The use of teams in the business world is increasing in frequency and this course follows that trend to help you prepare for your career. This course relies on teams to reinforce learning and to conduct case analyses. Teams can also provide synergies or create strengths more than the sum of each individual's strengths.
This course uses self-managed teams. Each team determines, within the guidelines I provide on the web page and reinforce in class, their objectives and how to reach these objectives. The characteristics of good, self-managed teams[1] include each team member's responsibility for:
Collective responsibility for performance
Discretion in assigning work
Discretion in scheduling work
Ability to perform more that one job on a team
Training one another to develop multiple job skills
Evaluating one another's performance contributions
Responsibility for the total quality of team products
The effectiveness of each team is a function of task performance and human resource performance. Task performance is measured in terms of the objective criteria for each area of assessment (case analysis, presentations). Human resource performance, or the dynamics on your team, is measured by your peer evaluations. Do not underestimate the importance of human resource performance on your team. The most successful teams begin with high human performance as a prerequisite to task performance. Highly skilled teams often perform at lower levels because they do not or cannot have good human resource performance. With this in mind I offer the following.
Stages of team development
- Forming: initial orientation and interpersonal testing
- Storming: conflict over tasks and ways of operating as a team
- Norming: a stage of consolidation around task and operating agenda
- Performing: a stage of teamwork and focused task performance
- Adjourning: task accomplishment and eventual disengagement
How to build positive team normss
- Be a role model for the desired behaviors
- Reinforce the desired behaviors with rewards
- Control results by performance reviews and regular feedback
- Recruit and select team members who demonstrate the desired behaviors
- Hold regular meetings to discuss progress and ways to improve performance (task and human)
- Use team decision making methods to reach agreement
How to build a cohesive team
- Agreement on goals and objectives
- Increase team homogeneity
- Increase the quantity of interactions among the team
- Decrease the team size
- Reward team versus individual results
What can go wrong with a team
- Social loafing: a team member does not perform his or her share of the work
- Personality conflicts: work style and other attributes
- Task ambiguity: unclear agenda and/or ill defined problem
- Poor readiness to work: meetings lack structure, team members unprepared
- Poor teamwork: failures in communication, unresolved conflict, decision making
This assignment provides the guidelines for writing a team contract, mission and vision.
Team contract, mission, and vision
The purpose of this assignment is for you to develop a team contract, mission and vision. This is a team assignment. All businesses require teamwork to compete successfully in the long term. Employment with an organization is an implicit contract to participate as a member of the team. During the course of this semester you will work in teams to experience the interpersonal dynamics of working with a group of people to accomplish business objectives. This contract is an explicit document that you should use to state your individual and collective expectations for your team. Your contract should also include mission and vision statements, and objectives that you want to accomplish. You can use the sample team contracts listed in the BUS 470 section of my web page and the School of Business Mission and Vision statements as guides for writing your contract.
I have two specific requirements dealing with team membership. Every member of the class must be a member of one team. Your contract must include provisions for the following situations:
- When a team member wishes to voluntarily leave the team for another team, and
- When team members want to “fire” a team member from their team.
I also suggest that you discuss the team characteristics listed above and develop (or least consider) addressing these characteristics in your team contract.
The sample team contracts (on the web site) provide examples of the criteria previous teams used for these situations. Remember, students “fired” from their team must find another team willing to accept them.
[1] The characteristics of self-managed teams, stages of team development, norms, cohesiveness, and what can go wrong are drawn from Schermerhorn, J.R. 2001. Management. John Wiley and Sons. Chapter 17.