WEEK 1 – Teams in Organizations

Topic goals

• To gain an understanding of the role of teams in organizations

• To learn about the stages of team development
• To learn about leading teams in organizations
 Teams in organization, team roles and stages of team development

The definition of teams

There are a lot of definitions of teams and what constitutes a team. A team is a
small group of people with complementary skills who are committed to a certain goal
and perform in accordance to the goal whilst depending on each other and sharing
mutual feelings of responsibility (Clutterbuck, 2013; Katzenbach & Smith, 1999).
F u r t h e r m o r e , Sinclair (1992) defines a team as a distinctive class of group that
is more task-oriented than other groups and that has a set of obvious rules and
rewards for its members.

One simple definition of team is that it is a special type of work group,

consisting of two or more individuals who are responsible for achieving one or more
goals or objectives (Gibson et al., 2009). A team is any group of people with
different skills organised to work together interdependently and co-operatively to
meet the needs of their customers by accomplishing a purpose and goals. The most
important characteristic of a team is that its members have the accomplishment
of team goals as their highest priority(Quick, 1992).

The benefits of participating in a team are:

• Im prov ed leadership skills for team members, processes, procedures and

organizational productivity (Gibson et al., 2009; Klein et al., 2009; Pellerin,
2009; Sassenberg et al.,2007; Spiegel & Torres, 1994; West, 2004).
• Improved abilities to problem- solve.
 • Improved collaboration, communication, productivity, quality, utilization of
resources, decision-making,solution identification, commitment, employee
morale, and quality of work.
• New problem-solving approaches are created and achievement of common
goals is facilitated (Albanese, 1994).
• More clearly defined employee goals and objectives a r e e s t a b l i s h e d while
providing an opportunity for team members to demonstrate their strengths
and weaknesses.

The Concept of
‘role'

The term ‘role’ is a sociology- origin concept and it was first used to understand the
behaviours of individuals in a social environment (Biddle & Thomas, 1966). It is also
an important component of social structure and plays asignificant role in
understanding human behaviour in organizations. Roles c a n b e described from
two perspectives, namely the behavioural or anthropologic-sociologic perspective,
and the psychological or expectancy perspective.

Behavioural perspective or anthropologic-sociologic perspective:

F r o m t h i s p e r s p e c t i v e , ‘ role’ refers to the typical behaviour of an

individual who has a certain position in a community or in a determined context.

Psychological perspective or expectancy perspective:

F r o m t h i s p e r s p e c t i v e , ‘role’ refers to the expected behaviours of an

individual who has a certain position in a community. Τhese behaviours consist of the
expectations and standards that an individual needs to have for a certain position.

In addition, Belbin (1981) defines two role types: the functional and team roles.
The functional role involves a set o f required functions for the survival and living
of a social system. T h e team role, o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , r e f e r s t o a set of
roles that are defined within a definite context.
 Team roles

Team leaders are not managers. They spend most of their time doing what their
team members do. They are part of the team, work with the other members of their
team and do the same tasks with additional responsibilities. Team leaders should be as
good with their tasks as the other members of the team.

Benne and Sheats (1949) have been recognized as the pioneers in the field
of defining team roles. According to the authors, membership roles are required for
group development and production. They identified 27 team roles which are
classified to three main categories: team roles, mission and individual roles.
The study of Parker (1994; 1996) one of the m ost widely known studies, described
four team player styles which represent the choices the individuals made during
the interaction within the team context. These are: contributor, collaborator,
communicator and challenger.

Another theory is the theory of Barry (1991) who described four types of
leaderships which are mandatory for self- managing teams: envisioning leadership,
organizing leadership, spanning leadership and social leadership.

Belbin’s Team Roles Theory

Belbin’s team role theory i n i t i a l l y determined eight team roles but

another one was added later, as will be described below.

Belbin described certain team roles which are required for the success of
the team. She described team roles as a servant member who facilitated the progress
of the team as a whole with his performance. She also believes that team members
have
two types of roles. The first one is the functional role and the second one is the team
role. The team roles describes how suitable a member is for the team.
According to this theory, the role is described according to six
factors,namely personality, mental abilities, motivation, values, field restriction –
experience and role learning. Belbin did not explain how most of the changes could
arise depending on each factor. Instead, she stated that high performance teams
require a balanced distribution of all the roles within the team. In addition, she
mentioned that team role concept should be distinguished from the concept of
functional role. Therefore, some members may have the same functional role and
different team roles.
According to Belbin, there are six stages of the development process of the team
which includedetermining the needs, coming up with ideas, formulating the plans,
realizingthe ideas, forming the team and finalizing the job.
He named the following team roles: Chairman, Shaper, Team Plant, Resource
Investigator, Monitor Evaluator, Team Worker, Company Worker and Completer
Finisher at the beginning. He then renamed the Chairman as “Coordinator” and the
Company Worker as “Implementer” and he added a ninth role which was the role of
“Specialist”. These team roles were divided into three categories as shown below:
• Action Roles which include the role of Shaper, Implemented and Completer
Finisher.
• Social Roles which include the role of Co-ordinator, Team worker and Resource
Investigator.
• Thinking roles which include the role ofPlant, Monitor Evaluator and Specialist.
These roles are very important as they used to understand team work and the
management of the team. Belbin also defined characteristic weaknesses and strengths
that tend to accompany each team role, as illustrated in the table below.
 Belbin’s team-role descriptions

Type Characteristics Positive Weaknesses

qualities
Company Responsible for Hard-working, Lack of
worker implementing Organizational flexibility,
plans and skills, self unresponsiveness
effectively and discipline to unproven
systematically. ideas.

Chairman Team Self-disciplined, No more than

director, dominant, ordinary in terms
organizer and determined , of intellect or
team manager. strong sense of creative ability.
Guides and objectives.
controls other
members and he
supports
promising ideas.
Shaper Has the main Sensitive, Impatience,
role of shaping sociable, irritation,
team endeavors self- aggressive.
and applications. deception,
Combines ideas
and aims related
to a project.
Motivates his
team into action.
 Plant Source of High mental Up in the clouds.
original ideas skills, genius, Inclined to
and one of the intellect, disregard
creative imagination. practical details or
members of the protocol.
team.

Resource Second member An ability to Loses interest

Investigator to be respond to once the initial
innovative. challenge and fascination has
Develops explore anything passed.
unique ideas. new

Team Worker Supports other Less dominant Indecisiveness at

members with his and, moments of
strength, extroverted crisis.
develops Ability to
communication promote team
and helps them spirit.
overcome their
insufficiencies.
Aware of
other members
anxieties and
needs.
Monitor Expert in High mental Lacks inspiration
Evaluator analyzing talents. and the ability to
problems, Unprejudiced motivate others.
assessing ideas and unbiased.
and offering
suggestions for
taking decent
decisions.
 Not familiar in
producing
productive ideas,
but protects the
team from fatal
mistakes.

Completer – The ‘security’ Time A tendency to

Finisher of the team to management worry about small
ensure the skills, things.
avoidance of perfectionism Anxious.
any mistakes. .
Few people
prefer this role.
Tries new and
complicated
things and
finishes what he
begins.
 Building effective teams

The first stage of the Integrated Theoretical model for building effective teams
is the development of an appropriate team-building philosophy. This requires
an understanding of team building, types of teams, purpose of teams, and team
effectiveness strategy.
“Team building is the process of helping a work group become more effective
in accomplishing its tasks and satisfying the needs of group members” (Cummings &
Worley, 2005, p. 676). Team building is an important component in building effective
teams, because it ensures self-development and encourage performance improvement
of team members. In addition, it promotes positive communication and improves work
environment. Moreover, team building is important because it encourages effective
leadership, identifies the strengths of team members and teaches team members self-
regulation strategies.

Goals of team building

Williams, Graham, and Baker (2003) identified the following team-building goals:
1. Discover new solutions to enhance team effectiveness and cohesiveness.
2. Explore ways to build team motivation and commitment.
3. Discover tools and resources that can help strengthen a team and build
wholehearted cooperation.
4. Gain personal insight about how individual actions and behaviours either
add to or detract from teamwork and team building.
In addition, team development promotes high levels of team performance, helps
employees increase their level of interest and develop awareness and practical skills
(Williams, Graham & Baker, 2003).

Types of teams

There are three types of teams:

• Problem-solving teams:teams which concentrate on a specific problem or need

that confronts the organization (Sundtrom, De Meuse, & Futrell, 1990).
• Work teams: small teams of interdepended people who share responsibilities in
their organization.
• Virtual teams: teams that rely on interactive technology to work .

Purpose of teams

The purpose of teams varies according to the organization and the institution.
In general, the purpose of a team is to improve project results, develop a common
mission of shared goals, develop trust and commitment, resolve differences, create
interdependency among team members and develop problem solving skills (Lanson &
LaFasto, 1989).
 Team Effectiveness Strategy
In order to build a team, we need to ensure that it is effective. An effective team is a
team whose members are willing to take risks, and share information, ideas, time
and resources. An effective team also promotes trust and involvement.
Organizational effectiveness requires managers to build on employees’ strengths
and manage their weaknesses (Buckingham & Clifton, 2001).

Selection Criteria

Once a team-building philosophy has been developed, the second phase of the
integrated theoretical model for building effective teams is to identify specific team
member selection criteria that facilitate team interaction, teamwork, and performance
achievement (Spiegel & Torres, 1994). The criteria reflect the competencies needed
by team members, temperament-type theory, and characteristics of effective teams.
According to Clifton and Nelson (1992), there are four characteristics that can
be used to determine a member’s strengths. These characteristics have to do with
t h e employee’s passion in regards to a particular task or activity, the employee’s
satisfaction when performing a certain task, continuous learning and the exceptional
achievement of various tasks. Team effectiveness strategy should also include the
identification of team member’s weaknesses such as slow learning, inability to
remember simple steps and procedures of a task, and avoidance of particular tasks.
 After the identification of the weaknesses, the development of strategies to help
employees manage their weaknesses is mandatory. Buckingham and Clifton (2001)
developed four strategies that managers can use in order to help the employees manage
their weaknesses:
• Delegating: encouraging team members to work on tasks for which they are best
suited rather t h a n on tasks on which they are not productive or they are not
able to produce positive results.
• Partnering: combining two employees’ strengths in order to achieve a
common goal.
• Preventing: allowing team members the right to refuse t o participate in
certain tasks or activities.
• Accepting alternatives: being willing to accept different ways of
accomplishing the same tasks.

Competencies Needed by Team Members

In order to build effective teams, team members need to develop competencies,

which include the skills, knowledge and attitudenecesary for conflict resolution,
problem solving, communication, organizational understanding, decision making,
goal setting and performance management, and planning and task coordination
(Stevens & Campion, 1999; Sundstrom et al, 1990).

Conflict resolution: During team interactions, it is very difficult to maintain a positive

relation between the members all the time. Therefore, conflicts between the
members of a team may occur at times. When a conflict occurs, people might be
averse to alternative solutions. In this case, conflict-resolution competencies are
critical to the effectiveness of teams. Τhese competencies help members to be able
to recognize the type and source of conflict and implement a resolution for the
conflict.

Problem solving: This competence requires from team members to identify the
problem and the strategies needed to resolve the problem.
Communication: Communication competence is used to improve interpersonal
exchanges between the members in both a verbal and non-verbal way. These skills
involve the proper use of active listening, questioning, encouraging, and silence. In
addition, they lead to more successful team interactions.

Decision-making skills: This competence refers to the way in which individuals arrive
at a decision or a conclusion through a process of consultation. During this
procedure, team members assess the risk for each option and make the most
appropriate decision.

Goal setting and performance management skills: These competencies have to do

with the establishment of specific and accepted goals.

Planning and task coordination: These competencies will help team members to
coordinate activities, information, and task interdependencies amongst themselves.

Temperament Type Theory

When you have to select the members of a team, it is imperativeto select

individuals with the competencies that are needed in order to achieve the team’s
purpose and objectives. It is also important to balance the team with individuals who
have different but complementary approaches to problem solving, communication,
and critical thinking. One way of achieving this is to use temperament type theory
when forming teams. Observers of human behaviour have identified major patterns of
behaviour which have led to the formation of the temperament type theory.
People may communicate, handle emotions, manage stress and deal with conflicts
differently. These differences may lead to negative interpersonal interactions, which
can be sources of conflict in a team. Because people are important for the success of a
team, it is important to discover how individuals think, make decisions and use
time differently.
 Several researchers focused on the temperament type theory. Merrill & Reid
(1981), developed a temperament theory called the Social Styles Profile, which is
used to identify another’s person temperament type. According to Merrill and
Reid’s temperament theory, team members observe two dimensions of human
interaction: assertiveness and responsiveness. These two dimensions are incredibly
helpful in predicting how other people are likely to behave during one-on-one and
group interactions. Assertiveness is the degree to which a person is perceived to
attempt to influence the thoughts and actions of others. Responsiveness is the degree
to which a person is perceived to express feelings when relating with others.
Each individual’s interpersonal style is his or her own unique blend of assertiveness
and responsiveness. However, most people fall more or less into one of four styles,
known as Analytical, Driver, Amiable, or Expressive.

These four styles can be described this way:

• Analytical style is perceived as ask-assertive/control-responsive. Analytical
individuals are task oriented, precise, and thorough. They work
methodically and use standard operating procedures (Bolton & Bolton, 2009).
• Driver Style is perceived as tell-assertive/control-responsive. Drivers are goal
goal-oriented, disciplined, and determined thinkers who push for results
and accomplishments. They like control (Bolton & Bolton, 2009).
• Amiable Style is perceived as ask-assertive/emote-responsive. Amiable
individuals are people-oriented, friendly, accepting, cooperative, and like to be
liked. They are motivated to help others in a team effort (Bolton & Bolton,
2009).
• Expressive Style is perceived as tell-assertive/emote-responsive. Expressive
individuals are enthusiastic, and spontaneous. They like to initiate
relationships and motivate others toward goals (Bolton & Bolton, 2009).

Merill and Reid believe that team members need to appreciate the differences in their
fellow team members and that people need to adapt and adjust their interpersonal
interactions when communicating with others.
Characteristics of Effective Teams
Hackman (2002) identified the following characteristics of effective teams
1. Every team needs direction and goals which are useful in order to
evaluate performance.
2. All teams need good leadership in order to manage the relation between teams
and guide the team toward its goals.
3. Teams need skills and tasks that are suited for team work.
4. Teams need the appropriate financial, material and human resources to perform
tasks.
5. Teams need to be part of a supportive organizational environment which
will allow team members to implement decisions.
6. The atmosphere needs to be informal, comfortable, and relaxed.
7. Everyone needs to engage in a lot of discussion.
8. People are free to express their feelings as well as their ideas.
9. Most decisions are made at a point where there is a general agreement.
10. Criticism is frequent, frank and relatively comfortable.

According to Spiegel and Torres (1994), effective teams exist when they share common
goals, common identity and common objectives. Jones and George (2009) stated that
effective teams have members who are cooperative and collaborative and make
decisions effectively and efficiently.

Stages of team development

The third phase of the integrated theoretical model for building effective teams
is to identify the five stages of team development and discuss how each one influences
team effectiveness. There are 5 stages for building a team. These stages are mandatory
for building effective teams and each stage influences team effectiveness.
Tuckman and Jenson (1977) identified five stages of team development: forming,
storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. These stages are necessary and
 inevitable for the team to grow and develop, to confront challenges and to resolve
problems. In addition, the stages are important in order for the team to identify and
implement solutions and achieve desired results.

Stage 1: Forming
The first stage is forming the team. The main aim of the first stage is the achievement
of an understanding of the group bylearning about other members of the group.
Teams have high expectations of what is to come. During the first stage there is a
high level of uncertainty regarding the group’s purpose and goal. Τherefore the team
members experience feelings of anxiety and awkwardness about other members.
However, they are excited and motivated to achieve the desired results. At this
stage trust between members is very low and they are not sincere about their
opinions and ideas. They look for a sense of security and recognition from other
members and that they do indeed belong to this team. During this stage, members
establish initial group interaction protocol, identify activities that improve their
interaction and working styles. There are no conflicts yet, as they explore their new
team. Spiegel and Torres (1994) agree that people have a greater change for
achievement during the first stage if some conditions are met. These conditions
include having a specific and measurable objective that can be achieved by a team
effort, belonging to an organizational culture that supports the team concept,
devoting sufficient time for adequate training, debate and discussion, and, finally,
being aware of and using ovarious problem solving techniques (Spiegel & Torres,
1994).

Stage2: Storming
After the team has been formed, it enters the storming stage. At this stage, different
ideas, approaches and work styles are being taken into consideration. (Bilder,
1989; Spiegel & Torres, 1994; Tuckman &Jenson, 1977). The storming stage is
characterized by conflict and frustration both within and outside the team, because of
the role ambiguity, the competition among members and the strong resistance to team
development. People might become dissatisfied with their leader or the other members
of the team. During this stage, the members have not yet established the procedures and
protocols that are required to achieve the desired results. The team members can
identify the role identity, the expectations and how group members will work with one
another (Weaver & Farrell, 1997). Developing strategies are useful here in order to
teach members how to deal with the various approaches and conflicts. The storming
stage can be unpleasant and painful to the members, but if viewed in a positive
way,conflicts can prove to be a constructive experience.

Stage 3: Norming

During this stage, members start working on the establishment of procedures and
protocols for accomplishing their work. Members start working on decision–making
activities related to the team’s task accomplishment and resolving differences. Trust
and respect start to characterized this stage. (Whichard & Kees, 2006). Members start
to share responsibility and respect for the different style and, therefore, harmony
starts to grow between the members. In addition, they develop work habits and
teamwork skills. They start developing closer relationships, sharing their ideas and
goals and interacting with each other. If a leader proved effective at coaching the
team, its members dissatisfaction will start to decline.

Stage 4: Performing
Having completed the previous stages, members begin to regard what the team does
with more optimism and excitement. During the performing stage, members
overcome their conflicts and experience high performance. The team effectiveness
is enhanced and members collaborate with each other. In this stage there is an
interdependency of team members, a high level of team satisfaction and excellent
performance. At this stage, members are
motivated, autonomous and able to achieve their goals without direct supervision.
Conflicts and disagreements are expected but without experiencing the negative
consequences as in the previous stages. The team is performing well even under
pressure and has a sense of positivity and confidence.

Stage 5: Adjourning
This is the final stage of team development. In this stage, task performance is no longer
the priority of the team. Team members may feel happy about accomplishing the
mission but sad about the loss of friendship and association as well as feel heightened
emotionality, strong cohesiveness or depression. Members receive a knowledge which
will be used for any team in the future.
 Theoretical Constructs That Affect Team Development

The fourth phase of the integrated theoretical model for building effective teams is
to examine the theoretical constructs that affect team development and their
implications. There are four theoretical contracts:

The first theoretical construct that affects team development

is charge and charter theory. The team charge is a
straightforward procedure and has to do with the tasks that
need to be done and achieved. A charter is the description
of how the team will function (Weaver & Farrell, 1997;
Whichard
& Kees, 2006).
Team charters have four components:
• A purpose which explains why a team exists, how
it relates to the overall Organizational strategy, to
Charge and
whom it is responsible and how it will benefit the
Charter Theory
organization.
• The goals of the group which provide information
about the what the team has to complete, how it
will accomplish the responsibilities and when the
tasks will be accomplished.
• The roles of each team member
• The procedures a team will follow whichdefinehow
teams plan to work together, and the processes to
befollowed.
 The Change Curveconsists of four quadrants that represent
the phases each person experience when they face a new
activity or a major change (Bilder, 1989). The first
quadrant represents the denial phase and is characterized
by enthusiasm because people lack knowledge regarding
Change Curve the complexity of the project. This is called the forming
stage of development, as most people are excited for
joining the team.

The second one is known as the resistance phase, where

people start to realize the complexity of their task and the
difficulty for accomplished the task. Most members start to
be resistant to change. According to Whichard and Kees
(2006), people need to go through this stage in order to
accept and support the charge and charter of the team.

The third quadrant is the realization of the process.

Members start to perceive the charge and charter of the team
more positively. Members start to adopt to the team and
share common beliefs and values. Team members start to
accomplish their tasks.

The fourth and final quadrant is the commitment. During

this phase, team members accept their charge and charter,
and start performing results than enhance performance
impact and team effectiveness (Katzenbach & Smith, 2003).
Team members are focused on achieving results.
 The third theoretical construct that affects team development
is the Performance Curve theory which was developed by
Katzenbach and Smith (2003). This theory emphasizes the
Performance relationship between performance impact and team
Curve effectiveness. Teams start to produce performance results
that positively improve team effectiveness. According to
Katzenbach and Smith (2003), team effectiveness is
positively correlated with performance impact as teams
achieve their desired results.

The fourth theoretical construct that affects team

development is the Synergistic Relationship
theory. This construct was introduced by Gilley and
Boughton (1996) who stated that relationships with each
other are very important, as they build a positive and
comfortable climate with others. Synergistic relationships
involve the interdependence of individuals who work
toward a common goalThese provides five important
benefits (Gilley, Dixon & Gilley, 2008):
• Building and enhancing manager’s and employee’s self-
esteem.
Synergistic • Enhancing productivity.
Relationship • Building and enhancing organizational communication.
Theory • Building and enhancing organizational understanding
• Building and enhancing organizational commitment
 Conclusion:

It is very important to understand the components of the integrated theoretical

model in order to build effective teams. The presented theoretical model is based on a
team-building philosophy and a set of theories. By integrating the selection, team
development, charge and charter, change, performance, and relationship theories into
one theoretical model, scholars and professionals can better design, develop, manage,
and facilitate effective teams to improve organizational results.
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