Tutorials Week 3.docx

1、Tutorials Week 3Tutorials Week 3Revision of LectureStudents to complete Belbin Questionnaire Tutorial discussion and analysisAdditional reading. This is particularly helpful in relation to the QuestionnaireTeamworkingRevised March 2012 In this factsheet What is teamworking? Building effective teams

2、Team role theories and team selection Team leadership, training and reward CIPD viewpoint References Further readingWhat is teamworking? Defining teamworkingTeamworking may be defined as a work practice based on the use of teams, or groups of limited numbers of people, who have shared objectives at

3、work and who co-operate, on a permanent or temporary basis, to achieve those objectives in a way that allows each individual to make a distinctive contribution.BackgroundIn recent decades, teamworking has grown in importance. Previously, roles at work were often well-defined; in the traditional offi

4、ce or factory, for example, there was usually a strict division of responsibilities and most job titles conveyed exactly which duties people would be expected to undertake. But with advances in technology and education, employers began to place a growing emphasis on versatility, leading to an increa

5、sing interest in teamworking at all levels. The gradual replacement of traditional hierarchical forms with flatter organisational structures, in which employees are expected to fill a variety of roles, has similarly played a part in the rise of the team.More recently, too, a focus on high-performanc

6、e or high-commitment work practices has played a part in fostering the use of teamworking. The 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS)1 found teamworking to be the most commonly used work practice among a group of identified high-performance practices, with almost three-quarters of workpla

7、ces deploying at least some core employees in formally-designated teams.Types of teamThere are many types of teams. What follows2 is not a comprehensive list, and there are other definitions and classifications, while some teams may fit into more than one category. Production and service teams examp

8、les are in production, construction, sales and health care. They have a relatively long life-span, providing an ongoing product or service to customers or users of the organisation. Project and development teams including research and product development teams. Dedicated to a particular objective, t

9、hey have limited life-spans and a clear set of short-term objectives. They are often cross-functional, with members selected for the contribution their expertise can make. Advice and involvement teams with the aim of improving, for example, working conditions or quality. Members will not devote a gr

10、eat deal of time to them and, once they have achieved their objectives, they should be disbanded. Crews such as airline crews, which may be formed from members who have rarely worked together but through prior training clearly understand their respective roles. Action and negotiation teams such as s

11、urgical and legal teams, these consist of people who tend to work together regularly. They have well-developed processes and clear objectives. Virtual teams whose members work in separate buildings and may even be in different countries. They may need to communicate by telephone, email and tele- or

12、video-conferencing rather than face-to-face. Managing such teams can be particularly difficult, not least because remote working can exacerbate misunderstandings. Where some members of the remote teams are located overseas (for example, with the offshoring of certain back-office roles), additional c

13、hallenges may arise with issues such as time differences when planning communications. Self-managed teams where much decision-making is devolved from line managers to team members. Such teams may also be known as semi-autonomous or fully autonomous teams, according to the degree of self-management.I

14、n general, teams will consist of people employed by the same organisation, although sometimes there may be teams from different employers: examples are design project teams in construction, which bring together architects and engineers from different firms, or teams that include customers or supplie

15、rs.Teams can include senior and junior employees (for the latter, team membership may also be a development opportunity) and someone relatively junior may be a team leader.Most commentators suggest that between five and eight people is the ideal size for teams. Teams need to be large enough to incor

16、porate the appropriate range of expertise and representation of interests, but not so large that team-members participation, and hence their interest, is limited.Benefits of teamworkingOrganisations use teamworking for many reasons, including the desire to achieve the following objectives: improve p

17、roductivity enhance quality of products or services improve customer focus speed the spread of ideas respond to opportunities and threats and to fast-changing environments increase employee motivation introduce multi-skilling and employee flexibility.There can be benefits for employees too. The most

18、 commonly-quoted positive outcomes are greater job satisfaction and motivation together with improved learning. Building effective teams Stages of team developmentWoodcocks seminal theory about team functioning proposes that, when a group of people come together to achieve an objective, they go thro

19、ugh a series of stages leading to a final mature stage that equates to an effective team3.The main stages are: Forming or undeveloped, when people are working as individuals rather than a team. Storming the team becomes more aggressive, both internally and in relation to outside groups, rules and re

20、quirements. Norming or consolidating, in which the team is beginning to achieve its potential, effectively applying the resources it has to the tasks it has, using a process it has developed itself. Performing when the team is characterised by openness and flexibility. It challenges itself constantl

21、y but without emotionally charged conflict, and places a high priority on the development of other team members. Mourning when the team disbands.While this is a useful theoretical model, it should not be seen as unvarying. For example, a team in which the members know each other well may perform eff

22、ectively almost from the start.Characteristics of effective teamsAn effective team has the following characteristics: a common sense of purpose a clear understanding of the teams objectives resources to achieve those objectives mutual respect among team members, both as individuals and for the contr

23、ibution each makes to the teams performance valuing members strengths and respecting their weaknesses mutual trust willingness to share knowledge and expertise willingness to speak openly a range of skills among team members to deal effectively with all its tasks a range of personal styles for the v

24、arious roles needed to carry out the teams tasks.Team role theories and team selection Two central requirements for team membership may be identified: the team should include a range of the necessary technical and specialist skills there should be a variety of personal styles among members to fill t

25、he different roles that are involved in successful teamwork.Team rolesThe well-known expert in the field of teamworking, Dr Meredith Belbin, undertook pioneering work on team roles or types during the 1970s and has continued to progress his work in this area in successive decades4. Belbin has develo

26、ped and slightly amended his description of team roles over the years and in his later work lists nine roles5: Plant creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Solves difficult problems. Resource investigator extrovert, enthusiastic, exploratory. Explores opportunities. Develops contacts. Co-ordinator matur

27、e, confident, a good chairperson. Clarifies goals, promotes decision making. Shaper dynamic, challenging. Has drive and courage to overcome obstacles. Monitor evaluator sober, strategic, discerning. Sees all options. Teamworker co-operative, mild, perceptive, diplomatic. Listens, builds, averts fric

28、tion. Implementer disciplined, reliable, conservative. Turns ideas into practical action. Completer painstaking, conscientious, anxious. Searches out errors and omissions, delivers on time. Specialist single-minded, self-starting, dedicated. Provides knowledge and skill that may be in short supply.B

29、elbins work has been criticised on the grounds that individuals rarely fit neatly into these categories most fit into more than one category while, arguably, the best team workers will adapt their behaviour to fill different roles as circumstances require. However, an awareness that an individual te

30、am member tends to fit a certain profile may have value in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of that individual and other team members.Subsequent investigations by the academics Margerison and McCann confirm the need identified by Belbin for complementary skills within a team, leading to th

31、eir development of the concept of a team management wheel6. The Margerison-McCann work stresses the need for individual development as an essential first step to team development, with both of these aspects placed firmly in the context of clear business objectives, and highlights the key role for a

32、linker at the centre of the team management wheel model.Selecting team membersThere are many other psychological tests and criteria that result in different team type classifications. Organisations may wish to look at a sample of tests to consider which might be most appropriate if they intend to use them to select team members and, especially, te