8

Team
Dynamics

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Teamwork at HFT Investment
Management Co.
HFT Investment Management Co.
Ltd. believes in the “value derived
from teamwork.” The Shanghai-
based investment fund company
makes all investment decisions in
teams.

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What are Teams?
Groups of two or more people
Exist to fulfill a purpose
Interdependent – interact and
collaborate
Mutually accountable for
achieving common goals –
influence each other
Perceive themselves to be a
team

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Many Types of Teams
Permanence
How long that type of team
usually exists

Skill differentiation
Degree of skill/knowledge
diversity in the team

Authority differentiation
Degree that decision-making
responsibility is distributed
throughout the team or
centralized

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Informal Groups
Groups that exist primarily for the benefit of their
members
Reasons why informal groups exist:
Innate drive to bond
Social identity -- we define ourselves by group memberships
Goal accomplishment
Emotional support

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Team Advantages/Challenges
Advantages
1. Make better decisions, products/services
2. Better information sharing
3. Increase employee motivation/engagement
Challenges
1. Process losses – resources needed for team maintenance
2. Social loafing – members potentially exert less effort in
teams than alone

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Team Effectiveness Model

Team Design

Organizational and Team

• Task characteristics Effectiveness
Team Environment
• Team size
• Team composition • Accomplish tasks
• Rewards
• Satisfy member
• Communication needs
• Org structure Team Processes • Maintain team
• Org leadership survival
• Team development
• Physical space
• Team norms
• Team cohesiveness
• Team trust

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PSA Peugeot Citroën’s
Team Space
PSA Peugeot Citroën set up an
“obeya room” (shown here) to
speed up team decision making.
Plastered with charts and notes on
key issues, the space encourages
face-to-face interaction to quickly
resolve issues.

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Organization/Team Environment
Reward systems
Communication systems
Organizational structure
Organizational leadership
Physical space

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Best Tasks for Teams
1. Complex tasks divisible into specialized roles
2. Well-structured tasks – easier to coordinate
3. Higher task interdependence
 Team members must share materials, information, or
expertise to perform their jobs
 Teams usually better because high interdependence (a)
requires better communication/coordination and (b)
motivates team membership
 But teams less effective if task goals differ (e.g. serving
different clients) – use other coordinating mechanisms

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Levels of Task Interdependence
High A
Reciprocal
B C

A B C
Sequential

Resource
Pooled
Low A B C

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Team Size
Smaller teams are better because:
less process los -- need less time to coordinate roles and
resolve differences
require less time to develop
more engaged with team – know members, more influence
on the team
feel more responsible for team’s success

But team must be large enough to accomplish task

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Team Player Selection at
Menlo Innovations
Ann Arbor, Michigan software
company Menlo Innovations
identifies job applicants with the
best team skills through a group
selection process in which
applicants are paired with each
other to complete software tasks.

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Team Composition
Effective team members
Cooperating
must be willing and able Share resources
to work on the team Accommodate others

Conflict
Effective team members Resolving Coordinating
possess specific • Diagnose conflict • Align work with
competencies sources others
• Use best conflict- Team Member • Keep team on
(5 C’s in diagram) handling strategy Competencies track

Comforting Communicating
• Show empathy • Share information
• Provide psych freely, efficiently,
comfort respectfully
• Build confidence • Listen actively

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Team Composition: Diversity
Team members have diverse knowledge, skills,
perspectives, values, etc.
Advantages
view problems/alternatives from different perspectives
broader knowledge base
better representation of team’s constituents

Disadvantages
take longer to become a high-performing team
susceptible to “faultlines” – less motivation to coordinate

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Stages of Team Development
Forming
learn about each other; evaluate membership.

Storming
conflict; members proactive, compete for roles.

Norming
roles established; consensus around team objectives and team mental model.

Performing
efficient coordination; highly cooperative; high trust; commitment to team
objectives; identify with the team.

Adjourning
disbanding; shift from task to relationship focus.

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Team Development: Forming Identities
and Mental Models
1. Developing team identity
 Viewing team as “us” rather than “them”
 Team becomes part of the person’s social identity

2. Developing team mental models and coordinating

routines
 Forming habitual routines with team members
 Forming shared/complementary mental models

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Team Building
 Formal activities intended to
improve the team’s development
and functioning

Types of team building

1. Clarify team’s performance goals
2. Improve team’s problem-solving
skills
3. Improve role definitions
4. Improve relations

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Team Norms
Informal rules and shared expectations team establishes to regulate
member behaviors
Norms develop through:
Initial team experiences
Critical events in team’s history
Experience/values members bring to the team

Preventing/Changing Dysfunctional Team Norms

State desired norms when forming teams
Select members with preferred values
Discuss counter-productive norms
Introduce team-based rewards that counter dysfunctional norms
Disband teams with dysfunctional norms

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Team Cohesion
Team cohesion
The degree of attraction people feel toward the team and their
motivation to remain members
Team cohesion is stronger/occurs faster with:
Higher member similarity
Smaller team size
Regular/frequent member interaction
Somewhat difficult team entry (membership)
Higher team success
More external competition/challenges

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Team Cohesion and Performance
High cohesion teams usually perform better because:
Motivated to maintain membership and achieve team objectives
Share information more frequently
Higher coworker satisfaction
Better social support (minimizes stress)
Resolve conflict more swiftly and effectively

Contingencies of cohesion and performance

1.Task interdependence
Cohesion motivates cooperation; less important with low interdependence

2.Team norms consistent with organizational objectives

Cohesion motivates conformity to team norms
Cohesion motivates LOWER performance if norms oppose company objectives

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Three Levels of Trust
High

Identification-based Trust

Knowledge-based Trust

Calculus-based Trust
Low

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Self-Directed Teams
Self-directed teams defined
Cross-functional groups
organized around work processes
complete an entire piece of work requiring several interdependent tasks,
have substantial autonomy over task decisions

Success factors
1. Responsible for entire work process
2. High interdependence within the team
3. Low interdependence with other teams
4. Autonomy to organize and coordinate work
5. Work site/technology support team communication/coordination

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Virtual Teams
Members operate across space, time, and
organizational boundaries -- linked through
information technologies
Virtual Team Success Factors
1. Virtual team member characteristics
2. Toolkit of communication channels and freedom to choose
channels that work best for them
3. Fairly high task structure
4. Opportunities to meet face-to-face

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Team Decision Making Constraints
Time constraints
Time to organize/coordinate
Production blocking

Evaluation apprehension
Reluctance to mention ideas that seem silly because of belief of evaluation by
other team members

Peer pressure to conform

Suppressing opinions that oppose team norms

Overconfidence (inflated team efficacy)

Team efficacy usually beneficial (motivates performance)
Inflated team efficacy
 Outcomes: false sense of invulnerability, less vigilant decisions, less task conflict
 Caused by: collective self-enhancement, high cohesion, external threats

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General Guidelines for
Team Decisions
Team norms should encourage critical thinking
Sufficient team diversity
Checks/balances to avoid dominant participants
Maintain optimal team size
Introduce effective team structures

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Brainstorming
Participants think up as many ideas as possible
Four brainstorming rules
Speak freely
Don’t criticize
Provide as many ideas as possible
Build on others’ ideas

Dismissed by lab research, but supported in field research and

by leading creative firms
Brainstorming limitations
Production blocking
Conformity effect (fixation)

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Other Team Structures for Creative
Decision Making
Brainwriting -- brainstorming without conversation
Individuals write down/distribute their ideas to others, who develop further ideas
Less production blocking than brainstorming

Electronic Brainstorming – variation of brainwriting

Relies on computer technology
Document/distribute ideas anonymously to other participants
Anonymously vote on ideas, followed by discussion
Strengths: less production blocking, evaluation apprehension, conformity
Limitations: considered too structured and technology-bound

Nominal Group Technique – variation of brainwriting

1.Problem is described, then participants privately write down solutions
2.Participants describe their solutions – no criticism or debate
3.Participants privately rank-order or vote on solutions
Problems of production blocking and evaluation apprehension

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 8

Team
Dynamics

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