Working in Groups (Chapter 9)

Students are expected use the following questions to guide a thoughtful(personalinput supported by content from the textbook) discussion about how individuals can work together as a well-functioning group.

• What's the most effective group you've ever been a part of? What made the group so effective?
• Think of a person whom you think is a particularly good team member? What made them a good team member?
• Think of someone whom you think is a problematic team member? What made them a problem?

Groups and Work Teams

Agroupis formed when two or more people have common interests, objectives, and continuing interaction. Awork teamis a group of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common mission. The early work group research focused on individuals within teams or on individual versus work team comparisons while more recent research in the past few decades focuses on the work team itself.Groups emphasize individual leadership, personal accountability, and exclusive work products. Work teams emphasize shared leadership, mutual accountability, and collective work products.

Work teams are task-oriented groups, though in some organizations the wordteamhas a negative connotation for union members. Work teams make valuable contributions to the organization and are important to the need satisfaction of members.

Several kinds of work teams exist. Some are like baseball teams in that members have set responsibilities, others are like football teams in that members have coordinated action, and still others are like doubles tennis teams in that members have primary yet flexibleresponsibilities. Another analogy for work teams is that some operate like groundskeeping crews in that all members work synergistically toward a single goal.All work teams need to attend to knowledge-based processes and interactions as well as contextual factors if they are to improvise effectively, such as in R&D environments.

Teams and groups do not all work face-to-face. Advanced computer and telecommunications technologies enable organizations to be more flexible through the use ofvirtual teams.Organizations use virtual teams to access expertise and the best employees around the world. Whether traditional or virtual, groups and teams continue to play a vital role in organizational behavior and performance at work.

Why Work Teams?

Teams are very useful in performing work that is complicated, fragmented, and/or more voluminous than one person can handle. Harold Geneen, while chairman of ITT, said, "If I had enough arms and legs and time, I'd do it all myself." Obviously, no one person in an organization can do everything by himself, not only because of the limitations of arms, legs, and time, but also expertise, knowledge, and other resources. However, individual limitations can be overcome through teamwork and collaboration. World-class U.S. corporations, such as Motorola Inc., are increasingly deploying work teams in their global affiliates to meet the competition and gain advantage.Motorola's "Be Cool" team in the Philippines has a family atmosphere (and may even begin a meeting with a prayer) yet is committed to improving individual and team performance.