Welcome to T 205 P 1 Block 3

Welcome to T 205 P 1 Block 3 Systems Thinking: Principles and Practice Company LOGO

Groups and Teams 1. Groups and Teams 2. Working in Groups 3. Projects and Project Teams 4. Leadership

What is a group? Formal groups (e. g. committees): These are used to organize and distribute work, pool devise plans, negotiate, etc. information, Informal groups (e. g. interest groups): These are used to self-fulfill; structured more around the social needs of people than around the performance of tasks

What is a team? Team characteristics (Adair , 1983) 1. A definable membership: a collection of three or more people identifiable by name or type 2. A group consciousness or identity: the members think of themselves as a group 3. A sense of shared purpose: the members share some common task or goals or interests 4. Interdependence: the members need the help of one another to accomplish the purpose for which they joined the group 5. Interaction: the members communicate with one another, influence one another, react to one another 6. Sustainability: the team members periodically review the team’s effectiveness 7. An ability to act together as one

Types of Teams The functional team Work is carried out within such a functionally organized group The project team (single) Consists of a group of people who come together as a distinct organizational unit in order to work on project/ projects, often led by a project manager. People issues are often crucial The matrix team Staff report to different managers for different aspects of their work. Often found in projects. Staff responsible to the project manager for their work on the project where their functional line manager will be responsible for other aspects of their work ( appraisal, training and career development, and ‘routine’ tasks). It is important to overcome the problems staff might have with the dual reporting lines (the ‘two-boss’ problem) The contract team Brought in from outside in order to do the project work

New types of teams Self-managed teams • Operates in an informal and non-hierarchical manner • Often found in organizations that are developing TQM and Qa approaches • Better customer service, more motivated staff, and better quality of output. • Usually part of the formal reporting structure. • Informal style of working • Indirectly controlled by senior management • Usually a permanent leader, but may change • Empowered by senior management Self-organizing teams • Found in highly flexible, innovative organizations • Usually outside the formal reporting structure • Members usually self-selected volunteers, Informal style of working • Leadership variable –changing, shared • Empowered by the team members and a supportive culture and environment • Manager acts as coach who supports

Why do only some teams succeed? Task achievement Task Individual membership Team interaction The internal elements of team effectiveness Process

External factors influencing team effectiveness The team Task Membe r-ship Internal custome r Other teams Other organization s Other groups Sponsor Interaction Organization culture External customers Systems map showing components influencing team effectiveness

Working in Groups Belonging to a group v v Joining a group requires the individual to agree to abide by the rules of the group A group with no boundary-defining rules would include everyone and cease to be a group

Group processes Group context • The two most important features of a formal work group are the task assigned to it and the environment in which it has to carry the task out. • It is important that a work group be given a realistic task and access to the resources required to complete it, and that the people in the group feel that the task is worth accomplishing. Group size • To be effective, a group should be neither too large nor too small Managing group membership • To manage group membership Functional and team roles • Team effectiveness is equally dependent on the personal qualities and attributes of individual team members • When we work with other people in a group or team we each bring two types of role to that relationship: functional role and team role

, The Creative Cycle of v Refers to the cycle of development that takes place within a single meeting which may occur over many meetings v Can be thought of as occurring in four phases: nurturing, energizing, peak activity and relaxing v Formal groups often fail because they fail to recognize the existence of this cycle or try to leave out one or more stages

Why do groups go wrong? • Groupthink: a process whereby a group collaborates systematically to ignore evidence suggesting that what it has done, or is planning to do, is ill advise • Groups affected by groupthink make wrong decisions in four main ways: • They make decisions that subvert their own official goals • They do not test their decisions by considering information that contradict them or which point to substantial difficulties in implementing the decisions • Such groups take more risky decisions than any individual member (risky shift) • They have a disturbing tendency to make decisions that treat others as ‘the enemy’ • • • Indicators to diagnose groupthink: Some groups are especially vulnerable Groups which have a certain prestige. Some groups are well insulted from opinion that might correct false assumptions and misperceptions The feeling of unbounded optimism: all feel proud of what they agree on

Projects and Project Teams What is a project? A project has following characteristics v A project is a unique undertaking. Each projects will differ in some respect v Projects have specific objectives to achieve v Projects require resources v Projects have budgets v Projects have schedules v Projects require the efforts of people v Measures of quality apply

Project life cycles Define Plan Organize Execute Close

Functions of a project manager • Managing teams of people from different disciplines to achieve unique project objectives • Improve standards via helping the team members to tackle their work competently • Take care of team effectiveness in terms of both task- and relationshiporiented behaviours Task-oriented behaviours 1. Estimating and planning 2. Assembling a team 3. Reporting and liaising 4. Putting tools in place Relationship-oriented behaviours • Managing change • Managing inter-group relationships • Managing external boundaries

Leaders’ Roles Achieving the task Building and maintainin g the team Developing the individual Leader’s role is composed of above three overlapping areas of responsibility (Adair, 1983)