Directions: After reading the Henry Tam and the MGI Team case from the HBSP course pack and going through the lecture PPT, please answer the following questions attached.
Conflict Management Styles Teamwork and Effective Conflict Management 1 Why do we talk about teams? People (generally) like working in teams Encourages collaboration Increases enjoyment of activity Satisfies our need to belong Increases confidence and feelings of superiority Reduces direct personal negative effects if projects/ideas go wrong 2 In organizations, teams offer employees the opportunity to learn about themselves and the company, acquire new skills, learn performance strategies. Teams can help employees accomplish goals/tasks that they could not do alone. Team members can provide feedback, identify opportunities for growth or development. Good teams increase psychological intimacy (the emotional and psychological closeness to other team or group members); which results in feelings of warmth, positive regard, opportunity for emotional expression, openness, security, and emotional support. They do say it is lonely at the top… Teams also provide integrated involvement (closeness achieved through tasks and activities); which results in enjoyment, social identity, self-definition, feeling valued, opportunities for power/influence, and support. Psychological intimacy and integrated involvement better embeds employees into their organization, reducing turnover. Team Effectiveness Model Task characteristics Team size Team composition Team Design Accomplish tasks Satisfy member needs Maintain team survival Team Effectiveness Team development Team norms Team cohesiveness Team trust Team Processes Rewards Communication Org structure Org leadership Physical space Organizational and Team Environment 3 Meta-model of team effectiveness. The environment affects both the design of the team and the processes the team engages in – these ultimately influence its ability to effectively carry out its task/goals. What is a team? Defined membership Clear boundaries Some stability Interdependence Each person’s actions affect and are affected by another team members Mutual objectives Collective responsibility to achieve goals Penguin Teamwork 4 A team is a group of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. There are three factors that define team membership: Membership – there are clear boundaries of who is in the team, who is not. There is reasonable stability to the membership make up of the team – while some may come and go quickly, there are some that do not; as long as there are a few of those members it is a stable group Interdependence – the work being done requires knowledge, skills, or abilities from each member of the team – not everyone every time, but generally speaking. Each member contributes something unique to the group, where the project/product/service needs a contribution from each to complete Mutual Objectives – the members need hold/believe in the same overarching goal. While each member may have their own individual needs and goals to accomplish – the most important is the overarching goal/success for which the team exists for Please click on the link (Penguin Teamwork) to see a clip from the movie Madagascar. Are the penguins a team? Is there defined membership? Interdependence in task? A mutual objective? Levels of Task Interdependence Sequential Pooled Reciprocal Resource A B C A B C A B C High Low 5 Reciprocal interdependence – when output is exchanged back and forth among individuals, to be successful there must be a high level of communication and coordination among group members Sequential interdependence – when the output of one employee/unit becomes the direct input for another employee/unit Pooled interdependence – when an employee or work unit shares a common resources (e.g. machinery, administrative support, budget) with another employee or work unit. Team members work alone, but may be impacted in their work based on availability of the shared resources The New Team Environment Traditional Environment Managers determine & plan work Jobs are narrowly defined Cross-training is inefficient Information is “management property” Training for non-managers focuses on technical skills Risk taking is discouraged People work alone Managers determine “best methods” Team Environment Teams determine & plan work Jobs require broad skills and knowledge Cross-training is the norm Information freely shared Continuous learning requires training for all Encourage and support measured risk taking People work together Everyone works to improve methods and processes As more companies look to save costs, an easy option is to eliminate hierarchy in organizations – eliminate more mid-level managerial positions. To do this, organizations have had to give employees/teams more autonomy in their work and decisions. One way to do this is promote the use of the autonomous team – self-managed teams that control decisions about and execution of a complete range of tasks (e.g. acquiring materials, performance operations, quality control, maintenance, make up of the team). 6 Tuckman’s Five-Stage Model of Group Development Forming Storming Adjourning Performing Norming Conflict increased clarity of purpose Power struggles Coaching Little agreement Unclear purpose Guidance and direction Clear vision and purpose Focus on goal achievement Delegation Agreement and consensus Clear roles and responsibilities Facilitation Task completion Good feeling about achievements Recognition 7 Forming – group members attempt to lay the ground rules for what types of behavior are acceptable, people tend to be overly polite during this stage – attempting to avoid conflict. Team members are unclear about individual roles and responsibilities and tend to rely heavily on the leader to answer questions about the team’s purpose, objectives, and external relationships. As such, guidance and direction from the manager is important at this stage. Storming – hostilities and conflict arise, and people jockey for positions of power and status, cliques and factions begin to form. Members are assessing one another with regard to trustworthiness, emotional comfort, and evaluative acceptance. While the clarity of purpose is increasing, there is still uncertainness. As such the managers must start to give the team greater opportunity to make their own decisions, but remain readily available to provide assistance as needed. Norming – group members agree on their shared goals, while norms and closer relationships develop. Roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted, conflict handled relatively positively, and the focus moves from interpersonal relationships to decision-making activities. Specific norms of behavior are adopted and controlled by the group itself. The manager in this stage, takes a step further out of the daily activities of the group – facilitating when needed, but primarily allowing the team the lead itself. Performing – the group channels its energies into performing its tasks. The team becomes mores strategically aware and clear about its mission and purpose. It has successfully worked through the necessary interpersonal, task, and authority issues, and can stand on its own with little interference from the manger. As such, the managers should move to a delegation role, overseeing but not interfering. Adjourning – groups terminate when they complete their task or when they disband due to failure or loss of interest. Team members have a sense of accomplishment, if desired each member can move on to new and different things. The manager’s role is recognize the group’s achievements. As the group disbands, new groups forms and the cycle continues Punctuated Equilibrium Model Groups do not progress linearly – they alternate between periods of inertia and bursts of energy Time (Low) (High) First Meeting Phase 1 Phase 2 Transition Completion A B (A+B)/2 Performance 8 While Tuckman’s model works in many situations – is can often fall short in the organizational setting. First, of all the stages, termination is the one most likely to not occur in an organization – as teams tend to be standing entities within the organization. Many teams will also have been established – with new members cycling in and out, as such forming may not be as explicit. In organizational settings, people move in and out of groups rather fluidly – meaning group formation is less linear and more circular – cycling back when someone new comes in or a core member leaves… Therefore, groups do not necessarily progress linearly from one stage to another in a predetermined sequence, but rather alternate between period of inertia with little visible progress toward goal achievement punctuated by bursts of energy as work groups develop. During these bursts of energy, the majority of work is accomplished. Team Composition Effective team members must be willing and able to work on the team Effective team members possess specific competencies Coordinating Align work with others Keep team on track Communicating Share information freely, efficiently, respectfully Listen actively Conflict Resolving Diagnose conflict sources Use best conflict-handling strategy Comforting Show empathy Provide psych comfort Build confidence Team Member Competencies 5 C’s MODEL Cooperating – members are willing and able to work together rather than alone, including sharing resources and being sufficiently adaptive or flexible to accommodate the needs and preferences of other team members Coordinating – members actively manage the team’s work so that it is performed efficiently and harmoniously – typically requires the members to know the work of other ream members, not just their own Communicating – members transmit information freely, efficiently, and respectfully; they also actively listen to each other Comforting – members help coworkers maintain a positive and healthy psychological state – demonstrating empathy, providing psychological comfort, building up other’s feeling of confidence and self-esteem Conflict resolving – members have the skills and motivation to resolve disagreement among members – effectively utilizing various conflict-handeling styles to identify and resolve conflict 9 %16.66616.66616.66616.66616.666 Diversity in Teams Disadvantages Attitude problems Dislike and mistrust Perceptual problems Stereotypes Communication problems Inaccuracy, misunderstanding, inefficiency Stress Advantages More & better ideas view problems & alternatives from different perspectives broader knowledge base Better representation of team’s constituents Less Groupthink While there are numerous issues associated with highly diverse teams (diverse can mean physical traits, background, experiences, education, values, beliefs – anything that makes us different from someone else), the advantages far out weigh the disadvantages – from both a profit standpoint as well as a creativity one. 10 Paradox of Diversity in Teams Task complexity More need for diversity More need for integration Task interdependence Is diversity a liability or an asset? The more complicated a task, the more diverse the team needs to be to identify, select, and implement the best possible solution. However, diversity can reduce communication, create poor attitudes for those not in favor of diversity, increase reliance of stereotypes – ultimately decreasing productivity. The more interdependence necessary for the team – if diversity causes a problem, the less effective the team will be… In teams that enjoy and thrive in diversity – these problems tend to be minimized. 11 Team Processes Team Process: Team members’ behaviors and interactions; how the team works together to get things done T.E.A.M. = Together Everyone Achieves More Click on the link (T.E.A.M.) in the slide to see a video clip on successful teamwork. Was there defined membership? Interdependence? A mutual goal? Did they achieve more together than had they worked alone? 12 Transactive Memory Members of a group remember different kinds of information Develops over time in interdependent groups Works best during learning process &