LO1 - Teams and Informal Groups

• Teams


  Groups of two or more people who interact

  and influence each other, are mutually accountable

  for achieving common goals associated with

  organizational objectives, and perceive themselves

  as a social entity within an organization.
• Teams


  exist to fulfill some purpose.
• Teams


  Interdependence and need for collaboration.
• Teams


  Mutual accountability
• Teams


  exists when its members perceive themselves to be a team.
• Types of teams


  1. Team permanence
  2. Skill diversity
  3. Authority dispersion
• Team permanence


  refers to how long the team exists.

  • Accounting, marketing, and other departments are usually long-lasting structures, so these teams have high permanence.
  • task forces and project teams usually have low permanence because most are formed temporarily to solve a problem, realize an opportunity, or design a product or service.
• Skill diversity


  team members have different skills or knowledge
• low diversity


  exists when team members have similar abilities and, therefore, are interchangeable
• Most functional departments have low skill diversity because they organize employees around

  their common skill sets (e.g., people with accounting expertise are located in the accounting department).

  In contrast, financial advisory team members have diverse expertise in different asset classes (stocks, bonds, etc.) or economic regions.
• Authority dispersion


  refers to the degree that decision-making responsibility is distributed throughout the team (high dispersion) or is vested in one or a few members of the team (low dispersion).
• Departmental teams tend to have low authority dispersion because power is somewhat concentrated in a formal manager. Self-directed teams usually have high authority dispersion because the entire team makes key decisions and hierarchical authority is limited.
• Departmental teams


  Teams that consist of employees who have similar or

  complementary skills and are located in the same unit of a

  functional structure; usually minimal task interdependence

  because each person works with clients or with employees

  in other departments.
• Self-directed teams


  Teams whose members are organized around work

  processes that complete an entire piece of work requiring

  several interdependent tasks and have substantial autonomy over the execution of those tasks (i.e., they usually control inputs, flow, and outputs with little or no supervision).
• Task forces/project teams

  Cross-functional teams whose members are usually drawn from several disciplines to solve a specific problem, realize an opportunity, or design a product or service.
• Informal groups


  Groups that exist primarily for the benefit of their members.
• Reasons why informal groups exist


  1. human beings are social animals. Our drive to bond is hardwired through evolutionary development, creating a need to belong to informal groups.
  2. Social identity (individuals define themselves by their group affiliations)
  3. accomplish personal objectives that cannot be achieved by individuals working alone
  4. we are comforted by the mere presence of other people and are therefore motivated to be near them in stressful situations. (emotional support)
• social networks


  Social structures of individuals or social units that are

  connected to each other through one or more forms of

  interdependence.