project report on team design

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Introduction

Teams are an integral part of the management process in many organizations to-day. But the

notion of using teams as a way of organizing work is not new. Neither is is an American or

Japanese innovation. One of the earliest uses and analyses of teams was the work of the

Tavistock Institute in the late 1940s in the UK. Major companies such as Hewlett-Packard,

Xerox, Procter & Gamble, General Motors, and General Mills have been using teams as a

primary means of accomplishing tasks for many years . the popular business press such as

Fortune Business week, Frobes, and the Wall Street Journal, regularly reports on the use of teams

in businesses around the world. The use of teams is not a fed of the month or some new way to

manipulate workers into producing more at their own expense to enrich owners. Managers and

experts agree that using teams can be the way to organize and manage successfully in the twenty-

first century.

For many of us, the creation of arts is an individual’s achievement, one person’s expression of

his or her unique perspective. Imagine the painter alone behind the canvas with a personal vision.

Or consider the solitary sculptor chipping away at a stone block. However, glass blowing, an

ancient art in which the production methods, tools, and teams organization have remained the

same for 2,000 years, depends on the cooperation of a team of artists.

In this project presents a summary of many of current issues involving teams in organizations

and team design, development process. First we define what “team” means and differentiate

teams from normal work groups. We than discuss the rational for using teams, including both the

benefits and the costs. Next we describe six types of teams in use in organizations today. Then

we present the steps involved in implementing teams. Finally we take a brief look at 5P’s of

Team Design and Effective Teams, SWOT Analysis and roles of members in a team.

-To Gather Every One Accomplish More

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Table of Contents

Using Teams In Organization 03

Why have teams become so popular? 03

Types of Teams 04

Turning Individuals into Team Players 06

Team Effectiveness Model` 08

Team design elements 08

Benefits and Costs of Teams in Organizations 10

Enhanced Performance 10

Employee Benefits 11

Reduced Costs 12

Implementing Teams in Organization 13

Stages of Team Development 15

Causes of team cohesiveness 15

Shaping Team Players 16

Special Considerations – Team

5 P’s of Team Design 19

What is an “Effective Team?” 21

5 Elements of Effective Teams 23

How a team is form? 25

What is the culture of the Team? 26

Role of Members in a Team 29

The SWOT Analysis 30


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Why have teams become so popular?Decades ago, when companies like W. L. Gore, Volvo and General Foods introduced teams into

their production, it made news because no one else was doing it. Today it’s just the opposite. It’s

the organization that doesn’t uses that has become newsworthy.

Approximately 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies now have half or more of their employees

on teams. And 68 percent of small U.S. manufacturers are using teams in their production areas.

How do we explain the current popularity of teams? The evidence suggests that teams typically

outperform individuals when the tasks being done require multiple skills, judgment, and

experience.

As organizations have restructured themselves to compete more effectively and efficiently they

have turned to teams as better way to use employee talents. Management has found that teams

are more flexible and responsive to changing events that are traditional departments or other

forms of permanent groupings. Teams have the capability to quickly assemble. Deploy, refocus,

and disband.

Difference between Groups and Teams

Groups and teams are not same thing. A Work Group is a group to engage in collective work

that requires joint effort. So their performance is merely the summation of each group member’s

individual contribution. There is no positive synergy that would create an overall level of

performance that is greater than the sum of the inputs.

A Work Group generation positive synergy through coordinated effort. Their individual effort

result in a level of performance that is greater than the sum of those individual inputs .


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Types of Teams

Teams can do a variety of things. They can make products, provide services, negotiate deals,

coordinate projects, offer advice and make decisions.

Many different types of teams exist in organization today. Some evolved naturally in

organizations that permit various types of participative and empowering management programs.

Other has been formally created at the suggestion of enlightened management. One easy way to

classify teams is by what they do; for example, some teams make or do thing, something

recommend thing, and some teams run things. The most common types of teams are quality

circles, work teams and problem – solving teams; management teams are also quite common.

Quality Circles

Quality Circles (QCs) are small groups of employees from the same work area who meet

regularly (usally weekly or monthly) to discuss and recommend solutions to workplace

problems. QCs were the first type of team created in U.S. Organizations, becoming most popular

during the 1980s in response to growing Japanese competition. QCs had some success in

reducing rework and cutting defects on the shop floors of many manufacturing plants. Some

attempts have been made to use QCs in offices and service operations, too. They exist alongside

the traditional management structure and are relatively permanent. The role of QCs is to

investigate a variety of quality problems that might come up in the workplace. They don’t

replace the work group or make decisions about how the work is done. Interest in QCs has

dropped somewhat, although many companies still have them. QCs are teams that make

recommendations.

Work Teams

Work Team tends to be permanent, like QCs but they. Rather than auxiliary committees are the

teams that do the daily work. A team of nurse, orderlies, and various technicians responsible for

all patients on a floor or wing in a hospital is a work team. Rather than investigate a specific

problem, evaluate alternatives, and recommend a solution or change, a work team does the actual


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daily work of the unit. The difference between a traditional work group of nurse and the patient

care team is that the latter has the authority to decide how the wok done, in what order, and by

whom; the entire team is responsible for all patient care. When the team decides how the work is

to be organized or done, it becomes a self managing team, to which accrue all of the benefits

described. Work teams are teams that make or do things.

Problems Solving Teams

If we look back 20 years or so , teams were just beginning to grow in popularity and most of

those teams tool similar form. They were typically composed of 5 to 12 hourly employees from

the same department who met for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality,

efficiency, and the work environment. We call these problem solving teams.

In problem solving teams, members share ideas or offer suggestions on how work processes and

methods can be improved; although they rarely have the authority to unilaterally implementation

and their suggested actions. For instance, Merrill Lynch created a problem solving team to

specifically figure out ways to reduce the number of days it took to open up a new cash

management account. By suggesting cuts in the number of steps in the process from 46 to 36,

the team was able to reduce the average number of days from 15 to 8.

Self Managed Work Teams

Problem solving teams were on the right tracks but they didn’t go far enough in getting

employee involved in work-related decisions and process. The led to experimentation with truly

autonomous teams that could not solve problems but implement and take full responsibility of

outcomes.

Management Teams

Management Teams consist of managers from various areas and coordinates work teams. They

are relatively permanent because their work does not end with the completion of a particular or

the resolution of a problem. Management teams must concentrate on the teams that have the

most impact on overall corporate performance. The primary job of the management teams is to

coach and counsel other teams to be self – managing by making decisions within the teams. The


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second most important task of management teams is to coordinate work between work teams that

are interdependent in the same manner. Digital Equipment Corporation recently announced it

was abandoning its team matrix structure because the matrix of teams was not well organized.

Team members at all levels reported spending hours in meetings trying to coordinate among

teams, leaving too little time to get the real work done.

Turning Individuals into Team Players

To this point we’ve made a strong case for the value and growing popularity of teams. But many

people are not inherently team players. There are also many organizations that have historically

nurtured individual’s accomplishments. They have created competitive work environments in

which only the selfish, “I’ve-got-to-look-out-for-me” employees that they have created? Finally,

countries differ in teams how they rate on individualism and collectivism. Teams fit, well with

countries that scores high in collectivism. But what if an organization wants to introduce teams

into a work population that is made up largely of individuals born and raised in an individualistic

society? As one writer so apthy out it, in describing the role of teams in the Unites States: “

Americans don’t grow up learning how to function in teams in school we never receive a team

report card or learn the names of the teams sailors who travelled with Columbus to America.”

This limitation would obviously be just as true of Canadians, British, Australians, and others

from individualistic societies

The challenge

The pervious points are meant to dramatic that one substantial barrier to using work teams is

individual resistance. An employee’s success is no longer defined in teams of individual

performance. To perform well as team members, individuals must be able to communicate

openly and honestly, to confront differences and resolve conflicts, and to sublimate personal

goals for the good of the teams. For many employees, this is difficult –sometimes impossible-

task. The challenge of creating teams players will be greatest when (1) the national culture is


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highly individualistic and (2) the teams are being introduced into established organization that

has historically valued individual achievement.

This describes, for instance what faced manages at AT&T, Ford, Motorola, and other large US

based companies. These firm prospered but hiring and rewarding cooperate stars, and they bred a

competitive climate that encouraged individual achievement and recognition. Employees in type

of firms can be jolted by the sudden shift to the importance of team play. A veteran employee of

a large company, who had done well working alone, described the experience of joining a team:

“I’m learning my lesson. I just had my first negative performance appraisal in 20years.

On the other hand, the challenge for management is less demanding when teams are introduced

where employees have strong collectivist values-such as in Japan or Mexico-or in new

organization that use teams as their initial form of structuring work. Saturn Corp., for instance, is

an American organization owned by General Motors.

The company was designed around teams from its inception. Everyone at Saturn was hired with

the knowledge that they would be working in teams. The ability to be a good team player was a

basic hiring qualification that had to be met by all new employees.


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Team Effectiveness Model


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Team Design Elements

Task characteristics

better when tasks are clear, easy to implement

task interdependence

share common inputs, work processes, or outcomes

Team size

smaller teams are better

but large enough to accomplish task

Team composition

motivation and competencies to perform task in a team environment

team diversity (better, but watch for problems)


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Benefits and Costs of Teams in Organizations

With the popularity of teams increasing so rapidly around the world, it is possible that some

organizations are starting to use teams simply because everyone else is doing it, which is

obviously the wrong reason. The reason for a company to create teams should be that teams

make sense for that particular organization. The best reason to start teams n any organization is

to recap the positive benefits that can result from a team-based environment enhanced

performance, employee benefits, reduced costs, and organizational enhancements. Four

categories of benefits and some examples are shown below:

Benefits of Teams in Organizations

Type of Benefits Specific Benefits Organizational Examples

Enhanced Performance

IncreasedProductivity

Ampex: On - time CustomerDelivery rose 98%

Improved QualityK Shoes: Rejects per milliondropped from 5,000 to 250

Improved CustomerService Eastman: Productivity rose 70%

Employee Benefits

Quality of Work Life Milwaukee Mutual: Employeeassistance program usage drooped to 40% below industry average Lower Stress

Reduced Costs

Lower Turnover,absenteeism

Kodak: reduced turnover to one-half the industry average

Fewer injuries Texas Instruments: Reduced cots more than 50%

Organizational Enhancements

Increased innovation,flexibility

IDS Mutual Fund Operation: Improvedflexibility to handle fluctuation in market


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activity

Hewlett-Packard: Innovative order-processing system.

Enhanced performance

Enhanced performance can come in many forms, including improved productivity quality and

customer service. Working in teams enables to avoid wasted effort, reduce errors, and react

better to customers, resulting in more output for each unit of employee impute.

Such enhancement result from pooling of individual efforts in new ways and from continuously

striving to improve for the benefits of the team. For example, a General Electric plant in North

Carolina experienced a 20 percent increase in productivity after team implementation. K Shoes

reported a 19 percent increase in productivity and significant reductions in rejects in the

manufacturing process. The “Talking Technology” box discusses how technological advance

mandated that scientists at Roche Groups begin working in collaborative groups to best utilize

their new knowledge.

Employee benefits

Employees tend to benefit as much as organizations in a team environment. Much attention has

been focused on the differences between the baby-boom generation and the “post boomers” in

their attitudes toward work, its importance to their lives, and what they want from it. In general,

younger workers tend to be less satisfied with their organization to have lower respect for

authority and supervision and to want more than a paycheck every week. Teams can provide the

sense of self control, human dignity, identification with work, and sense of self-worth and self

fulfillment for which current workers seems to strive. Rather than relying on the traditional,

hierarchical, manager-based system, teams give employees the freedom to grow and to gain

respect and dignity by managing themselves, making decisions about their work and really

making a difference in the world around them. As result, employees have a better work life, face

less stress at work, and make less use of employee assistance programs.

Reduced Costs


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As empowered teams reduce scrap, make fewer errors, file fewer worker compensation claims,

and reduce absenteeism and turnover, organizations based on teams are showing significant cost

reductions. Team members feel that they have a stake in the outcomes, want to make

contributions because they are valued, and are committed to their team and don’t want to let it

down. Wilson Sporting Goods reported saving $10 million per year for five years thanks to its

teams. Colgate- Palmolive reported that technician turnover was extremely low – more than 90

percent of technicians were retained after five years – once its changed to a team – based

approach.

Organizational Enhancements

Other improvements in organizations that result from moving from a hierarchically based,

directive culture to a team-based culture include increased innovation, creativity, and flexibility.

Use of teams can eliminate redundant layers of bureaucracy and flatten the hierarchy in large

organizations. Employees feel closer and move in touch with top management. Employees who

think their efforts are important are more likely to make significant contributions.

In addition, the team environment constantly challenges teams to innovate and solve problems

creativity. If the “same old way” does not work, empowered teams are free to throw it out and

develop a new way. With increasing global competition, organizations must constantly adapt to

keep abreast of changes. Teams provide the flexibility to react quickly.

One of Motorola’s earliest teams challenged a long – standing top – management policy

regarding supplier inspections in order to reduce the cycle times and improve delivery of crucial

parts. After several attempts, management finally allowed the team to change the system and

consequently reaped the excepted benefits.

Implementing Teams in Organization

Implementing teams in organization is not easy; it takes a lot of hard, time, training, and

patience. Changing from a traditional organizational structure to a team – based structure is

much like other organizational changes. It is really a complete culture change for the


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organization. Typically, the organization is hierarchically designed in order to provide clear

direction and control. However, many organizations need to be able to react quickly to a

dynamic environment. Teams procedures artificially imposed on existing processes are recipe for

disaster.

Planning the Change

The change to a team – based organization requires a lot of analysis and planning before it is

implemented; the decision cannot be made overnight and quickly implemented it is such a drastic

departure from the traditional hierarchy and authority – and – control orientation that significant

planning. Preparation and training are prerequisites. The planning actually takes place in two

phases. The first leading to the decision about whether to move to a team – based approach and

the second while preparing for implementation.

Making the Decision

Prior to making the decision , top management needs to establish the leadership for the change ,

develop steering committee, conduct a feasibility study, and then make the go/ no – go decision,

as shown below

The First Four Steps of Planning to Change to Teams

Step 1: Establish Leadership

Step 2: Develop a steering committee

Step 3: conduct a feasibility study

Step 4: Make the go/no – go decision

Quite often the leadership for the change is the chief ex- executive officer, the chief Operating

Officer, or another prominent person in top management. Regardless of the position, the person

leading the change needs to (1) have a strong belief that employees want to be responsible for

their own work,

Be able to demonstrate the team philosophy,


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Articulate a coherent vision of the team environment, and

Have the creativity and authority to overcome obstacles as they surface.

The leader of the change needs to put together a steering committee to help explore the

organizational readiness for the team environment and lead it through the planning and

preparation for the change. The steering committee can be of any workable size, from two to ten

people who are influential and know the work and the organization. Members may include plant

or division managers, union representatives, and human resources department representatives,

and operational – level employees. The work of the steering committee includes visits to sites

that might be candidates for utilizing work teams, visits to currently successful work teams, data

gathering and analyses, low – key discussion, and deliberating and deciding whether to use a

consultant during the change process

A feasibility study is a necessity before making the decision to use teams. The steering

committee needs to know if the work processes are conducive to team use, if the employees are

willing to learn and apply the hands- off managerial style necessary to make teams work, if the

organization’s structure and culture are ready to accommodate a team based – organization, if the

market for the unit’s products capacity that teams will be putting out, and if the community will

support the transition teams. Without answers to these questions, management is merely guessing

and hoping that teams will work and may be destined for many surprises that could doom the

effort.

After the leadership has been established, the steering committee has been set up, and a

feasibility study has been set up, and a feasibility study has been conducted the go/ no-go

decision can be made. The committee and top management will need to decide jointly to go

ahead if the feasibility study indicates that questions exist as to whether the organizational unit is

ready, the committee can decide to postpone implementation while changes are made in

personnel. Organizational structure, organizational polices, or market conditions. The committee

also decides to implement training and acculturation for employees and managers in the unit in

preparation for later implementation.


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Stages of Team Development


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Causes of team cohesiveness

Shaping Team Players

The following summarizes the primary options managers have for trying to turn individuals into

team players

Selection

Some people already possess the interpersonal skills to be effective team players. When hiring

team members, in addition to the technical skills required to fill the job, care should be taken to

ensure that candidates can fulfill their teams roles as well as technical requirements.

Many job candidates don’t have team skills. This especially true for those socialized around

individual contributions. When faced with such candidates, managers basically have three

options. The candidates can undergo training to “make them into team players.” If this isn’t

possible or doesn’t work, to other two options are to transfer the individual to another unit within

the organization, without teams (if this possibility exists); or don’t hire the candidate. In

established organizations that decide to redesign jobs around teams, it should be excepted that


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some employees will resist being team players and may be untrainable . Unfortunately, such

people typically become casualties of the team approach.

Training

On a more optimistic note, a large proportion of people raised on the importance of individual

accomplishments can be trained to become team players. Training specialists conduct exercise

that allows employees to experience the satisfaction that teamwork can provide. They typically

offer workshops to help employees improve their problem solving, communication, negotiation,

conflict management, and coaching skills. Employees also learn the stages of team development.

At Verizon, for example, trainers focus on how a team goes through various stages before it

finally gels. And employees are reminded of the importance of patience- because teams take

longer to make decisions than do employees acting alone.

Emerson Electric’s Specially Motor division in Missouri, for instance, has achieved remarkable

success in getting its 650-member workforce not only to accept but to welcome team training.

Outside consultants were brought in to give workers practical skills for working in teams. After

less than a year, employees were enthusiastically accepting the value of teamwork.

Rewards

The reward system needs to be reworked to encouraged cooperative efforts rather than

competitive ones. For instance Hallmark Cards, Inc; added an annual bonus based on

achievement of team goals to its basic individual –incentive system. Trigon Blue cross Blue

Shield changed its system to reward an even split between individual goals and team like

behaviors

Promotions, pay raises, and other forms of recognition should be given to individuals for how

effective that are as collaborative team member. This doesn’t mean individual contributions re

ignored; rather they are balanced with selfless contributions to the team. Example of behaviors

that should be rewarded include training new colleagues, sharing information with teammates,

helping to resolve team conflicts, and mastering new skills that the team needs but in which it is

deficient.


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Lastly, don’t forget the intrinsic rewards that employee can receive from teamwork. Teams

provide camaraderie. It’s exciting and satisfying to be an integral part of a successful team. The

opportunity to engage in personal development and to help teammates grow can be very

satisfying and rewarding experience for employees.


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5 P’s of Team Design

Teams are a useful business tool for process and quality improvement, which may lead to higher

customer satisfaction or cost reduction. Many managers recognize the benefits teams may bring

but do not properly consider what it takes to get a team functioning in the direction management

desires. When forming teams, manager should consider the team's purpose, member participation

and placement, as well as team processes and plans. With the 5 P's of purpose, participation,

placement, process, and plan, management can better design teams and determine development

needs.

Purpose

Will the team clearly understand why it exists, what it is to do and how it will know they are

successful? The team and management must agree to written purpose or mission statement so

that they are working together in a common direction towards solutions that meet their overall

purpose. Team goals and management deadlines should align with their overall purpose and will

serve to guide the team performance and help them meet challenges.

Participation

Who would be the best people to include on the team and how large should the team be in order

to accomplish its purpose? Management needs to consider necessary skill sets, professional

attitudes, and process knowledge when selecting team members. In addition, for membership at

the formation of team or as team personnel needs to grow, look for a balance between

personality types for both task and people focus to be included so the solutions team may design

will be more diverse and innovative to achieve team purpose and required work.

Placement

Where will the team members be physically located and how often should the team plan to have

meetings? If the team is to be an intact work group, this may make some things simpler but the

team will need a meeting room for complex problem solving. If the team is spread over multiple


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sites, managers will need to consider costs and possible problems team may have due to culture

or time differences, and then determine whether travel for some meetings is required or if any

special equipment is needed for members to meet regularly via phone or on-line.

Process

How will the team get to where it needs to go in order to accomplish its purpose? The team

should develop and agree to their ground rules, any constraints that management may set related

to decision-making authority or functional boundaries. Initial team training should include

meeting management with a suggested meeting agenda and record-keeping formats,

interpersonal communication, problem solving, and if relevant to team's work include process

mapping.

Plan

Will the team acknowledge when its project or assignment will be complete and know what it

needs to accomplish its tasks? If the team goals are specific to their purpose and the team agrees

these are relevant and achievable goals, then the team needs to agree to a timeline for goals and a

way to measure how they are doing towards goals. Not only should the team and their

management define work deadlines and expected milestones in its goals and schedules, but it

should also include necessary training to acquire team and task related skills.

Considering the 5 P's of purpose, participation, placement, process, and plan, management can

design better teams and plan team development needs accordingly. Recognizing the benefits

teams can bring to a business or organization is good, but teams are only effective when

management understands what it may take to get their teams moving in the desired direction.

Well designed and developed teams only become a useful for process and quality improvement

when managers consider member selection for best participation and preferred placement along

with the team's purpose, process and plan.


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What is an “Effective Team?”

Implies a measurement of performance

Need a ‘base figure’ to measure from

Need to know the purpose of the team to ensure an appropriate measurement

(performance indicator)

Effective Teams - Prentice and Rabey

Clear Work Objectives

Good communication - up and down

Work together harmoniously

Keen to achieve results

Grievances discussed fully and frankly

Change is discussed prior to it happening

Trusted to do a job on their own

Process improvement

Group exercises its own discipline

Effective Teams – Chaousis

Leadership - shared

Goals - team purpose and performance goals

Decision making - participative / consensus

Regular review of performance

Linkage with other teams in organisation


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Relationships - trust

Perceived Benefits of Team

Reduced duplication of effort

Increased cooperation

Innovative ideas

Better decisions

Motivated staff

Improved product and quality service

Increased productivity

More flexibility

Increased commitment

Less destructive conflict

Better interpersonal skills

Higher standards of performance


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5 Elements of Effective Teams

Goals

Roles

Processes

Relationships

Interfaces

Goals

Purpose

Vision

Ground rules

Common Roles in Teams

Three main categories

Group Task Roles

Group Maintenance Roles

Self - Oriented Roles


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Self -Oriented Roles

Helper - maintainer

Aggressor

Blocker

Fact finder - reporter

Linker – socializer – others?

Team Maintenance Roles

Encourager

Harmoniser

Gatekeeper

Standard Setter

Observer

Team Task Roles

Planner

Instigator

Quality checker

Delegater


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How a team is form?

STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT

Forming

Storming

Norming

Performing

Departing/Reforming

Forming

Orientation to task

Dependency on “Leader”

Testing out inter-personal relationships

Discovering the ground rules

Storming

Resistance to task demands

Interpersonal conflict

Exploring areas of disagreement

Struggle for group leadership

Norming

Building cohesiveness

Developing consensus about norms


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Clarifying roles

Informal leader may emerge

Performing . . .

Energy channeled into task

Roles clear and functional

Norms support teamwork

Solutions begin to emerge for the previous problems

Mourning

Goals accomplished

Prepare for disengagement

Dependency on “Leader”

Some regret at the disbanding

Termination of the group

What is the culture of the Team?

People oriented

Innovative

Participative

Decentralised

Fast Acting


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Situational

Task oriented

Conservative

Autocratic

Centralised

Organizational Culture?

Norms and expectations of how people behave and treat each other.

Philosophy, spirit or drive of the organisation.

Values beliefs and ways of thinking.

To constitute a culture it must be shared by members and taught to new members.

Quality of the relationships that exist between people at work

Unwritten rules which govern behaviour - the feeling part of the organisation

A reflection of leadership style

Style of correspondence

The informal communication network - the grapevine

To Influence Change You Must

Identify a gap in performance

Identify where you want to be - goal

Recognise the need for change


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Diagnose the problem/s

Develop alternative solutions

Select the most appropriate one

Implement it

Evaluate it against the desired outcome

A SIX STEP MODEL FOR CHANGE

Responsibilities of Teams

Performing a range of job functions

Achieving quality (& quantity) of products and/or services

Monitoring cost


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Continuous Improvement

Solving problems

General housekeeping / Safety

Training other team members

Role of Members in a Team


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The SWOT Analysis

S - Strengths (Internal)

W - Weaknesses (Internal)

O - Opportunities (External)

T - Threats (External)

STRENGTHS

Internal characteristic of firm that has the potential for improving the firm’s competitive

situation

better technological skills

cost advantages

good competitive skills

reputation

WEAKNESSES

Internal characteristic that leaves the firm potentially vulnerable

no strategic direction

obsolete facilities

poor distribution network

limited finance

missing key skills or competence


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THREATS

An environmental condition that has the potential to undermine the organization’s

competitive situation

low cost competitors entering the market

sales of substitute products increasing

new legislation which will incur greater cost

change in buyer tastes

adverse demographic changes

OPPORTUNITIES

An environmental condition that offers potential for improving the organization’s

situation

reduced trade barriers in export markets

government programs

market opportunities in related products (diversification)

complacency of industry rivals

Effects of Project Team Organisation on Development

The formal organisation structure as specified in the PRINCE method addresses many of the

issues concerning the effects of team organisation on development work:


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The involvement of users and the wider corporate body helps to ensure that user and business

objectives are achieved.

The Project Assurance Team assures the quality of the development products.

Stage team organisation must be appropriate and several approaches are possible,

principally organisation by function, project organisation and matrix organisation.

Function organisation

Function organisation generally keeps traditional line-staff relationships, with a vertical flow of

authority and responsibility. For some projects, this type of organisation does not work well

because the project requires the co-operation and use of resources from many line units. In fact:

The essence of project management is that it cuts across, and in a sense conflicts with the natural

organisation structure... Because a project usually requires decisions and actions from a number

of functional areas at once, the main interdependencies and the main flow of information in a

project are not vertical but lateral. Projects are characterised by exceptionally strong lateral

working relationships, requiring closely related activity and decisions by many individuals in

different functional departments.

Project organisation

Project organisation is the creation of a unit with responsibility for all aspects of project

development. In this schema, professional, technical, and administrative staff are hired for the

duration of the project. When systems development projects are organised in this manner,

serious problems can arise in attracting competent personnel. Many computer professionals are

unwilling to join projects that offer no job security, and they dislike jobs of this nature because of

a fluctuating workload.

Matrix organisation

Matrix organisation combines functional and project approaches to project management. Staffs

are 'borrowed' from functional divisions. In the case of a development team, members might be

drawn from accounting, marketing, operations research, and data processing departments.


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Which employees are borrowed is negotiated by the project manager with functional department

heads. The choice is usually based on the availability of personnel and the qualifications

demanded by the project. Sometimes, department heads are reluctant to release competent

personnel. However, most recognise that having staff members assigned to the development

team can be advantageous to them. Departmental interests are protected by having staff

representatives on the team, and staff experience in the development process will be beneficial

when future information systems for the department are planned.

One problem with matrix organisation is that project members have two bosses. They are

responsible to the stage manager for work assignments, yet their permanent supervisors retain

jurisdiction over personnel matters such as salary and promotions. The two bosses may clash in

values and objectives, with the project member caught in between. Such potentially explosive

situations can be defused if, before the team is constituted, ground rules are negotiated between

the stage manager and functional heads regarding shared authority and responsibility over project

members. In summary, a matrix organisation is advantageous because it:

Allows a stage manager to cut across vertical organisational divisions.

Involves functional departments and is responsive to their needs because representatives

are on the project staff.

Has access to the resources in all functional departments (on a negotiated basis).

Provides a 'home' for project personnel after the completion of the project.

Does not permanently disrupt organisational sub groupings or the continuity of seniority,

fringe benefits, and so on.

Team size

Once team structure is decided, team members are appointed. A decision on optimal team size

has to be made at this juncture. This problem plagued operations research workers as far back as

the 1940's and 1950's, and still haunts projects. Studies in group dynamics have suggested that

the optimum team size is in the range of five to seven members and that as the team size

increases, job satisfaction drops, with absenteeism and turnover increasing. However some

computer development projects are far too complex to have such small teams. The design of

software for IBM's System 360, for example, required 5,000 man-years for completion. Teams


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need to be large enough to complete a project within a reasonable time frame, and should

completion by a specific date be a constraint, a large rather than small team may be needed in

order to have sufficient workdays of effort to complete the project on time.

Regardless of size, teams should have a balance of theoreticians and practitioners, idealists and

realists, scientists and humanists, and generalists and specialists. The problem with small

development teams is that they may be unable to achieve such a balance.

Once team size is determined, working groups of programmers, analysts, and users can be

organised for specific tasks. The exact organisation and size of each group will depend on the

project. For programming teams, some project managers organise programmers under a chief

programmer who is the master designer and architect of the system, who supervises structured

walk-throughs and formal reviews of design and coding. This type of organisation reportedly

achieves high technical standards and produces programs that are simple, obvious, and

transparent. The team effort minimises problems with egocentric programmers who want to save

a millisecond here and an instruction there to prove their brilliance. A more democratic

approach rotates leadership according to the problem at hand; opponents of this system call

it”structured anomaly".


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Primary Data

Q.1 what is the importance of a team according to you?

Ans - Team is very important part of an organisation. Teams are responsible to revenues. Teams

play a vital role in organization’s growth. It’s very important to build a good team in order to get

good returns. Especially in a manufacturing unit like us it’s very important to have good,

efficient and well gelled team. Because if team is well gelled, it can finish the target within time

and work efficiently. But if the team members are not well gelled and cannot go along with each

other can create havoc. They are assets of the company and asset to be used in right manner is

very necessary.

Q.2 Do u design the teams in your company or select team members randomly?

Ans- Yes, off course. We do design our teams.And the design differs for every different

segment.the objective behind the team design decides the design.like even when interview taking

team or panel is decided it depends on the post which is to be filled.

Q.3 what are the basic things considered, while designing a team?

Ans- We consider the basic skill of an individual, his interest, competency, his achievement,

strengths, etc. Also his seniors and subordinates and colleagues give feedback about him which

shows us how is he behaving in the team. Actually it depends on the job profile for which he has

applied. Currently we are using Bell Bourne technique.

Q.4 What is this Bell Bourne technique?


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Ans-This is a technique which highly develops communication; interpersonal skills and self-

awareness. This technique aims to develop individual’s understanding of how teams work, how

to be a productive team member and how to effectively interact with others.

Q.5 what is the role of leader in team design?

Ans –He is an important chain between the management and workers. He is the person who

deals with teams. He plays a major role in retaining workers and creating an better working

environment. He is the person who is in touch with the teams directly that is why know the real

scenario like which individual is comfortable in team and who is not

Q.6 How do you trace individual’s contribution in a team, situation can arise that some people

are working more and some end up doing nothing?

Ans – NO .It doesn’t happen usually because in team also we have individual targets to be

completed. If anyone is doing the work before deadline off course he is compensated better. That

is why we have variable component pay. We also take care that the worker should not feel

monotonous so we try and rotate him in different department if we can. To freshen them up.

Even the monthly report keep the manager update.

Q.7 what is the procedure of team making when a person has just entered the company?

Ans- when a person enters the company he is kept in a team temporarily. To allow him to know

the company well. He is given individual targets and on the basis of that his behaviour, interest,

skill etc. is studied and then finally after proper profiling the final teams are made.


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project report on team design

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