CHAPTER 15

Teams and Teamwork

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Understand the meaning and characteristics of teams
2. List the types of teams
3. Enumerate the stages in team formation
4. Discuss the characteristics of effective teams
5. Understand the benefits and problems in team building

India’s Inspirational Managers

Y. C. Deveshwar is the chairman of ITC Limited, one of India’s leading private-sector companies with a turnover of USD 7 billion. Deveshwar has been ranked seventh by the Harvard Business Review among the best performing CEOs in the world. ITC, under his leadership, believes in the core governance principles of trusteeship, transparency, empowerment and accountability, control and ethical corporate citizenship. Deveshwar’s ITC insists that the basic attributes essential for building a wholesome work environment are excellent team skills, leadership, integrity, intellectual rigour, a will-do attitude and high energy. According to Deveshwar, “People will work as a team because the outcome is beneficial for everybody and everybody has an inherent need apart from fulfilling self-need to do something for others.” As a proven team player, Deveshwar plays a vital role in several important team assignments. Incidentally, he is a director on the central board of the Reserve Bank of India. He is also a member of the committee for reforming the regulatory environment for doing business in India constituted by the Government of India. Keeping the leadership and team skills of Deveshwar in the background, let us now discuss teams and teamwork.

Introduction

In the recent past, teamwork has emerged as an alternative to any highly specialized individual effort. When a group of people comes together to accomplish a common goal that is too big in scope to be achieved individually, such groups are called teams. Team work enables individuals to do together what they may not be able to achieve by themselves. In a team, each member has a role to perform and these roles are normally interdependent in nature. Team and teamwork are closely-related concepts.¹ Teamwork is an action. It is actually something people do and they do so because they share a common goal, mission or vision. Teamwork gained in importance in organizations only after business managers saw tangible benefits of effective teams. The changing characteristics of the workforce, the intensified global competitions and the growing importance of technology pushed organizations to try team approaches to accomplish their goals in a cost-effective manner. For any group or team to perform effectively, a large amount of efforts goes into its maintenance, renewal and innovation activities.²

In organizations, certain actions are typically considered as teamwork. For instance, activities such as: (i) sharing expertise with others, (ii) recognizing the efforts of others, (iii) providing assistance and advice to others when they require it, (iv) offering constructive feedback to others, (v) modifying behaviour based on the feedback of others, (vi) working towards solutions that are acceptable and beneficial to the whole group, (vii) sharing of ideas, (viii) demonstrating faith in others’ ideas and skills, are generally viewed as teamwork in any organization.³ Organizations generally use the term team-building for rebuilding and helping groups to achieve an optimum level of effectiveness and efficiency. Team-building exercises are performed by almost all types of organizations and it is usually an unending process. Team-building approach to managing organizations has diverse and significant impacts on organizations and individuals.⁴

Definitions of Team

Definitions of team focus on the interactions among people within a group to achieve some common goals. Let us now look at a few important definitions.

“A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”—Katzenbach and Smith⁵

“A team is defined as two or more people who interact and influence each other toward a common purpose.”—James Stoner⁶

“Teams are groups of two or more people who interact and influence each other, are mutually accountable for achieving common goals associated with organizational objectives and perceive themselves as a social entity within an organization.”—M. E. Shaw⁷

“A team is defined as a group in which members work together intensively and develop team specific routines to achieve a common group goal.”—George Jennifer⁸

“A team (group) is defined as two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve specific goals.”—Stephen P. Robbins⁹

“A team (group) is defined as two or more freely interacting individuals who share collective norms and goals and have a common identity.”—Kincki¹⁰

We may define team as a combination of two or more people engaged in the execution of common goals by influencing and interacting with one another.

Characteristics of Teams

Based on the above definitions, we can list out the characteristics of team as follows:

• Two or more people—A team should have two or more people and there should be free interaction among them. A mere collection of people without any interaction cannot be considered as a team.
• Shared perception—Each individual should perceive himself/herself to be a part of the team. Similarly, other members should also perceive him/her as a member of the team
• A common purpose—A team should have one or more common goals and the members should agree to work in a coordinated manner to achieve those goals.
• Collective accountability—Members of a team must accept collective accountability for the results of teamwork.
• Stable structure—The pattern of relationships established among members is known as group structure. Even though the pattern tends to change according to the nature of the task or the stage of group, it should be relatively stable.

Team vs. Group

Some management experts view team and group as interchangeable terms to reflect reality of the present day organizations.¹¹ Some others do not agree with this view and claim that it is wrong to use these two terms interchangeably. For instance, Willcocks and Morris observe that “teams have to work together and cooperate to achieve a common aim, while groups don’t.”¹² Similarly, Katzenbach and Smith, after studying different kinds of teams, assert that “the successful teams tend to take a life of their own.” We shall now look at a few differences between team and group in Table 15.1.¹³

Related Terms

Team norms—Team norms refer to the expectation of members of how they and the other members will behave as a team. Each team has a set of norms which is an implied code of conduct regarding what is acceptable and what is not acceptable member behaviour. Team norms can be oral or written, implied or explicit, negative or positive, applied to all members or only to certain ones. The different types of team norms are performance norms, ethics norms, organizational and personal pride norms, high achievement norms, support and helpfulness norms and improvement and change norms.¹⁴ Members generally learn the norms of team through:

1. The explicit statements of the team leaders, supervisors, co-workers, etc.
2. Significant or critical events in the history of the team.
3. The initial or first behaviour pattern witnessed by them.
4. The continuation of the old or “carry over” behaviours (learnt in past situations) in the new team environment by members.¹⁵

 

Team cohesion—Team cohesion is the degree of attraction members have towards the team and also their inclination to remain as members. Team cohesiveness indicates how much influence the team has over its individual members. When the cohesiveness is more in a team, the norm violations by members are generally less. Team cohesiveness is normally influenced by factors like team size, member similarity, member interaction, degree of difficulty in entry, success of team and external environment including competition and challenges.¹⁶

Team interaction—Team interaction is actually a process by which the members of a group exchange verbal and non-verbal messages in an attempt to influence one another.¹⁷

Team-building—Team-building refers to the formal activities aimed at improving the functioning of a team. It also involves the process of reshaping the team norms and reinforcing team cohesiveness. Team-building involves the application of experiential learning techniques, such as interpersonal trust exercises, conflict role-play sessions, competitive games that aim for better cooperation, improved communication and less dysfunctional conflict. The four main types of team-building are: (i) goal setting (clarifying the team performance goals), (ii) role definition (clarifying the members’ perception of their own and other members’ roles), (iii) interpersonal processes (conflict management and rebuilding mutual trust and cooperation among members) and (iv) problem solving through the decision-making process.¹⁸

Team effectiveness—Team effectiveness includes the ability of the team to accomplish its goals successfully, fulfil the members’ desire and ensure its survival.

Team interdependence—Team interdependence means the extent to which members of a team depend on each other for information, resources or ideas for completing their tasks or goals. It depends on the degree to which members of the team (i) share the common inputs to their individual tasks, (ii) interact among themselves while performing their teamwork or (iii) divide the outcome (rewards that are mostly decided by the collective performance) among themselves. Teams are affected by three types of interdependences. They are:

• Pooled interdependence—Team members are largely independent of one another while doing their work. They may merely share some common resources available to the team like secretary’s services, a machine, etc. This type of team usually has the lowest form of interdependence.
• Sequential interdependence—The output of one team member becomes the input for another member. Generally, there is a high level of interdependence in this type of team as performance of one team member will affect the performance of other team members. Assembling units of automobile units mostly form teams of this nature.
• Reciprocal interdependence—The output of the first member becomes the input of second member of a team. Again, the output the second member becomes the input of the first member. This kind of interdependence is often seen in knowledge-based works.¹⁹ The highest level of interdependence exists in this type of team.

Team trust—Team trust refers to the positive expectations people have about others in their team, especially in high risk situations. Basically, the relationship among team members depends to a great extent on the degree of trust. Trust in relationship involves belief and conscious feelings regarding the relationship with other members.²⁰ There are three reasons for people to trust others in their team. They are:

• Identification-based trust—It refers to the trust based on the mutual trust and common understanding (like similarity in thinking, acting, feeling, etc.) among the members.
• Knowledge-based trust—It refers to the predictability of other members’ behaviour in the group. It also means the trust in the ability and competence of other members in the team.
• Calculus-based trust—It refers to the logical calculation that other members of the team will act or behave correctly because they know that they will face punishment (sanctions) if their actions violate realistic expectations. Since the calculus-based trust is based on negative deterrence, it cannot help in improving team members’ interpersonal relationships.²¹ Box 15.1 outlines the team initiatives of a software company.

Types of Teams

There are many types of teams in every organization. Each team will serve certain purposes and also contribute to the overall effectiveness of the organization. As shown in Figure 15.1, these teams are broadly classified as formal teams and informal teams. There are certain other kinds of teams that possess the characteristics of both formal and informal teams. Super teams or high performance teams and self-managed teams belong to this category. We shall first look at the kinds and characteristics of formal and informal teams.

Formal Teams

When teams are deliberately formed by managers to help the organization fulfil its goals and plans, then they are called formal teams. The goals of formal teams are generally decided by the needs of the organization. Understandably, formal teams are official teams and are designated to serve specific purposes. These teams are created as a part of an organization’s formal structure. Formal teams are generally viewed as the building blocks of an organization. They can function on a permanent or temporary basis depending on their objectives of existence. The typical characteristics of formal teams are as follows:²²

1. Formal teams’ activities are generally governed by the formal rules and regulations, policies and procedures or bylaws of the organizations.
2. Formal teams have distinct and unique member roles.
3. In any formal team, members have specific tasks that are to be performed and measured.
4. Formal teams typically operate within a definite organizational context.

Vertical and horizontal teams are two common forms of formal teams, which typically represent the vertical and horizontal structure of the organization. We shall now briefly discuss these two types of formal teams, namely, the vertical and horizontal teams (Figure 15.2).

Vertical teams—A vertical team is also called a command team or functional team. This team is typically composed of a manager and his/her subordinates in a formal chain of command. In vertical teams, employees report directly to their managers. Normally, a vertical team includes a single department, say, the production department, the human resource department or the finance department. A vertical team may include two to three or even four levels of management.²³ Organizations create vertical teams to facilitate members’ interaction, joint activities and organizational goal accomplishment.

Horizontal teams—Normally, a horizontal team includes employees belonging to same hierarchical levels but chosen from different departments (or fields of expertise). These teams are generally created to meet the specific objectives or tasks and may be dissolved once these objectives or tasks are completed. The important types of horizontal teams are (i) task force (ii) cross-functional teams (iii) committees (iv) quality teams and (v) virtual teams. We shall now briefly discuss each of these teams.

• Task force—The task force (also called project teams) are created for certain specific purposes. For instance, a task force may be created to develop a new product in a manufacturing organization or to identify a new market in case of a trading organization. Task forces are temporary teams as they exist only till they achieve the purpose for which they are created. Basically, task forces include members with dissimilar skills and drawn from different departments or units of the organization. A successful task force should have well-defined team goals and member roles, effective communication channel and clear structure, and efficient performance management system. Product designing and problem solving are some of the common tasks of the multi-skilled teams.
• Cross-functional teams—These teams intend on solving the problems of the organization by harnessing the knowledge of people drawn from different functional areas. The rationale behind the formation of cross-functional teams is that the tasks are best served when several functional departments are involved and different views are considered. Cross-functional teams usually have longer life than the task forces even though both focus on effective goal fulfilment. When an organization forms a cross-functional team to enhance customer satisfaction, it may involve people from the production department, marketing department, human resource department and finance department.
• Committees—When teams are formed to deal with recurring problems and decisions, they are called committees. Committees can be classified as standing committees and ad hoc committees. Standing committees are permanent in nature even though the membership of the committee may be rotated periodically. Ad hoc committees are temporary committees that are formed just to do a specific job. Ad hoc committee is normally disbanded after the job is over. A grievance committee that handles employees’ grievances and disciplinary committee that concentrates on the disciplinary issues involving employees are example of committees. Advisory councils, work councils and reviews panels are other forms of committees.
• Quality teams—In recent decades, organizations are establishing quality teams or quality circles to monitor and ensure quality in every aspect. Normally, quality circles which consist of volunteers from the same or related work field meet and discuss the quality issues affecting their units, departments or organization. They also offer suggestions to solve quality-related problems and achieve quality improvements. For instance, organizations may establish quality assurance teams to coordinate with the employees, customers and vendors to guarantee quality of goods and services by constantly identifying and resolving quality issues.
• Virtual teams—When physically separated organizational members of teams are linked through information technology to achieve certain common goals, then these teams are called virtual teams. These teams usually operate across time, space and organizational boundaries with the aid of technology. In virtual teams, members rely on e-mails, fax, websites, video conferencing and wide area network to conduct their meetings and conferences.²⁴ Virtual teams can do all the activities of other teams, except that there will be no face-to-face discussions. When compared with conventional teams, virtual teams should possess the following characteristics to be successful in their initiatives:²⁵

   

  1. Virtual teams require several communication channels to effectively compensate the absence of face-to-face communication.
  2. Virtual teams are generally more effective when they are smaller in size.
  3. Cross-cultural awareness should be high among the members of virtual teams since they often deal with culturally-diverse groups.
  4. Members must be well-acquainted with the handling of information technology tools.
  5. Typically, virtual teams are more efficient when they handle structured tasks than vague and complex tasks.

Informal Teams

Informal teams or groups are not directly established by the organizations but form naturally in many organizations to satisfy the personal and social needs of its members. Informal teams are spontaneously formed as a result of some common interest among various people working in an organization. They are unofficial groups which emerge within organizations to serve certain special purposes. Generally, the members of informal teams will have lower levels of interdependence than formal teams due to a less rigid organizational structure.²⁶ Informal teams play a unique role in organizations, and these roles may be positive or negative.

The fundamental characteristics of informal teams are that: (i) there is a general tendency among the members to be very flexible and adaptable, (ii) these teams do not adhere to any particular structure or formation and (iii) members may tend to move in and move out purely on an informal basis.

 

A few examples of informal groups are:

1. Friendship groups comprising people with natural affinities or liking for one another.
2. Interest groups including people who have a common job-related or non-job related interest or problem to be resolved.
3. Reference groups that individual employees use as a point of reference in evaluating their actions, preferences, behaviour and judgements.²⁷

The major functions of any informal groups are as follows:²⁸

1. Informal groups attempt to keep up and reinforce the common values and norms held by the members.
2. They tend to provide a feeling of social fulfilment, status and protection.
3. They act as a forum for the members to exchange their views on matters that affect their interest in an informal manner.
4. These groups can assist the members in solving their problems. For instance, a member of this group can assist another member struggling with production-related problems by counselling or training.

Hybrid Teams

We shall now discuss hybrid teams that contain the characteristics of both the formal and informal teams.

Super teams or high performance work teams—These are the new types of teams that possess the characteristics of both the formal and informal teams. High performance teams are developed to produce desired effects on the organizational productivity and performance. These teams have two distinct characteristics. They are: (i) individual members of the team willingly commit to a very high level of effort and (ii) these teams are generally capable of solving problems that are beyond the capability of even the most talented individuals. Certainly, well-managed super teams are so efficient and independent that they can arrange their work schedule, fix their productivity levels, buy their own equipment and supplies, enhance product qualities and relate well with the customers.

It is easier to understand high performance teams, when it is explained using sports terminology. “Teams that play well as a team are far better than a team that has one or two star players but do not know how to play together well as a team.”²⁹ Effective super teams are created in an organization to achieve high levels of performance. The key characteristics of high performance work teams are as follows:³⁰

• Presence of highly-skilled, dynamic, coordinated and loyal employees.
• Existence of flat, flexible and modern management.
• Capability of preserving the experienced and skilled employees for a long time.
• Existence of harmonious relationship between the management and the employee and their unions.
• Presence of full-fledged self-directed teams with adequate authority, responsibility and accountability.
• Existence of supportive rather than autocratic style of leadership and management.
• Payment system that counts on team performance but gives due importance to the skills of the individuals.

It is to be understood clearly that development of well-functioning super teams is often a time-consuming and complex process for many organizations. Still many managerial experts view super teams as one of the greatest business innovations to happen in the 1990s. The oil exploration company, ONGC, keeps the promotion of high performance work system as one of its core HR objectives.

Self-managed teams—A self-managed (also called self-directed) team is a team of employees who combine themselves to work towards common goals without any formal external supervision. The advantage of a self-managed team is that its members take all the decisions on their own and have complete liberty. Their decisions are time-bound and superior. Self-managed teams are usually entrusted with the overall responsibility for the accomplishment of work. They enjoy autonomy in decision making on matters involving when and how the work is done. They are given adequate freedom to determine the mode of execution by planning the pattern of work, distribution of assignments, rest breaks, performance evaluation, and so on. However, accountability for the outcomes should be clearly defined. This method is appropriate for group activities. Self-managed teams are capable of providing intrinsic motivation as the team members normally enjoy better work autonomy and also control their own work.

Self-managed teams require a lot of groundwork to ensure the success of the whole process. The preparatory requirements for self-managed teams are as follows:

• Work mapping—This involves defining the boundaries of the teams clearly in terms of authority, responsibility and accountability. Each team should have a clear and distinct identity, purpose and sphere of activities within the organization.
• Determining the size of the team—The size of the team contributes critically to the success of the self-managed team. The team should be neither too large nor too small. It is essential to identify the right size for the team. There are various factors that influence the decisions relating to the size of the group. They are the nature of process and products, the physical distribution of activities, the style of leadership, and the rate of delivery.
• Leadership development—Effective leadership is vital to the success of self-managed teams. The leaders of the teams should be given training in leadership tasks, leadership styles, communication, motivation and other necessary leadership qualities.
• Fixing the team norms—It is essential for each team to develop rules and regulations to govern the behaviour of its members. It should have a categorical list of dos and don’ts for its members and they should not be allowed to misuse their authority. The teams should have perfect clarity on matters like recruitment, training, discipline, resource management and financial budgets.

Organizations get several advantages by forming self-managed teams. They are: (i) the presence of a learning organization, (ii) self-motivated employees with a high level of intrinsic motivation, (iii) cost-effective accomplishment of targets, (iv) the decentralization of authority and responsibility and (v) focus of the top management on non-routine tasks as it is relieved of routine activities. Box 15.2 outlines the self-managed team (SMT) initiatives of a private-sector automobile company.

Stages in Team Formation

It is very rare for a group to become efficient and cohesive from the moment its members first meet. Group formation is almost a process involving several stages. According to Tuckman and Jensen, a small group goes through five stages before it becomes complete. As shown in Figure 15.3, the five stages are: (i) forming, (ii) storming, (iii) norming, (iv) performing and (v) adjourning. Let us now discuss each of these five stages.

Forming

This stage is also called the orientation and acclimatization stage. In this first stage, people join the group and become familiar with one another. Members get to know what the acceptable behaviours of this group are. But they are unsure about their role in the group because the group’s structure, purpose and leadership remain undefined and unclear. During this stage, communications are generally tentative and polite. Further, leaders are active and the members are compliant. Once the members overcome their initial inhibitions, they begin to exchange information about themselves and their goals. They also attempt to relate themselves to the group and other members. Further, members engage in self-disclosure by revealing information about themselves in conversations because they realize that others in the group are forming an impression of each other.³¹ This stage becomes complete after members start to view themselves as a part of a group.

Storming

This stage is also called the conflict stage. In this stage, conflicts within the team arise due to the differences in the individual personalities of the group members. The conflicts normally occur over the goals and structure of the group. Generally, there will also be disagreement and dissatisfaction over the procedures. Members may even turn hostile and there may even be polarization among members as individuals try to assert their individual personality. They also usually compete for leadership, authority and prestigious roles with other members in the group. At this stage, members normally choose between fight (challenging leader’s decision and authority) and flight (minimizing the frequency of contacts with the leader). This stage becomes complete once the agreement on the group’s direction, goals and hierarchy of leadership are established.

Norming

This stage is called structure development stage. Once the conflicts are largely resolved, teams become relatively more organized, unified, stable and cohesive. Team members normally revise their initial impressions about one another and tend to be more positive about their teams. At this stage, group unity becomes stronger and more visible as members agree on the roles, goals, relationship pattern and standards of behaviour. Members develop an intimate relationship as the group gets ready to work together. This stage becomes complete once the members agree on procedures and a group structure is created.

Performing

This stage is also called work stage. After the group structure has been put in place, members begin to work towards goal accomplishment. They actively engage themselves in decision making and problem solving. Members now use the group structure effectively to achieve group dynamics and complete the task at hand. This stage is generally characterized by high task orientation, mutual cooperation and positive interpersonal communication. It is to be understood that not all groups may move through the forming and storming stages to reach the performing stage. This stage is completed once the group becomes fully functional and the members strive to complete the task at hand. As such, performing stage will be the last stage in the group formation process for permanent groups but temporary groups (such as project teams and task forces) will move to adjournment stage once their goals or tasks are completed.

Adjourning

This is called the dissolution stage. After the tasks are performed and goals are accomplished, groups disband. The permanent or ongoing work groups in organizations do not pass through this stage. The temporary groups created for a specific purpose or limited task are most likely to be dissolved now. The dissolution of a group may be planned or spontaneous. Planned termination of a group may occur when it completes the goal or the time given. In contrast, an unscheduled dissolution may occur when the group is unable to achieve the goals repeatedly or some unanticipated developments (problems) affect its existence. In any case, members reduce or stop their dependence on the group. The adjourning stage is usually characterized by completion of tasks, termination of roles and reduced interdependence.

Characteristics of Effective Teams

There are varying degrees of effectiveness with which teams normally operate to accomplish their goals. The effectiveness of teams depends on how well the managers develop the team structure and their members follow the norms. We shall now see the important characteristics of effective teams.³²

1. Presence of clear direction and definite goals for the team members. Members understand and accept goals and implement them with commitment and involvement. The team structure and procedures are consistent with the team goals and tasks.
2. Presence of effective leadership. Team leaders play an important role in shaping the team effectiveness. There are three specific ways through which members can contribute to team success. They are: (a) uniting people around a compelling purpose (b) sharing power, responsibility and information with team members and (c) frankly admitting their ignorance and being willing to learn from others.³³
3. Existence of mutual trust and understanding among members. Team members freely and fearlessly contribute to the discussions and make informed decisions.
4. Presence of affirmative organizational environment and supportive leadership that enables the members to reach high performance standards.
5. Encouragement to consensus-based decisions and support of all members for execution of final decisions.
6. Presence of situation-based leadership in teams. Members are willing to lead the team in case of necessity.
7. Availability of necessary resources for effective performance of tasks. They may include human, material, financial and training resources.
8. Attempt to identify and solve the causes and not symptoms of the problems.
9. Presence of tasks which are sufficiently challenging, complex, important and suitable for the collective efforts of a team. The execution of tasks is beyond the capability and capacity of even the most talented individuals.
10. Presence of scope for team members to change, grow and adapt to the prevailing situation.
11. Inclination of the team members to be flexible in their approach towards problem solving, work processes, innovations, etc.
12. Communication channels are open and the members are ready and willing to use the opportunities to share all the data relevant to the goals of the team.

Benefits of Team

According to E. H. Schein, the benefits of teams can be seen from two perspectives. They are organizational perspectives and individual perspectives. We shall now discuss the benefits of a team from the organizational perspective.

Benefits to Organizations

Teams provide the following benefits to organizations:

1. Team enables an organization to pool its best resources and utilize them in a more efficient manner.
2. It helps the organizations to complete the intricate, complex and interdependent tasks which individuals may find it hard to do.
3. It facilitates the effective coordination of interdepartmental activities.
4. Individual members of the team can benefit from the experience and expertise of other members of the team.
5. It helps the organization to develop interpersonal relations and socializing skills among its new employees.
6. It can be an apt and effective tool for generating creative and innovative ideas and also solutions to vexing problems.
7. When compared with individual initiatives, teams are capable of producing synergizing effects due to the harmonization of diverse talents of the members of different departments.
8. In a team fewer errors happen than with individuals; hence, it is capable of achieving significant cost reduction.

Benefits to Individuals

Besides benefiting the organization, a team can also provide the following benefits to individuals:

1. A team is capable of fulfilling the affiliation or social needs of the members.
2. It can minimize and even eliminate the sense of insecurity and powerlessness among the individuals.
3. It provides a forum for resolving the personal and interpersonal problems of its members.
4. Members can make use of the opportunities to check and verify their perceptions relating to social reality.
5. Team is capable of providing a sense of identity to the members.
6. It can boost the self-esteem and confidence of the members.
7. Individuals learn to be more flexible, cooperative and committed in character when they are part of a team.
8. Team members get better opportunities to learn from each other.

Problems in Team-building

Even though teams play increasingly important roles in several organizations, there are quite a few challenges to be met by organizations in developing and managing teams. We shall now discuss these challenges briefly.

Slow and time-consuming decision-making process—Team-based decisions are generally slower than decisions by individuals who work independently. With diverse membership, teams need a longer period of time to arrive at consensus and reach the decision point.

Team-building costs—The cost of team-building in organizations normally depends on the complexity of the goals and the size of the team. When organizations shift employees from the hierarchical structure to new positions in the team structure, they may have to incur high start-up costs.

Organizations generally incur training and opportunity costs when they form teams to perform specific tasks. Here, opportunity costs are the revenue or the profit that an organization would have made if it had exercised an alternative decision instead of the team-building decision. High cost of team-building is an issue of concern for many organizations engaged in team-building exercises.

Team think—Members of the team may tend to limit their feelings of commitment and performance improvements to their teams only. They may thus fail to focus appropriately on the execution of organizational goals. Further, teamwork may limit creativity and inhibit good decisions if team think is more dominant.

Team stress—In teams, employees are often expected to perform diverse nature of activities and roles. Team members may feel the stress and tiredness when the team -work puts extra pressure on them.

Inherent conflict—Conflicts are likely to occur when members have contrasting personal styles. The chances of conflict are more when members have difficulty in accepting ideas and views that differ from their own.

Free-riders in teams—Free riders are those who make less effort (slack off) and allow other members to do most of the work. Since there is less focus on personal performance, individuals may tend to be less serious in their work when they become part of a team. The tendency of team members to avoid responsibility by free riding in teams is called social loafing.³⁴ Social loafing often leads to productivity loss and it is more likely to happen in large teams where individual performance or output is difficult to be identified and measured.³⁵

Summary

1. A team is a combination of two or more people engaged in the execution of common goals by influencing and interacting with one another.
2. Characteristics of teams are: (i) presence of two or more people, (ii) shared perception, (iii) a common purpose, (iv) stable structure and (v) collective accountability.
3. Teams can be classified as formal teams and informal teams. Formal teams can further be classified as vertical teams and horizontal teams.
4. Types of horizontal team are: (i) task force, (ii) cross-functional teams, (iii) committees, (iv) quality teams and (v) virtual teams.
5. High performance work teams and self-managed teams are hybrid teams which have the characteristics of both formal and informal teams.
6. The five stages in team formation are: (i) forming, (ii) storming, (iii) norming, (iv) performing and (v) adjourning.
7. The characteristics of effective teams are: presence of clear direction and definite goals, effective leadership, existence of mutual trust and understanding, presence of affirmative organizational environment, encouragement to consensus-based decision, presence of situation-based leadership, availability of necessary resources, attempt to identify and solve the causes of the problems, presence of tasks that are sufficiently challenging, presence of scope for team members to change, inclination of team members to be flexible and open for communication.
8. Problems in team-building are: slow and time-consuming decision-making process, team-building costs, team think, team stress, inherent conflict and free-riders in teams.

Review Questions

Short-answer questions

1. Define the term team.
2. What are the characteristics of a team?
3. Write short notes on: (a) team norms and (b) team-building.
4. What do you mean by team trust? Why do people trust others in the team?
5. Provide the meaning of cross-functional teams.
6. What are the prerequisites for the success of virtual teams?
7. State the functions of any informal group.
8. Who are free-riders in teams?

Essay-type questions

1. Critically evaluate the different types of formal teams with examples.
2. Explain the importance and key characteristics of high performance work teams.
3. Describe the preparatory requirements for the establishment of self-managed teams.
4. Enumerate the steps in team formation with necessary examples.
5. Illustrate with examples the characteristics of effective teams.
6. Examine the strengths and weaknesses of any team-building exercise.
7. How can teams be made more effective in organizations?
8. Explain the role and relevance of informal groups in organizations.

Case Study

Is Workers’ Participation in Management Practical and Useful?

Karunya Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd is a medium-sized company engaged in the production and distribution of chemicals. The company caters to the requirements of several large and medium-sized industrial customer companies. Its core policies are uncompromising quality, consistent efficiency and speedy delivery. It has a largely unionized workforce of 3500 employees. At present, its HR department is headed by the Director (HR), Mr Ashok Verma. In fact, the young and vibrant Mr Verma took up the HR responsibility of the company just a few months back.

After assuming office, Mr Verma conducted several rounds of discussion with the trade unions and found a major grievance among all the three unions of the organization. All the unions in the company felt unanimously that they were not given, adequate representation in the management and the concept of WPM ( workers participation in management) was hardly practiced in the organization. Mr Verma also learnt reliably from different sources that the unions resorted to several agitation tactics in the past to get their demand regarding participative management accepted by the management. However, their tactics like go-slow-in-production, non-cooperation, sit-in strikes and other forms of protests did not yield the desired results. This is because the management was never convinced of the benefits of WPM. They never had any real need to consult the employees in decision making or share any information with the workers. However, Mr Verma differed from the overall perception of the management and greatly felt the need to establish necessary committees or councils at different levels of the organization with due representation for the trade unions. Personally, he also favoured the nomination of worker-directors on the board of the organization. Mr Verma brought this matter repeatedly to the notice of the top management and enlightened them constantly about the mutual benefits of participative management. With the help of his knowledgeable presentation and convincing arguments, Mr Verma finally managed to convince the board of directors about the necessity of WPM and made them provide due representation to the workers and their representatives. In the subsequent management-union meeting, the management agreed to establish councils at three levels of the organization: a council at corporate level, one at the plant level and a necessary number of councils at various shop-floor levels. It also agreed to include an elected worker-director at the board level.

During the initial phase of the establishment of the councils, the unions cooperated with the organization. Council meetings were also progressing well and bonhomie was evident in the attitude and behaviour of the workers’ representatives on the board and in the councils. However, things began to change for the management and took a turn for worse after some time as the workers’ representatives began to resist and even stall all the important and justifiable decisions of the management. After investigating the matter, the worried management found out that the workers’ representatives began to oppose the decisions after they were accused of conniving with the management for pecuniary benefits and bartering away the future and rights of the employees. These charges were made by the rival unions, which had lost the elections for these memberships. Consequently, the union leaders instructed their representatives in the committees to adopt tough postures in the meetings and exhibit a negative attitude towards the management proposals just to retain the credibility of the union and to preserve the membership of the organization. The management was simply stunned by the developments and began to worry about the undue delay in the decisions of the organization and also about the need and future role of these councils in the organization. It now looked toward the HR director to provide solutions to this vexatious issue and its settlement at the earliest.

Questions

1. How do you assess the entire situation at Karunya Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd?
2. Do you agree with the view of Mr Verma towards workers’ participation in management in Indian business environment and trade unions perception?
3. If you were the HR director, how would you have handled the issue of WPM and solve the present crisis of the organization?

Note: The solution for the above case is available at www.pearsoned.co.in/duraipom2e

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