C H A P T E R: T E N

Developing
High-Performance
Teams

10
McGraw-Hill Ryerson

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Celesticas High-Performance Teams

Don Golding

These rework team members at Celesticas

manufacturing facility in Toronto completely
redesigned the cells work process, reflecting
their companys movement toward self-directed
work teams.
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Self-Directed Teams Defined

Don Golding

Formal groups that complete an entire piece of

work requiring several interdependent tasks
and have substantial autonomy over the
execution of these tasks.

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Self-Directed Work Team Attributes

Completes an
entire piece of
work
Receives teamlevel feedback
and rewards

Self-Directed
Work Teams

Responsible for
correcting
problems

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

Team assigns
tasks to
members

Controls work
input, flow, and
output

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sociotechnical Systems Elements

Primary work unit
completes an entire work process
fairly independent from other work units
Sufficient autonomy
freedom to divide up and coordinate work
empowers team members
Control key variances
team controls factors affecting work quality/quantity
Joint optimization
balancing social and technical systems

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

SDWTs at Standard Motor Products

Standard Motor Products
successfully introduced selfdirected work teams
(SDWTs) at its Kansas plant,
but some supervisors had
difficulty changing from a
command-and-control to
mentor/facilitator
management style.
Courtesy of Standard Motor Products

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Challenges to SDWTs
Cross-cultural issues
Difficult to implement in some cultures
Management resistance
Concerned about losing power, status, jobs
Shift from command/control to mentor/facilitator
Employee and labour union resistance

Employees uncomfortable with new roles, skills

Union concerns: More stress, lost work rules

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Virtual Teams Defined

Teams whose members operate across
space, time, and organizational boundaries
and are linked through information
technologies to achieve organizational
tasks.

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Why Virtual Teams?

Increasingly possible because of
Information technologies
Knowledge-based work
Increasingly necessary because of
Knowledge management
Globalization

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

High-Performance Virtual Teams

Virtual teams perform better with
Team
Environment

Creative combination of
communication channels

Team Tasks

Structured tasks
Moderate interdependence

Team Size

Smaller size than traditional

team performing similar tasks
more

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2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

High-Performance Virtual Teams (cont)

Virtual teams perform better with
Team
Composition

Good communication and crosscultural skills in team members

Team
Processes

Some face-to-face meetings to

assist team development

Team Trust

Important in all teams, but

especially virtual teams

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

11

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Trust Defined
A psychological state comprising
the intention to accept vulnerability
based upon positive expectations
of the intent or behaviour of
another person.

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

12

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Three Levels of Trust

High

Identity-based Trust

Knowledge-based Trust
Calculus-based Trust
Low
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2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Three Levels of Trust (cont)

Calculus-based trust
Based on deterrence
Fragile, limited, dependent on punishment
Knowledge-based trust
Based on predictability and competence
Fairly robust, develops over time
Identification-based trust
Based on common mental models and values
Increases with persons social identity with team

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2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Propensity to Trust
Some people are inherently more willing to
trust others
Propensity to trust influenced by personality,
values, and socialization experiences
Also varies with emotions at the moment

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

15

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Swift Trust in Teams

People typically join a virtual or conventional
team with a moderate or high level of trust
Explanations for this swift trust:

people usually believe their teammates are

reasonably competent (knowledge-based trust)

people tend to develop some degree of social
identify with the team

But swift trust is fragile

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

16

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Team Decision Making Constraints

Time constraints

Time to organize/coordinate
Production blocking
Evaluation apprehension

Belief that other team members are silently

evaluating you

Conformity to peer pressure

Suppressing opinions that oppose team norms

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

17

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Team Constraints: Groupthink

Tendency in highly cohesive teams to
value consensus at the price of decision
quality
More common when the

Team is highly cohesive

Team is isolated from outsiders
Team leader is opinionated
Team faces external threat
Team has recent failures
Team lacks clear guidance
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

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2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Team Constraints: Group Polarization

Tendency for teams to make more extreme
decisions than individuals alone
Riskier options usually taken because of
prospect theory effect fallacy -- dislike losing
more than they like winning

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

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2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Group Polarization Process

Team discussion
processes
High risk

High risk

Social support

Individual opinions
before meeting

Persuasive
arguments
Shifting
responsibility

Low risk

Low risk

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

Individual opinions
after meeting

20

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

General Guidelines for Team Decisions

Team norms should encourage critical
thinking
Sufficient team diversity
Ensure neither leader nor any member
dominates
Maintain optimal team size
Introduce effective team structures

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

21

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

NASA Encourages Constructive Conflict

Courtesy of Johnson Space Center

NASA replaced the assigned seating rectangular table at the

Johnson Space Center with a C-shaped arrangement where
people sit wherever they want (shown in photo). The table is
intended to avoid hierarchy so NASA managers can have
more constructive debate.

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

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2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Constructive Conflict

Courtesy of Johnson Space Center

Occurs when team members debate their different

perceptions about an issue in a way that keeps the
conflict focused on the task rather than people.
Problem: constructive conflict easily slides into
personal attacks
McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

23

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Rules of Brainstorming
1. Speak freely
2. Dont criticize
3. Provide as many ideas as possible
4. Build on others ideas

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2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluating Brainstorming
Strengths

Produces more innovative ideas

Strengthens decision acceptance and team cohesiveness
Sharing positive emotions encourages creativity
Higher customer satisfaction if clients participate

Weaknesses

Production blocking exists

Evaluation apprehension exists in many groups
Fewer ideas generated than when people work alone

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25

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Electronic Brainstorming
Participants share ideas using software
Usually in the same room, but may be
dispersed
Question posted, then participants submit
their ideas or comments on computer
Comments/ideas appear anonymously on
computer screens or at front of room

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

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2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluating Electronic Brainstorming

Strengths

Less production blocking

Less evaluation apprehension
More creative synergy
More satisfaction with process

Weaknesses

Too structured
Technology-bound
Candid feedback is threatening
Not applicable to all decisions

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2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Nominal Group Technique

Describe
problem

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

Individual
Activity

Team
Activity

Individual
Activity

Write down
possible
solutions

Possible
solutions
described
to others

Vote on
solutions
presented

28

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Team Building
Any formal intervention directed toward
improving the development and functioning
of a work team
Accelerates team development
Applied to existing teams that have
regressed in team development

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

29

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Types of Team Building

Role definition
Goal setting
Problem solving
Interpersonal process

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2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Making Team Building Effective

Some team building activities are successful,
but just as many fail because:
Team-building activities need to target
specific team problems
Team building is a continuous process, not a
one-shot inoculation
Team building needs to occur on-the-job, not
just away from the workplace

McShane/ Canadian OB 6e

31

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

C H A P T E R: T E N

Developing
High-Performance
Teams

10
McGraw-Hill Ryerson

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.