Post on 05-Apr-2018
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UNDERSTANDING
WORK TEAMS
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WORK TEAMS
A Small number of people with
complementary skills who are committed
to a common purpose, commonperformance goals, and an approach for
which they hold themselves mutually
accountable.
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TYPES OF WORK TEAMS
On the basis of their objectives, teams canbe classified into different types.
The three kinds of teams most commonly
found in organizations are: -1. Problem-solving teams.
2. Self-managed work teams.
3. Cross-functional teams.
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2005 Prentice Hall 94
Why Have Teams Become So
Popular
Teams typically outperform individuals.
Teams use employee talents better.
Teams are more flexible and responsiveto changes in the environment.
Teams facilitate employee involvement.
Teams are an effective way to
democratize and organization and
increase motivation.
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PROBLEM SOLVING TEAMS
Such teams generally consists of around 5
to 12 employees.
These employees meet for a specific
number of hours per week to discuss
various ways of improving quality,
efficiency and the work environment.
Problem solving teams are temporary
teams that deal with some specific
problems at the workplace.
A commonly used problem solving team
was the Quality Circle.
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QUALITY CIRCLE
A Quality Circle (QC) is defined as a
small group of employees in the same
work area or doing similar type ofwork that voluntarily meets regularly
for about an hour every week to
identify, analyze and resolve work-related problems.
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OBJECTIVES OF QUALITY CIRCLE
Bringing about a change in the attitude of employeesby improving the quality of work life.
Teaching additional skills to employees and bringing
out their latent potential.
Developing a team spirit in the organization and
reducing conflict between departments.
Involving people at different levels in finding a solution
to a problem. Improving the motivation level of employees.
Providing employees with a conducive work
environment
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SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS
Problem-solving teams allowed employees to make
suggestions and recommendations, but did not involve
them in taking work-related decisions.
To involve teams in organizational matters, fully
autonomous teams, called self-managed work teams,were developed.
Self-managed work teams consists around 10-15
employees.
Most of the decisions regarding maintenance, work
scheduling, and equipment purchases are made by
these teams.
The supervisor merely plays the role of a facilitator.
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STUDIES ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OFSELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS
Some studies found that individuals whobelonged to such teams were generally
very satisfied with their jobs.
Other studies found that employees whobelonged to self-managed work teams had
a higher absenteeism and attrition rate
than employees who worked inconventional work groups.
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CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS
Cross-functional teams consists of employees from thesame hierarchical level, but from different functional areas
of the organization. These employees come together to
achieve a specific objective.
The Industrial Specialties Division of 3M is also a type ofcross-functional team. This division has been extremely
successful in sustaining innovation and quality in all the
companys products.
Cross-functional teams allow employees to handlecomplicated projects, share ideas, and solve various
problems pertaining to the organization.
It requires time and patience as the team members need
to learn to work with diversity and complexity.
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ESSENTIALS FOR BUILDINGEFFECTIVE TEAMS
Providing a supportive environment: - Team work buildsmutual trust and cooperation. And makes the employees
adaptable and flexible. In order to create these conditions,
managers need to develop an appropriate organizational
culture. Relevant Skills and Role Clarity: - The team members
should have the necessary skills to carry out the jobs they
have been entrusted with and should be willing to cooperate
with others n the team. They understand their roles andthose of other members in the team. Example: - Consider a
surgical team in the hospital. During an emergency, each
team member understand the need for sure that they will
perform their tasks well. Such a high degree of cooperation
and mutual trust is the hallmark of an effective team.
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CONTD.
Focus on super ordinate goals: - The supervisors ormanagers of teams should keep their team members
focused on accomplishing the overall task, not just on
accomplishing their individual tasks. Example: - If a sales
representative has reached his individual target, he may
delay the delivery of some products so that those sales
contribute to his target for the next month. He is not
bothered if all the other sales representatives in the
district have reached their target or if there is any deficit
in the achievement of the district target. Team reward: - An effective system of team rewards
encourages teamwork. The rewards could be either
financial or non-financial.
.
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SHAPING INDIVIDUALS INTOTEAM PLAYERS
Selection: - Interpersonal skills differ from personto person. Only those people who posses good
interpersonal skills should be selected for
teamwork.
Training: - It is possible to train individual workerswho have worked in conventional organizations
which emphasized individual performance and
make them effective team player. Example: - At
Bell Atlantic, trainers helped employees realize theimportance of patience in teamwork, because
teams take a longer time than individuals to arrive
at a decision.
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CONTD. Reward: - The system of rewards should be
based on team efforts rather than on individualefforts. An effective reward system tries to
balance individual contributions with those made
for the benefit of the team.
Examples of team oriented behaviors: -
1. Learning new skills required by the team.
2. Imparting training to new colleagues.
3. Exchanging ideas and information with other
members of the team.
4. Assisting in resolving team conflicts.
APPLYING GROUP CONCEPTS TO
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APPLYING GROUP CONCEPTS TOTEAMS:TOWARDS CREATING EFFECTIVE
TEAMS
Size of Work Teams: - In order to designeffective teams, managers must limit the number
of members in each teams to 10 to 12.
Abilities of Members: - Technical skills,
decision-making and problem-solving skills, andinterpersonal skills.
Allocation of Work Roles: - In order to design
effective teams, managers need to identify thosequalities which are necessary for performance,
select people with those strengths, and assign
work roles that are compatible with that persons
style.
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CONTD.
Strong commitment to a Common Purpose: - Teammembers of a successful teams put in a lot of hard work
in developing a purpose which reflects both their
individual and collective sentiments.
Specifying Clear and Realistic Performance Goals Good Leadership and Effective Structure: - In order to
provide focus and direction, a team needs a cleaiy
defined structure. The team members should also be
clear about the role each of them would be playing to
achieve the objective of the team. Team members
should set schedules, identify the skills that the team is
lacking, establish methods for resolving conflicts within
the team and the manner in which decisions will be
made and modified.
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CONTD.
Preventing Social Loafing and DeterminingAccountability.
Proper Evaluation and Reward Systems: -
the management should use group-basedappraisals, profit sharing, and small-group
incentives to strengthen team effort and
commitment.
Generating Mutual Trust among Team
Members