VL HRM B – G. Grote ETHZ, SS07 Topics HRM B: Leading teams.

VL HRM B – G. Grote ETHZ, SS07

Topics HRM B: Leading teams

19.3. Introduction; Core functions of HRM – Benchmarking HRM

26.3. HRM as strategic and operative leadership task; Personnel selection: Theory

2.4. Personnel selection: Instruments (exercise in small groups)

16.4. Performance appraisal: Instruments for employee (and leader) appraisal

23.4. Compensation: Job evaluation, salary systems; Personnel development

30.4. Management by Objectives: Integrating appraisal/compensation/development in leadership

7.5. Leadership

14.5. Teams: Overview

21.5. Managing diversity

4.6. Teams (exercise in small groups)

11.6. Discussion of student projects in small groups

18.6. Exam preparation; Guest speaker Renato Merz, Head HR ABB Switzerland


Leadership is …

… the process of influencing the activities of an organized group towards goal achievement.

… the ability of an individual to motivate others to forego self-interest in the interest of a collective vision (House & Shamir, 1993)

… the influential increment over and above mechanical compliance with the routine directives of the organization (Katz & Kahn, 1978)


Substitutes for leadership(Kerr & Jermier, 1978)

• Abilities and experience of followers

• Routine tasks

• Standardization of processes and tasks

• High level of technology use/automation


Flight phase

1

Take-off

2

Preparation

Clean approach

3

Approach and Landing

Average duration (min.) 3 10 3

Task load Low Low High

Standardization High Low High

Communication units (CU) overall 840 3514 1429

CU standardized communication 52% 9% 28%

CU explicit 66% 81% 60%

CU implicit 34% 19% 40%

CU leadership 2% 14% 3%

CU Heedful interrelating 2% 18% 19%

Example for leadership subsitutes: Adaptive team coordination in cockpit crews (Grote et al., 2004)

Good teams used more leadership in phase 2 (low standardization) and less in phases 1 and 3 (high standardization)


Basic leadership functions

• group internal functions– Task orientation/initiating structure

Set goals, distribute tasks, check work results etc.– Employee orientation/consideration

resolve conflicts, support/coach team members etc.

• group external functions– Boundary regulation

Adjusting external demands in terms of group internal demands and possibilities


Leadership activities (Yukl, 1989)

Activity Definition

Planning and organi-zing

Determining long-term objectives and strategies, allocating resources according to priorities, determining how to use personnel and resources efficiently to accomplish a task or project, and determining how to improve coordina-tion, productivity and effectiveness.

Problem solving Identifying work-related problems, analyzing problems in a syst ematic but t imely manner to determine causes and find solutions, and acting decisively to implement solutions and resolve crises.

Clarifying Assigning work, providing direction in how to do the w ork, and communicating a c lear understanding of job re-sponsibilities, task objectives, priorities, deadlines and performance expectations.

Informing Disseminating relevant information about decisions, plans and activities to people who need the information to do their work.

Monitoring Gathering information about work activities and external conditions affecting the work, checking on the progress and quality of the work, and evaluating the performance of individuals and the effectiveness of the organizational unit.

Motivating Using influence techniques that appeal to logic or e motion to generate enthusiasm for work, commitment to task objectives and compliance with requests for cooperation, resources, or assistance; also s etting an e xample of proper behaviour.

Consulting Checking with people before making changes that affect them, encouraging participation in decision-making and allowing others to influence decisions.

Recognizing Providing praise and recognition for effective performance, significant achievements and special contributions.

Supporting Acting friendly and considerate, being patient and helpful, showing sympathy and support when someone is upset or anxious.

Managing conflict and team-building

Facilitating the constructive resolution of conflict and encouraging cooperation, teamwork and identification with the organizational unit.

Networking Socializing informally, developing contacts with people outside of the immediate work unit who are a source of information and support, maintaining contacts through periodic visits, telephone calls, correspondence and atten-dance at meeting and social events.

Delegating Allowing subordinates to have substantial responsibility and discretion in carrying out work activities and giving them authority to make important decisions.

Developing and men-toring

Providing coaching and carreer counseling and doing things to facilitate a subordinate`s skill acquisition and ca-reer advancement.

Rewarding Providing tangible rewards such as a pay increase or promo-tion for effective performance and demonstrated


Prerequisites of "good" leadership

• The "right" person ?– Traits of leaders compared to followers:

intelligence, extraversion, adjustment, dominance, self-confidence

but: overlapping distributions, cause or effect, situation dependence of differences

• The "right" behavior ? – Leadership styles:

task-centred versus employee-centred

autokratic vs. democratic (Lewin, Lippitt & White,1939)

transactional vs. transformational (Bass, 1985)

individual Leader-Member-Exchange (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995)


Prerequisites of "good" leaderhsip (continued)

• The "right" situation ?– group (size, composition etc.)– task (complexity, structure etc.)– organization (division of labor, formalization etc.)

• The "right interaction" between person and situation ?– e.g. Fiedler (1967): differentiated social perception in

combination with structured task, position power and good group climate

• The "right" instruments ?– e.g. management by objectives, performance appraisal


Normative leadership models

• e.g. Blake & Mouton (1968):9.9 leadership style (general requirement of high task and employee orientation)

• e.g. Hersey & Blanchard (1977): situation dependent variation of task and employee orientation

attempts to reduce the complexity of leadership demands– instructions for appropriate leadership behavior– tendency to "mechanize" leadership


Example from leadership diagnosis questionnaire(Hersey & Blanchard, 1977)

Situation Different options for action (mark the best one!)

1. Recently, your subordinates do not respond to your friendly conversation and your obvious caring for their well -being. Their performance is fluctuating.

A You emphasize the necessity of consistent procedures and task fulfilment.

B You make yourself available for conversation, but do not impose yourself on your team.

C You talk to your subordinates and then set objectives.

D You deliberately stay out.

2. Your team`s observable performance is increasing. You have made sure that every team member knows their role and requirements.

A You entertain friendly relationships, but continue to ensure that all team members know their roles and requirements.

B You do not do anything particular at all.

C You do as much as you can to give your team the feeling to be important and involved.

D You stress the importance of deadlines and tasks.


Situation Different options for action (mark the best one!)

1. Recently, your subordinates do not respond to your friendly conversation and your obvious caring for their well -being. Their performance is fluctuating.

T 1

E 3

TE 2

- 4

A You emphasize the necessity of consistent procedures and task fulfilment.

B You make yourself available for conversation, but do not impose yourself on your team.

C You talk to your subordinates and then set objectives.

D You deliberately stay out.

2. Your team`s observable performance is increasing. You have made sure that every team member knows their role and requirements.

TE 1 - 4

E 2

T 3

A You entertain friendly relationships, but continue to ensure that all team members know their roles and requirements.

B You do not do anything particular at all.

C You do as much as you can to give your team the feeling to be important and involved.

D You stress the importance of deadlines and tasks.


In the past the question was: "How do I lead a company?"

Today it is: "How do we lead a company?"

For the future it will be: "How does a company lead itself?"

"Boundaryless, flattened, flexible, project-based and team-based organizations that employ temporary, externalized and remote workers, whose tasks are more intellectual amd less routine and cannot be controlled and coordinated by structure or direct supervision, need mechanisms of coordination through shared meaning systems and a shared sense of purpose" (Shamir, 1999)


"Benchmarking": Characteristics of HRM in successful

companies (Pfeffer, 1998)

1. Employment security

2. Selective hiring

3. Self-managed teams and decentralization

4. High compensation contingent on organizational performance

5. Extensive training

6. Reduction of status differences

7. Sharing information


Changes in the basic understanding of leadership

• Not technical instruction on the treatment of the object employee, but support for the dialogue with the subject employee (Neuberger, 1990)

• Leadership is influencing, not dominating people• Dialogue under conditions of complex interactions

between individual goals and interests• Instead of clearly defined leadership tasks and rules more

"meta-rules" derived from the acknowledgement of self-organizating properties of teams and organizations

• Besides technical competence and charima a "sense for systemic dynamics" is needed


Examples for meta-rules (Probst, 1987)

• Learn to cope with ambiguities, indeterminancies, and uncertainties

• Keep and create opportunities• Increase autonomy and integration• Synchronize decisions and actions with "system

time"• Keep processes going – there are no final

solutions


Paradox of systemic leadership

The recoginition of self-organizing properties of social systems is to enable its (external) controllabilitiy.

i.e. gaining control by giving up control?


Topics HRM B: Leading teams

19.3. Introduction; Core functions of HRM – Benchmarking HRM

26.3. HRM as strategic and operative leadership task; Personnel selection: Theory

2.4. Personnel selection: Instruments (exercise in small groups)

16.4. Performance appraisal: Instruments for employee (and leader) appraisal

23.4. Compensation: Job evaluation, salary systems; Personnel development

30.4. Management by Objectives: Integrating appraisal/compensation/development in leadership

7.5. Leadership

14.5. Teams: Overview

21.5. Managing diversity

4.6. Teams (exercise in small groups)

11.6. Discussion of student projects in small groups

18.6. Exam preparation; Guest speaker Renato Merz, Head HR ABB Switzerland


Road map for HRM B

MotivationSatisfaction

Performance

Personnel selection

Performance appraisal / Compensation

Personnel development

Task /Work process


"Benchmarking": Characteristics of HRM in successful

companies (Pfeffer, 1998)

1. Employment security

2. Selective hiring

3. Self-managed teams and decentralization

4. High compensation contingent on organizational performance

5. Extensive training

6. Reduction of status differences

7. Sharing information


Self-regulating teams

• Teams: several people who work together over a period of time to reach common goals and who share a sense of belonging together

• Self-regulation: individual and collective autonomy in order to coordinate work processes and to cope with process variances and uncertainties locally


Advantages of teams

• developing ideas

• discovering and compensating individual errors

• furthering systems view

• supporting shared task orientation

• offering reciprocal support

• alleviating individual work load


Disadvantages of teams

• friction

• conformity

• levelling of individual performance

• diffusion of responsibility

• devaluation of other groups


Psychological group phenomena: Social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954)

• We have a need to assess own attitudes and abilities.

• If objetictive standards for these comparisons are missing, we compare ourselves with other people.

• We favor comparisons with people similar to ourselves.


Psychological group phenomena:Bystander-effect (Latané & Darley, 1970)

• The more people are present the less likely individuals are to take initiatives (e.g. helping someone who very obviously is in need of help).

• Underlying processes:– Diffusion of responsibility– Reinterpretation of the situation (necessity for

action is negated) – evaluation anxiety


Psychological group phenomena:Conformity (Asch, 1956)

• As soon as three or more group members express an opinion that is different from the opinion of another single member, there is a strong tendency for that member to adapt his/her opinion.

• Pressure to conform can lead to a change in the publicly expressed opinion without necessarily

changing the privately held conviction.


Psychological group phenomena:Groupthink (Janis, 1972)

Prerequisites High cohesion Isolation Directive leadership High time pressure

Symptoms Illusion of unanimity Feeling infallible Censoring people with different opinions Stereotypes about people outside the group Collective rationalization

Characteristics of the decision process

Insufficient search for information Insufficient search for alternatives Selective assessment of alternatives Missing planning for consequences

Measures to prevent groupthink

• Open development and assessment of alternatives

• Encouraging criticism and divergent opinions • Involving experts • Institutionalizing an Advocatus diaboli


Psychological group phenomena:Effects of different communication structures (Shaw, 1964)

Simple problem Complex problem

Time Errors Amount Satis-faction

Time Errors Amount Satis-faction

Centralized + + - - - - - -

Decentralized - - + + + + + +


Phases of team development (Tuckman, 1965)

• Forming (Orientation phase):– All new – insecurity– Test behaviors– Search for acceptable behaviors

• Storming (Conflict phase):– Fight for roles/positions ("Hackordnung")– Power struggles

• Norming (Organisation phase):– Agreeing on team rules and cooperation forms– Developing a sense of belonging together

• Performing (Performance phase):– Constructive task distribution and flexible role behavior– Energy is focused on task completion and goal attainment


Prerequisites for good team work

• Adequate common task – Complexity higher than individual competencies– Clear performance criteria– Collective decision competence

• Shared goal orientation – Positive goal coupling– Goal transparency and feedback

• Adequate group composition– Different perspectives on the task– Shared language

• Development of group rules– Adequate group size– Support for team development (form, storm, norm, perform)– Explicit handling of conflicts between individual and collective autonomy


Team diagnosis:Characteristics of effective teams

• Goals are clear and accepted

• Individual and team goals melt together

• Responsibilities are clear and change depending on situational demands

• Leadership is seen as a shared responsibility

• Conflicts are dealt with

• Team learns and develops

• Contributions are recognized and valued

• Communication is open and engaged

• Group processes are reflected upon and discussed


Team diagnosis:Critical team situations

• Different interests cannot be integrated

• Team is overloaded or underloaded

• Mistrust among team members

• Hierarchy impedes development of cohesion

• Little interaction and knowledge exchange

• Fear of mistakes and responsibility

• Non-complementary team composition

• Goals are lost sight of

• Problematic roles of some team members (wingers, freeloaders, talkers, silent people etc.)


Instruments for team diagnosis: Example 1

The cooperation with in my team during the last week was …

... goal oriented o o o o o o o ... not goal oriented

... productive o o o o o o o ... unproductive

... easy to coordinate o o o o o o o ... difficult to coordinate

... motivating o o o o o o o ... frustrating

... even o o o o o o o ... one-sided

... constructive o o o o o o o ... destructive

… exciting o o o o o o o … boring


Instruments for team diagnosis - Example 2

• Questionnaire on working in teams (F-A-T, Kauffeld, 2001)

– Person orientation: • Cohesion: trusting and open behaviors, social support,

sense of belonging.

• Taking on responsibility: Sense of responsibility, taking initiatives, showing commitment.

– Structure orientation:• Task fulfillment: Distribution of tasks and work processes.

• Goal orientation: Clarity, attainability, importance and identification with team goals.

• Recommendations: In case of team problems analyze structural dimensions first.


Team roles

Leadership rolesvisionary, strategist,

networker, coach,

integrator, motivator,

controller, planner,

power promotor ...

Member rolesexpert, helper,

unconventional thinker,

advocatus diaboli, social

promotor, scape goat ...


Chosen leadership approach determines role

E.g.:

• Empowerment Coach

• Employee orientation Parent

• Task orientation Controller

• Charismatic leadership Visionary

• Change agent Strategist


Sources of power as basis for different leadership roles (French & Raven, 1959)

Gratification powerInfluence based on positive reinforcement through rewards or prevention of harm

Coercive powerInfluence through possibilities for punishment or taking away rewards

Position powerInfluence based on the position in the organization

Expert powerInfluence based on personal competence

Charismatic powerInfluence based on the followers' identification with the leader due to personal attraction


Changing leadership roles depending on stage in work processes

• Providing structure at the start of a process • Deciding in critical phases• Coach/motivator in on-going work processes• Team member (= no leadership) in routine

processes• Moderator in decision processes• Evaluator at the end of a process


Work in distributed teams:Teams have changed ...

from

• fixed team membership• team members belong to organization

• team members belong to team 100%

• team members are located at the same siteof the same organization

• team membership has a clearly definedstart and end point

• teams are led by one manager

• direct communication

to

changing team membership team members can be external to the

organization team members are members of several

teams team members are distributed across

different locations and organizations teams change continuously

teams are responsible towards severalunits

computer-mediated communication


Concerns of managers of distributed teams (Reichwald & Bastian, 1999)

• Change of culture

Surveillance -> trust

Direct instructions -> self-organization• Coordination and correction of mistakes become

more difficult• Weaker relationship between employee and

organization• Loss of power and prestige


New demands on leadership in virtual teams (Springall et al., 2006)

• High complexity of situation also requires complex leaderhip behaviors

• Conflicting leaderhip concepts have to be integrated into a coherent leadership style

VL HRM B – G. Grote ETHZ, SS07 Topics HRM B: Leading teams.

Documents

Transcript of VL HRM B – G. Grote ETHZ, SS07 Topics HRM B: Leading teams.