COMMUNICATING IN TEAMS

CHAPTER 8BY: GINA CUMMINGS

TEAM-BASED ORGANIZATION Structured around interdependent decision-making

groups (not individual)

TEAMS-groups of employees w/ representation from a variety of areas in an organization

(ex. Sales, manufacturing…)

This helps in the cross-functional exchange of information.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_r9HjvSsek

TYPES OF TEAMSProject Teams

Work Teams

Quality-Improvement Teams

Virtual Teams

Project TeamsHelp coordinate

Usually made up of different members

Facilitates horizontal flow of authority,

Work Teams Employees responsible for the

entire work process Resides together, outlines its own

work flowAid organization’s efficiency

Working in teams results in a “strong” outcome

Work Teams Continued… Employee Stock Ownership Plan

(ESOP)

This process may encourage team members’ motivation and dedication to the team approach as well as the company itself.

Quality Improvement TeamsGoals are to improve customer

satisfaction, evaluate and improve team performance, and reduce costs.

Made up of members from a variety of areas to bring different perspectives.

Generate innovative ideas

Virtual Teams

A group of individuals who work across time, space, and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology.

They have complementary skills

Communicative Dimensions of Teamwork Roles

Norms Decision-Making Process

Management of Conflict and Consensus

Cultural Diversity in Teams

RolesConsistent patterns of

interactions within a team.

3 broad types of communication roles

1. Task Role 2. Maintenance Role 3. Self-centered Role

Task RoleSummarizes and evaluates the

team’s ideas and progress idea-generating process

Maintenance RoleRelieves group tension or pressure Reconcile conflict or disagreement

Self-centered RoleSeeks to dominate the groups

discussions and work

Divert the group’s attention from serious issues by making them seem unimportan

Always considered inappropriate and unproductive

NormsThe informal rules that designate

the boundaries of acceptable behavior within a group

Shaped by the national and

organizational culture and personal agendas

Often passed down through time by a culture or society

Decision-Making Processes More effective than individual

decision making

Gets more team members involved and generates more ideas and information

Groupthink - a concept that refers to faulty decision-making in a group.

Decision Making Continued

Stages for finding the best recommendation or course of action

1.Orentation

2. Conflict

3. Emergence

4. Reinforcement

Management of Conflict and ConsensusConflict- interaction of

interdependent people who perceive opposition of goals, aims, and values.

How to solve conflicts in a group:

Collaboration- emphasizes high assertiveness combined with high levels of cooperation.

Cultural Diversity in TeamsCultural diversity is becoming

more popular but have researchers concerned with the effects of cultural differences on team member communication.

Negotiation is a key to managing intercultural team differences. There are four phases in the negotiation process.

Negotiation Phases 1. Developing relationships with

others-build trust and adapt to cultural differences

2. Exchanging info about topics under negotiation

Negotiation Phases Continued…

3. Recognizing multicultural techniques of persuasion

4. Emphasizing the role of concession in achieving agreement

Team LearningTeam Learning is an “alignment”

or the “functioning of the whole”Applying the principles and

practices of ‘dialogue’ to make the learning happen.

The Ladder of Inference-------

A Retreat from Teams? Successful team formation:Teams are only as good as their

members

Teams must be trained in group decision making and communication

Only some decisions can be assigned to teams

Applied to the NWSF (Northwest social Forum)

Teams in the NWSF

Virtual Teams were not a part of communication in the NWSF

Did the teams function as a whole? Work together?

Cultural Diversity in the NWSFCultural Diversity was an issue in the

NWSF

Communication issues --- a problem due to cultural diversity

Roles---unclear

Norms—Different norms in different places

Decision-Making Process