Developing Effective Teams Dynamics

Welcome to Topic 8: Developing Effective Teams Dynamics. In this topic, we will be looking at methods on how we can improve productivity in the organisation with the use of teams. We will further look into barriers that hamper productivity and teamwork.

In this topic you will learn about:

• Developing effective team dynamics
• Barriers to effective teams
• Creating value through social networking
• Personal, operational and strategic network analysis.

These relate to the Subject Learning Outcomes:

1. Assess the key principles and theories underlying strategic people management and explain how their application enhances organisational and individual performance.
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches of leadership and the relationships between effective people management and organisational performance.
3. Demonstrate effective communication and practical problem-solving skills to effectively manage people in a range of organisational contexts.
4. Reflect on the roles and functions that managers perform in the context of the challenges and risks they experience in the changing environment.

Welcome to your pre-seminar learning tasks for this week. Please ensure you complete these prior to attending your scheduled seminar with your lecturer.

Click on each of the following headings to read more about what is required for each of your pre-seminar learning tasks.

Managing groups and teams

How people behave and perform as a member of a group is as important as their behaviour or performance as individuals. This gives rise to the importance of teamwork – and to the distinction between a group and a team. In common language, there is a tendency for the terms ‘group’ and ‘team’ to be used interchangeably (Mullins 2016). In an organisation, groups and teams are interconnected. All organisations and managers need team management skills in all stages of planning-organising-leading-controlling (P-O-L-C) functions. In order to build and manage organisational performances, teams and groups are put in place.

Groups and teams

Some common interpretations of groups and teams include:

Group: Two or more individuals interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives.

Workgroup: a group that interacts primarily to share information and make decisions to help one another perform within each member’s area of responsibility.

Team: attempts to establish a positive collaboration among its members. The team encourages each other to excel which also creates synergy.

Davidson et al. (2009, p. 439) states that ‘a team is a group working cooperatively to accomplish goals in a manner that maximises the resources of the group and results in an outcome that could not be accomplished without such participation and support’.

How would you define a group? It could be called a set of individuals who interact with each other, and their individual actions could impact each other. How are groups different from teams? (University of Minnesota 2015).

In the following video, we will take an in-depth look at the various forms of groups and teams that can be seen in organisations.

Teams can differ in terms of the tasks they are trying to accomplish.

Hackman (1976, as cited in Dunnette 1976) defined three (3) major classes of tasks:

1. Production tasks.
2. Idea generation tasks.
3. Problem-solving tasks.

Let us look at each of these tasks in further detail.

Production tasks

Production tasks include building or making products or goods, such as making food products or a marketing plan.

Idea generation tasks

Idea generation tasks deal with creative tasks or creating a new process.

Problem-solving tasks

Problem-solving tasks refer to coming up with a solution to ensure the process is smooth. For instance, a team may be required to come up with a marketing slogan, which is an ideas generation task. On the other hand, another team might need to manage the line of products, make decisions about the products to produce, marketing them and staffing, which covers all three (3) tasks.

Types of teams and groups include:

Formal groups are workgroups established by the organisation. They may include:

• Committees
• Group meetings
• Project teams
• Virtual teams
• Management teams.

Formal groups and teams are created in hospitality organisations to achieve specific tasks and organisational objectives through the coordination of work activities. People are brought together on the basis of defined roles within the structure of the organisation. Goals are identified by management, and certain rules, relationships and norms of behaviour are established (Mullins 2016).

• Informal groups are more social, and often form more naturally in the workplace.
• Informal group goals and formal organisational goals are not necessarily related.
• Informal groups can meet their members’ social and security needs.
• Informal groups can exercise undesirable power over individual members.
• Informal groups may exhibit both positive and negative characteristics.

Why do people join informal groups?

• Interpersonal attraction (attracted to each other-social)
• Group activities (social)
• Group values and goals (as a source of motivation)
• Needs satisfaction (affiliation)
• Instrumental benefits (For example, uni students joining associations to enhance networking and resume status).

Membership of informal groups may be liable to frequent changes and certain people are likely to belong to more than one informal group at the same time. Leadership of the informal group is also subject to change according to the particular situation facing the group.

Size and power of teams

In addition to tasks, it is important to understand different team sizes. Research has shown that the ideal size for a team depends on the task, however, groups larger than ten (10) can be difficult to coordinate. Regardless of the size of the team, most active team members speak 43 % of the time. But when there are more than 20 people in a team, there tends to be less cooperation (McGrath 1984). Managers must be conscious of the team size and the task at hand for the team to ensure outcomes are successfully achieved.

Teams and teamwork are one of the most important elements in most organisations. In the case of a department store, for example, each department is in a sense a team or made up of teams. All of which participate in trying to ensure the smooth operations of the business and offer customers a seamless quality service. Teams, in a department store example, all work together in a coordinated fashion as part of the larger team (the entire department operation).

Teams are especially important because:

• Teams typically outperform individuals
• Teams use employee talents better
• Teams are more flexible and responsive to changes in the environment
• Teams facilitate employee involvement
• Teams are an effective way to democratise an organisation and increase motivation.

Characteristics of teams

There are many types of teams. Teams may be permanent or long term, but more typically, a team exists for a limited time.

When forming a team it is very important to ensure that all team members are qualified for the roles they will be fulfilling. The process would include understanding the knowledge, skills and abilities of team members as well as their personality traits when conducting the selection.

Mullins (2016) highlights that a manager’s main concern is that members of a work group co-operate in order to achieve the results expected of them. Co-operation is likely to be greater in a united, cohesive group. Membership of a cohesive group can be a rewarding experience for individuals, can contribute to the promotion of morale and can aid in the release of creativity and energy. Strong and cohesive work groups can therefore have many beneficial effects for the organisation.

Cohesive teams also:

• Communicate well with each other and have well defined norms, unity, respect, and trust among its members
• Strengths and weaknesses; hopefully, what one member lacks another will make up for
• If a team lacks cohesion, the group will not have any sense of unity which will result in hindered performance.

Characteristics of effective teams:

• Have and maintain open dialogue and lines of communication
• Understand and are committed to the organisation’s vision, mission and goals
• Are normally mature (have worked together for an extended period)
• Are conscious of and work towards continual improvement
• Have respect for each other, listen to each other and feel free to express thoughts
• Differences are handled professionally
• Have respect for supervisor/leader
• Have consultation with team for decision making (democratic systems)
• Encourage and assist each other
• Meet or exceed organisational and team goals
• Maintain synergy.

Let us look at how teams contribute towards the POLC functions. Managing groups and teams is an essential part of leadership. Think about the kinds of groups and teams you have belonged to, this might be a group of students in your class or a sporting team from school. In your career, you may also be part of a group or team, or even manage them.

To conclude, groups and teams are not the same and organisations today have moved towards extensive use of teams. The most effective teams are those that include members with the right skills for the tasks provided, are not too large and have a diverse range of members.

Developing effective team dynamics

In order to build an efficient and successful team, there needs to be clear norms, roles, and expectations among the team members. By paying attention to team members’ differences and providing them with a clear definition for roles, expectancies measurement, and rewards, we can avoid team-based problems.

Let us take a detailed look into how to manage a team effectively.

Barriers to effective teams

People do not always work well as a team and this may result in conflict. Conflict can result in disagreement between two or more individuals. It may be short lived or long term and may be personal or work-related, having a detrimental effect upon performance and productivity (Davidson 2009).

Dominating team members

There are instances where you might come across team members whose personality dominates and encroaches on the participation or airtime of others. A method to overcome this situation would be to design a peer review on the “balance of participation” in meetings. This would ensure that there is fair and equal participation. For example, during a team meeting, if there is a member who has continued to voice their response and not let anyone else respond, the team members can say “We have heard from John on this issue so let us hear from others about their ideas.”

Poor performance

Research has shown that teams deal with poor performers in different ways (Jackson & LePine 2003).

In situations where the poor performer is seen as lacking in ability, teams are more likely to train the team member. It is important to deal with poor performers in a fair manner (Colquitt 2004). For example, if John is lacking presentation skills and it has been identified by team members, he could be given training on improving his presentation skills. This could be facilitated on a one-on-one basis or even provide him with web links or similar resources.

Poor managed team conflicts

Disagreements among team members are common. Proactive teams raise issues and discuss differing points of view to ultimately help the team reach stronger, more well-reasoned decisions. For example, usually, teams are designed to avoid bringing adversaries together. If this is not working out, the best possible solution is to ensure that adversaries discuss their issues privately so the team’s progression is not disrupted.

Certain types of conflict may be beneficial. For example, if two people are arguing over a new procedure for a department or organisation, it may force both parties to re-examine and systematically analyse their preferred alternative; and as a result, the best procedure is put in place.

• If the ground rules of the conflict are equitable, and perceived by all participants as fair the outcome is likely to be positive (especially in group decision making).

Conflict may be stimulated by:

• Sales contests, incentive plans and bonuses
• Introducing one or more outsiders
• Changing existing procedures.

As long as conflict is handled cordially and constructively it is probably serving a useful purpose in the organisation. On the other hand, if conflict is mishandled and reaches destructive levels, it may be very dangerous and seriously affect the success of the organisation. Instigating conflict by inexperienced managers or supervisors may prove to be a dangerous ploy and should be avoided unless there are sufficient grounds for its implementation.

Avoidance may be effective in the short term. However, it does little to settle long standing disputes. Smoothing over the situation may also assist in the short term but will worsen as people brood over a particular problem. Compromise is striking the middle range between two extremes, but in most cases some employees will feel as ‘winners’ and some as ‘losers’.

Working with groups and teams is a major component of most contemporary organisations. The ability of a manager to develop and work with teams and groups effectively will be a key to leading the organisation to success.

Creating value through social networking

We all have a good understanding of the importance of social networking both in our personal and professional lives.

The 2008 United States presidential campaign of Barack Obama is a good example of how individuals can benefit when they understand and apply the principles and power of social networking. The online presence of Barack Obama was successful. His supporters and online friends were able to build an incredible amount of information toward his campaign that helped micro-targeting and social media strategy. The president made a surprise half-hour visit to a social news website and asked users to ask him any questions. Users left 22,000 comments and questions for the President (The Drum Team 2016).

There are three (3) fundamental principles of social networking:

1. Reciprocity
2. Exchange
3. Similarity.

(Kilduff & Tsai 2004)

Principle of reciprocity

The first is the principle of reciprocity. This refers to the degree to which you trade favours with others. With the principle of reciprocity, managers have the ability to get tasks done by providing services to others in exchange for the services they require.

Principle of exchange

The second principle is the principle of exchange. Just as the reciprocity principle, refers to “trading favours,” but it is different in this way, the principle of exchange proposes that there may be greater opportunity for trading favours when individuals are different from one another (University of Minnesota 2015).

Principle of similarity

The third principle is the principle of similarity. Research shows that individuals tend to network around people with common goals, backgrounds values and interests. Similarities among individuals lead to more closeness and working together. It also leads towards dependability as a group. Even though similarity would make it easy for you to work together it does have its downside that is it will be difficult to create fresh new ideas and be overly dependent on each other (Kilduff & Tsai 2004).

Personal, operational and strategic network analysis

What creates and differentiates a successful manager from others?

To succeed as a manager, you need to build three (3) types of networks:

1. Personal—kindred spirits outside your organisation who can help you with personal advancement.
2. Operational—people you need to accomplish your assigned, routine tasks.
3. Strategic—people outside your control who will enable you to reach key organisational objectives.

(Ibarra & Hunter 2007; Ibarra 2006).

Let us take a detailed look at each of these.

Personal networks

Personal networks are largely external, this will include individuals who are not from your workplace but with whom you will have common interests. Many personal networks are highly clustered, this means that your friends are likely to be friends with one another as well.

operational networks

All managers need to build good working relationships with the people who can help them do their jobs, such operational networks include not only include superiors but also peers within an operational unit and subordinates. The main aim of this type of networking is to ensure coordination and cooperation among people who have to know and trust one another in order to accomplish their immediate tasks.

strategic networks

Whereas an operational network is fairly narrowly focused, in these groups contacts are formed around specific objectives. According to research, strategic networking is the ability to marshal information, support, and resources from one sector of a network to achieve results in another (University of Minnesota 2015).

In this topic, you have analysed the characteristics of social networking and how multiple networks can be tied together in order to achieve more effective results. Social networks create value in organisations and can help individuals advance their careers. Managers must be aware of the importance of the social network theory concepts of reciprocity, exchange, and similarity.

Welcome to your seminar for this topic. Your lecturer will start a video stream during your scheduled class time. You can access your scheduled class by clicking on ‘Live Sessions’ found within your navigation bar and locating the relevant day/class or by clicking on the following link and then clicking 'Join' to enter the class.

Click here to access your seminar.

The learning tasks are listed below. These will be completed during the seminar with your lecturer. Should you be unable to attend, you will be able to watch the recording, which can be found via the following link or by navigating to the class through ‘Live Sessions’ via your navigation bar.

Click here to access the recording. (Please note: this will be available shortly after the live session has ended.)

In-seminar learning tasks

The in-seminar learning tasks identified below will be completed during the scheduled seminar. Your lecturer will guide you through these tasks. Click on each of the following headings to read more about the requirements for each of your in-seminar learning tasks.

Welcome to your post-seminar learning tasks for this week. Please ensure you complete these after attending your scheduled seminar with your lecturer. Your lecturer will advise you if any of these are to be completed during your consultation session.

Each week you will have a consultation session, which will be facilitated by your lecturer. You can join in and work with your peers on activities relating to this subject. These session times and activities will be communicated to you by your lecturer each week. Your lecturer will start a video stream during your scheduled class time. You can access your scheduled class by clicking on ‘Live Sessions’ found within your navigation bar and locating the relevant day/class or by clicking on the following link and then clicking 'Join' to enter the class.

Click here to access your consultation session.

Should you be unable to attend, you will be able to watch the recording, which can be found via the following link or by navigating to the class through ‘Live Sessions’ via your navigation bar.

Click here to access the recording. (Please note: this will be available shortly after the live session has ended.)

• Johnson, M 2015, Why your team needs conflict, Intelligent Performance.
• Mind Tools Content Team n.d., How good are your management skills?, MindTools.

References

• Colquitt, JA 2004, ‘Does the justice of the one interact with the justice of the many? Reactions to procedural justice in teams’, Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(4):633-646.
• Davidson, P, Simon, A, Woods P & Griffin RW 2009, Management: Core concepts and applications, 2nd edn., John Wiley.
• Jackson, CL & LePine, JA 2003, ‘Peer responses to a team’s weakest link: A test and extension of LePine and Van Dyne’s model’, Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(3):459-457.
• Kilduff, M & Tsai, W 2004, Social networks and organizations, Sage.
• Mullins, L 2016, Management and organisational behaviour, 11th edn., Pearson.
• The drum team 2016, 2008: Barack Obama embraces the power of social media in election,  https://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/06/23/marketing-moment-84-barack-obama-embraces-power-social-media-2008-election
• University of Minnesota 2015, Principles of management, University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Edition.