1. OHT 13.1 Figure 13.7
Role relationships & conflicts
Source: Adapted from Miner, J.B., Management Theory, Macmillan (1971) p.47.
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

2. What are teams?
Groups of two or more people
who interact and influence
each other are mutually
accountable for achieving
common objectives and
perceive themselves as a social
entity within an organisation
Courtesy of the Royal Australian Navy
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 2

3. Groups versus teams
 All teams are groups
 Some groups are just
people assembled
together
 Teams have task
interdependence whereas
some groups do not (eg
group of employees
enjoying lunch together) Courtesy of the Royal Australian Navy
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4. Types of teams
Permanent teams
 team-based departments
 team-based organisation
 quality circles
Temporary teams
 task forces
› temporary teams that investigate a problem
 skunkworks
› formed spontaneously, using borrowed resources, to
develop products or solve problems
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 4

5. Why informal groups exist
 Relatedness needs
 fulfil need for social interaction
 social identity
 Goal accomplishment
 Emotional support
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 5

6. Team effectiveness model
Organisational and Team
Team design
team environment effectiveness
• Reward systems •Task characteristics
•Team size • Achieve
• Communication
organisational
systems •Team composition goals
• Physical space
• Satisfy member
• Organisational needs
Team processes
environment
• Maintain team
• Organisational •Team development survival
structure •Team norms
• Organisational •Team roles
leadership •Team cohesiveness
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 6

7. Team design elements
 Task characteristics
 better when tasks are clear, easy to implement
 task interdependence
 share common inputs, processes or outcomes
 Team size
 smaller teams are better
 but large enough to accomplish task
 Team composition
 members motivated/competent to perform task in a
team environment
 team diversity
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 7

8. Homogeneous vs heterogeneous teams
Homogeneous teams Heterogeneous teams
 Higher satisfaction  More conflict
 Less conflict  Slower team development
takes longer to agree on
 Faster team development norms and goals
 More efficient coordination  Better knowledge and
resources for complex tasks
 Performs better on simple
tasks  Tend to be more creative
 Higher potential for support
outside the team
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 8

9. Stages of team development
Performing
Norming
Storming
Existing teams
Forming might regress Adjourning
back to an
earlier stage of
development
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 9

10. Team norms
 Informal rules and expectations a team establishes
to regulate member behaviours
 Norms develop through
 explicit statements
 critical events in team’s history
 initial team experiences
 beliefs/values members bring to the team
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 10

11. Changing team norms
 Introduce norms when forming teams
 Select members with preferred norms
 Discuss counterproductive norms
 Reward behaviours representing desired norms
 Disband teams with dysfunctional norms
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 11

12. Causes of team cohesiveness
Member
similarity
External Member
challenges interaction
Team
cohesiveness
Team Team
success size
Somewhat
difficult entry
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 12

13. Team cohesiveness at Mitel
Trevor Pound couldn’t get away
for a planned vacation, so other
team members at Mitel turned his
work area into a mini paradise.
The practical joke illustrates how
members of cohesive teams
support each other.
© J. Major, Ottawa Citizen
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 13

14. Team cohesiveness outcomes
Members of cohesive teams
 want to remain members
 are willing to share information
 have strong interpersonal bonds
 want to support each other
 resolve conflict effectively
 are more satisfied and experience
less stress
© J. Major, Ottawa Citizen
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 14

15. Cohesiveness and performance
Team norms
support Moderately High
firm’s high task task
goals
performance performance
Team norms Moderately
oppose Low task
low task
firm’s performance
goals performance
Low team High team
cohesiveness cohesiveness
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 15

16. The trouble with teams
 Individuals better/faster on some tasks
 Process losses cost of developing and maintaining
teams
 Companies don’t support best work environment for
team dynamics
 Social loafing
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 16

17. Supporting creativity at IDEO
Employees at Animal Logic, the
Sydney-based visual effects
company, demonstrate their
creative talent in The Matrix,
Moulin Rouge and other
blockbuster films. Hiring people
with diverse backgrounds and
living the Aussie culture seems to
contribute to the creative process.
Courtesy of Animal Logic
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 17

18. Creativity defined
Developing an original
product, service or idea that
makes a socially recognised
contribution
 part of the decision-making
process not separate from
it
 creativity is influenced by Courtesy of Animal Logic
both personal competencies
and organisational
conditions, supported by
creativity practices
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19. Creative process model
Verification
Insight
Incubation
Preparation
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20. Characteristics of creative
people
 Intellectual abilities
 synthetic, general, practical
 Relevant knowledge and experience
 Motivation and persistence
 Inventive thinking style
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 20

21. Creative work environment
 Organisational support
 tolerates mistakes
 encourages communication
 offers job security
 Intrinsically motivating work
 task significance, autonomy, feedback
 self-leadership
 flow align competencies with job
 Sufficient time and resources
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 21

22. Creative practices
Redefine Associative Cross-
the problem play pollination
• Jamming • Chain story • Diverse teams
• Review past • Artistic • In-house
projects activities presentations
• Tell me, • Metaphors • Displayed
stranger thinking
• Morphological
analysis
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 22

23. Team constraints: groupthink
 Tendency for highly
cohesive teams to value
consensus at the price of
decision quality
 More common when the
team
 is highly cohesive
 is isolated from outsiders
 faces external threat
© Photodisc. With permission.  has recent failures
 leader tries to influence
decision
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 23

24. Team constraints: group
polarisation
 Tendency for teams to
make more extreme
decisions than individuals
 Riskier options usually
taken because of gambler’s
fallacy believe luck is on
their side
© Photodisc. With permission.
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 24

25. Group polarisation process
High risk
Decision process
Team decision
Social support
Individual Persuasion
opinions
Shifting responsibility
Team decision
Low risk
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 25

26. General guidelines for team
decisions
 Ensure neither leader nor any member
dominates
 Maintain optimal team size
 Team norms encourage critical thinking
 Introduce effective team structures
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 26

27. Generating constructive controversy
 Form heterogeneous decision making team
 Ensure team meets often to face contentious issues
 Members should take on different discussion roles
 Team thinks about the decision under different
scenarios
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28. Brainstorming at IDEO
IDEO, a leading industrial
design firm, relies on
brainstorming sessions that
generate ideas, usually about
designing products. A typical
session lasts between one and
two hours and is attended by
the design team as well as
other IDEO engineers with
relevant skills. © E. Luse/San Francisco Chronicle
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 28

29. Features of brainstorming
 No criticism
 Encourage many ideas
 Speak freely
 Build on others’ ideas
© E. Luse/San Francisco Chronicle
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 29

30. Effectiveness of brainstorming
 Early scholars criticised
brainstorming
 evaluation apprehension and
production blocking still exist
 More favourable view now
 less dysfunctional conflict
 more task focus
 more decision acceptance
 more enthusiasm and
customer commitment © E. Luse/San Francisco Chronicle
 evaluation apprehension not
a problem in high trust
teams
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 30

31. Nominal group technique
Individual Team Individual
activity activity activity
Possible
Write down Vote on
Describe solutions
possible solutions
problem described
solutions presented
to others
2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione 31

32. OHT 14.32
Belbin’s team roles
• The most consistently successful groups
comprise a range of roles undertaken by
various members
• The constitution of the group itself is an
important variable in its success
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

33. OHT 14.33
Different team roles
• Plant • Team worker
• Resource investigator • Implementer
• Co-ordinator • Completer
• Shaper • Specialist
• Monitor–evaluator
Belbin
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

34. OHT 14.34
Belbin’s evolved roles:
Plant
Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses
• Creative • Ignores details
• Imaginative • Too preoccupied to
• Unorthodox communicate
• Solves difficult effectively
problems
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

35. OHT 14.35
Belbin’s evolved roles:
Resource investigator
Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses
• Extrovert • Over-optimistic
• Enthusiastic • Loses interest once
• Communicative enthusiasm has
• Explores passed
opportunities
• Develops contacts
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

36. OHT 14.36
Belbin’s evolved roles:
Co-ordinator
Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses
• Mature • Can be seen as
• Confident manipulative
• A good chairperson • Delegates personal work
• Clarifies goals
• Promotes decision-
making
• Delegates well
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

37. OHT 14.37
Belbin’s evolved roles:
Shaper
Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses
• Challenging • Can provoke others
• Dynamic • Hurts other’s feelings
• Thrives on pressure
• Has the drive &
courage to overcome
obstacles
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

38. OHT 14.38
Belbin’s evolved roles:
Monitor-evaluator
Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses
• Sober, strategic & • Lacks drive & ability
discerning to inspire others
• Sees all options • Overly critical
• Judges accurately
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

39. OHT 14.39
Belbin’s evolved roles:
Team worker
Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses
• Co-operative • Indecisive in crunch
• Mild situations
• Perceptive & diplomatic • Can be easily influenced
• Listens
• Builds
• Averts friction
• Calms the waters
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

40. OHT 14.40
Belbin’s evolved roles:
Implementor
Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses
• Disciplined • Somewhat inflexible
• Reliable • Slow to respond to
• Conservative & new possibilities
efficient
• Turns ideas into
practical actions
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

41. OHT 14.41
Belbin’s evolved roles:
Completer
Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses
• Painstaking • Inclined to worry
• Conscientious unduly
• Anxious • Reluctant to delegate
• Searches out errors & • Can be a nit-picker
omissions
• Delivers on time
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

42. OHT 14.42
Belbin’s evolved roles:
Specialist
Team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses
• Single-minded • Contributes on only a
• Self-sharing narrow front
• Dedicated • Dwells on
• Provides knowledge technicalities
& skills in rare supply • Overlooks the ‘big
picture’
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

43. OHT 14.43
Constructing the perfect team
• The group work in such a way that adds up to a
sum greater than the individual parts (synergy)
• If business people are happy to accept that
group effort is always better than individuals
working in isolation, then Belbin’s research may
help in constructing the perfect team
White
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

44. OHT 14.44 Figure 14.2
Communication networks
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

45. OHT 14.45 Figure 14.3
Communication networks & simple task
complexity
Source: Baron/Greenberg, Behaviour in Organisations: Understanding Managing, Third edition, Prentice-Hall Inc., Upper
Saddle River, NJ.
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

46. OHT 14.46 Figure 14.3
Communication networks & complex task
complexity
Source: Baron/Greenberg, Behaviour in Organisations: Understanding Managing, Third edition, Prentice-Hall Inc., Upper
Saddle River, NJ.
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005

47. OHT 14.47
Task functions within groups
Functions within a group that are directed
towards –
• Problem solving
• The accomplishment of the tasks of the group
• The achievement of its goals
• Production activities
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005