity of the work
involved and also different perspectives are required team proves to play an important
role in the organization. Also when a work creates common purpose or set of goals for the
people in the team then it would be more important than the aggregate of individual goals.
For e.g. many new car dealer service departments have introduced teams that link
customer service personnel, mechanics, part specialists and sales representatives. Such
teams can better manage collective responsibility for ensuring that customers needs are
properly met.

Also in the teams the members are interdependent. Teams make sense when there is
interdependence between tasks, when the success of each one depends on the success of
each other. For an e.g. we can see in the game soccer. Success requires a great deal of
coordination between interdependent players. Also the teams with the proper creation and
the effective nature are going to prove themselves in the organization for the better
quality management.

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[2] INTRODUCTION

2.1 Management

For most of our lives , we members of one organization or another – a college , a

sports team ,a musical or theoretical group , religious or civic organization , a branch of
the armed forces , or a business. But all organizations , formal or informal , are put
together and kept together by a team of people who set that there are benefits available
from working toward together toward some common goal. So a very basic element of any
organization is a goal or purpose. All the organizations also have some program or
method for achieving the goals –a plan. Organizations must also acquire and allocate the
resources necessary to achieve their goals. All the organizations depend on their
organizations for the resources they need. Management is all about the practice of
consciously and continually shaping the organizations. All the organizations have the
people who are responsible for continuously helping them to achieve their goals. Thus ,
managements tells about the process of planning , organizing, leading and controlling the
work of organization members and of using all available organizational resources to reach
stated organizational goals .

2.2 Teams

A team is defined as two or more people who interact and influences each other
toward a common purpose. Traditionally, two types of teams have existed in
organizations: Formal and Informal. Today however teams exist that have the
characteristics of both.

In the formal teams we have various types: -

A) Command team.

B) Project team.

Teams can do a variety of things. They can make products, provide services,
negotiate deals, coordinate projects, offer advice, and make decisions. In the
organizations you are likely to find four common types of teams

A) Problem solving teams

B) Self managed teams

C) Cross functional teams

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D) Virtual teams.

2.3 High Performance Teams

Some groups today have characteristics of both formal and informal teams. Super
teams or High –performance teams –group of 3 to 30 workers drawn from different areas
of a corporation- are an example .They get to together to solve the problems that workers
deal with daily. Super teams are also becoming important to small businesses such as
advertising.

2.4 Effective Teams

The teams that have the capacity to determine the appropriate objectives”doing
the right thing”. They choose the right goals.

2.5 Need of Creating an Effective Team

As mentioned in the background with the example of tsunami. There are many
other examples which can justify the needs of formation of the effective teams. So there is
certainly a need of creating an effective team in today’s world.

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[3] MANAGEMENT

Definition: - It is the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the

work of organization members and of using all available organizational resources to
achieve stated organizational goals. The need for management can be justified by
following points: -

Organization: - A group of people with formally assigned roles who work

together to achieve the stated goals of the group.

Goal: - The purpose that an organization strives to achieve and goals are
fundamental elements of organizations.

Manager: - People responsible for directing the efforts aimed at helping

organizations achieve their goals.

Organization must also acquire and allocate the resources necessary to achieve
their goals. All organizations depend on other organizations for the resources they need.
A team cannot play without the required equipment. All organizations have some
program or method for achieving goals are called plan.

3.1 Why do we study management?

In the world organizations are everywhere, there are three compelling reasons for
studying and the practice of management. It involves the past, present, and future. Living
in the present - organizations contribute to the present standards of living of people
worldwide. We all rely on organizations daily for food, shelter, clothing, medical care,
communications, amusement, and employment.

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Building the future- organizations build toward a desirable future and help
individuals do the same. New products and practices are developed as a result of the
creative power that can emerge when people work together in organizations.
Organizations have an impact (positive or negative) on the future status of organizations
that are addressing concerns about the future in their products and practices.

Remembering the past-organizations help connect people to their pasts.

Organizations can be thought of as patterns of human relationships. Every day that we
work with others adds to the history of the organization and our own history.
Organizations also maintain records and value their own history, keeping traditions alive
in our minds.

3.2 Process of the management: -

Process is a systemic method of handling activities. There are four main

management activities such as planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

Planning: - It is the process of establishing goals and a suitable course of action

for achieving those goals. Planning implies that managers think through their goals and
actions in advance and that their actions are based on some method, plan, or logic. Plan
gives the organization its objectives and set up the best procedures for reaching them.
Plans are the guides by which the organization obtains and commits the resources
required to reach its objectives, members of the organization carry on activities consistent
with the chosen objectives and procedures, and progress toward the objectives is
monitored and measured so that correct action can be taken if progress is unsatisfactory.

Organizing: - It is the process of arranging and allocating work, authority, and

resources among an organization’s members who are working together to achieve a
specific goal or set of goals. Relationship and time are central to organizing activities.
Organizing produces a structure for the relationship in an organization.

Leading: - It is the process of directing and influencing the task related activities
of group members or an entire organization.

Controlling: - It is the process of ensuring that actual activities conform to

planned activities. Controlling involves that, establishing standards of performance,
measuring current performance, comparing this performance to the established standards,
and taking corrective action if deviations are detected. By this function manager keeps the
organization on track.
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[4] Teams

Definition: - It is defined as two or more people who interact and influence each
other toward a common purpose.

4.1 Differences between groups and teams: -

A work group is a group that interacts primarily to share information and to make
decision to help each member perform within his or her area of responsibility.

A work team is a group whose individual efforts results in a performance that is

greater than the sum of the individual inputs.

Comparing Work Groups and Work Teams

Work Groups Work Teams

Share information Goals Collective performance

Neutral Synergy Positive

Individual Accountability Individual and mutual

Random and varied Skills Complementary

4.2 Types of teams: -

Traditionally in organizations there are four types of teams like formal, informal,
high performance, and self managed teams.

(1) Formal Teams: - Formal teams are created by managers and charged with
carrying out specific tasks to help the organization achieve its goals. It is again divided in
to three types like command team, committee, and task force or project teams.

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(a) Command teams- a team composed of a manager and the employees that
report to that manager.

(b) Committee- a formal organizational team which usually relatively long

lived and created to carry out specific organizational tasks.

(c) Task force or project teams- these teams are created to deal with a specific
problem and are usually disbanded when the task is completed or the problem is solved.

(2) Informal teams: - It emerges whenever people come together and interact
regularly. These groups develop within the formal organizational structure. Members of
the teams tend to subordinate some of their individual needs to those the team supports
and protects them.

Functions: -

1. They maintain and strengthen the norms and values their members hold in
common.

2. They give members feelings of social satisfaction, status, and security.

3. Informal group’s help their members communicate. Member of this groups

learn about matters that affect them by developing their own informal channels of
communication to supplement more formal channels.

4. Informal groups help solve problems. They might aid a sick or tired
employee or devise activities to deal with boredom. But these groups can also reduce an
organization’s effectiveness.

(3) High performance teams or super teams: - groups of 3 to 30 workers

drawn from different areas of a corporation who get together to solve the problems that
workers deal with daily. These types of teams are also important to small businesses such
as advertising agencies. Super teams are not all roses and rainbows. Super teams are
helpful when there is a complex problem to solve or layers of progress delaying
management to cut through. And it is not right choice for every company culture.

(4) Self managed teams- super teams that manage themselves without any
formal supervision are called self managed teams.

These teams usually have the following characteristics

• The team has responsibility for a “relatively whole task.”

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• Team members each possess a variety of task related skills.

• The team has the power to determine such things as work methods,
scheduling, and assignment of members to different tasks.

• The performance of the group as whole is the basis for compensation and
feedback.

4.3 Types mainly existing in an organization: -

Teams can make products, provide services, negotiate deals, coordinate projects,
offer advice, and make decisions. The four most common types that are likely to find in
the organizations are problem-solving teams, self-managed work teams, cross-functional
teams, and virtual teams.

(1) Problem-solving teams: - The groups 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.

In problem-solving teams, members share ideas or offer suggestion on how work

processes and methods can be improved. They have the authority to unilaterally
implement any of their suggested actions.

(2) Self-managed work teams: - The groups of 10 to 15 people who perform

highly related or interdependent jobs and take on many of the responsibilities of their
former supervisors.

This includes planning and scheduling of work, assigning task to members, collective
control over the pace of the work, making operating decisions, taking action on problem,
and working with suppliers and customers. Fully self-managed work teams select their
own members and have the members evaluate each other’s performance.

(3) Cross-functional teams: - This means employees from about the same
hierarchical level, but put from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a
task.

Cross-functional teams are an effective means for allowing people from diverse
areas within an organization or between organizations to exchange information, develop
new ideas and solve problems, and coordinate complex projects. Their early stages of

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development are often very time consuming as members learn to work with diversity and
complexity. It takes time to build trust and teamwork.

(4) Virtual teams: - Virtual teams use computer technology to tie together
physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal.

They allow people to collaborate online by using communication links like wide
area networks, video conferencing, or e-mail. Virtual teams can also do the share
information, make decisions, complete tasks and they can include members from the
same organization or between organization’s members with employees from other
organizations. The three factors that differentiate virtual teams from face-to-face teams
are as follows: -

(1) The absence of paraverbal and nonverbal cues.

(2) Limited social context.

(3) The ability to overcome time and space constraints. In face-to-face

conversation people use paraverbal (it includes tone of voice, inflection, and voice
volume) and nonverbal (it includes eye movement, facial expression, hand gestures, and
other body language) cues. These help to clarify communication by providing increased
meaning but do not available in online interactions. Virtual teams also suffer from less
social rapport and less direct interaction among members and does not able to duplicate
the normal give and take of face-to-face discussion. Virtual teams tend to be more task
oriented and exchange less social-emotional information when the members haven’t met.
Virtual team members are less satisfaction with the group interaction process than do
face-to-face teams. They are able to do their work even if members are thousands of miles
apart and separated into more zones.

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[5] STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT

As suggested by B.W.Tuckman more than two decades ago that small groups
move through five stages as they develop. These stages of development can be listed as
follows: - Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning.

Forming: - During the initial stage, the group forms and learns what sort of
behavior is acceptable to the group. By exploring what does and does not work, the group
sets implicit and explicit ground rules that cover the completion of specific tasks as well
as general group dynamics. By and large, during this stage of development the group
members have a chance to get familiar with the group members and to adjust with the
new climate.

Storming: - As group members become more comfortable with one another, they
may oppose the formation of a group structure as they begin to assert their individual
personalities. In certain cases friends become foes and even fight ground rules set during
the forming stage.

Norming: - At this time, the conflicts that aroused in the previous stage are
addressed and hopefully resolved. Group unity emerges as members establish common
goals, norms and ground rules. The group as a whole participates, not merely a few vocal
members. Members begin to voice personal opinions and develop close relationships.

Performing: - Now that structural issues have been resolved, the group begins to
operate as a unit. The structure of the group now supports and eases group dynamics and
performance. The structure becomes a tool for the group’s use instead of an issue to be
fought over. Members can now redirect their efforts from the development of the group to
using the group’s structure to complete the tasks as hand.

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Adjourning: - Finally, for temporary groups such as task forces, this is the time
when the group wraps up activities. With disbandment in mind, the groups focus shifts
form high task performance to closure. The attitude of the members varies from
excitement to depression.

Tuckman does not suggest that all groups adhere strictly to such a
framework, but that in many cases, the framework can explain why groups experience
difficulty. For example the groups those try to perform without storming and norming
will often find only short-lived success.

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[6] CREATING EFFECTIVE TEAMS

Creating “effective” teams in situations in which individuals can do the job better
is equivalent to solving the wrong problem perfectly. What does team effectiveness
mean? It includes objective measures of the team’s productivity, manager’s ratings of the
team performance and aggregate measure of member’s satisfaction.

The key components making up effective teams can be subsumed into four
general categories.

(1) The resources and the contextual influences.

(2) It relates to the team composition.

(3) It is related to the work design.

(4) It includes process variables which reflect those things that go on in the team that
influences effectiveness.

6.1 Context: -

The four contextual factors that appear to be most significantly related to team
performance are the presence of adequate resources, effective leadership, a climate of
trust, and a performance evaluation that reflects team contributions.

6.1.1 Adequate Resources: - Teams are a part of organization system. As such,

all work teams rely on resources outside the group to sustain it. And a scarcity of
resources directly reduces the ability of the team to perform its job effectively. As one set
of researchers concluded, after looking at 13 factors potentially related to group
performance, “perhaps one of the most important characteristic of an effective work
group is the support the group receives from the organization.” This support includes
timely information, proper equipment adequate staffing, encouragement and

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administrative assistance. Teams must receive the necessary support from management
and the larger organization if they are going to succeed in achieving their goals.

6.1.2 Leadership and Structure: - Team members must agree on who is to do

what and ensure that all members contribute equally in sharing the work load. In addition,
the team needs to determine how schedules will be set, what skills need to be developed,
how the group will resolve conflicts, and how the group will make and modify decisions.
Agreeing n the specifics of work and how they fit together to integrate individual’s skills
requires team leadership and structure. This can be directly provided by management or
by team members themselves. Leadership, of course, isn’t always needed. For instance
the evidence indicates that self managed work teams often perform better than teams with
formally appointed leaders. And, leaders can obstruct high performance when they
interfere with self managed teams. On self-managed teams, members absorb many of the
duties typically assumed by managers.

On traditionally managed teams, we find that two factors seem to be important in

influencing team performance – the leader’s expectation and his/her mood. Leader’s who
expect good things from their team are more likely to get them. In addition, studies have
found that leaders who exhibit a positive mood get better performance and lower
turnover.

6.1.3 Climate of Trust: - Members of effective teams trust each other. And they
also exhibit trust in their leaders. Interpersonal trust among team members facilitates,
cooperation, reduces the need to monitor each other’s behaviors and bonds team members
around the belief that others on the team won’t take advantage of them. Trust in
leadership is important in that it allows the team to be willing to accept and commit to
their leaders goals and decisions.

6.1.4 Performance Evaluation and Reward Systems: - The traditional,

individually oriented evaluation and reward system must be modified to reflect team
performance. Individual performance evaluations, fixed hourly wages, individual
incentives, and the like are not consistent with the development of high-performance
teams. So in addition to evaluating and rewarding employees for their individual
contributions, management should consider group-based appraisals, profit sharing, gain

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sharing, small group incentives, and other system modifications that will reinforce team
effort and commitment.

6.2 Composition: -

This category includes variables that relate to how teams should be staffed. In this
section, we’ll address the ability and personality of team members, allocating roles and
diversity, size of the team, member flexibility, and member’s preference for team work.

6.2.1 Abilities of Members: - Part of a team’s performance depends on the

knowledge, skills and abilities of its individual members. As the old saying goes,” the
race doesn’t always go to the swiftest nor the battle to the strongest, but that’s the way to
bet.” A team’s performance is not merely the summation of its individual member’s
abilities. However, these abilities set parameters for what members can do and how
effectively they will perform on a team.

To perform effectively, a team requires three different types of skills. First it

needs people with technical expertise. Second, 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. Finally, teams need people with good
listening, feedback, conflict resolution and interpersonal skills. No team can achieve its
performance potential without developing all three types of skills. The right mix is
crucial. Too much of one at the expense of others will result in low team performance.
But teams don’t need to have all the complementary skills in place at their beginning. It’s
not uncommon for one or more members to take responsibility to learn the skills in which
the group is deficient, thereby allowing the team to reach its full potential.

Research on the abilities of team members has revealed some interesting insights
into team composition and performance. High-ability teams are more adaptable to

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changing situations in that they can more effectively adapt prior knowledge to suit a set of
new problems. Second, although high-ability teams generally have n advantage over
lower-ability teams, this is not always the case. For example, when tasks are simple (task
that individual team members might be able to salve on their own), high-ability teams do
not perform will, perhaps because, in such tasks, high ability teams become bored and
turn their attention to other activities that are more stimulating, whereas low ability team
stays on task. High-ability teams should be “saved” to tackle the tough problems. So
matching team ability to the task is important. Finally, the ability of the team’s leader also
matters. Research shows that smart team leaders help less intelligent team when they
struggle with a task. But a less intelligent leader can neutralize the effect of a high-ability
team.

6.2.2 Personality: - Personality has a significant influence on individual

employee behavior. This can also be extended to team behavior. Specifically, teams that
rate higher in mean levels of extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to
experience, and emotional stability tend to receive higher managerial ratings for team
performance.

Interestingly, the evidence indicates that the variance in personality characteristics

may be more important than the mean. So, for example, while higher mean level of
conscientiousness on a team are desirable, mixing both conscientiousness and not-so-
conscientious members tend to lower the performance. “This may be because, in such
teams, members who are highly conscientious not only must perform their own tasks but
also perform or re-do the tasks of conscientious members. It may also be because such
diversity leads to feeling of contribution inequity. Another interesting finding related to
personality is that “One bad apple can spoil the barrel”. A single team member who lacks
a minimal level of, say, agreeableness, can negatively affect the whole team’s
performance. So including just one person who is low on agreeableness,
conscientiousness, or extroversion can result in strained internal processes and decreased
overall performance.

These personality traits are important to team’s performance. Extraverts are better
at training and motivating teams who are struggling. Emotionally stable team members
are critical because they are better at adapting and also help others to adapt. Teams
comprised of open people make better use of computer technology in making decisions.

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Open people better communicate with one another and throw out more ideas, which leads
teams comprised of open people to be more creative and innovative.

Personality composition is important to team success. It’s best to staff teams with
people who are extroverted, agreeable, conscientious, emotionally stable and open.
Management should also minimize the variability within teams on these traits.

6.2.3 Allocating Roles: - Teams have different needs, and people should be
selected for a team to ensure that all various roles are filled. We can identify nine
different team roles.

Managers need to understand the individual strengths that each person can bring to a
team, select members with their strengths in mind, and allocate work assignments that fit
with the members preferred style. By matching individual preferences with team role
demands, managers increase the likelihood that the team members will work well
together. The nine different roles can be explained as follows: -

LINKER CREATOR

MAINTAIN ADVISER
ER

TEAM

CONTROLLER PROMOTER

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PRODUCER ASSESSOR

ORGANIZER
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6.2.4 On Group Roles: - Group or team work involves collective effort, but a
team made up entirely of born leaders would probably not be very effective. Each group
member has a different contribution to make and can bring different experiences to bear
on group problems. This is not just a matter of their individual technical expertise and
knowledge, but also of the way they relate to other people. Some people have a strong
preference for a particular role, while others are more versatile, capable of filling a
number of alternative roles, depending on the situation.

Roles and Descriptions-Team-Role

Allowable Weaknesses
Contribution
Plant: -
Ignores details, tool pre-occupied to
PL Creative, Imaginative, Unorthodox, solves
communicate effectively
difficult problems
Resource Investigator: -
Over-optimistic, loses interest once
RI Extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative,
initial enthusiasm has passed
explores opportunities, develops contacts
Coordinator: -
Mature, confident, a good chairperson, Can be seen as manipulative,
CO
clarifies goals, promotes decision making, delegates personal work
delegates well
Shaper: -
Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure, Can provoke others, hurts people’s
SH
has the drive and courage to overcome feelings
obstacles
Monitor Evaluator: -
Lacks drive and ability to inspire
ME Sober, strategic and discerning, sees all
others. Overly critical
options, judges accurately
TW Team Worker: - Indecisive in crunch situations, can be

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Cooperative, mild, perceptive and

diplomatic, listens, builds, averts friction, easily influenced
calms the waters
Implementer: -
Somewhat inflexible, slow to respond
IM Disciplined, reliable, conservative and
to new possibilities
efficient. Turns ideas into practical actions
Completer: -
Painstaking, conscientious, anxious, Inclined to worry unduly, reluctant to
C
searches out errors and omissions, delivers delegate, can be a nitpicker
on time
Specialist: -
Contributes on only a narrow front,
Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated,
SP dwells on technicalities, overlooks the
provides knowledge and skills in rare
“big picture”
supply

6.2.5 Diversity: - Most team activities require a variety of skills and knowledge.
Given this requirement, it would be reasonable to conclude that heterogeneous teams -
those composed of dissimilar individuals – would be more likely to have abilities and
information and should be more effective. When a team is diverse in terms of personality,
gender, age, education, functional specialization and experience there is an increased
probability that the team will possess the needed characteristics to complete its tasks
effectively. The team may be more conflict-laden, but the evidence generally supports the
conclusion that the heterogeneous teams perform effectively than do those that are
homogeneous.

One study found that, on a cognitive task, homogenous groups of white males
performed the worst relative to mixed race and gender teams or teams of only females.
The authors concluded that this was true because male-only teams were overly aggressive
and were therefore prone to decision-making errors.

But what about the diversity created by racial or national differences? The
evidence indicates that these elements of diversity interfere with team processes, at least
in the short term. Cultural diversity seems to be an asset for a task that call for a variety of
viewpoints. But culturally heterogeneous teams have more difficulty in learning to work
with each other and in solving problems. The good news is that these difficulties seem to
dissipate with time. Although newly formed culturally diverse teams underperform newly
formed culturally homogenous teams, the difference disappears after about 3 months. The
reason is that it takes culturally diverse teams a while to learn how to work through
disagreements and different approaches to solving problems.

Groups, teams and organizations are composed cohorts, which we define as

individuals who hold a common attribute. For instance everyone born in 1986 is of the
same age. This means that they have shared common experiences. People born after 1960
have experienced the war with China but have not experienced the freedom struggle of

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India. Similarly, people born after 1980 have experienced the Kargil war but not the war
with China nor the war with Pakistan in 1971.

People, who enter a group or an organization together, or at approximately the

same time, are more likely to associate with one another, have similar perspective on the
group or an organization, and thus be more likely to stay. Large differences within single
team will lead to turnover. If everyone is moderately dissimilar from everyone else in a
team, the feelings of being an outsider are reduced. So, it’s the degree of dispersion on an
attribute, rather than the level, that matters most.

6.2.6 Size of Teams: - Generally speaking, the most effective teams have fewer
than 10 members. And experts suggest using the smallest number of people who can do
the task. Unfortunately, there is a pervasive tendency for the managers to err on the side
of making teams too large. While a minimum of 4 or5 may be necessary to develop
diversity of views and skills, managers seem to seriously underestimate how coordination
problems can geometrically increase as team members are added. When teams have
excess members, cohesiveness and mutual accountability declines, social loafing
increases and more and more people do less talking relative to others. Moreover, large
teams have trouble coordinating with one another, especially when time pressure is
present. So in designing effective teams, managers should try to keep them fewer than 10.
If a natural working unit is larger and you want a team effort, consider breaking the group
into sub teams.

6.2.7 Member Flexibility: - Teams are made up of flexible individuals have

members who can compete each other’s tasks. This is an obvious plus to a team because
it greatly improves its adaptability and makes it less reliant on any single member. So
selecting members who themselves value flexibility, then cross-training them to be able
to do each other’s jobs, should lead to higher team performance over time.

6.2.8 Member Preferences: - Not every employee is a team player. Given the
option, many employees will select themselves out of team participation. When people
who prefer to work alone are required to team up, there is a direct threat to the team’s
morale and to individual member satisfaction. This suggests that, when selecting team
members, individual preferences should be considered as well as abilities, personalities
and skills. High-performing teams are likely to be composed of people who prefer
working as a part of a group.

6.3 Work Design: -

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Effective needs to work together and take collective responsibilities to complete

significant tasks. The work design category includes variables like freedom & autonomy,
the opportunity to use different skills and talents, the ability to complete a whole and
identifiable task or product, and working on a task or a project that has a substantial
impact on others. These work design characteristics motivate because they increase
member’s sense of responsibilities and ownership over work and because they make the
work more interesting to perform.

6.4 Process: -

The final category related to team effectiveness is process variables. These include
member commitment to a common purpose, establishment of specific team goals, team
efficacy, a managed level of conflict and minimizing social loafing.

Social loafing, in other words, illustrates a process loss as a result of using teams.
But team process should produce positive results. That is, teams should create outputs
greater than their sum of inputs. The development of creative alternatives by a diverse
group would be one of such instance. Social loafing, for instance, represents negative
synergy. The whole is less than the sum of its parts. On the other hand, research teams are
often used in research laboratories because they can draw on the diverse skills of various
individuals to produce more meaningful research as a team than could be generated by all
of the researchers working independently. That is, they produce positive synergy. Their
process gains exceed their process losses.

6.4.1 Common Purpose: - Effective teams have a common and meaningful

purpose that provides direction, momentum and commitment for members. Members of
successful teams put a tremendous amount of time and effort into discussing, shaping and
agreeing on a purpose that belongs to them both collectively and individually. This
common purpose, when accepted by the team, it provides direction and guidance under
any and all conditions.

6.4.2 Specific Goals: - Successful teams translate their common purpose into
specific, measurable and realistic performance goals. These specific goals facilitate clear
communication. They also help teams maintain their focus of getting results. Also,
consistent with the research on individual goals, team goals should be challenging.
Difficult goals have been found to raise team performance on those criteria for which

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they’re set. So, for instance, goals for quantity tend to raise quantity, goals for speed tends
to raise speed, goals for accuracy raise accuracy, and so on.

6.4.3 Team Efficacy: - Effective teams have confidence in themselves. They

believe they can succeed. We call this team efficacy. Teams that have been successful
raise their beliefs about future success, which, in turn, motivates them to work harder.
What can management do the increase team efficacy? Two possible options are helping
the team to achieve small success and providing skill training. Small successes can build
team confidence. As a team develops an increasingly stronger performance record, it also
increases the collective belief that future efforts will lead to success. In addition,
managers should consider providing training to improve member’s technical and
interpersonal skills. The greater the abilities of team members, the greater the likelihood
that the team will develop confidence and the capability to deliver on that confidence.

6.4.4 Conflict Levels: - Conflict on a team isn’t necessarily bad. Teams that are
completely void of conflict are likely to become apathetic and stagnant. So conflict can
actually improve team effectiveness. But not all types of conflict. Relationship conflicts -
those based on interpersonal incompatibilities, tension and animosity towards others – are
almost dysfunctional. However, on teams performing non-routine activities,
disagreements among members about task contents is not detrimental. In fact, it is often
beneficial because it lessens the likelihood of groupthink. Task conflict stimulates
discussion, promotes critical assessment of problems and options, can lead to better team
decisions. So effective teams will be characterized by an appropriate level of conflict.

6.4.5 Social Loafing: - individuals can engage in social loafing and coast on the
group effort because their individual contributions can’t be identified. Effective teams
undermine this tendency by holding themselves accountable at both the individual and
team level. Successful teams make members individually and jointly accountable for the
team’s purpose, goals and approach. Therefore, members should be clear on what they are
individually responsible for.

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[7] PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS

These instructions outline the steps your team should undertake in conducting
your analysis.

7.1 Project Responsibilities: -

The steps are as follows: -

1. Discuss and clarify your team’s objectives.

Discuss team member’s objectives. Some team members who have done this
project before in the past have been surprised to learn how varied team members ideas
about the projects can be. Discuss team member’s strength and preferences to decide on
different roles and ways of sharing the workload.

2. Identify an organization

It is important that you identify an organization immediately. The criteria you

should consider in identifying the organization are as follows: -

• Choose one individual who will serve as a liaison to each organization and
ultimately to the final organization selected.

• Arrange initial and subsequent meetings with organizational members through the
liaison.

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• Emphasize what organization has to gain by participating.

When you have successfully identified an organization, you should complete the
form provided at the end of the module, indicating what organization your team has
chosen to analyze and then submit to your instructor.

3. Negotiate entry and conditions

You should negotiate the conditions of your relationships with the organization.
You should draft some form of informal contract – not a legal document, but a definition
of what is expected of the team and organization. It should be clear about what you are
going to do for the organization and what you will not do.

If the organization experiences significance change, such as new managers,

downsizing or a major strategy shift, you may need to renegotiate during the project.

4. Choose an initiative around which to focus the analysis

You should jointly determine what organizational initiative you will study.
Speaking with the individuals within the organization will help you to decide what
initiative would me most useful to analyze within the organization. You will be able to
select an initiative only after talking with the individuals in the organization and learning
what major initiatives and changes are most significant within the company.

Negotiate as a team around which initiative you wish to study.

5. Consider focal questions for the project to guide data collection

You want to be able about how the organizational initiative is being implemented
and determine what works well and what problems are therein conducting your analysis,
use the concepts and refer to the readings from the course. Specifically refer to the
organizational analysis guide for the questions you need to consider. With this in mind,
you will be able to develop a data collection plan. New data may prompt new questions,
themes and approaches.

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Consider at this stage how the team will collect data. Discuss who will be
responsible for what.

6. Collect a variety of appropriate data

There should be reasoned logic to your data collection plan and the research
methods you employ. The methods of data collection are as follows: -

a) Interviews

b) Questionnaires

c) Direct observation

d) Archival data

e) Personal experience

7. Analyze the data with respect to the focal questions and the new issues that
emerged

The goal of your data collection is to better understand the initiative. The next step
is to use all of the data your team has collected to piece together an analysis of the
initiative. Consider whether the data offer a consistent or inconsistent story. For instance,
if you are studying an organizations attempt to develop a more family-friendly
environment, senior managers may tour the organization’s new policies offering flexible
work arrangements and leave while employees who try to take advantage of these policies
encounter resistance from middle managers. Consider whether you see different views
across levels or types of roles in the organization when examining your data. In analyzing
the data remember to think back to your discussions of team member’s different kinds of
expertise and roles.

8. Evaluate the initiative and make the recommendations

Given your analysis, evaluate the initiative and its degree of success. Again, refer
to the guide for the questions you should answer in your evaluation .You should also
develop a set of feasible recommendations about how-to increase the success of the
initiative. Outline the step and actions that organization must take to enhance its success.
Your recommendation should be as concrete as possible. Frequently we find that
organizations are good at developing the content of a new initiative, but fail in the process
of implementing it. Your insights and feedback may be extremely helpful if they

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incorporate suggestions on implementation. Don’t shut down the discussions too early, as
a discussion reflecting different views may eventually lead to better and more fleshed our
recommendations.

9. Select a metaphor

Your team should brainstorm a number of possible metaphors. Think about which
initiative best describes this initiative.

Don’t vote on the best metaphor and select one too soon.

Hold a rich brainstorming in the session.

10. Deliver presentations in the class

Teams are required to present their organizational analyses near the end of the
term. For your presentation start with the basics, as your team spent an entire semester
analyzing the organization. Consider and plan as a team who should do what to prepare
for the presentation. If you can present nicely, it probably means you understand it well.

11. Prepare the final report, incorporating feedback from the presentation

Your final written report will be an executive summary that briefly and succinctly
outlines the major findings of your study. Don’t wait until the end to summarize your
leanings.

12. Exit the organization and deliver whatever was agreed upon

Rather than abruptly leaving the organizatio0n at the end of the term, give some
thought as to how to terminate your relationship. Have you given the organization what
you have promised? Have you let organization members react to analysis and answered
their queries? Have you written thank you letters to the appropriate people?

Take time to recognize your achievement, even if the process of working together
did not proceed as smoothly as you might have envisioned at the onset of this project.

[8] Teams and Quality management

Teams a play a quality role in the quality management. The essences of QM are
process improvement and the employee involvement is the linchpin of process
improvement. As one author puts it, ‘None of the various processes and techniques will
catch on and applied except in team work. All such techniques and processes require high
level of communication contact, response and adaption, and coordination and sequencing.

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They require in short the environment that can be supplied by only the superior work
teams.

Teams provide the natural vehicle for employee to share the ideas and to
implement the improvements. As stated by Gil Mosard, a QM specialist “When you
measurements system tells you your process is out of control, you need team work for
structured problem solving. Not everyone needs to know how to do all kinds of fancy
control charts for performance tracking, but everybody does need to know where their
process stands so that they can judge if it is improving.

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