Sara Barnett

LIS 405 LE

Teams In the Workplace

Because most people have been on at least one team in their lifetime, they think they know what it takes to make a workplace team successful. If you ask five different people to define "team," you will probably come up with five different responses.  After reading articles written by several team experts, I have found the most comprehensive definition comes from Katzenbach and Smith who define a team as "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."(45) This definition encompasses five of the seven areas of teams that were common to all of the literature. The other two areas that are essential in teams are support at all levels and communication, not only within the team, but also the larger organization.

Many people confuse groups and teams. The critical difference deals with performance. A group has individual performance goals while a team has "performance goals to achieve and members of the teams feel mutually accountable for achieving them."(Hick) A group relies on the individual contribution of its members for group performance, whereas a team strives for magnified impact that is more than the individuals could achieve on their own. (Katzenbach & Smith 88) Interdependence is crucial in teams with respect to their goals and tasks. Goal interdependence refers to the team goal as well as individual's goals. The individual goals should be linked. Task interdependence is the extent to which members of a team depend on their fellow team members to accomplish their goals. (Yancy, 2) In short, in groups the whole is less than the sum of its parts and with teams, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

To start, it is important to have a group of people that is small enough to carry out the tasks for which it is responsible. This typically ranges from two to twenty-five members (ten or fewer is best). The small number allows all members to interact constructively. When the number increases, interaction with the entire team decreases and sub-teams are created. Large teams face difficulties when trying to develop the common purpose and goals of the team that lead to problems in carrying out the tasks they were put together to do. The teams should have just enough hands to do the work and no more. (Hick, 2)

The second aspect that is important to remember when looking at teams is having the right mix of skills. These skills include technical, problem solving, and interpersonal skills. (Hick, 1) The team members may bring these skills to the team or they may need to develop them while working as a team. Either way, it is important to attain all three skills. It the skills are not present when the team forms, it is critical that all members are willing to spend the time to help themselves and others learn and develop skills. To ensure that this happens, training and coaching should be provided.

A common, meaningful purpose will set the tone and aspiration for the team. By working to shape a meaningful purpose, teams develop direction, momentum, and commitment. (Katzenbach & Smith, 49) Many times the purpose is in response to an order of the management. This helps the team focus on the performance requirements that leads to goal setting.

One of the most important aspects of an effective team is to have goals that are clearly defined and challenging. Goals provide a clear sense of direction to the team "so that when conflict occurs it is possible to channel the conflict more constructively by returning to the goals for direction." (Hick, 1) In order for goals to be effective, they must require equivalent contributions from all team members. In addition, there must be buy in as well as commitment from all team members. The goals "need to be measurable so that progress towards achieving them can be monitored and results confirmed." (Hick, 2) The goals need to be challenging, yet attainable. In addition to team goals, the individuals in the group should also have goals, which are linked to the team's goals so the members work together in achieving. (Yancey, 4) It is important to note "only the team performs; individual members contribute." (Drucker, 1)

A common approach is essential in order for teams to accomplish their goals. Many employees lack experience with gathering and discussing and deciding issues as a group. A clear meeting structure that is used consistently and regularly will ease members' anxiety and greatly reduce the time spent in meetings. (Harrington-Mackin, 31) It is important for team members to agree on how schedules and agendas will be made, who will be doing which tasks, and how to make important decisions. Agreeing on the specifics of work and how it fits together to integrate individual skills and advance team performance lies at the heart of shaping the common approach. (Katzenbach & Smith, 56)

Mutual accountability is at the heart of effective teams. It is important for all members to have a commitment to the goals and to the team. In addition, the members of the team need to be clear on what they are individually responsible for and what they are jointly responsible for. (Katzenbach & Smith) The mentality needs to be that the group will succeed together and will fail together. From the perspective of a manager, it is vital to avoid the destructive effect of singling out individuals from the group, when there has been a group effort. Having a worthwhile task to perform and having challenging goals to meet best sustain hard work and effort. (Hick, 2)

In order for all of these things to happen, it is important to provide support to the teams. This includes providing teams the resources they need to carry out their responsibilities. Training and development are essential in developing a great team. Training needs to be individual because, as the saying goes, "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link." To strengthen each link an individual program must be set up. (Chillis, 1) Skill building training in a team setting should also take place. Without team building, synergy is unlikely to occur. It is also necessary to empower employees to perform work.

Communication is an enormous component of effective teams. It comes into play virtually all of the time. It is important for managers to help team members develop the skills they need to be a successful team member. For example, many people do not listen well. It is important to stress that team members need to actively listen to their fellow members. In addition, they need to keep in mind that listening means separating the process of taking in information from the process of judging it. (Learning Center, 2)

While teams will always be part of the business culture, it is important for us to realize that teams remain the means, not the ends to achieving performance goals.

The next steps for my learning are putting what I have learned into action. Starting in January I will be responsible for putting together teams to work on enhancing our learning standards. These groups will be comprised of teachers that are interested in enhancing our learning benchmarks in the area of elementary science. I will be a facilitator for each of the grade level groups. I am going to be using the Team Building Tool Kit to help make sure that the teams can and will be effective. I will have various reasons to put into practice what I read for this paper. Being that this is the first time I have spent formally investigating the topic of teams, I'm sure I will be continuing to read on the topic as I put together more and more teams.

Annotated Bibliography

Alessandra, Tony and Michael O'Connor. The Platinum Rule: Discover the four basic business personalities- and how they can lead you to success. New York: Warner Books, 1996.  Chapter eight takes into account the differences people bring to the teams they are on. It provides suggestions on how to customize work groups to get the best results in the most efficient, satisfying manner.

Bennis, Warren. "The Secrets of Great Groups". Leader to Leader: Number 3, Winter 1997. http://www.pfdf.org/leaderbooks/L2L/winter97/bennis.html Bennis studied great groups and found the principles common to all great groups. Follow up by redefining the roles and responsibilities of leaders.

Blair, Gerard M. How to Build Quality into your Team. http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/art3.html This article looks at how a team leader can bring quality into a small team.

Blair, Gerard M. Groups that Work. http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/art0.html This article  looks at the basics of group work and suggests ways to accelerate development.

Chillis, Jimmy L. "Multi-skilled, Multi-leveled, Multi-teams in a Single Organization: How to make, use and keep them and their individual members." University of North Texas Work Teams. http://www.workteams.unt.edu/reports/chillis.html This article discusses the intricacies of team development, the use of teams, and how to keep teams and their individual members.

Clark, Don. "Leadership- Lessons From Geese." http://www.nwlink.com/donclark/leader/geese.html Short set of statements showing how relying on others promotes the goals of the team.

Drucker, Peter F. "There's More Than One Kind of Team." http://www.cba.neu.edu/~ewertheim/teams/drucker.htm Using sports metaphors, Drucker describes three distinct types of teams. Drucker stresses that teams are tools used to complete a task.

Harrington-Mackin, Deborah. The Team Building Tool Kit: Tips, tactics, and rules for effective workplace teams. New York: Amacom, 1994. A resource for start-up and existing teams. It goes through the life cycle of a team from getting started to rewarding performance.

Hick, Mike. "Team Effectiveness." http://www.eagle.ca/~mikehick/teams.html Lists the characteristics of good teams and gives suggestions on how to become a good team.

Intellectual Capital Group. "Team Building." http://modulor.com/teambild.htm An article with bullet points doing comparisons such as groups versus teams and staff versus teams.

Katzenbach, Jon R. "Making Teams Work at the Top." Leader to Leader: Number 7, Winter 1998. http://pfdf.org/leaderbooks/l2l/winter98/katzenbach.html Points out myths about why teams at the top aren't functioning to their full potential. Provides suggestions for those senior groups that aspires to more team performance at the top.

Katzenbach, Jon R. and Douglas K. Smith. The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the high-performance organization. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1993. This book has three distinct parts. First, it examines why teams matter to the performance of large organizations. Second, it describes how and why teams vary. Last, it focuses on top managements role in getting the most of the performance of teams at all levels of the organization.

Learning Center. "How to Build a Team: Using vision, commitment, and trust." http://www.mcn.org/a/lc/lcartc3.html States five principles of how a leader can build a team.

Martin, Don and Renee Martin, ed. Team Think: Using the sports connection to develop, motivate, and manage a winning business team. New York: Dutton, 1993. Uses sports stories to show examples of how teams can be successful in business.

Shonk, James H. Team-Based Organizations: Developing a successful team environment. Chicago: Irwin, 1992. This book has been written to give managers an understanding of their role and the issues involved in making the transition to a team based organization.

Stueart, Robert D. and Barbara B. Moran. Library and Information Center Management. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1998. This textbook has several pages devoted to leadership which translates into team leaders.

Yancey, Margaret. "Work Teams: Three models of effectiveness." University of North Texas Work Teams. http://www.workteams.unt.edu/reports/Yancey.html This article examines the advantages and disadvantages of having teams in an organization. It also introduces three models of group effectiveness.