Module - II
Teams: An Overview
MBA Semester IV
LEADERSHIP & MANAGING EXCELLENCE
BS702
Teams for
Organizational Effectiveness
• Team
– A group whose members work intensely with each other to achieve a
specific, common goal or objective.
– All teams are groups but not all groups are teams.
• Teams often are difficult to form.
• It takes time for members to learn how to work together.
• Groups of two or more people
• Exist to fulfill a purpose
• Interdependent -- interact and
influence each other
What are Teams? • Mutually accountable for
achieving common goals
• Perceive themselves as a social
entity
WHY DO TEAMS WORK?
• Whole is greater than the sum of its parts (SYNERGY)
• Individuals bring a range of talents, knowledge, experience, contacts, etc.
• Working together, a team can accomplish more
Groups, Teams and
Organizational Effectiveness
• Two characteristics distinguish teams from groups
– Intensity with which team members work together
– Presence of a specific, overriding team goal or objective
Differentiating Between Groups and Teams
• Team members usually have a stronger sense of identification
among themselves than group members do.
• Teams have common goals or tasks.
• Task interdependence typically is greater with teams than with
groups.
Teams as
Performance Enhancers
• Advantage of synergy
– People working in a group are able to produce more outputs than would
have been produced if each person had worked separately
Teams as
Performance Enhancers
• Factors that contribute to synergy
– Ability of group members to bounce ideas off one another
– To correct one another’s mistakes
– To bring a diverse knowledge base to bear on a problem
– To accomplish work that is too vast for any one individual to achieve
Characteristics of Effective Teams
• A clear mission and high performance standards
• Leaders of effective teams spent a considerable amount of time
assessing the technical skills of the team members.
• After taking stock of available resources and skills, good leaders would
work to secure those resources and equipment necessary for team
effectiveness.
Characteristics of Effective Teams
• Leaders of effective teams would spend a considerable amount of time
planning and organizing in order to make optimal use of available
resources, to select new members with needed technical skills, or to
improve needed technical skills of existing members.
• High levels of communication
• Minimize interpersonal conflicts
Organizational and Team
Team Environment
Team Design
Effectiveness
•Task characteristics
• Reward systems •Team size • Achieve
• Communication •Team composition organizational
systems goals
• Physical space
• Satisfy member
• Organizational
Team Processes needs
environment
• Organizational • Maintain team
structure •Team development survival
• Organizational •Team norms
leadership •Team roles
•Team cohesiveness
Team Effectiveness Model
Groups’ and Teams’ Contributions to Organizational Effectiveness
TEAM VISION AND MISSION
Team Vision
An effective Team vision typically states:
– What and where the team wants to be: A vivid description of the most
desirable future.
– When the team wants to achieve this… usually three to seven years in
the future.
• A well-crafted team vision paints the picture of the preferred
future and can energize a team to move forward in a unified
direction. It should excite and inspire the team so that all their
actions can support the expressed vision.
Team Mission
• A Team mission describes what business the team is in. It defines:
– what the Team does or need to do?
– Why to do?
– Where to do?
– When to do?
– How to do?
Team Mission
• It provides a sense of purpose and direction to the team.
• It helps to distinguish the team from others and describe the
team’s uniqueness.
• It gives the team a starting point for defining their strategies, goals
and structure.
• And it becomes a basis for making critical and daily decisions
LIFE CYCLE OF A PROJECT TEAM
Life Cycle of Project Team
Initiation Phase
• The project objective or need is identified; this can be a business
problem or opportunity.
• An appropriate response to the need is documented in a business
case with recommended solution options.
• A feasibility study is conducted to investigate whether each option
addresses the project objective and a final recommended solution
is determined.
Planning Phase
• The team identifies all of the work to be done.
• The project’s tasks and resource requirements are identified,
along with the strategy for producing them.
• A project plan is created outlining the activities, tasks,
dependencies, and timeframes.
Implementation (Execution) Phase
• The project plan is put into motion and the work of the project is performed.
• Progress is continuously monitored and appropriate adjustments are made
and recorded as variances from the original plan.
• During project implementation, people are carrying out the tasks, and
progress information is being reported through regular team meetings.
• The project manager uses this information to maintain control over the
direction of the project by comparing the progress reports
Closing Phase
• Emphasis is on releasing the final deliverables to the customer, handing over
project documentation to the business, terminating supplier contracts, releasing
project resources, and communicating the closure of the project to all stakeholders.
• The last remaining step is to conduct lessons-learned studies to examine what went
well and what didn’t.
• Through this type of analysis, the wisdom of experience is transferred back to the
project organization, which will help future project teams.
RATIONALE OF A TEAM, GOAL ANALYSIS AND TEAM ROLES
Rationale of a Team
Identify individual contributions Collaboration (Working with others)
to team, exploring leadership, • Create an outline of roles & responsibilities
values, strengths & interests • Consider diverse, cross-cultural perspectives
and working styles
Rationale of a Team
• Accept and provide feedback in
• Establish preferred communication platform for constructive and considerate way
open and consistent communication • Attend reflective check-in meetings
• Practice inclusive communication between all
team members, including mutual inquiry,
effective questioning, reflective and active
listening
Rationale of a Team
• Recognize the role of conflict when appropriate
• Apply problem solving and conflict resolution
skills to improve team process
• Approach conflict directly, tactfully and
ethically
Rationale of a Team
Team Goal Analysis
Belbin’s Team Roles
• Belbin have defined team roles as:
Belbin’s Team Roles – Coordinator (calm, confident, controlled)
– Plant (creative, unorthodox, non-practical)
– Implementer (conservative, dutiful)
– Shaper (extrovert, dynamic, pushing, provoking)
– Monitor/Evaluator (analytic, strategic, dry)
– Team worker (sensitive, mild, indecisive, caring)
– Resource Investigator (curious, communicative)
– Completer-Finisher (thorough, perfectionist, anxious )
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Belbin’s Team Roles