Management
Second Canadian Edition
Chuck Williams
Alex Z. Kondra
Conor Vibert
Slides Prepared by:
Kerry Rempel, Okanagan College
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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Chapter 12
Managing Teams
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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What Would You Do?
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Cessna has an opportunity to redesign its
production facilities and you want to move to
using teams
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Teams may provide increased quality, faster, more
efficient production, and higher employee
satisfaction
Teams are expensive to implement, require
significant training, and they work only a third of
the time they are used
If you were in charge, what would you do?
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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Learning Objectives:
Why Work Teams?
After reading the next two sections,
you should be able to:
1. explain the good and bad of using
teams
2. recognize and understand the different
kinds of teams
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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The Good and Bad
of Using Teams
Advantages of teams include increased
customer satisfaction
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can be trained to meet the needs of specific
customer groups
product and service quality
speed and efficiency of product development
employee satisfaction
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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The Good and Bad
of Using Teams
Disadvantages of teams include:
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initially high turnover
social loafing
groupthink
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When to Use Teams
Use teams when …
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there is a clear purpose
the job requires people to work together
team-based rewards are possible
ample resources are available
teams have required authority to get the
job done
Adapted from Exhibit 12.1
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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When Not to Use Teams
Don’t use teams when …
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there is no clear purpose
the job can be done by individuals
independently
rewards are for individual performance
required resources are not available
management will monitor and control the
work
Adapted from Exhibit 12.1
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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Kinds of Teams
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Autonomy, the key dimension
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Special kinds of teams
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Autonomy,
the Key Dimension
Autonomy, discretion that workers have
over work, varies from low to high across
types of groups:
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Traditional work groups
Employee involvement groups
Semi-autonomous work groups
Self-managing teams
Self-designing teams
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Team Autonomy Continuum
Exhibit 12.2
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Special Kinds of Teams
Cross-functional
teams
Virtual team
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Project team
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Learning Objectives:
Managing Work Teams
After reading the next two sections,
you should be able to:
3. understand the general characteristics
of work teams
4. explain how to enhance work team
effectiveness
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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Work Team Characteristics
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Team norms
Team cohesiveness
Team size
Team conflict
Stages of team development
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Team Norms
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Informally agreed-on standards that
regulate team behaviour
Clarify expectations
Can have positive and/or negative
outcomes
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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Team Cohesiveness
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The extent to which team members are
attracted to a team and motivated to
remain in it
Cohesive teams:
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retain their members
promote cooperation
achieve high levels of performance
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Team Size
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Very large or very small teams may not
perform as well as moderately sized teams
The right size for most teams is between six
and nine members
Teams that are too large might suffer from
minority domination
Teams that are too small may lack diversity of
skills and knowledge
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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What Really Works
Cohesion and Team Performance
Team Performance
Team Performance with Interdependent Tasks
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What Really Works
Team Performance with Independent Tasks
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Team Conflict
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Primary cause of team conflict is
disagreement over team goals and priorities
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C-type conflict
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Other causes of conflict can be disagreements
over task-related issues, interpersonal
incompatibilities and simple fatigue
Cognitive conflict – related to improvements in
team performance
A-type conflict
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Affective conflict – related to decreases in team
performance
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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How Teams Can
Have a Good Fight
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Work with more, rather than less,
information
Develop several alternatives to enrich
debate
Establish common goals
Inject humour into the workplace
Maintain a balance of power
Resolve issues without forcing consensus
Adapted from Exhibit 12.3
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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Stages of Team development
Exhibit 12.4
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Enhancing Work Team
Effectiveness
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Setting team goals and priorities
Selecting people for teamwork
Team training
Team compensation and recognition
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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Setting Team Goals
and Priorities
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Team goals increase team performance
Goals clarify team priorities
Challenging team goals regulate team
effort
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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Requirements for Stretch
Goals to Motivate Teams
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A high degree of autonomy
Empowered with control resources
Structural accommodation
Bureaucratic immunity
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Selecting People for
Teamwork
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Individualism-collectivism
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Team level
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degree to which a person believes that people
should be self-sufficient and loyal to one’s self
rather than a team
average level of ability, experience, or other
factors on a team
Team diversity
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variances in ability or other factors on a team
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Team Training
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Need for training often underestimated
Various types of training needed
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interpersonal skills
decision-making and problem-solving skills
conflict resolution skills
technical skills
cross training
leadership
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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Team Compensation and
Recognition
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The level of reward must match the
level of performance
Three methods:
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skill-based pay
gainsharing
nonfinancial rewards
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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Top Ten Problems
Reported by Team Leaders
1. Confusion about roles and what they should
do differently
2. Feeling they’ve lost control
3. Not knowing what coaching or empowering
means
4. Having personal doubts about the efficacy of
the team concept
5. Uncertainty about how to deal with
employees’ doubts about teams
Adapted from Exhibit 12.6
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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Top Ten Problems
Reported by Team Leaders
6. Confusion about when a team is ready for
responsibility
7. Confusion about how to share responsibility
and accountability
8. Concern about promotional opportunities
9. Uncertainty about strategic aspects of
leader’s role
10. Not knowing where to turn for help with
team problems
Adapted from Exhibit 12.6
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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What Really Happened?
Since Cessna implemented crossfunctional teams, they have experienced
the following:
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quality is up 86%
on-time delivery has risen 28%
inventories are down 52% resulting in
savings to Cessna of tens of millions of
dollars each year
©2008 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
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