Preserving Teamwork in an Individualistic Society

Understanding the Basic Team Processes

Learning Objectives:

1. What factors cause social loafing in a team?
2. What motivates a team?
3. What factors encourage group cohesion?
4. How does cohesion affect team performance?
5. What are the causes of role ambiguity stress?
6. What are the roles commonly played by team members?
7. How do task and social behaviors affect team performance?
8. How can leaders promote team learning?
9. What is the value of group process observations?

Chapter 2
The Importance of Motivation & Cohesion

The future of working in teams is right in the palm of our hands. Virtual teams in the 21st century collaborate using digital tools to work towards the same goal. Organizations have widely adapted to the rapid use of technology and virtual teams.

The United States has one of the most individualistic cultures in the world. While individualism encourages creativity and personal excellence, it's important for organizations to challenge themselves and incorporate platforms for teams to work with one another in new and innovative ways. The most important aspect to working in teams is balance. If everyone can work together to contribute their own ideas to a project, it will increase overall drive and participation. This book will analyze the basic team processes in virtual teams.

Good Collaboration (2019)

Teams have great potential with motivation and synergy. Without positive reinforcement, many of our daily tasks and routines would never get done and group members may feel underappreciated. Motivation is increased when every member of a group can commit and encourage themselves to complete their tasks efficiently.
Motivating a team depends on:
- Task interdependence
- How a performance will be rewarded
- Team members ability and beliefs to succeed
- Sense of commitment and belonging
(Levi & Askay, 2021)
These factors require effective and thorough communication from each individual.

Group Cohesion

Cohesiveness is generally the driving force to a group's overall success and performance. The social identity theory actually suggests that individuals recognize their own membership in groups by defining the social boundaries surrounding particular groups, and then self-categorizing themselves as either belonging or not belonging to them. (Gundlach, 2006)
So why is building group cohesion necessary? Teams that have a shared understanding of their own roles and tasks improve their overall sense of efficacy and pride within the team.

Motivation

Teams have great potential with motivation and synergy. Without positive reinforcement, many of our daily tasks and routines would never get done and group members may feel underappreciated. Motivation is increased when every member of a group can commit and encourage themselves to complete their tasks efficiently.
Motivating a team depends on:
- Task interdependence
- How a performance will be rewarded
- Team members ability and beliefs to succeed
- Sense of commitment and belonging
(Levi & Askay, 2021)
These factors require effective and thorough communication from each individual.

What motivates you?

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Chapter 3
Social Loafing
& How Team's Can Avoid It?

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Social Loafing is defined as, “the reduction of individual contributions when people work in groups rather than alone" (Latane et al., 1979) (Levi, 2015, p. 90).

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After thorough research, in order for a company to maintain a team working environment and avoid social loafing, it is essential for companies to first acknowledge the importance of making a cohesive environment a priority. Once cohesion is established, the next step to obtaining a productive workplace is to measure and maintain the commitment aspect of the organization. A peer-reviewed article done by author Letcher, suggests that an important step to maintaining this environment is to survey the commitments being made throughout the organization within periodical time intervals (Letcher, 2018). Lastly, an important factor while collaborating, is to maintain positive and healthy language.

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Effective Dialogue in the Work Place

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- Prioritize positive team work with productive language

- Always verbally acknowledge and affirm each member of the team's input

- Each member of the team should feel heard and that their input is essential to the team's effort

- Avoid gossip and maintain transparency amongst group members

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Furthermore, it appears that an individual's attitude toward group collaboration and socializing with others is linked to the formation of social loafing inside a group. "[S]ituational and contextual factors, such as contingent rewards and punishments, evaluation potential and task meaningfulness, and team member composition and perceptions of team interaction processes," according to the scholarly article done by Byun, are factors that help promote team cohesion, and emphasize the avoidance of social loafing (Byun, 2020).

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Pro-Tip!

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To improve group work conditions it is key to first determine each person's function inside the group. It is less likely for a group to engage in social loafing if each role has been defined and assigned.

Chapter 4:

Roles

Standard Types of Roles

The main role all teams have is a leader. Leaders manage the structure of meetings and interactions within the team (Levi & Askay, 2021). A leader that is encouraging and constructive is a key component to the team's achievement.

The key to managing a promising team is by assigning roles to members. This is one simple but effective strategy that helps teams operate smoothly. There is no limit to the types of roles that can be allocated if they help serve the purpose of your team.

Timekeepers are common roles that have the designation of keeping the team on track in an orderly fashion. They focus on adhering to the meeting agenda, and remind members when time allotted for specific topics has passed. This role keeps the team organized, and pushes the team long so too much time is not spent on any one point.

It is critical to obtain the mindset that everyone is a necessary component of a team. It is difficult to succeed if not everyone trusts and looks at each other as one unit, rather than individuals competing. The way members treat each other will have an effect on the integrity of the team. "Trust starts with respect and empathy" (Ferrazzi, 2021). There should be no reason a trusting and cooperative team would not be able to respectfully confront someone about their role and responsibilities. If there is a positive communication climate, no one should feel bombarded or challenged. In an interview conducted by Elisabeth, Scott Anderson noted, "the way things are articulated matters just as much as what is said." Attitude is everything when you are working with other people!

Teams can also include recorders, who are members that will hold accounts of proceedings and monitor postmeeting tasks. The job might seem redundant, but it is an important role in keeping miscommunication at bay and keeping absent members connected.

Role Stress

Members may correlate certain responsibilities to roles that others do not, which can lead to disputes about performance and apprehension within a person's position. Role stress can be terminated, and even avoided when obligations are clarified and divided between roles. Never fear! Roles are not fixed standings. They are able to be changed in the future until the arrangement works for everyone.

Let's Hold Each Other Accountable.

Good communication and trust make the foundation for a lively, productive team.

It is critical to obtain the mindset that everyone is a necessary component of a team. It is difficult to succeed if not everyone trusts and looks at each other as one unit, rather than individuals competing. The way members treat each other will have an effect on the integrity of the team. "Trust starts with respect and empathy" (Ferrazzi, 2021). There should be no reason a trusting and cooperative team would not be able to respectfully confront someone about their role and responsibilities. If there is a positive communication climate, no one should feel bombarded or challenged. In an interview conducted by Elisabeth, Scott Anderson noted, "the way things are articulated matters just as much as what is said." Attitude is everything when you are working with other people!

Team Adaptation and Learning:

Reflexivity +

One of the main benefits of using teams is their ability to adapt to changing situations. This adaption is akin to problem solving since the team analyze the situation, plan and implement solutions, and learn from the experience.

Teams have mental models related to the task and social characteristics of the team. A team mental model is knowledge about how to operate as a team to complete a task focusing on the shared memory of the team.
In contrast, transactive memory is about the task knowledge that individual team members possess. The knowledge is distributed among the team members rather than shared by the team as whole.

The best type of feedback about a team’s performance includes both positive and negative information. Often times, team leaders only use negative feedback, however this leads to morale issues. One of the major complaints team members have about their leaders giving them feedback is a focus on negative feedback (West, 2004).
when teams have both positive and negative feedback, they develop better team mental models about how to operate effectively.
The key to obtaining feedback:
-Create a safe environment
-Team members who feel safe are more willing to provide feedback and reflect on their performance

Reflexivity is the process of taking time to reflect on a team’s performance and to develop strategies to improve.
Systematic reflection has three functions:
-Develop explanations on why behaviors occurred
-Verify team members’ perspectives
-Receive feedback about the success or failure of actions.

Team Adaptation and Learning:

Reflexivity +

Using feedback

The best type of feedback about a team’s performance includes both positive and negative information. Often times, team leaders only use negative feedback, however this leads to morale issues. One of the major complaints team members have about their leaders giving them feedback is a focus on negative feedback (West, 2004).
when teams have both positive and negative feedback, they develop better team mental models about how to operate effectively.
The key to obtaining feedback:
-Create a safe environment
-Team members who feel safe are more willing to provide feedback and reflect on their performance

Reflexivity is the process of taking time to reflect on a team’s performance and to develop strategies to improve.
Systematic reflection has three functions:
-Develop explanations on why behaviors occurred
-Verify team members’ perspectives
-Receive feedback about the success or failure of actions.

Group Process Observations

Group process observation are used to improve a team’s interactions. In fact, observers provide valuable support by observing and commenting on how the team is operating. Of course before this can be done, effective observation skills must be made. Developing group process observation skills helps allow the team to work on its problems rather than needing an outside source to mediate.
Group Processes also vary from culture to culture, so it is important to help bridge them, especially if one culture is more individualistic. This can be done by developing skills both cultures can effectively use. Asking teams what they may look for in a team can be beneficial, and having people compromise will help strengthen bonds on what they feel is most important in a team as seen in Individualism–collectivism and team member performance. (WAGNER, J. A., HUMPHREY, S. E., MEYER, C. J., & HOLLENBECK, J. R.)

Common problems of Group Process Observations:
- Limited range of behaviors: members might frequently give opinions, but only rarely provide support for the ideas of others.
- Stuck in patterns rather than responding to the needs of the team

The best teams are those that are flexible, behaving in ways more suited for the entire team rather than just the individual. This helps others see what may be lacking in their interactions, and encourages team members to operate more effectively