CHAPTER 13

TEAMS AND
TEAMBUILDIN
G

NATALIE ROSE O. PUNZALAN

MBA
 1 2 3
Lesson 1. Lesson 2. Lesson 3.

Organizational The Nature of Life Cycle of a

Context for Teams Teams Team

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

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ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT FOR TEAMS
Classical Concepts
Classical organization theory is the process of starting with the total amount of work to be done and
dividing it into divisions, departments, work clusters, jobs, and assignments of responsibilities to
people. Efficiency and integration of efforts are achieved by means of :
• Division of Work – creating levels of authority and functional units
• Delegation – assigning duties, authority, and responsibility to others
The work in Classical Organization is carefully scheduled, task are certain, roles are defined strictly
and most formal communication flows along the lines of hierarchy. Classic Organizational structure are
essentially mechanistic in their attempts to get people to act as efficiently and predictably as machines.
The whole structure is organized like a well-designed machine and incorporates many of the
characteristics of bureaucracy.
Modern Organizations are more flexible, organic, and open. Task and roles are less rigidly defined,
allowing people to adjust them to situational requirements. Organic Forms are often more effective in
situations under modern approach. Organic forms work better if the environment is dynamic requiring
frequent changes within the organizations.
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MATRIX ORGANIZATION
It is an overlay of one type of organization on another so that two chains of
command are directing individual employees. It is used especially for large,
specialized projects that temporarily require large numbers of technical people
with different skills to work in project teams.

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL
TEAMS
A cross-functional team is a team in which the members have different skill
sets, but are all working towards a common goal. It often includes people
from different departments and from all levels of the organization, though it
can also include participants from outside the organization.

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 TEAMWORK

Teamwork is a collaborative effort of a group to achieve common goal

or to complete a task in most effective and efficient way.

TASK TEAM
A task team is a cooperative small group in regular contact that is
engaged in coordinated action. The frequency of team members’
interaction and the team’s ongoing existence make a task team clearly
different from either a short-term decision-making group (committee)
or a project team in a matrix structure.

TEACH A COURSE 5
Figure13.1
Some key differences between Groups and Teams

Dimension for Comparison Group Team

Work Products Individual Collective
Performance monitoring source External Internal
Focus of activity Efficient task Problem solving
performance
Leadership Single Shared
View of conflict Dysfunctional and discouraged Functional and encouraged

When the members of a task team know their objectives, contribute responsibly
and enthusiastically to the task, and support one another, they are exhibiting
teamwork. At least four ingredients contribute to the development of teamwork:
• a supportive environment
• skills matched to role requirements
• superordinate goals
• team rewards

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 LIFE CYCLE OF A
TEAM
The typical stages in a team’s evolution can be described as
follows:
 Forming—Members share personal information, start to get to
know and accept one another, and begin turning their attention
toward the group’s tasks. An aura of courtesy prevails, and
interactions are often cautious.
 Storming—Members compete for status, jockey for positions
of relative control, and argue about appropriate directions for
the group. External pressures interfere with the group, and
tensions rise between individuals as they assert themselves.
 Norming—The group begins moving together in a
cooperative fashion, and a tentative balance among competing
forces is struck. Group norms emerge to guide individual
behavior, and cooperative feelings are increasingly evident.
 Performing—The group matures and learns to handle
complex challenges. Functional roles are performed and fluidly
exchanged as needed, and tasks are efficiently accomplished.
 Adjourning—Even the most successful groups, committees,
and project teams disband sooner or later. Their breakup is
called adjournment, which requires dissolving intense social
relations and returning to permanent assignments. The
adjournment stage is becoming even more frequent with the
advent of flexible organizations, which feature temporary
groups. 7
KEY QUESTIONS FACED Developmental Stage
FIGURE13.2
Who are these people? LIFE CYCLE OF A TEAM AND ASSOCIATED
What is their unique competence? QUESTIONS AND ISSUES FACED AT EACH
What information should I share with them? 1. FORMING STAGE
Will they accept me?
Will I be doing all the work?

What is our mission?

How do we develop team spirit?
What resources are available to us? 2. STORMING
What problems do we foresee with the team?
Why can't we agree on anything?

What do we believe in?

What behaviors do we expect of each other?
What should we be doing? 3. NORMING
How will we control each other's actions?
How do we handle conflicts?

What actions will contribute to our success?

Should we take risks?
Have we been empowered to succeed? 4.
How can we change and grow? PERFORMING
Why aren't all groups like this one?

How can we celebrate our successes?

What connections should we maintain?
What have we learned from our experience? 5. ADJURNING
Where do we go from here?
How do I resolve my conflicting emotions?

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INGREDIENTS OF EFFECTIVE TEAMS

Many studies have been conducted in an attempt to isolate the factors that contribute most directly to team success. Common items
identified include careful composition, information sharing, clear direction and measurable goals for accountability, sufficient
resources, integration and coordination, flexibility and innovativeness, and the stimulation of openness to learning.
Four major factors:
Supportive Environment. Teamwork is most likely to develop when management builds a supportive environment for it. Creating
such an environment involves encouraging members to think like a team, providing adequate time for meetings, and demonstrating
faith in members’ capacity to achieve. Supportive measures such as these help the group take the necessary first steps toward
teamwork.
Skills and Role Clarity. Team members must be reasonably qualified to perform their jobs and have the desire to cooperate. Beyond
these requirements, members can work together as a team only after all the members of the group know the roles of all the others
with whom they will be interacting.
Superordinate Goals. A major responsibility of managers is to try to keep the team members oriented toward their overall task.
Superordinate goals can be attained only if all parties carry their weight. Such goals serve to focus attention, unify efforts, and
stimulate more cohesive teams.
Team Rewards. Another element that can stimulate teamwork is the presence of team rewards. These may be financial, or they may
be in the form of recognition. Rewards are most powerful if they are valued by the team members, perceived as possible to earn, and
administered contingent on the group’s task performance.
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POTENTIAL TEAM PROBLEMS

Effective teams in action are a joy to observe. Members are committed to the firm’s success, they share common values
regarding product quality, safety, and customer satisfaction, and they share the responsibility for completing a project on
schedule. However, many different types of problems can arise within groups. Two troublesome team problems involve
changing membership and social loafing.
Changing Composition. Being complex and dynamic, teamwork is sensitive to all aspects of organizational
environment. Ex: Too many changes and personnel transfers interfere with group relationships and prevent the growth of
teamwork.
Social Loafing. The phenomenon of a person exerting less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when
working alone. It is seen as one of the main reasons groups are sometimes less productive than the combined
performance of their members working as individuals. Causes of social loafing include a perception of unfair division of
labor, a belief that co-workers are lazy, or a feeling of being able to hide in a crowd and therefore not be able to be
singled out for blame.
The sucker effect is a type of group motivation loss or social loafing effect an instance in which a person works less hard as a member
of group than as a comparable individual performer. The sucker effect occurs when people perceive that they are doing more than their
fair share of the group's work; one way to reduce the injustice of such a situation is to reduce their own level of effort.

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THANK YOU!