TEAM MANAGEMENT

A team is a small number of people with complimentary skills who are committed to a common purpose, common performance goals & an approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

A work team is a group whose individual efforts results in performance that is greater than the sum of the individual inputs.

Difference b/w groups & teams Group Formal- established Individual Sum of all input Common goal High (responsive to mgmt) Criteria Leadership Accountability performance orientation mgmnt interference Team shared roles shared & individual collective&synergistic common commitment low (autonomous & self managing)

Types of team 1. Problem solving teams these teams comprising a few members from a single unit(5 12) ,meet regularly for few hours every week or so, to find ways for continuously improving the quality of operations & processes. - Eg: quality circles, Total quality management (TQM). - these teams operate in an advisory capacity and are not empowered to implement their ideas.

2. Cross functional teams employees from about the same hierarchical level , but from different work areas who come together to accomplish a task. -eg: Harley -Davidson relies on specific cross functional teams to manage each line of its motorcycles. These team includes employees from design, manufacturing, purchasing as well as representatives from key outside suppliers.

3. Self managing teams group of employees who can plan, organize ,execute &evaluate their own performance. -they are empowered to manage themselves without any external supervision. -each member is trained to perform several different roles from which efficiencies are derived. - A high degree of involvement, participation & cohesion are hallmarks of self managing teams

4. Virtual teams these teams convene & operate through electronically liked members. this is a cost effective means of overcoming the constraints of time & space & solving critical issues. Since there is no face to face communication among members, non verbal signals cannot be read. -they allow people to collaborate on line using communication link such as Wide Area Networks, video conferencing or email.

Creating effective teams 1.Context what factors determine whether teams are successful. a. Adequate resources b. leadership and structure teams cannot function if they cannot agree on who is to do what & ensure that all members contribute equally in sharing the work load. c. Climate of trust members of effective teams trust each other & also their leaders

d. Performance evaluation & reward system in addition to evaluating & rewarding employees for their individual contributions management should consider group based appraisals, small group incentives & other modifications to reinforce team effort & commitment. 2.Team composition relates to how team should be staffed. a. Abilities of members to perform effectively, a team requires 3 different types of skills. technical expertise, problem solving & decision making skills and Interpersonal skills.

b. Personality of members many dimensions identified in the Big Five personality model have been show to be relevant to team effectiveness. c. Diversity of members d. Size of teams e. Members preference f. Allocation of roles teams have different needs & people should be selected for a team to ensure that all the various roles are filled. 1.Producer provides direction &follow -through

2.Organiser provides structure 3.Assessor analyse the decision options 4.Promoter champions ideas after they are initiated 5.Creator initiates creative ideas 6.Linker coordinates & integrates 7.Advisor encourages the search for more information 8.Maintainer fights external battles 9.Controller examine details & enforces rules

3.Work design includes variables such as freedom & autonomy. -the opportunity to use different skills & talents (skill variety) -the ability to complete a whole & identifiable task or product (task identity) -work on a task/project that has substantial impact on others (task significance) . These characteristics enhance member motivation &increase team effectiveness as they increase members sense of responsibility& ownership of work.

4.Team processes a. Common plan & purpose members should commit to a common plan & purpose. -effective team has a common plan & purpose that provides direction ,momentum & commitment. -this purpose is a vision or a master plan which is broader than specific goals -plan should also have reflexivity.

b. Specific goals successful teams translate their common purpose into specific, measurable &realistic performance goals -team goals should be challenging. Difficult goals have been found to raise team performance on those criteria for which they are set. eg: goals for quantity tends to raise quantity, goals for speed tends to raise speed. c. Team efficacy effective teams have confidence in themselves. They believe they can succeed. This is team efficacy. teams that have been successful raise their belief about future success, which motivates them to work harder.

d. Mental models effective teams have accurate and common mental models. -this means the team members knowledge & beliefs about how the work gets done by the team (psychological map). -if team members have wrong mental models, which is likely to happen with teams under acute stress, their performance suffers. -similarity of team members mental model also matters. otherwise they fight over how to do things rather than focus on what needs to be done.

e. Social loafing successful teams make members individually and jointly accountable for the teams purpose & goals. Therefore members should be clear on what they are individually responsible for & what they are jointly responsible for. f. Conflict levels conflict on a team is not bad always. without conflict teams become stagnant. so conflict can improve team effectiveness. But not all types of conflict. Relationship conflicts are dysfunctional. But task conflicts are beneficial because it reduces the likelihood of groupthink& also stimulates discussions. So effective team can be said to have a appropriate level of conflict.

Turning individuals into team players 1.Selection hiring team players. When hiring team members, in addition to technical skills required to fill the job, care should be taken to ensure that candidates can fulfill their team roles as well as technical requirements. only such candidates should be selected. 2.Training creating team players Training specialists conduct exercises that allow employees to experience the satisfaction that team work ca provide, also workshops are offered to help employees.

3.Rewarding providing incentives to be a good team player Promotions, pay rises & other forms of recognition should be given to individuals who work effectively as collaborative team members. this does not mean individual contribution should be ignored, rather they should be balanced with selfless contribution to the team