Chapter 14 Managing Teams

Chapter Overview

In this Part 5, our focus is on leadership in management. Managers need to be leaders

and manage teams, energize and motivate employees, and communicate effectively. In
Chapter 12, we examined the content and process theories of motivation and how they apply
in everyday life. In chapter 13, we focused on what makes effective leadership. In this
chapter we turn our attention to issues related to teams.

A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to
a common purpose, a set of performance goals, and an approach for which they hold
themselves mutually accountable. A group is different, because individuals are only
accountable for personal work, not the work of the entire group. The benefits of teams can
include lower costs, high productivity, quality improvements, greater speed, and innovation.

The four types of teams normally found in organizations are: self-managed teams,
project teams, parallel teams, and virtual teams. They differ in both duration and time
commitments by members. To induce high performance, each stage of team development
must be carefully managed. The stages include forming, storming, norming, performing, and
adjourning. Also, team performance is highest when two roles are enacted: the task
facilitating role and the relationship-building role. The team leader is a coach who provides
feedback, shares a vision, and supports team members.

The behavioral dimensions of effective teams include: (1) they are cohesive, (2) they
select high performance norms, (3) cooperation is present, and (4) trust is built. Threats to
team performance come from free riders, nonconforming high performers, and the lack of
rewards for teamwork. Also, groupthink, insecure supervisors, and self-management
opposition can negatively affect performance.

Team management skills include conflict management and negotiation. Dysfunctional

conflicts occur when the intensity of conflict is too high and becomes disruptive or the
intensity is too low and does not stimulate action. An integrating style, obliging or smoothing
style, dominating style, avoiding style, or compromising style may be used to resolve team
conflicts. Negotiation is best served by using a win-win style, which is also called integrative
bargaining.

Following this chapter on Managing Teams, we will examine the issues related to
Communication in Chapter 15.

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Learning Objectives (PPT 2)

1. Translate the benefits teams provide into competitive advantages.

2. Identify the different types of teams—self-managed, parallel, project, and virtual

3. Track the stages of team development that occur over the life of a project and help the
team perform effectively.

4. Recognize the key roles that team members must play to ensure high performance.

5. Master the skills to detect and control team performance problems.

6. Manage team conflict through negotiation.

Lecture Guide


Note: Where you see this icon throughout the Lecture Guide, it symbolizes an interactive
assessment located on the Online Learning Center (OLC) at [Link]/gomez3e .
Within the text, an icon is found in the margin next to a topic that has a corresponding
exercise on the OLC.

I. Teams (PPT 4-5)

A. A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who

are committed to a common purpose, a set of performance goals, and an
approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

• The range of team size for high performing teams is between 5 and 12
members

• Teams share performance goals

• Teams produce synergy, the blending of complementary skills and

talents to produce more than the sum of individual contributions

• Teams are not the same as work groups, because group members are
held accountable for individual work, but not the output of the entire group
(PPT 7 to 8)

A work group is a group whose members are held accountable for individual
work, but are not responsible for the output of the entire group.

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Teaching Tip: Table 14.1 lists the differences between a team and a work
group.

B. Skills for managing teams (PPT 9)

• Conflict management skills
• Negotiation skills
• Skills for handling difficulty team members

II. The Benefits of Teams (PPT 10)

A. Lower costs and higher productivity

• Can save labor costs of surplus supervisors and middle managers when
employees do the work previously done by these managers

Teaching Tip: Graniterock used to have a traditional top-down

structure where every decision was to be approved by the two vice-presidents.
Today, the company has pushed this responsibility down to the employee level
with a heavy focus on self-leadership. Result: enhanced employee morale,
productivity, and so on. The company has been named as one of the 100 best
companies to work for by Fortune for four years.

B. Quality Improvements
• Do it right the first time concept with self-inspection—saves money
• Deming – recommends using teams with employees who deal directly with
customers; teams should work toward continuous quality improvements
• Levi Strauss and Saturn had great success in this area

C. Speed
• When teams are organized around a business process, which is a value-
adding, value-creating activity such as product development or order
development, time to complete the process is greatly reduced
• Southwest Airlines used teams to increase loading and servicing airplanes
more quickly

D. Innovation
• Create innovations more often
• Bring innovations to market more quickly

Teaching tip: Wisconsin-based, Sargento Foods believes in using the

team approach to tasks since people close to the problems are in the best
position to solve them. For example, a team was formed to resolve the issue of
how best to deal with cheese trim. Recommendation from the team was to use
of the trim in the cheese sauce, resulting in over $100,000 per year in cost-
savings and a new product, cheese sauce which is being introduced by the
company that can add significant sales and profits.

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III. Types of Teams (PPT 11 and 12)

A. A Self-managed team (also called process team) is a group that is responsible

for producing an entire product, component, or service (PPT 13 and 14)

• Long duration, high team member commitment

• Formalized as part of the organizational structure
• Authority to make decisions traditionally made by managers
• Require certain skills to be effective:
 Technical skills through cross training
 Management skills (budgeting, scheduling, time management)
 Interpersonal skills (communication, negotiation)

Teaching Tip: Spectrum Signal Manufacturing, Inc., a British

Columbia telecommunications hardware and software manufacturer, utilizes a
team concept in its Human Resources Committee (HRC) made up of about
dozen employees from different areas of the company elected by the peers.
The committee is responsible for workplace policies and programs. It has been
so effective that the company did not even have an HR department until last
year and that was also created at the recommendation of the HRC.

B. A Project team is a group that works on a specific project that has a

beginning and an end (PPT 15)

• Composed of members from different functions

• Key criterion is meeting or exceeding deadlines or important milestones
• Work until a specific project is complete

C. A Parallel team is a group that focuses on a problem or issue that requires

only part-time commitment from team members. (also called problem-solving
or special purpose teams) (PPT 16)

• Members spend a few hours per week on a specific problem

• Include suggestions teams, safety teams, selection committees, and
grievance committees.

Teaching Tip: Sargento Foods, a Wisconsin company, uses the problem

solving “Action Teams” for all types of operational issues such as hiring
people to solving innovative problems.

D. A Virtual team is a group that uses interactive computer technologies (PPT

17)

• Part-time commitment, low duration

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• Interact electronically via the Internet, groupware, or computer-based

videoconferencing.
• Combine technical skills to solve problems
• Also can link customers, suppliers, and business partners with the company

V. Managing Team Performance (PPT 18)

• Management is important because some teams may lack team spirit or

commitment to team goals, or have a disruptive team member.

A. Five Stages of Team Development (PPT 19)

Teaching Tip: Ask students to describe what team development

process they went through in a group/class project? As the students describe
their experiences from the beginning to the end of the project/semester, it can
be related to the different stages of team development.

1. Forming stage - team members get acquainted and discuss

expectations
• Socialization is the key at this point

2. Storming stage - team members voice differences about team

goals and procedures
• Conflicts are likely to emerge at this stage, should be dealt with in
the open
• Managers must diffuse negative aspects of conflict
• Coalitions often form in this stage

3. Norming stage - resolution of conflict and agreement over

team goals and values
• Establish a team identity
• Intensify cohesion and interdependence of members

4. Performing stage - focus on the performance of the tasks

delegated to the team
• Members collaborate to capture synergies between individuals with
complementary skills
• Payoff of time and effort

5. Adjourning stage – teams complete their work and disband

• Mark with a ceremony or event

B. Roles of Team Members (PPT 20)

• Roles are expectations regarding how team members should act in

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given situations

1. Task-facilitating role - priority on helping team accomplish its goals

• Direction giving is identifying ways to achieve goals and goal
clarification
• Information seeking is asking questions, identifying knowledge
gaps, and request opinions
• Information giving, or providing facts, data, and judgment
• Coordinating is pulling ideas together
• Summarizing is combining ideas made by team members and
drawing conclusions

2. Relationship-building role - focuses on sustaining harmony

between team members
• Supporting, or praising ideas and recognizing contributions
• Harmonizing and mediating differences, or mediating the
differences between team members and identifying compromises
• Relieving tension, or using humor to put others at ease
• Energizing, or exuding enthusiasm and good spirits to motivate
others
• Facilitating, or acting as a catalyst to smooth interactions between
individuals who have difficulty communicating with each other

Teaching Tip: Building on the previous discussion on team

development, ask the students, what roles, with the activities, they played in
this team? Identify the roles played by others. How about the team leader?

C. Team Leader Role (PPT 21)

• Provide feedback to team members
• Express a shared vision for the team
• Support team members

Team Roles Preferences Scale (An interactive self-assessment located on the

OLC.)

D. Behavioral Dimensions of Effective Teams (PPT 22)

1. Team cohesiveness - the extent to which members feel high

degrees of camaraderie, team spirit, and a sense of oneness
• Provide ample opportunities to interact
• Ensure team members have a voice in determining goals
• Celebrate successful team outcomes

2. Team norms - shared believes that regulate the behaviors of

team members

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• Represent the values and aspirations of members

• Help govern the behavior of members who avoid doing their
fair share
• Indicate that it is better to be a team player than a star

3. Cooperative behavior – team behavior that is manifested in

members’ willingness to share information and help others.
• Must mesh with competitive behaviors
• Reward at the team level to gain cooperation from members

4. Interdependence - the extent to which members depend on

each other for resources, information, assistance, or mutual support to
accomplish tasks
• Pooled interdependence is found in teams requiring the lowest
amount of reliance on other members, in which team members are
relatively independent.
• Sequential interdependence is a series of hand-offs of work
flow between team members in which the output of one team
member becomes the input of the next team member.
• Reciprocal interdependence is found in teams requiring the
highest amount of reliance on other members, and it occurs when
team members interact intensively back and forth with each other.

5. Trust – the willingness of team members to increase their

vulnerability to the actions of each other. Trust can be created among
team members by:
• Communicating openly
• Sharing credit for success
• Reciprocating help from teammates
• Avoiding acting purely out of self-interest

Teaching Tip: Navy SEALS are an excellent example of highly cohesive and
effective teams. Another such teams are Army’s Delta Force (See Chapter 14
Video: Delta Force).

V. Team Performance Problems (PPT 23)

A. Free riders – withhold effort and provide minimum input

• Also called social loafing or shirking
• Can be controlled by:
 Empowering team members to recruit and select teammates
 Enabling team members to evaluate and discipline teammates
 Setting high performance norms

Teaching Tip: All of us have experienced this concept of free riders at

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some point in time working in teams. Ask the students how did they handle the
free riders? Was it effective? As professors, you may have been involved in
different committees, where someone did not pull their share. How did you
handle it?

B. Nonconforming High Performers – a team member who is

individualistic and whose presence is disruptive to the team
• Japanese culture less tolerant of this behavior than in the U.S.
• Discipline includes use of peer group pressure and critical feedback in
a performance evaluation
• An example is Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers
• Non-conforming high performers can succeed on problem-solving
teams, virtual teams, and project teams where the intensity of team
interactions is low compared to self-managed teams

C C. Lack of Rewards for Teamwork

• Overcome this by restructuring reward system
• Rewards can be monetary (team bonus), or non-monetary (recognition)

VI. Team Management Skills (PPT 24)

A. Conflict Management Skills

1. Functional conflict – conflict that stimulates team and organizational

performance
• Stimulates creativity
• Helps team avoid poor solutions
• Energizes team members

Styles of Handling Conflict (An interactive self-assessment located on the

OLC.)

2. Dysfunctional conflict – conflict that has a negative effect on team

and organizational performance; It is caused by:

• Competition for scarce resources

• Clashing personalities
• Incompatible value systems
• Role ambiguities
• Time pressure
• Goal differences

3. Styles of conflict management:

• Integrating or problem solving style, when the manager frames the
issue and looks for ways each side can "win"

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• Obliging or smoothing style, where the conflict managers

neglects personal needs to accommodate others
• Dominating or forcing style, when the manager or team
member acts in an assertive and forceful way to win
• Avoiding style, which is used when the individual avoids the
conflict rather than deals with it
• Compromising style, when the manager or team members
encourages give and take and finds a compromise

Teaching Tip: In a showdown between the CEO Michael

Eisner and his biggest critic Director Roy Disney, Walt Disney Co.
announced in November 2003 that the company was forcing the
director into mandatory retirement, henceforth silencing the CEO’s
critic who has been asking for the CEO’s resignation.

4. Applying the Problem-solving style of conflict management (PPT 25)

• The willingness of both parties is necessary
• Convene meetings at the right time and place
• Give both parties ample time to cool down
• Resume discussion until a workable solution is achieved

5. Selecting a Conflict Management Style

• Match the individuals’ level of assertiveness with his or her
level of cooperativeness
• Incorporate this level with the five conflict management styles

B. Negotiation Skills (PPT 26)

1. Win-Win Style, or integrative bargaining

• Determine a personal bottom line
• Understand the other party's real needs and objectives
• Emphasize common ground, de-emphasize differences
• Search for mutually agreeable solutions
• Focus on building a relationship rather than a one-time deal

2. Win-lose Style, or distributive bargaining

• Used when there is a single issue that consists of a fixed amount
of resources in which one party attempts to gain at the expense of
the other.
• Who will receive the most beneficial distribution of a fixed
amount of goods?

3. Three common mistakes that negotiators should avoid making:

(PPT 27)
• Do not assume that a negotiation must always result in a

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settlement.
• Avoid becoming fixated on one particular issue in the
negotiation.
• Do not assume that the other party has all the power due to
greater levels of experience.

VII. Applications: Management Is Everyone’s Business

A. Applications for the Manager

1. When determining how many people should be on a team, the best rule
of thumb is to keep the team small.

2. When assigning people to work on a team, it is important to select the

right mix of people with complementary skills.
 Technical skills
 Administrative skills
 Interpersonal skills

B. Applications for Managing Teams

1. It takes time for a team to earn the right to manage itself.

2. Not all groups of people are capable of functioning as a team.

C. Application for Individuals

1. It is important to know how to cope with disruptive team members.

2. The general rule is to avoid embarrassing or intimidating participants

regardless of their disruptive behavior.

3. It is best to use supportive communication and collaborative conflict

management techniques.

Activities

1. Discuss the following issue:

"Students should not be required to do group projects for shared grades, because
education is an individual experience and not the same as a group effort in a business
setting."

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2. Form four groups: self-managed, parallel, project, and virtual teams. Discuss how the
team would proceed in working on the following issues, including whether or not the
team for is ideal or a bad match:

a. New product development

b. Understanding issues leading to an impending strike
c. Developing work safety rules for a new plant
d. Creating a web site and Internet presence
e. Expanding to an international operation

3. Form teams to go to local businesses. Ask the managers to report on the nature of
teams used in the business. Compare answers to text materials. Present to the class.

4. Ask students to write a paper entitled:

"The characteristics of an effective team member versus an effective team leader."

Compare responses.

5. Break students into groups representing: conflicts between two individuals, conflicts
between groups, conflicts between two companies, conflicts between companies and
governmental agencies. Identify what might be similar sources of conflict between all
four situations and what might be differences. Identify methods for resolving conflicts
for all four situations.

Additional Discussion Questions

1. Many times, sports metaphors and examples are used when describing groups and
teams, even in college textbooks. Do you think this is fair to females, who may or
may not be as interested in team sports, especially at the professional level? Why or
why not?

Student responses will vary. Since teams are such a large part of sports, it is not
surprising the metaphors spill over, especially when males are talking. It's probably
not fair, but it is the way of the world.

2. Which type of team best fits an individual who prefers autonomy? Socializing?
Strong, hands-on leadership?

A virtual team is best for an autonomous person. Self-managed teams allow for the
greatest degree of socialization. Virtual teams are the least likely to have hands on
leaders. The other three are possible for the person who prefers a strong leader.

3. What are the stages of team development? Is it necessary for conflicts to emerge in the

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second stage?

The stages are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. It is not
necessary to have conflicts in the storming stage, however, the text points out that the
highest level of success may not occur unless team members are interested and
engaged. Conflict is one way to stimulate them.

4. What are the behavioral characteristics of team members on effective teams? What
types of personality characteristics would limit the effectiveness of teams?

The behavioral characteristics of effective team members include being cohesive with
each other, selecting high performance norms, cooperating, and trusting each other.
Personality characteristics that would hurt include being selfish or self-centered,
distrustful, confrontational, an ego manic, or a slacker.

5. Describe an incident in which you observed an effective conflict resolution by a

manager or team leader. Describe an incident in which you observed an ineffective
conflict resolution by the team leader or manager.

Student responses will vary. Effective leaders seek out win-win solutions. Ineffective
leaders fail to see the problem or find any kind of bargaining zone between the two
conflicted parties. Therefore a resolution is harder to reach.

Answers To Discussion Questions

1. Based on your personal experiences, what do you think are the advantages of teams?
Which situations in a business are most likely to be most favorable for teams to
perform effectively?

The benefits of teams ordinarily include improved costs and productivity, quality
improvements, speed, and innovation. Also, effective teams share information, help
out members experiencing problems, and can create a more positive social
atmosphere at work. They are more likely to succeed in decentralized and empowered
organizations with fewer standardized rules and procedures. Also, they are more
favorable when individuals have been recruited who prefer collaboration.
Individualistic employees fit other situations.

2. Again, draw on your own personal experiences and indicate what you think are the
disadvantages of using teams. Which situations in a business are least suitable for
team performance?

The disadvantages of teams include: conflicts can emerge and slow work down, free
riders may withhold effort and provide minimum input, nonconforming high
performers who are an individualistic and disruptive may hurt the team, a lack of

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rewards for team work, groupthink is present limiting action, self-management

opposition by some team members, or insecure supervisors who feel threatened by the
team. Other student experiences may vary.

3. What is the role of the team leader? Should teams always have leaders? When might it
be reasonable for a team to purposely leave out the role of team leader?

The role of the team leader is to provide feedback to team members, express a shared
vision for the team, and support team members. Short-term teams may be able to
function without leaders for simple tasks. Student answers will vary regarding
purposely leaving out the role of team leader.

4. How do teams deal with individuals who violate important norms, for example, by
engaging in negative conflict? Which do you think is a more effective way to sustain
team performance: (a) the use of peer group pressure or (b) a supervisor who monitors
and controls the behaviors of team members?

Peer pressure might include caustic comments, going to the company to remove the
member, and excluding the individual from social gatherings. Student answers will
vary regarding whether peer pressure or a supervisor is the best way to sustain team
performance; however, any autonomous group is not likely to perform well with a
controlling supervisor.

5. Suppose you are working on a class project with five students, and on of the team
members never shows up for your weekly meetings. Soon your project is due to be
turned in to the professor. You and other team members are getting concerned about
this "free rider." How should the team deal with this problem?

Talk to the professor.

6. Suppose you are on a project team similar to the one in question 5. One of the team
members is very abrasive--using foul language and having a negative attitude--and is
highly critical of the work of all other team members including you. This person also
has an A (3.95) grade point average and wants to do the whole project alone and is
willing to turn it in to the professor and share the credit with the whole team. The
team is divided about how to respond to this offer, because this team member could
quite possibly achieve a better grade on the project than the team. How should the
team deal with this individual?

Student responses will vary. This is in part an ethical question.

7. Can too little conflict be a problem for a team? What are the effects on team
performance of little or no conflict? In cases where there is an absence of functional
conflict, how can conflict be stimulated? Which role(s) are most likely to stimulate the
conflict?

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According to the text, the absence of functional conflict would lessen creativity, allow
poor solutions to be implemented, and result in lackluster effort. Conflict may be
created by suggesting opposing goals or courses of action through something similar
to a devil's advocate role, which could be performed by either a leader or a member.

Management Minicase 14.1: Companies Use Different Approaches to Encourage

Teamwork

1. The redesign of the reward system for salespersons at Thrive Networks strengthened
teamwork. What factors were operating in the sales environment that supported the
use of team rewards?

Thrive Network created a small team of employees that produced synergy under the
redesigned reward system, which allowed individuals to blend complementary skills
and talents to produce a product that is more valuable than the sum of the individual
contributions.

2. Do you think servers at a restaurant would respond the same way that the sales force
did at Thrive Networks and become more collaborative if management decided to
pool everybody’s tips from customers and give each server an individual share of the
tips? What would be the ideal set of conditions at a restaurant for servers to give better
customer service under a system of shared tips?

Students’ answers may vary.

3. Why did Intel decide to teach its employees a common set of conflict resolutions
skills as a way to improve teamwork among employees?

Intel decided to teach its employees a common set of conflict resolution skills in order
for employees to quickly resolve disagreements within their team. This significantly
reduced time lost due to conflict and improved teamwork among employees.

Management Minicase 14.2: Whole Foods: Using Teamwork as a Recipe for Success

1. Do you think Whole Foods’ emphasis on teamwork could be applied to other

companies in the grocery store industry such as Safeway, Krogers, or Albertson’s?
Why or why not? Do you think it would make a difference if the company’s
employees were represented by a union?

Student answers may vary. An emphasis on teamwork can be applied to other grocery
stores, with similar results; because the size of the store and the type of product it
sells (wholesome food) does not effect employee cooperation. A union would only be

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effective if employees were not happy with Whole Foods’ practices, however it is
unlikely, since the company seems to do a good job of promoting and offering
bonuses.

2. What are your thoughts about the Whole Foods’ practice of sharing team performance
data with all company employees? Do you think that this practice risks creating an
“overly competitive” spirit among the firm’s teams and employees? Explain your
answers.

Student answers may vary. This will drive individuals to cooperate and contribute to
the team. An overly competitive spirit is only a problem if it causes conflicts between
teams and departments.

Individual/Collaborative Learning Case 14.1: Managing Rewards for Teams

1. In each of the team reward situations, what size reward, measured in dollars, do you
think is most appropriate? For example, should any of the teams receive a big reward
(worth thousands of dollars)? What about more frequent small rewards ($25 and
$100)? In which situations would monetary rewards work most effectively? What
about non-monetary rewards, such as tickets to a sports event or dinner for two at a
nice restaurant?

Due to the broad nature of the examples, student answers may vary widely. A hospital
would not use large size rewards, as news of them would undoubtedly create public
relations problems. Therefore, smaller non-monetary rewards would be more likely.
The insurance company has undergone a major reengineering, which suggests
financial problems. Therefore, once again, large-size rewards may not be in order.
Once again, smaller rewards for progress and non-monetary rewards may keep
interest up. Since the stakes are so high in the Software example, larger size rewards
may be in order, however, since people move around frequently it may be difficult to
assess how to give them to individual workers or even teams, since the teams change
members.

2. What should be the criteria for the team reward in each of the three situations? Justify
your choice.

Student responses will vary. In the hospital setting, rewards would probably be based
on successes regarding better productivity, fewer accidents (safety committee), and
better press with fewer negative articles or incidents (public relations).

In the insurance company, completion of a process combined with demonstrated value

added would be the criteria.

In the software company, successful implementation of a new product would be the

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basis of the reward, along with sales, market share, and profitability.

3. Should team members each receive equal amounts of the reward, or should the reward
be based on each individual member's contribution to the team? Should team members
who leave in the middle of a project or reward period (for example during the middle
of the fiscal year) be eligible for a full share of the team reward? How should
newcomers to the team be rewarded?

Student responses will vary; however, the key to the question is in the evaluation
system. Can individual member contributions be separately examined? If so, some
rewards would be individualized. On the other hand, since it likely that all three
situations require intense cooperation; there would be no way to separate out
performance levels by individual members. Newcomers would, in part, be evaluated
by the ongoing team to discern the level of reward they should receive (such as how
baseball teams award World Series shares to players who were only on the team for
part of the year).

Collaborative Learning Exercise

4. The instructor organizes the class into 5 or 6-member teams, each assigned to one of
the team reward situations. The team develops a policy for rewarding teams in its
situation which includes the following: eligibility to receive reward, basis of dividing
the reward between team members, size of reward, the frequency of giving the reward
to the teams, and performance criteria for the reward. The teams present their policies
to the class and compare the policies. The class and the instructor develop a list of
conclusions that represents the best practices for providing rewards to teams.

Student reports will vary. In the hospital, eligibility would have some minimum
criterion, such as one year, since turnover on the parallel teams is every two years.
Dividing rewards would be some kind of system in which a member earns a "share"
for a time period of service. Rewards would probably be annual or semi-annual, and
the criteria are cost savings. Special awards may be given for an unusally good
suggestion. They would probably still need to be non-monetary, unless the hospital is
willing to take the PR hit.

In the insurance company, the teams are self-managed, so tenure is longer. Each
contributing member of the team would be eligible, after a period of six months.
Reward sizes would be as large as the company can afford, and the frequency would
be semi-annual or annual. Performance criteria would be concrete evidence of quality
improvements and customer satisfaction.

In the Software company, eligibility would be decided based more on contribution and
less on time or tenure. Rewards would be given as frequently as the deadlines occur.
The rewards should be larger for hitting key windows of opportunity. The criteria

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would be successful implementation of the software product determined by sales and

profitability.

Internet Exercise 14.1: Teamwork at Taco Bell

1. What type of skills for managing teams discussed in this chapter would be needed to
perform as a “team member” at Taco Bell?

A team member would need conflict management skills at Taco Bells.

2. What type of skills for managing teams would be needed to perform as a “shift
leader” at Taco Bell?

A shift leader would need conflict management skills, negotiation skills, and skills for
handling difficult team members.

3. What type of skills for managing teams would be needed to perform as an “area
coach” at Taco Bell?
A shift leader would need conflict management skills, negotiation skills, and skills for
handling difficult team members.

LOC-Ins (Learning Objective Check-Ins)

Learning Objective 1: Translate the benefits teams provide into competitive advantages

Question:

Guard Smart Inc. has a matrix structure with a highly developed workforce. The employees
receive training to ensure they are current all the time in their respective specialties. To
maximize their effectiveness, they operate in ________. By doing this, the employees are all
committed to common purposes, depending on which people they are working with at a
particular time. The performance goals and approach for achieving them are common among
workers, and, perhaps most importantly, they hold themselves mutually accountable for
reaching these goals.
a. SDWTs
b. teams
c. work groups
d. focus groups
Ans: b
Rationale: The correct answer is “b”. Please see the discussion under “The Benefits of
Teams.”

Learning Objective 2: Identify the different types of teams—self-managed, parallel, project,

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and virtual

Question:

Mr. Fisher has recently been considering some changes to the team setup at his company. He
thinks the employees would be more effective if some changes were made. Right now, teams
are only used when there is a specific project that has a beginning and an end. Oftentimes,
however, Mr. Fisher sees the need for a different type of team that could operate on an
ongoing basis with part-time commitment from certain employees. They would be tasked
with focusing on safety issues which have had an increasing impact on the firm since its
recent expansion. It is important that these employees be on-location so they can assess risks
and observe the site in person.

1. Mr. Fisher’s company currently uses a(n) ________ structure.

a. parallel team
b. project team
c. virtual team
d. SWT
Ans: b
Rationale: The correct answer is “b”. Please see the discussion under “Project
Teams.”

2. A(n) _________ would be appropriate for addressing the safety issues that the
company has been facing recently.
a. project team
b. virtual team
c. parallel team
d. SWT
Ans: c
Rationale: The correct answer is “c”. Please see the discussion under “Parallel
Teams.”

Learning Objective 3: Track the stages of team development that occur over the life of a
project and help the team perform effectively

Question:

Bryan, Jackie, and Jenna are members of a virtual team. In April, the team members
established ground rules of the team and developed a specific purpose they all agreed on.
They went to dinner and got to know one another’s professional backgrounds more
completely. At the third meeting, in July, Bryan voiced some concern about the priorities that
had been established at the April meeting. Based on what they learned in May, he reasoned,
they really should reconsider their priorities, at least for the short term.

1. Which of the following stages represents the period in which the members had their

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first meeting, where they established ground rules?

a. Adjourning
b. Norming
c. Performing
d. Forming
Ans: d
Rationale: The correct answer is “d”. Please see the discussion under “Stages of
Team Development.”

2. In which stage did Bryan voice his concerns to the team?

a. Forming
b. Norming
c. Storming
d. Performing
Ans: c
Rationale: The correct answer is “c.” Please see the discussion under “Stages of
Team Development.”

Learning Objective 4: Recognize the key roles that team members must play to ensure high
performance

Question:

Averly is a team-member who happens to work in the records department. He is responsible

for providing facts and data that pertain to issues of importance to the company’s employees
and, sometimes, offering an interpretation of the data. Jenny is another team member who
understands the varied personalities within the team. She is always smoothing the interactions
between several of the individuals who have difficulty communicating with each other.

1. Averly is demonstrating the ________ of team members.

a. team leader
b. relationship-building
c. task-facilitating role
d. energizing role
Ans: c
Rationale: The correct answer is “c”. Please see the discussion under “Roles of Team
Members.”

2. Jenny is demonstrating the ________ of team members.

a. relationship-building
b. task-facilitating
c. team leader role
d. supporting role
Ans: a
Rationale: The correct answer is “a”. Please see the discussion under “Roles of Team

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Members.”

Learning Objective 5: Master the skills to detect and control team performance problems

Question:

Karyn is a team member who consistently performs above expectations on an individual

basis. Her role as a team member, however, is very important. Karyn is constantly seeking
special recognition because she thinks she is doing more than her fair share. The other
members tell her that the work she is doing is unnecessary and even disruptive. Karyn’s team
is highly cohesive and shuns individuality, putting team recognition ahead of personal status.

Which of the following characterizes Karyn?

a. The nonconforming high performer
b. The free rider
c. The loose cannon
d. The insecure supervisor
Ans: b
Rationale: The correct answer is “b”. Please see the discussion under “The Nonconforming
High Performer.”

Learning Objective 6: Manage team conflict through negotiation

Question:

Harry believes that James is receiving way more money than he should out of the team
budget. Harry’s reasoning is that his work is more essential to the long-term success of the
team, and that James’ work can wait until next year to get funded. In this situation, it would
be appropriate to use the _________ of negotiation to solve this problem. Harry and James
disagree, but they agree that it is important for only one of them to proceed with the bulk of
funding, and that resolution must be achieved before the next disbursement of funds occurs.
a. bureaucratic management style
b. lose-lose style
c. win-win style
d. win-lose style
Ans: d
Rationale: The correct answer is “d”. Please see the discussion under “Negotiation Skills.”

End of Chapter Video Notes: Delta Force

Summary:

Colonel Lee Van Arsdale has a history that is centered around 25 years of exemplary military
service with such prestigious operations as the Green Berets and Delta Force. Now retired

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from active military duty, Arsdale currently owns a corporate consulting firm. This firm
offers protection and security services to executives in need. It is his past military experience
which has enabled him to move forward with his present-day business endeavor. His
experience in handling stressful and dangerous situations serves as the guiding force for his
own business operations. Colonel Arsdale advocates he developed his leadership capabilities
through his experiences in the military. He states this skill development and growth is now
serving him well within the private sector today.

Arsdale openly acknowledges there are strong similarities that exist between the world of
business and the military. For instance, he indicates that each operates in an attempt to fulfill
an established mission. He indicates the most valuable members to either group are those
who are self-motivated, mature, and willing to accept responsibility. He also points out that
team operations should be driven by a cohesive mission. In a typical military situation,
planning is top-down; however, in this special elite force, the mission comes from the top, but
the planning is done from the bottom up. Individuals operate in teams that are very
independent and have few rules.

He stresses that it requires active recruiting to secure the best available members for either
military or business endeavors. Colonel Arsdale staunchly believes in the achievements that
can be derived through effective teamwork. Arsdale states the leader, whether military or
business, must be able to effectively motivate his or her followers in order to realize complete
success in their mission.

Topics Covered:

• Discuss types of teams

• Discuss self-managed teams
• Recognize the key roles that team members must play to ensure high performance
• Translate benefits of teams into competitive advantages
• Describe member contributions

Suggested Use:

This video can be utilized to conduct a class discussion on the role teams play in various
situations. It should also be used to hold a classroom discussion on the topics of: leader
characteristics, differentiation between the various leader styles, and to explore the various
current theories pertaining to effective teamwork and team management.

Discussion Questions:

1. The terms work group and team are often used interchangeably. Modern managers
sometimes use the word teams to the point that it has become cliche; they talk about
teams while skeptics perceive no real teamwork. Thus, making a distinction between
groups and teams can be useful. Why is Delta Force a good example of a real team?
What elements of teamwork are present in this example?

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Suggested Responses: Delta Force exemplifies all the elements of a real team. A real
team is formed of a small number of people with complementary skills who are
committed to a common purpose, a set of performance goals, and an approach for
which they hold themselves mutually accountable. As a real team, Delta Force is
committed to working together successfully to achieve high performance. They are
also largely self-motivated, and everyone on the team volunteered to be a part of the
team and its mission. This is different from a group, which is really just a collection of
people who work in the same area or have been drawn together to undertake a task,
but who are not responsible for the output of the entire group. Refer to “Benefits of
Teams” for more information related to this question.

2. Which type of team best describes Lee Van Arsdale’s teams? Which leadership styles
does he subscribe to, and how do they affect his team leadership?

Suggested Responses: The teams described in this video are best defined by self-
management. Self-managed teams (SMTs) are not always well-received in the
business world because people do not always want so much responsibility, and
changing to this type from a less autonomous work environment can be difficult. In
Delta Force, however, the team members are motivated to take on that added
responsibility and are highly trained to make decisions for themselves in the right
situations. In some situations, it is necessary for Arsdale to be authoritarian in his
leadership style. In time-sensitive matters of life or death, Arsdale gave orders and the
team responded without question. Without trust and a thorough understanding and
belief in the system, this style would not work. Arsdale, then, has varying styles of
situational leadership, sometimes acting authoritarian and sometimes giving control in
decision-making over to the team almost entirely. This is an option for him, because
the team members have technical, management, and interpersonal skills with which to
operate effectively as a self-directed team.

3. Can you find similar levels of commitment, such as in Delta Force, in the business
world?

Suggested Responses: It is not common to find as high a level as this in the business
world. There are several explanations. First, there is no life or death (personal
situation) in the typical business environment. Most team members are removed
enough from the results of their work that they can rationalize compromising their
work or simply do not feel as motivated to perform in the first place. Second, the
same level of trust does not exist in the business world as it does at the Delta Force
level. This trust is explicitly earned among Arsdale’s team members. For Arsdale’s
team, this is based on rigorous standards for recruitment and selection of the right
team members. Lastly, there generally is not that much training provided to
individuals in the business environment to operate successfully with such
independence. Arsdale’s team members are highly trained, and so their success is
more predictable. A key element of a successful SMT, besides empowerment, is

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extensive training in a variety of skills.

Quiz: (These quizzes are found on the Online Learning Center in the Student Edition
area.)

1. Arsdale indicates that in Delta Force, the teams have a propensity toward self-
sacrifice. _______ describe(s) shared beliefs that regulate the behavior of team
members.
a. Traits
b. Cohesiveness
c. Norms
d. Tasks
Ans: c
Rationale: The correct answer is “c”. Please see the discussion under “Norms.”

2. Lee Van Arsdale discusses how in traditional teams, planning is driven from the top
down, but in Delta Force, all the planning occurs at the bottom, among those people
who will be implementing the plan. Arsdale’s team best represents which of the
following types, based on the team’s characteristics?
a. Self-managed team
b. Semiautonomous work group
c. Quality circle
d. Traditional work group
Ans: a
Rationale: The correct answer is “a”. Please see the discussion under “Self-Managed
Teams.”

3. ____________ is the willingness to share information and help others within the team.
a. Interdependence
b. Cooperation
c. Trust
d. Competition
Ans: b
Rationale: The correct answer is “b”. Please see the discussion under “Cooperation.”

4. There are different sets of expectations for how different individuals in Delta Force
should behave. A weapons person, engineer, communicator, or medic are all
examples of ______ satisfied by different team members.
a. performance norms
b. traits
c. norms
d. roles
Ans: d
Rationale: The correct answer is “d”. Please see the discussion under “Roles of Team

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Members.”

5. _____________ is the willingness of one team member to increase his or her

vulnerability to the actions of another person whose behavior he or she cannot control.
a. Trust
b. Cohesiveness
c. Accomplishment
d. Independence
Ans: d
Rationale: The correct answer is “d”. Please see the discussion under
“Interdependence.”

Other Relevant Chapters:

This video also relates well with the content material found within text Chapter 12:
Motivation; and Chapter 13: Leadership.

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