Team-Work: A powerful strategy for effective and purpose driven Management

byAdewale AkinsolaEmeritus Professor of Medicine,Obafemi Awolowo University,Ile Ife.

OUTLINE

A. The Work Team Concept and Definition– Work Team Vs Work Group– Types of Work Teams– A team’s Essential Discipline

B. The Framework For Team DisciplineC. Determinants of EffectivenessD. Diagnosing Cause of Poor Team PerformanceE. Improving Team Performance

The Concept of Team: - Why Work in Teams??- Why Not Work in Teams??

• Organisations increasingly use work- team based structures–80% of Fortune 500 companies have 50% of their employees

on teams!

• Teams outperform individuals when tasks require multipleskills, judgement and experience

• Teams are more flexible; response to changing events than traditional departments

• Work teams are more effective in innovation and creativity through assembling of a variety of experiences and expertise

• Work teams are better able to deliver on ; Speed, Cost and Quality.

What is a Team?A small number of individuals with- complimentary skills,- who collaborate on a project;- are committed to a common purpose; shared goal- and are jointly accountable for performing tasks,- that contribute to achieving an organisation’sgoals.

• Council -- is it a team?• CEO's management team--it it really ??• Committee of Deans?• Nigeria Football team?• The new Economic management mgt

team?• Academic department• University's Strategic planning team• The MBA program team• Intensive Care team

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A Team’s Essential Discipline- 5 Characteristics-

1. A meaningful common purpose that the teamhas helped shape

2. Specific performance goals that flow fromthe common purpose…..compelling goals inspire and challenge ateam; also give a sense of urgency; requiringall to focus on collective effort

3. A mix of complementary skills;– Team work competency– Communication competency– Planning and Administration competency– Self management competency– Strategic action competency– Multicultural competency

4. A strong commitment to how (theschedules and decisions) the workgets done – everyone including theleader contributes in concrete waysto the team’s collective workproducts.

5. Mutual accountability – built through theprocess of agreeing upon appropriate goals(accountability to the team; not just to theleader)

Work Team vs Work GroupWorking Group Working Team1. Strong, clearly Focused leader Shared leadership roles

2. Individual accountability Individual and mutual accountability

3. Group’s purpose is the same as the broader organisational mission

Specific team purpose that the team itself delivers

4. Discusses, decides, and delegates Discusses, decides and does real work together

5. Results are a sum of the individual’s contributions

Results greater than the sum of its parts (individual’s contribution)

Working Group Working Team

6. Individual work products Collective work products

7. Runs efficient meetings Encourages open-ended discussion and active problem solving meetings

8. Indirect measures of effectiveness by its on others such as financial performance of the organisation

Measures performance directly by assessing collective work products

Types of Work Teams1. Problem –solving Work Teams:

Consists of employees from different areas of anorganisation whose goal is to consider how something canbe done better.- quality, safety, productivity and morale.

2. Quality Circles (TQM team) :It is a group of employees who meet regularly to

identify, analyse and propose solutions to various types ofwork place problems – e.g. Quality related problems ( ona continual basis ). Need for training in decision makingand team processes.

3. Task Forces: - a team formed to accomplish a specific,

highly important goal for an organisation. Usually intensive engagement and involves individuals with a diversity of backgrounds/expertise.

- Useful to achieve such goals as strategic reorientation, external environment awareness, designing approaches for implementing a new strategy.

4. Functional Work Team: - Includes

members from a single department who

have the common goal of considering

issues and solving problems within their

area of responsibility and expertise

– Multidisciplinary Work Team: Employees from various functional areas and sometimes severalorganisational levels to work on specific tasks (usually foraccomplishing the core-work/mission of the organisation e.g.product development, useful to speed up the process of bringingnew products to the market place.) Now in vogue acrossorganisational spectrum. Roche used a multidisciplinary researchteam to keep up with development in the field of genomics.Genomics Oncology team includes specialties such asimmunology, statistics, genetics, oncology.

• Institutions need to restructure into multidisciplinary teams!

6. Self – managing Work Teams:• Consists of employees who have nearly complete

responsibility and authority for working together to make an entire product or deliver an entire service.

• Members may be from a single functional area, or most often multidisciplinary. High level of responsibility/commitment to the organisation's mission for the various managerial tasks; the team decides what it needs to do and how. Fully empowered teams provide better service and are more productive.

7.Virtual Teams• Meet and do their tasks without everyone being physically

present in the same place or even at the same time (working in widely scattered geographic locations/time zones, and often across social cultural practices) usually in net-work forum of organisations.

• Virtual Teams can be functional, problem solving, multidisciplinary, self managing– IT expert in Moscow; Electronic specialist in Beijing; IT expert in

Islamabad; Marketing expert in London; an accountant in Jo-burg, sales rep in Miami. MySQL's 320 employees live 25 countries, most from home. The annual holiday party is virtual!

• Discuss a team that you have been part of?

• Who set it up?• The purpose/mission• Was it modified/how derived• The skills you provided• The training you went through• The work products/value addition• What do you consider as the greatest

benefit you derived• Did you notice any conflicts, if so how

resolved? 18

Effectiveness Criteria For Work Team

Team processes

Team Performance

Team prepare for the future

Satisfaction of Individual Members

Cohesiveness Innovation Trust in team With team process

Trust Quality Ability to adapt to change

With team members

Managing conflict Speed With own development

Decision making Cost

Determinants of EffectivenessThree (3) main factors- challenges to team's

effectiveness• External Support Context in which the team

operates - culture, member selection, teamtraining, rewards

• Team Design - Size, Location, Technology• Internal Processes and development

A Model of Work Team FunctioningTeam Design-Size-Location

-Technology

External Support-Culture-Member

selection-Team

training-Reward

Team Effectiveness

Internal Processesand Development

Internal Team Processes:Developmental Stages, behavioural norms

• Ability to manage these processes improve the likelihood of the team being effective– Forming– Storming– Norming– Deforming– Adjourning

Developmental stages1. Forming:• Focusing on orientation to its goals and procedures• Anxiety about the task• Relationship are guarded, cautions and non-committal• Getting to know each other/understanding leadership

role• Learning about the differing cultural background of

members.

Developmental stages2. Storming:• Competitive and strained behaviours may emerge• Impatience and resistance , lack of progress• Conflicts and frustration do occur- with challenge to the leader• Some dominant members may impose their ideas,• Leader may be challenged• Conflicts, frustration, anger• Conflict management (cannot be avoided) vital, Not necessarily conflict

resolution

Developmental stages3. Norming:• Confidence, and increasing positive posture by team members as a

whole• A sense of belonging, and renewed commitment• Problems are solved through cooperation/open communication,

acceptance of mutual influence• Development of shared rules of behaviour; and members commitment

to them

Developmental stages

4. Performing:

Members direct their energies toward twin goals of;

a Achieving goals (task behaviour), and building constructiveinterpersonal ties and processes.

b Members use procedure for making decisions

c Members trust each other, and are open among themselves,reality of differences, disagreements, forms consensus onissues

d Members receive help from and give help to one another

e Freedom (with themselves); feeling of belonging withothers

f Members accept and deal with conflicts

g Members diagnose and improve their own functioning –including learning new technologies and procedure

Developmental stages5. Adjourning• Involves terminating task behaviours and disengaging from

relationships• Usually – recognition for participation/achievement

Associated Features of Team’s Development (Internal Process)

1. Emotional Climate ( Feelings experienced by team members) whichtend to foster group- cohesiveness, enhancing members' desires toremain and commit to the team

2. Four types :

3. B Trust and confidence in each other• Openness – interested in what others have to say• Freedom – they function out of a sense of responsibility to the group

(not pressure from others)• Interdependence – members coordinate and work together to achieve

common goals

Associated Features of Team’s Development (Internal Process)

2. Behavioural Norms – rules of behaviour that are widely shared and enforced by members of a work team.

To regulate/standardise behaviour including;• Quantum of work to do• Quality• Relationship• General behaviour and attitudes - how ?? clients should be treated,

dressing code • How to work together to achieve the organisation' goal

Specifically :a. Performance Norms –

• Standard of appropriate behaviour- agreed by members – includeshow much work is enough.

• Rewards/sanctions - members awareness of theseb. Norms for Managing Conflicts

• Apply productive controversy-to facilitate creative problem solving.Respect each other's views; focus on issues and the common goalrather than people;

The External System and Team Performance

External System - comprising outside conditions/influences that existbefore and after a team is formed may cause poor team performance.These include:

• Team Design – well designed teams perform well.• Factors influencing Design:➢Team goals➢Team duration,➢Team membership,➢Team size - large size >9 usually constraints effectiveness➢Team location - team proximity ( same geogr and cultural boundaries➢ Societal cultures ( defining relationships )

Team member Selection

Factors to consider:a. Personality Traits• Agreeableness - thus able to accept differences more easily

• Conscientiousness thus get focussed on the task, also good atorganising/coordinating

Team member Selectionb. Managerial Competences:I. Team work competencyII. Communication – effective communicationIII. Planning and administration competencyIV.Global awareness competencyV. Technical skills

Team member SelectionTeam Training

Team training is required even when team selection seems adequate to build/strengthen team work competency.

Management and leadership Training -:• To manage key leadership responsibilities• Managing meetings• Supporting disagreement that stimulate immature solutions• Committing to a team decision• Consensus building and committing to itBuilding Team Cohesion:through experiential training - activities - adventure training, others

enhancing appreciation of different roles of members .Reward System-: non monetary or monetary

Suggested Recipe For Building Team Performance1. Establish urgency, demanding performance standards, and

compelling direction

2. Select members for all and skill potential, not personality(existing skills and potential to improve existing skills andlearn new ones)

3. Pay attention to first meetings and actions . Initialimpressions always mean a great deal

Suggested Recipe For Building Team Performance

4. Set some clear rules of behaviour:i. Attendanceii. Discussion (everyone to participate)iii. Confidentiality (only what is agreed upon leaves the room)iv. Analytical approach (facts are friendly)v. Product orientation (everyone gets assignment)vi. Constructive confrontation (no finger-pointing); and most importantly;vii.Contribution (everyone does real work)

Suggested Recipe For Building Team Performance

5. Focus Coaching on Group Processes

6. Avoid double digits – build teams of no more thannine (9) people

7. Keep the team together.

Thank you for listening.