Module 5
Team Processes
PowerPoint Presentation by Charlie Cook
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Model of Team Effectiveness
Overview
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Figure 5.1
5–2
Team Membership
• Teams in which members are familiar or tied to
each other are better at sharing information
• Key aspect of an effective team is “transactive
memory system”
 Team members keep current on what other members
know
 Members channels information to appropriate person
 Members seek best form of expertise when a problem
arises
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–3
Team Membership (cont’d)
• Key questions concerning membership:
 Do team members have required expertise and
authority to carry out task?
 What are the personalities and styles of members?
 What is the racial and gender mix within the team?
 How committed are individual members to the team?
 Which hierarchical levels and functional teams are
represented?
 Are team members strangers?
 How well can members identify and use expertise of
other members?
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–4
Organizational Context of Team
• Organization in which a team operates
contributes to its success or failure
• Problems occur when:
 Organizational mission is unclear
 Tasks are poorly designed
 Teams are not allowed sufficient autonomy
 Rewards are granted to individuals rather than to
teams
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–5
Organizational Context of Team (cont’d)
• Questions regarding organizational context
include:
 Have the goals and tasks of the team been clearly
identified?
 Are team members rewarded for individual rather than
team performance?
 Has management granted the team enough autonomy
to accomplish the task?
 Does the team have access to the information and
resources needed to perform its task?
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–6
Team Processes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Task and maintenance functions
Decision making
Communication
Influence
Conflict
Atmosphere
Emotional issues
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–7
Task and Maintenance Functions
• Task functions help team members to organize
themselves to get work done
 Setting team agendas, keeping the team on target,
prioritizing tasks, structuring the decision making
process, proposing alternative ways to solve problems
• Maintenance functions hold the team together so
that members can continue to get along with
each other and even have some fun
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–8
Functions Required for
Effective Group Functions
• Functions that build task
accomplishment
 Initiating
 Seeking Information and
Opinions
 Providing Information and
Opinions
 Clarifying
 Elaborating
 Summarizing
 Consensus Testing
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
• Functions that build and
maintain a group




Harmonizing
Compromising
Gatekeeping
Encouraging
Figure 5.2
5–9
Team Decision Making
• Four steps in decision making:
 Identify the problem or opportunity
 Analyze the problem
 Propose and evaluate solutions
 Implement the decision
• It is important to set a norm of communicating
doubts and divergent viewpoints
• Consensus decision making allows all team
members to participate but may take too long
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–10
Team Decision Making (cont’d)
• Questions concerning decision making include:
 Does the team follow the four steps of decision
making?
 Does the team move too quickly toward a solution?
 Does the team encourage minority opinion?
 Which form of decision making does the team use?

Consensus, consultative, or leader decides?
 Can the team change its form of decision making if
necessary?
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–11
Team Communication
• Communication patterns offer clues as to:
 Who is influencing the team
 Which subgroups and coalitions exist
 How well the team is progressing
 How members are feeling
• Team communication patters can be measured
using a sociogram
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–12
Sociogram of Group Communication
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Figure 5.3
5–13
Team Communication (cont’d)
• Sociograms offer clues as to:
 Who are the most and least frequent participators?
 Are there shifts in participation? What causes them?
 Who talks to whom? Who responds to whom?
 How are “silent” and “noisy” members handled?
 Are team members with the requisite information
contributing?
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–14
Team Influence
• Influence commonly shifts throughout a team’s
history
• Influence is related to a member’s status within
the organizational hierarchy, level of experience,
and personality
• Team members can influence one another
through use of “influence tactics”
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–15
Influence Tactics
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rational Persuasion
Inspirational Appeals
Consultation
Ingratiation
Personal Appeals
Exchange
Coalition Tactics
Legitimating Tactics
Pressure
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Figure 5.4
5–16
Team Influence (cont’d)
• Questions on influence patterns include:
 Who has the most impact on the team’s actions and
decisions?
 Whose ideas are ignored? What is the result?
 What tactics do members use to influence one
another?
 Is there rivalry in the team? What effect does it have?
 How does the formal leader exert his/her influence?
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–17
Team Conflict
• Conflict can be advantageous or problematic,
depending on what type of conflict it is
 “Good” conflict is called substantive conflict
 “Bad” conflict is called affective conflict
• A frequent problem in cohesive teams is
groupthink
 Team members avoid all types of conflict and shy
away from deviating from the apparent team
consensus
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–18
Team Conflict (cont’d)
• Questions regarding team conflict include:
 How often do members disagree about the work to be
done? Is this conflict useful?
 To what extent do people take the arguments in the
team personally? How can this conflict be managed?
 How often do members get angry with one another
while working?
 Do team members feel free to disagree?
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–19
Team Atmosphere
• Team members may have different expectations
and assumptions about how team will function
• Way in which differing expectations are resolved
determines what the climate or atmosphere in the
team will be
• Key to creating a trusting, supportive team is
“psychological safety”—a shared belief that the
team is safe for interpersonal risk taking
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–20
Team Atmosphere (cont’d)
• Questions that help characterize team
atmosphere include:
 Are people friendly and open or formal with one
another?
 Are people involved and interested?
 Are people in constant conflict or disagreement?
 Is any attempt made to avoid unpleasantness by
ignoring tough issues?
 Do people feel safe enough to take interpersonal
risks?
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–21
Supportive and Defensive Environments
• Characteristics of a
supportive environment






Provisionalism
Empathy
Equality
Spontaneity
Problem Orientation
Clear Description
• Characteristics of a
defensive environment





Evaluation
Control
Stratagems
Superiority
Dogmatism
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Source: Patton, Giffin, and Patton. 1989. Decision-Making Team Interaction. New York: Harper & Row.
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
Figure 5.5
5–22
Emotional Issues
• Team members may struggle with emotional
issues associated with teams:
 Identity—who am I in this team?
 Goals and needs—what do I want from this team?
 Power and control—who will control what we do?
 Intimacy—how close will we get to each other?
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–23
Emotional Issues (cont’d)
• Group members may react to emotional issues
by exhibiting behavior such as:
 Fighting and controlling—asserting personal
dominance
 Withdrawing—trying to reduce discomfort by
psychologically leaving the team
 Dependency and counterdependency—waiting
passively for a leader to emerge who will solve the
problem or opposing anyone in the team who
represents authority
Class Notes: Team Process Observation Guide
Copyright © 2005 South-Western. All rights reserved.
5–24