Teamwork - Theories, Design and Dynamics
Hoorcollege 1
Work teams: interdependent collection of individuals who share responsibility for specific outcomes
for their organization.
Why are team so popular:
“Teams offer the potential for synergy, that wonderful state when a group ‘clicks’ and members
achieve something together that no one of them could possibly have accomplished alone”
Teams bring more resources
Diversity in background and expertise
Flexibility, keep the work going
What are work teams?
- Interdependence as a defining feature
- dictionary definition: ‘the dependence of two or more people or things on each other’
- interdependence is everywhere
Low:
- Individual tasks are pooled at the end as group output
- Individual contributions are valued (rewarded) more than collective contributions
- Redundant individual resources/ expertise etc.
High:
- Individuals work simultaneously on all aspects of the task
- Rewards are based on the collective output/ end product
- Members differ in their type and quantity of resources
Two different types of work teams:
1. Task interdependence: the degree to which members depend on another for access to critical
resources and create workflows that require coordinated action
2. Outcome interdependence: the degree to which goals are formulated and outcomes are
rewarded in terms of collective rather than individual contributions
TEAM: together everyone achieves more
Are work teams really that effective?
Richard hackman: ‘research evidence about team performance shows that teams usually do
less well – not better- than the sum of their members’ individual contributions
, In a lab study of 33 teams: ‘probably 4 of our 33 groups were actually effective teams. The
rest had problems so severe that our analysis was mainly about what had gone wrong with
them’
Several features are needed for teams to be successful
What do work teams need to be effective?
- TASK
do not us a team for work that is better one by individuals
- STUCTURE
to recap the benefits of teamwork, one must actually build the team
set boundaries, define relationships, divide tasks, form relationships with stakeholders
- LEADERSHIP AND SUPPORT
leaders need to give direction to avoid ambiguity
the organizational context needs to provides support that is specifically tuned to the needs of
work teams
it is important to reward collective outcomes
The model
Star players -> coordination -> performance
The basic IMOI model
Input -> mediator -> output
1. Input
Team design
- composition
- interdependence
- leaderschip and authority
Task factors
Context
Potential performance: performance that a team could achieve
- is high when teams have the resources that are required by the task
Task types and potential performance
Actual performance (Steiner, 1972)
= potential performance – process loss
- coordination loss
- motivation loss
, 2. Mediators
Team processes: members interdependent acts that convert inputs to outcomes through
cognitive, verbal, and behavioral activities directed toward organizing taskwork to achieve
collective goals
Emergent states: constructs that characterize properties of the team that are typically
dynamic in nature and vary as a function of team context, inputs, processes, and outcomes
Cohesion (emergent state)
The force that binds members to the team and induces them to stay in with the team
- task cohesion: shared commitment to the team task
- interpersonal cohesion: attraction to the team
Meta-analytic correlation with performance
- task: .27
- interpersonal: .14
Causality?
Mullen & Copper, 1994
The IMOI model
3. Output
Nijstad, 2009
Bunderson & Sutcliffe, 2002
Hoorcollege 1
Work teams: interdependent collection of individuals who share responsibility for specific outcomes
for their organization.
Why are team so popular:
“Teams offer the potential for synergy, that wonderful state when a group ‘clicks’ and members
achieve something together that no one of them could possibly have accomplished alone”
Teams bring more resources
Diversity in background and expertise
Flexibility, keep the work going
What are work teams?
- Interdependence as a defining feature
- dictionary definition: ‘the dependence of two or more people or things on each other’
- interdependence is everywhere
Low:
- Individual tasks are pooled at the end as group output
- Individual contributions are valued (rewarded) more than collective contributions
- Redundant individual resources/ expertise etc.
High:
- Individuals work simultaneously on all aspects of the task
- Rewards are based on the collective output/ end product
- Members differ in their type and quantity of resources
Two different types of work teams:
1. Task interdependence: the degree to which members depend on another for access to critical
resources and create workflows that require coordinated action
2. Outcome interdependence: the degree to which goals are formulated and outcomes are
rewarded in terms of collective rather than individual contributions
TEAM: together everyone achieves more
Are work teams really that effective?
Richard hackman: ‘research evidence about team performance shows that teams usually do
less well – not better- than the sum of their members’ individual contributions
, In a lab study of 33 teams: ‘probably 4 of our 33 groups were actually effective teams. The
rest had problems so severe that our analysis was mainly about what had gone wrong with
them’
Several features are needed for teams to be successful
What do work teams need to be effective?
- TASK
do not us a team for work that is better one by individuals
- STUCTURE
to recap the benefits of teamwork, one must actually build the team
set boundaries, define relationships, divide tasks, form relationships with stakeholders
- LEADERSHIP AND SUPPORT
leaders need to give direction to avoid ambiguity
the organizational context needs to provides support that is specifically tuned to the needs of
work teams
it is important to reward collective outcomes
The model
Star players -> coordination -> performance
The basic IMOI model
Input -> mediator -> output
1. Input
Team design
- composition
- interdependence
- leaderschip and authority
Task factors
Context
Potential performance: performance that a team could achieve
- is high when teams have the resources that are required by the task
Task types and potential performance
Actual performance (Steiner, 1972)
= potential performance – process loss
- coordination loss
- motivation loss
, 2. Mediators
Team processes: members interdependent acts that convert inputs to outcomes through
cognitive, verbal, and behavioral activities directed toward organizing taskwork to achieve
collective goals
Emergent states: constructs that characterize properties of the team that are typically
dynamic in nature and vary as a function of team context, inputs, processes, and outcomes
Cohesion (emergent state)
The force that binds members to the team and induces them to stay in with the team
- task cohesion: shared commitment to the team task
- interpersonal cohesion: attraction to the team
Meta-analytic correlation with performance
- task: .27
- interpersonal: .14
Causality?
Mullen & Copper, 1994
The IMOI model
3. Output
Nijstad, 2009
Bunderson & Sutcliffe, 2002
