Organizational Behavior and Teamwork - Essay Example

Organizational Behavior and Teamwork 2007 Outline: I. Introduction II. General Discussion: A) History of the question B) Definition of team C) Elements of teams and stages of development D) Effective teamwork: characteristics and suggestions III. Conclusion Foreword: In the conditions of global economy and competition teams and teamwork have acquired a major importance. Teamwork as the key element of many organizations has imposed specific requirements on managers and employees. Thus teams have become one of the central topics for research in the field of organizational behavior. Thesis: Teams, consisting of individuals with various specializations and competencies, have become an important and integral element of organizations, being especially effective when fresh decisions and approaches are needed. Objectives: To highlight the history of the question To examine the difference between the notions of work groups and teams To describe major points to be known about teamwork Organizational Behavior studies and applies knowledge about how individuals and groups act in organizations, taking a system approach: people-organization relationships are interpreted in terms of the person, group, organization, and the whole social system, with the purpose of improving the relationships through achieving human, organizational and social objectives simultaneously (Clark 2005). Buckley, Beu, Novicevic, and Sigerstad (2001) in their article devoted to the management of generation next, as they call it, note, that the modern workplace is characterized by such factors as growth of technology, service orientation, work flexibility, and empowered teams. Teams, consisting of individuals with various specializations and competencies, have become an important and integral element of organizations. Teams are used for complex tasks, integrating diverse groups into the work force. Whereas organizations develop a leader approach to staffing, teams move toward self-management, and the number of management positions available for promotion decreases. These changes in organization have put new tasks in front of managers and common workers. The manager of today has to have cross-functional competencies corresponding to all the roles fulfilled by the teams he guides. He should know how to gather and lead such cross-functional and global teams in order to make them work effectively. New entrants to work should be ready to continuously develop strong team skills and learn how to be an effective team member, develop the network of professional relationships matching all the roles one needs for teamwork, learn the politics of tolerance and be able to employ “a soft communication and hard negotiation style”, to keep one’s domain feeling virtually unemployed and in demand. These are some of the advices the authors give, revealing to us the important notions of the modern organization and workplace. This article is not the only one. Teams and teamwork in the conditions of global economy are studied by sociology and psychology, and of course, they have come into the center of studies by organizational behavior. So the topic of this paper is “Teams and teamwork”. We are going to focus our attention on the history of the question, to see the difference between the notions of work groups and teams, to highlight what one should know in order to be able to manage teamwork and to make the team work effectively. In circumstances of constant changes and transition to the global economy, business had to look for new strategies and approaches in order to survive. The demands grew: demands for worker satisfaction, shareholder returns, and environmental protection, – and as Marc Hanlan puts it, firms “tried to find a competitive edge that would allow them to stay ahead of those changes”. The new strategy emerged in 1980s. High Performance Team or HPTs were gathered of specialists in different fields who underwent training to be able to apply new ways of analyses to data and their work process, to review customer, shareholder, employee and operational perspectives, to find new ways to add value and around old problems, redesigning all the aspects of their work and achieving breakthrough improvements in value, cost, productivity, and quality of their work life (Hanlan 2004, Introduction, xv-xvi). Such teams first appeared in electronic industry and soon they spread to all the spheres of activity. Today teamwork is used in organizations of all kinds, being especially effective when fresh decisions and approaches are needed. Before speaking of teamwork it is necessary to define the term of “team” and to see how it differs from that of “work group”. For a long time many researchers used the terms interchangeably, with predominance of the term “group”. For instance, Richard A. Guzzo and Marcus W. Dickson (1996) believe that the operational definition of a "work group" chosen by them could be used to label many types of groups and teams. However, there are obvious differences between the notions, though most of group theories are applicable to teamwork. So a work group may be defined as two or more freely interacting individuals, seeing themselves and seen by others as a social entity, who share collective norms and goals and have a common identity. They belong to one or more larger social systems and perform tasks influencing others (customers or coworkers) (Guzzo and Dickson 1996, p.308; Sims 2002, p.167). Groups become teams when they “develop a sense of shared commitment and strive for synergy among members” (Katzenbach & Smith 19931, in Guzzo and Dickson 1996). A team is “a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable” (Sims 2002, p.185). Besides, teams are separated from groups by such factors as: 1) roles and responsibilities are strictly divided in teams, perceived with shared understanding and don’t cause any confusions and conflicts; 2) a clear understanding of the teams mission and its importance, common norms and values guiding members of the team in achieving the team’s goals; 3) cohesion (overall consciousness of the team as one entity); 4) the use of facilitators to keep the team on the right path; 5) open communication, importance of different opinions, atmosphere of trust and acceptance, and a sense of community; 6) flexibility; 7) high level of satisfaction in working with one another (Clark 2005). At the same time, teams go through the similar stages of development and have similar organizational and individual functions the formal groups do (Appendix A contains the table proposed by Ronald Sims on organizational and individual functions of formal groups). Both groups and teams are formed with the consideration of three factors that may influence the performance, these being opportunity for interaction, potential for goal accomplishment, members’ personal characteristics, group structure, size and composition, presence of others, status hierarchy, roles, norms, and cohesiveness. The five-stage model and the punctuated-equilibrium model are two systematic models of group development that best describe the process of groups and teams formation. The five-stage model offered by Tuckman and Jensen (1977) includes stages of forming (members of the groups get acquainted and define their roles and acceptable behaviors), storming (characterized by high level of conflict), norming (the increase of cohesion), performing (when the actual task is fulfilled), and adjourning (quick or gradual disintegration of the group). This model helps to monitor and troubleshoot the development of the group/team where members have never met before. Punctuated-equilibrium model introduced by Gersick (1989) is useful when dealing with the problem-solving teams that are to meet a deadline. It includes a critical first meeting, a midpoint change in group activity, when groups tend to feel strong identity, and a rush to task completion, lasting until the task is completed (Sims 2002, Chapter 7, p. 171-173). An interesting example illustrating the punctuated-equilibrium model can be found in the article written by a sociology professor Sean O’Riain dealing with the “global workplace”. The author spent six weeks with the group of Irish software developers hired by the USTech and made sure that global firm is a new form of organization, with even stronger structure and new forms of social and power interactions, where patterns of mobility of people, information and resources play an important role. He describes the three stages of the teamwork, concentrating mostly on the second half of the group’s cooperation when the deadline is approaching and the group starts acting as one whole. According to his observations, this period is characterized by space-time intensity, group’s cohesion and its opposing to external enemy – the overseas manager. After the task is fulfilled, the group members experience release periods and each one thinks of his own career. O’Riain underlines the mobility of the staff, as a characteristic feature of global workplace. He also vividly depicts the new conditions of management, showing that global firms are characterized by decentralization and self-management to a certain degree, but one cannot speak of the democracy (O’Riain 2002). Now let us see what characterizes the high performing team and what can be done to achieve effectiveness and productivity of the teamwork. Five major characteristic describe a high performing team: 1) commitment to a mission; 2) specific performance goals; 3) right size, and right mix (fewer than 25 people, usually between 7 and 14 people, complementing each other in terms of skills) 4) a common approach; and 5) mutual accountability (Sims 2002, Chapter 7, p.184-5). As it was mentioned at the beginning of the paper, today the ability to build high performance team is viewed as an essential capability of a manger, while the ability to contribute to team performance is viewed as an essential capability of any employee. Many books and articles have been written providing advice as to the steps to be taken to make the team effective. Let us turn to the experts. The following can be suggested: 1) diversity of membership (skills, backgrounds, opinions); 2) small size; 3) selection of the right team members (taking into account psychological characteristics of people); 4) on-going training of the teams; 5) setting of clear goals; 6) individual rewards associated with team performance; 7) appropriate performance measures (based on process, not on outcomes); 8) promotion of trust and open communication and cooperation; 9) encouraged participation of all the members; 10) cultivation of team spirit and social support; 11) the urgency of the team’s work is to be emphasized; 12) strictly set norms of behavior; 13) new approaches and facts are to be proposed to the team; 14) rewards and acknowledgement of major contributions (Dumaine 1994, 86–88, 90, 92; Campion and Higgs 1995, 101–102, 104, 107). Certainly, this is only a brief list of suggestions. Conclusion: In the conditions of global economy and competition teams and teamwork have acquired a major importance. Teams are used when there is a necessity for the brainstorming and breakthrough, for fresh ideas and approaches. Teamwork as the key element of many organizations has imposed specific requirements on managers and employees. All the managers and employees should be aware and skillful in building and contributing to effective teamwork. Not all the teams are successful, and it is not an easy task to organize a high performance team. However, ready strategies are offered in the literature on the topic. References: Beu, Danielle S., Buckley, M. Ronald, Novicevic Milorad M., and Sigerstad, Thomas D. (2001). Managing Genration NeXt: Individual and Organizational Perspectives. Review of Business, Vol. 22 (1), 81-89 Campion, M.A., and Higgs, A.C. (1995). Design Work Teams to Increase Productivity and Satisfaction. HRMagazine (October): 100-108 Clark, Donald (2005). Big Dog, Little Dog. The Art and Science of Leadership: Leadership Guide. Retrieved April 11, 2007 from http://nwlink.com/~donclark/ Dumaine, B. (1994). The Trouble with Teams. Fortune (September 5): 85-94 Guzzo, Richrad A. and Dickson, Marcus W. (1996). Teams in Organization: Recent Research on Performance and Effectiveness. Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 47, 307-317 Hanlan, Marc (2004). High Performance teams: How to Make Them Work. Praeger. Westport, CT O’Riain, Sean (2000). Net-Working for a Living: Irish Software Developers in the Global Workplace. In The Blackwell Cultural Economy Reader. Chapter 2. Pp.15-39. Sims, Ronald R. (2002). Managing Organizational Behavior. Quorum Books. Westport, CT. Appendix A Organizational and Individual Functions Fulfilled by Formal Groups Organizational Functions Individual Functions • Accomplish complex, interdependent tasks that are beyond the capabilities of individuals. • Generate new or creative ideas and solutions. • Coordinate interdepartmental efforts. • Provide a problem-solving mechanism for complex problems requiring varied information and assessment. • Implement complex decisions. • Socialize and train newcomers. • Satisfy the individual’s need for affiliation. • Develop, enhance, and confirm the individual’s self-esteem and sense of identity. • Give individuals an opportunity to test and share their perceptions of social reality. • Reduce the individual’s anxieties and feelings of insecurity and powerlessness. • Provide a problem-solving mechanism for personal and interper--sonal problems. Sims, Ronald R. (2002). Managing Organizational Behavior. Quorum Books. Westport, CT. Page 171. Read More