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Team Performance Measurement Team-Related Performance Measurement. Measuring team-related performance can be approached in at least four ways.

Two of those approaches measure performance at the individual level and two measure performance at the team level. Individual Level: An Individual's Contribution to the Team. Individual Behavior. Employees can be measured on how well they work with team members. Examples of these types of measures could include the degree to which: the employee participates in team meetings; the employee volunteers for team projects; the employee communicates with members in a constructive and non-threatening manner; other members find that the employee is pleasant to work with and fosters cooperation.

Individual Results. Employee work products that contribute to the final team product or service can be assessed and verified. Examples of these types of measures could include error rates, the timeliness of the product, the number of suggestions made, or the accuracy of the data provided.

Team Level: Measuring the Team's Performance. The Team's Processes. The team can be measured on its internal group dynamics. These types of measures could address: how well the team works together as a group; the effectiveness of team meetings; the ability of the team to reach consensus; and the team's problem-solving techniques. The Team's Results. The team can be measured on its work results or products. These types of measures could include: the number of cases completed; the use, acceptance, and understandability of the team's final report; the number of customer requests for the team's report; the subscription rate of the team's newsletter. Rewarding Teamwork In a team-oriented environment, employers must pair individual employee awards with collective team recognition in order to effectively motivate teams. Balancing individual and team recognition can be sticky though. Excessive focus on individual performance can undermine teamwork and create a competitive environment. On the other hand, only rewarding teams can cause your stars to become demoralized, especially if they feel like they are carrying the team. The trick is to recognize both team and individual performance, while encouraging a cooperative culture.

Most organizations succeed in recognizing individual employee contributions but struggle with rewarding combined team efforts.

Here are several suggestions for making team recognition work: Follow good recognition rules. Whether you are recognizing an individual or teams, many of the same rules apply. Recognize significant accomplishments in line with company goals and values. Be specific and timely about what you are rewarding. Make sure that whatever the recognition or award is whether its a team lunch or a write up in the company newsletter that it is meaningful to the recipients. Recognize team behavior and accomplishments. Its one thing to recognize a team for achieving a particularly difficult goal. Its another to hold them up for the way in which they achieved that goal. Whether you are giving the team an award, acknowledging their accomplishment on the intranet or in a newsletter, or simply saying job well done in a meeting, talk about the specific behaviors that enabled them to achieve what theyve done together. Do team reviews. Teamwork can often fall apart at review time when people are most concerned with their individual performance. Conduct a team review where you bring the team together to talk about their progress. Ask questions, such as: how did we perform as a team? Did we meet our goals? This may be done at the end of a project or at important milestones in a project. Take this opportunity to recognize the team for the work it has done together. Encourage employees to recognize peers. Recognition from superiors isnt the only form of recognition that matters, or motivates. Knowing that your team thinks youre doing a good job is important to keeping people engaged. Encourage team members to recognize each other for a job well done. Allow a few minutes at the beginning or end of team meetings for team member to recognize their fellow team members who have gone above and beyond. When a team tries to make decisions or solve problems in a creative way, these problems are faced. 1. Production blocking: It is a procedural explanation. Production blocking is the social interference that occurs when one person is talking and then another cannot contribute (talk) at the same time. The second speaker must wait until the first speaker finishes. The second speaker then sometimes forgets what he or she was going to say. In addition, the conversation may move to another topic and then what the second speaker was going to say becomes moot, or for any other number of reasons, the second speaker may fail to contribute. This problem is called production blocking. Such problems are common in braining storming sessions in team. 2. Evaluation Apprehension: The feeling that one might be negatively evaluated for coming up with an idea that is seen as "too" crazy and unusual. Members feel the pressure and discomfort that comes with saying something strange and unusual within a group, though their idea could be very useful to the team performance.

3. Social Loafing or Free Riding: Reduced social motivation that occurs when certain members decide to let the others contribute and choose not to fully participate. This is sometimes a conscious decision to avoid participation because others will do the work. 4. Risky Shift or group polarization: Description When people are in groups, they make decision about risk differently from when they are alone. In the group, they are likely to make riskier decisions, as the shared risk makes the individual risk less. They also may not want to let their compatriots down, and hence be risk-averse (this is sometimes called cautious shift). The overall tendency towards a shift in risk perception is also sometimes called choice shift. There are a number of reasons as to why this might happen. Theories have included: Wallach, Kogan, and Bem (1964) proposed that greater risks are chosen due to a diffusion of responsibility, where emotional bonds decrease anxieties and risk is perceived as shared. Collins and Guetzkow (1964) suggested that high risk-takers are more confident and hence may persuade others to take greater risks. Brown (1965) indicates that social status in groups is often associated with risk-taking, leading people to avoid a low risk position. Bateson (1966) suggests that as people pay attention to a possible action, they become more familiar and comfortable with it and hence perceive less risk.

Selecting team members in an effective way:

Is teamwork always necessary? Making the "Team versus No-Team" decision Teams are not always necessary and can be counter-productive too. Teams are unnecessary when tasks are simple and routine, do not require employees to coordinate their work, and do not require a variety of experiences or skills. Teams are best approach when no single person has the right combination of knowledge, expertise, and perspective to do the job; when individuals must work together with a hign degree of interdependence; and when the goal represents a unique challenge. As manager, one can determine whether a team is the best solution by diagnosing the task at hand. Harvard Business School Professor Jeffrey Polzer urges managers to consider three aspects of the task in making this diagnosis: task complexity, task interdependencs, and task objectives. 1. Task complexity: His task complexity often leads itself to team based work. The task features associated with high complexity include the need to process large volumes of information, high uncertainty, many sub-tasks, each requiring specialized skills or knowledge and another feature is the absence of a standardized procedure for completing the task. 2. Task interdependence: Here the manager should consider the degree of interdependence among the different components of the task. The greater the interdependence, the greater is the likelihood that a team is the best solution. Polzer defines task interdependence as the extent to which features of the work itself dictate that it can only be completed by the combined efforts of multiple individuals working together. High interdependence among employees requires the exceptional coordination and communication that characterize team-based efforts. Determine the degree to which distinct components of a job need to be integrated. A high degree of integration usually requires a team effort. 3. Task objectives: Polzer has identified task objectives as the third critical dimension you must analyze before opting for a team or no-team approach. For a project-team effort to work, the task must have one or more clear time-bound objectives. President John F. Kennedy's challenge to NASA- to put a man on the moon and bring him home safely within ten years - fit this description. If objectives can be articulated in this way, a team effort may be the best approach.

Measures for facilitating team learning Team leaders (and members) can encourage and facilate the use of team learning. Two procedures that are appear useful for facilitating team learning are 1. After-activity Reviews 2. Dialouge Sessions After-Activity Reviews Learning from experience is more likely when a systematic analysis i made after an important activity is finished to discover the reasons for success or failure. The after-activity review (also called an after-action review or postmortem) is a proedure for collectively analysing the processes and resulting outcomes of a team activity. Members of the a team meet to examine what was done well in the activity and what can be improved the next time a similar activity is conducted. They review their initial plans and objectives for the activity, the procedures used to carry out the activity, problems or obstacles encountered in doing the activity, key decisions that were made, adn the outcomes. Then the group plans how to use what they learned to improve performance in the future. Guidelines for conducting an After-Activity Review 1. Near the beginning, make a self-critique that acknowledges shortcomings. 2. Encourage feedback from others and model nondefensive acceptance of it. 3. Ask members to identify effective and ineffective aspects of team performance. 4. Encourage members to examine how group processes affected team performance 5. Keep the discussion focused on behaviours rather than on individuals 6. If necessary, provide your own assessment of team performance. 7. Recognize improvements in team performance. 8. Ask members for suggestions on how to improve team performance. 9. Propose improvements not already included in the teams suggestions. Dialouge Sessions Dialogue session forms a structure and rhythm for all learning activities. It is a social tool that transforms individual's knowledge into team knowledge. An important prerequisite for team learning is for members to understand each other. Members who understand each other's perceptions and role expectations are able to coordinate their actions more easily. Mutual understanding is also important for implicit assumptions about task issues. Problem solving is more difficult when team members have different assumptions about the cause of the problem, and these assumptions are not openly examined and evaluated. The discussion is likely to become a debate about competing proposals, with little consideration of implicit assumptions. TEAM ATTITUDE Signs of positive team attitude Honesty and trust. Theyre honest and tell others what they know or dont know. They dont fake it. Open communication offered regularly, before others have to ask.

Listening with care and sensitivity, and responding to needs and questions. Anticipating others needs and offering to meet those needs. Offering promises of what they can and will do not what they cant and wont do. Keeping promises, doing what they say they will do. Consistent follow-up and follow through with each other. Support of one another instead of placing blame. Knowledge sharing as opposed to keeping information as an advantage for personal gain. Working together to solve a problem, not working against each other for their own self gain. Accepting the differences in people and knowing that differences bring strength through unique perspectives. Showing respect and value for every person and his or her contributions. Empathy for one another, combined with fair, compassionate and honest thoughtfulness. Trust built through reliability and dependability. Being nice to each other.

Creating Positive Attitude for Teamwork The attitudes of a team shows how it contributes to the overall success of the business. To have positive team attitude we need to create a climate that encourages teamwork and sets the environment for positive team attitude. A clear sense of direction with defined goals is imperative. The work needs to be challenging and meaningful, and perceived by team members with a real sense of purpose. Team members should feel there is an opportunity for achievement and that all resources needed to succeed will be available. There is recognition at all levels from all levels for work that is done well.

Creativity and open communication are encouraged, and there is an atmosphere of trust, not punishment. Most important, make a clear expectation of teamwork as a company value.

Team Meeting Selecting Participants The decision about who is to attend depends on what you want to accomplish in the meeting. If possible, call each person to tell them about the meeting, it's overall purpose and why their attendance is important. Send out a copy of the proposed agenda along with the meeting notice. Developing Agendas Develop the agenda together with key participants in the meeting. Think of what overall outcome you want from the meeting and what activities need to occur to reach that outcome. The agenda should be organized so that these activities are conducted during the meeting. Design the agenda so that participants get involved early by having something for them to do right away and so they come on time. Next to each major topic, include the type of action needed, the type of output expected (decision, vote, action assigned to someone), and time estimates for addressing each topic Opening Meetings Always start on time; this respects those who showed up on time and reminds latecomers that the scheduling is serious. Welcome attendees and thank them for their time. Review the agenda at the beginning of each meeting, giving participants a chance to understand all proposed major topics, change them and accept them. Note that a meeting recorder if used will take minutes and provide them back to each participant shortly after the meeting. Clarify members role(s) in the meeting. Time Management One of the most difficult facilitation tasks is time management. You might ask attendees to help you keep track of the time.

If the planned time on the agenda is getting out of hand, present it to the group and ask for their input as to a resolution. Closing Meetings Always end meetings on time and attempt to end on a positive note. At the end of a meeting, review actions and assignments, and set the time for the next meeting and ask each person if they can make it or not (to get their commitment) Clarify that meeting minutes and/or actions will be reported back to members in at most a week (this helps to keep momentum going). Team performance curve given by Kanzethbach and Smith

1. Working group: no significant need that calls for a team approach 2. Pseudo Team: Has no interest in improving collective effort. They may call themselves a team but spend their time in disruptive ways. 3. Potential team: Sum of the whole equal to sum of the parts 4. Real team: Committed to common goal, purpose and approach. Members hold each other accountable. Positive synergy 5. High Performance Team- Significantly outperform all other teams. Also committed to one others personal growth and success. Creating high performance team 1. Establish Urgency and direction 2. Select members based on skill and skill potential, not personalities 3. Pay particular attention to first meetings and actions 4. Set some clear rules of behaviour

5. 6. 7. 8.

Set and seize upon a few immediate performance tasks and goals Challenge the group regularly with fresh facts and information Spend a lots of time together Exploit the power of positive feedback, recognition and reward

Team Effectiveness Model

Teams Task and Size Task characteristics Better when tasks are clear, easy to implement Share common inputs, processes, or outcomes Task interdependence Team size Smaller teams are better But large enough to accomplish task Better if the number is odd.

Team is effective if we can create reciprocal interdependence in the tasks of the team.

Team Composition 1. Motivation To perform task To work cooperatively the team 2. Competencies Collectively possess skills and knowledge to perform the task Individual competencies to work effectively with each other 3. Homogeneous or heterogeneous, depending on task requirements Homogeneous vs. Heterogeneous Teams

Team Norms Informal rules and expectations team establishes to regulate member behaviors Norms develop through: Explicit statements Critical events in teams history Initial team experiences Beliefs/values members bring to the team Changing Team Norms Introduce norms when forming teams Select members with preferred norms Discuss counter-productive norms Reward behaviors representing desired norms Disband teams with dysfunctional norms Team Roles Role -- set of behaviors people are expected to perform by holding certain positions Formally assigned or informally acquired based on personality preferences Belbins Team Role Model Nine team roles -- all needed for optimal team performance People choose preferred role based on their personality Some roles should be strongest at certain times An effective team has members that cover nine key roles in managing the team and how it carries out its work

Based on Belbin's model of nine team roles, managers or organisations building working teams would be advised to ensure that each of the roles can be performed by a team member. Some roles are compatible and can be more easily fulfilled by the same person; some are less compatible and are likely to be done well by people with different behavioural clusters. This means that a team need not be as many as nine people, but perhaps should be at least three or four.

Overall

Belbin roles Implementer

Description Well-organized and predictable. Takes basic ideas and makes them work in practice. Can be slow. Lots of energy and action, challenging others to move forwards. Can be insensitive.

Doing / acting

Shaper

Reliably sees things through to the end, ironing out the Completer/Finish wrinkles and ensuring everything works well. Can worry er too much and not trust others. Plant Solves difficult problems with original and creative ideas. Can be poor communicator and may ignore the details.

Thinking Sees the big picture. Thinks carefully and accurately about / Monitor/Evaluator things. May lack energy or ability to inspire others. problem -solving Has expert knowledge/skills in key areas and will solve Specialist many problems here. Can be disinterested in all other areas. Coordinator Respected leader who helps everyone focus on their task. Can be seen as excessively controlling. Cares for individuals and the team. Good listener and works to resolve social problems. Can have problems making difficult decisions.

People / Team worker feelings

Explores new ideas and possibilities with energy and with Resource/investig others. Good networker. Can be too optimistic and lose ator energy after the initial flush. Usage of Belbin Team Roles. Application Ensuring that each needed role in a team or project is actually performed by somebody. Clustering certain activities in one team member in a logical way. If the team members are allowed to perform the activities they like most, they will be more motivated which normally increase the team performance Well balanced teams are less risk-bearing and typically require less management attention. Influences on Team Cohesiveness

Members of cohesive teams: Want to remain members Willing to share information Strong interpersonal bonds Resolve conflict effectively Better interpersonal relationships Cohesiveness and Performance

The Trouble With Teams Individuals better/faster on some tasks Process losses - cost of developing and maintaining teams Companies dont support best work environment for team dynamics Social loafing How to Minimize Social Loafing Make individual performance more visible Form smaller teams Specialize tasks Measure individual performance Increase employee motivation Increase job enrichment Select motivated employees Virtual Teams

Why

A Virtual Team - also known as a Geographically Dispersed Team (GDT) - is a group of individuals who work across time, space, and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology. They have complementary skills and are committed to a common purpose, have interdependent performance goals, and share an approach to work for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. Geographically dispersed teams allow organizations to hire and retain the best people regardless of location. Members of virtual teams communicate electronically, so they may never meet face to face. However, most teams will meet at some point in time. A virtual team does not always mean teleworker. Teleworkers are defined as individuals who work from home. Many virtual teams in today's organizations consist of employees both working at home and small groups in the office but in different geographic locations. virtual teams? Best employees may be located anywhere in the world. Workers demand personal flexibility. Workers demand increasing technological sophistication. A flexible organization is more competitive and responsive to the marketplace. Workers tend to be more productive; i.e., they spend less time on commuting and travel The increasing globalization of trade and corporate activity. The global workday is 24 vs. 8 hours. The emergence of environments which require inter-organizational cooperation as well as competition. Changes in workers' expectations of organizational participation. A continued shift from production to service/knowledge work environments. Increasing horizontal organization structures characterized by structurally and geographically distributed human resources.

Benefits of virtual teams: Some members of virtual teams do not need to come in to the workplace, therefore the company will not need to offer those workers office or parking space. Reduces traveling expenses for employees. It allows more people to be included in the labor pool. It decreases both air pollution and congestion because there is less commuting. It allows workers in organizations to be more flexible. By working in virtual teams, physical handicaps are not a concern. Allows for people in different parts of the world to come together to work on a project. Creates alliances and mergers between organizations. Extends the market to different geographical locations. Reduces costs for an organization. Problems with virtual teams: Misunderstanding in communications is the leading complaint among members of virtual teams.

This problem is magnified when working with teams across cultural borders because of nuances in the English language Working on a project over the virtual workspace causes lack of project visibility. Difficulty contacting other members. (i.e. email, instant messaging, etc.) Differences in time zones. It can be difficult for team members to fully comprehend the meaning of textbased messages. Building trust may be challenging because mechanisms different from those used in face-to-face teams are required to build trust Members fail to take 'ownership' of project Tips to ease communication problems for team members: Allow the team members to get to know each other by arranging occasional face to face meetings. This can also be accomplished using webcams and video conferencing which may or may not necessitate that all team members use the same hardware and/or software applications. Allow team members to get an idea of where the overall project is going. This way each member will know how they fit into the project. Create a code of conduct. This will avoid delays and will make sure that requests are answered in a timely fashion. Do not allow team members to disappear. Have a calendar for each team member so that everyone's schedule is available to view. Develop trust among the team. Store charts, diagrams, etc. on the internet so that the whole team can see them. Create a 'face book' which includes information about background, interests and helps team members get to know each other better. Individuals choose the information to share. Connections and trust are built through relationships Basic types of virtual teams Networked Teams consist of individuals who collaborate to achieve a common goal or purpose; membership is frequently diffuse and fluid. Parallel Teams work in the short term to develop recommendations for an improvement in a process or system; the team has a distinct membership. Project or Product-Development Teams conduct projects for users or customers for a defined period of time. Tasks are usually non-routine, and the results are specific and measurable; the team has decision making authority. Work or Production Teams perform regular and ongoing work usually in one function; the team has clearly defined membership. Service Teams support customers or the internal organization in typically a service/technical support role around the clock. Management Teams work collaboratively on a daily basis within a functional division of a corporation. Action Teams offer immediate responses activated in (typically) emergency situations. Aiding Software for Virtual Teams Virtual teams are often spread all over the globe, ranging from different offices to different cultures; so how is it that they can remain on track with objectives and come together to achieve goals to contribute to the organization? The answer is that they use collaborative technology--in

particular they use software that allows virtual teams to be as efficient as same-location teams. Software that aids virtual team functioning can be separated into two main categories--software that provides ease of communication and software that provides task and document organization. Software that improves the ease of communication often includes features such as presence awareness, instant messaging, and web conferencing. These tools allow team member to be accessible to their teams 24 hours a day. Members can have real time conversations and do not have to follow lengthy correspondence as dispersed teams have had to in the past, which leads to greater efficiency. Software applications that organize team tasks and documents also improve their teams' efficiency. These programs consist of a central location where all members can access important documents to the team, track progress made, assign tasks, and even provide calendars with key dates and timelines to keep all members current. There are many software programs for virtual teams, such as Lotus software by IBM, NetMeeting by Microsoft, Facilitate.com by Facilitate.com, Thinktank by GroupSystems, and many more. Software of this type is a fast-developing area, so organizations should look often for software programs that suit the size and functionality of their teams.

Team Collaboration: Collaboration: is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, (this is more than the intersection of common goals seen in co-operative ventures, but a deep, collective, determination to reach an identical objective) for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in natureby sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus Five essential characteristics of collaboration: Face-to-Face Interaction Positive Interdependence Interpersonal Skills Monitoring and Processing of Group Functioning Individual Accountability Ways for Building Collaboration: Face-to-Face Interaction Regular opportunities to meet Must be convenient for all members Appropriate group size Literature suggests membership of 5 7 is best Effective communication systems Decide how communication will occur between meetings (phone, email, minutes, notebook, etc.) Positive Interdependence Identify team goals and purpose

Use distributed leadership functions Rotate roles, share tasks and resources Roles: facilitator, recorder, time keeper Develop a common understanding of the groups scope of work and authority e.g., ask: What kind of decision-making power does this group have? Identify common rewards and opportunities Interpersonal Skills Develop group norms indicating desired behaviors/types of communication Examples: arrive on time, respect diverse points of view, no judging during creative problem-solving Develop communication and conflict resolution skills All group members need to practice their best communication and collaboration skills Learning to deal with conflict is key Monitoring and Processing of Group Functioning Develop time and methods for regular processing Regular processing is key to the growth of the group Best to conduct processing at the end of each meeting or on some other regular basis (e.g., once a month) Its also good to take a deeper look one or two times per year Individual Accountability Use agendas Review agendas at the start of meetings; add items and identify time to be spent on each item Use minutes indicating action items and to do lists Minutes need to identify decisions that were made, and tasks to be completed by individual group members Identify strategies for building a sense of responsibility Rotate roles, share tasks, praise group and individual accomplishments, etc. Collaborative Decision-Making Identify and Use Specific Decision-Making Processes: Consensus-based decision-making is most common in collaborative groups Sometimes consensus means deciding that I can live with that Democratic decision-making (i.e., voting) may be used when consensus cannot be reached, as long as the group agrees to this approach ahead of time

Team Attitude Signs of positive team attitude Honesty and trust. Theyre honest and tell others what they know or dont know. They dont fake it. Open communication offered regularly, before others have to ask. Listening with care and sensitivity, and responding to needs and questions.

Anticipating others needs and offering to meet those needs. Offering promises of what they can and will do not what they cant and wont do. Keeping promises, doing what they say they will do. Consistent follow-up and follow through with each other. Support of one another instead of placing blame. Knowledge sharing as opposed to keeping information as an advantage for personal gain. Working together to solve a problem, not working against each other for their own self gain. Accepting the differences in people and knowing that differences bring strength through unique perspectives. Showing respect and value for every person and his or her contributions. Empathy for one another, combined with fair, compassionate and honest thoughtfulness. Trust built through reliability and dependability. Being nice to each other. Creating Positive Attitude for Teamwork The attitudes of a team shows how it contributes to the overall success of the business. To have positive team attitude we need to create a climate that encourages teamwork and sets the environment for positive team attitude. A clear sense of direction with defined goals is imperative. The work needs to be challenging and meaningful, and perceived by team members with a real sense of purpose. Team members should feel there is an opportunity for achievement and that all resources needed to succeed will be available. There is recognition at all levels from all levels for work that is done well. Creativity and open communication are encouraged, and there is an atmosphere of trust, not punishment. Most important, make a clear expectation of teamwork as a company value.

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