Group Evolution: Teams
This chapter covers:
Organizations and Teams
Teams
Parallel Teams
Self-Directed Work Teams
Chapter Objectives:
1). Explain employee involvement as a part of team development.
2). Define terms.
3). Discuss the importance of teams.
4). Distinguish the characteristics of parallel structures.
5). Explain the limitations of parallel teams.
6). Outline the characteristics of self-directed work teams.
7). Discuss the benefits and costs of self-directed work teams.
As quoted from the text: "Senge et al. (1994) trace the origin of the word team to the Indo-European word deuk, which means "to pull". The modern sense of the team, meaning a group of people pulling and acting together, emerged in the sixteenth century. From these origins, Senge et al. (1994, p. 354) define a team as "any group of people who need each other to accomplish a result"."
"How does a group become a team? When there is consensus on the group's purpose, task, operating procedures, or process, group develop a sense of syergy that moves beyond individual efforts, or even those of the group as a whole, to a new level of creativity and task accomplishments. While sports may provide an obvious example of teamwork, "in high pressure workplaces, such as nuclear plants, aircraft cockpits, or the military, teamwork is essential to survive" (Appleby & Davis, 2001, p. B2). An equally stressful environment, health care organizations, "increasingly rely on interdisciplinary teams for comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of patients" (Ellingson, 2003, p. 93). Fast-paced or stressful environments offer dramatic examples of teamwork. Moreover, as we observed earlier in this book, the majority of U.S. corporations use teams that have provided significant gains in productivity, effectiveness, and employee satisfaction with their jobs (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002)." All of this is quotes directly from the book, pages 147 and 148.
You might be asking yourself WHY The Blogging Prof. decided to copy two entire paragraphs from the text. Well, it's because those two paragraphs outline the basics of a team. We have learned a lot of concepts so far from our course text. This chapter is no exception!
The first major section of this chapter is titled, Organizations and Teams. Go ahead and read through this section, but I want to point out one statistic at the bottom of page 148: "...many dramatic examples of successful teamwork in organizations exist. Between 70% and 82% of all U.S. firms have teams, and the number is increasing (Sweeney & McFarlin, 2002). This makes "teamwork skills one of the most commonly required skills in the work environment" (de Janasz, Dowd & Schneider, 2002, p. 311). The keys to team effectiveness are explained in Firgure 8.1."
The terms in Figure 8.1, page 149 are:
*Clear mission, vision, goals, purpose.
*Effective Communication.
*Limited size.
*Skill levels appropriate for the complexity of team actions.
*Trust.
*Appropriate and supportive external leadership.
*Defined roles and responsibilities.
*Links between team activities and rewards.
The next section the book talks about is Teams. This section starts out by defining teams as, "Teams are formal work groups consisting of people who work together to achieve common goals." Pretty simple, right? Yep, but good to know nonetheless.
Table 8.1 The Evolution of Teams: From Involvement to Self-Direction is a great table. Don't skip reading it. The concepts contained within can be very useful for your final paper/observation.
The book then goes on to explain the idea of Parallel Teams, which is then broken down into subsections: Individual rewards, Inappropriate Management Styles (one of my favorite sections), and Segmentalism.
Parallel teams - a very important concept to understand. While parallel teams have inherent limitations, they are useful.
The next section covers the idea of Self-Directed Work Teams. Subsections include: Characteristics of a Self-Directed Work Team (where the idea is defined and explained), and Overcoming the Barriers to Building a Self-Managing Team.
In the box on page 153 there is a quote that I thought was pretty cool: "We were learning to put team success ahead of our own egos." Wow, if only we could do that consistently in our personal relationships as well as our team relationships!
This brings us to the end of the chapter, but not before covering Figure 8.2: Ethics for the Team Workplace. This figure describes a few things:
*Truthfulness, Honesty, and Fairness
*Confidentiality
*Integrity
*Respect for Others
*Professional and Social Responsibility
Read through Figure 8.2 for a full explanation of each of these things.
Pretty cool chapter, huh? Basic? Yes! But definitely worth the read. This chapter, as well as other chapters in the course text, will help guide your analysis for your final paper.
Have a great day everyone!
The Blogging Prof.
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