WorkTeams Session11 Report

8/8/2019 WorkTeams Session11 Report

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Submitted By

Ashish Verma (0911225)

Ketan Ray (0911243)

R Kartik (0911261)

Tanvi Saraf (0911280)

MPPO: Work Teams


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Contents

Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 3

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 4

Differences between Groups and Teams ........................... ................................ ...................... .................. 5

Characteristics ............................ ......................... ................................ ....................... ............................. . 6

Types of teams................................................................................................................................ 7

Problem-solving team .............................. ........................... ........................ .............................. ................ 7

Self Managed Work team ............................ ............................ ....................... ............................... ........... 7

Cross-functional Teams ............................................................................................................................ 8Virtual teams ............................................................................................................................................ 9

Creating Effective Teams .............................................................................................................. 11

Contextual Factors ........................... ......................... ............................... ............................. .................. 11

Team Composition.................................................................................................................................. 12

Work Design ........................................................................................................................................... 13

Process Factor ........................................................................................................................................ 13

Turning Individuals into Team Players ........................................................................................... 14

Team Building and Team Based Work (TBW) ............................................................................... 14

Building Collaborative Teams ........................................................................................................ 15


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Ex ecutive Summary

Teams are increasingly becoming the primary means of organizing work in contemporarybusiness firms. Empirical evidence suggests that organizational teams sometimes improve

organizational performance. This study explores why this might be the case by focusing on howthe experience of being on a team influences individual employee attitudes toward the firm

There has also been a growing trend of team hiring lift outs becoming a prevalent corporaterecruitment strategy. Hiring an entire team may be the quickest way to enter a new market or launch a product or service. Another factor is private equity buyouts. Private equity firms seek toturn around a company quickly. Time is money, and poaching whole teams can reduce the timenecessary to return the company to profitability. Thus, we delve deeper into the factors whichenable formation of effective work teams from a social psychological perspective.

But there are challenges involved in implementing work teams. One is legality; most companieshave non-compete clauses in place, and some lift-outs run risk of drawing lawsuits from thecompany whose team was poached. Another challenge is that the team may act like a team anduse its cohesion against the new employer. Other problems faced by struggling work teams aredue to interpersonal clashes in personality or work style. For example, employees who feel theyshould not have to make decisions may balk at the idea of working in self-directed teams.Virtual teams have a special challenge as a result of their dependence on communicationstechnology to do their jobs and the fact that technology may be their only vehicle for establishingtrust and working relationships. Hence we also study how corporate may develop proper foresight and design, to make the model a success. One of the ways may be by allocatingproper resources and support. Human resource managers can ensure the development of

effective work teams that increase productivity and help an organization to thrive in the mostcompetitive markets.

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I ntroduction

In the past two decades, Indian corporate world has gradually shifted from a traditional style of management to development of self directed work teams. This shift has been largely due to

specific factors such as globalization, downsizing and technology.

Stiff competition, particularly in technology-driven fields, requires teamwork with a concertedeffort to keep the company as a whole on the cutting edge. Because technology-driven taskshave become far too complex for one person to handle alone, many organizations create workteams to accomplish collective goals. In addition, organizations are all but eliminating middlemanagement as a result of downsizing efforts. Shifting authority down to members of a workteam allows management to capitalize on positive synergies that result in significant increasesin productivity. When teams operate in such a way that the whole is greater than the sum of itsparts, productivity invariably increases.

Teams have the capability to quickly assemble, deploy, refocus and disband. A team thatfunctions efficiently learns to benefit from the diversity of skills among its members, and theresult is much more than can be accomplished by each member of that team working alone. Awell-functioning team can bring out the best in its members through mutual support thatincreases morale. Designed as self-directed units, work teams encourage free expression of ideas in a manner that engages each member of the team. It follows that the single mostimportant factor in determining whether a team will work well and be productive is a sense of teamwork. This foundation should be in place before the teams tasks are even defined. With asense of teamwork and the right mix of skills, teams have the basis for functioningautonomously and the commitment to accomplish their goals.

While at best work teams operate to increase productivity, there are many challenges that canaffect their efficiency and lead frustrated human resource managers to abandon the effortentirely. For example, members of a team can suffer from groupthink, the belief that everymember already knows what the others will propose as solutions. When this happens, teamscan become paralyzed by inaction. Issues related to globalization create what are perhaps themost daunting challenges to teams. As national borders become transparent and economiesintertwine, there is an increased risk of choosing solutions that isolate or marginalize some teammembers because the solutions are based on preconceived notions that do not apply acrossinternational borders.


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D ifferences between Groups and Teams

An increasing body of literature distinguishes between groups and teams suggesting that teamsare more effective than groups. A work group is a collection of people working in the same area

or placed together to complete a task. The groups performance is the result of people comingtogether to share information, views and insights. The focus of groups is individual performanceand actions within are geared toward it. All teams are groups, but teams are a special subset of groups. They establish a working definition: A team is a small number of people withcomplementary skills, who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, andapproach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable." Teams require individual andmutual accountability where groups do not.

F igure 1 Comparing Work Groups and Work Teams

It is helpful to identify the characteristics of teams and groups, noting which are common toboth. The figure shown above enlists the various characteristics. By understanding thedifferences between these two concepts we can begin to create an appropriate environment for each and determine the conditions in which each is effective.


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Characteristics

Both groups and teams have a sense of shared purpose. The groups purpose is essentiallythat of the organization while the team's purpose is jointly determined and planned with

management.Groups are focused to accomplish imposed tasks under the strong management of asupervisor. Individual performance and evaluation is the basis for determining success. Thus,groups can be very useful and important to organizations as they can complete critical tasks.Teams can perform at higher levels than typical work groups. This higher performance level isthe result of a greater synergy resulting from collaboration and jointly produced outputs rather than a pooling of individual outputs.

Group members are concerned with and are measured by individual accountability. Teammembers hold themselves to be mutually accountable.

Leaders of work groups are most often managers based on hierarchical positions. Hence,groups tend to have varied skills which may or may not complement. High performing teamstend to be cross-functional and thus have complementary skills. The more informal environmentwithin which team members work, and which also allows for communities of practice to developresulting in on-going learning and creative applications, enhances the vitality of teams.


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Types of teamsWe discuss the following types of teams in the subsequent sections.

1. Problem-solving team2. Self Managed Work team

3. Cross functional team4. Virtual team

Problem-solving teamIn problem solving teams members share ideas or offer suggestion on how work processes andmethods can be improved. Some of the common characteristics of problem solving teams areas follows:

1. Typically consist of 5 to 12 hourly employees2. Often belong to same department3. There are few meetings per week4. There is no formal authority.5. Their main task involves making recommendations on quality, efficiency, work

environment & work processes

One of the examples of problem solving team is that in Merrill Lynch. The team achievedprocess improvement in new cash management account process. They reduced the number of steps in the existing process from 46 to 36, thus reducing lead time from 15 to 8 days.

Self Managed Work teamSelf Managed teams are a group of people working together in their own ways toward acommon goal which is defined outside the team. They take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors. Some of the common characteristics of Self Managed work teams areas follows

1. Typically consist of 10 to 15 hourly employees2. Team members often belong to highly related or interdependent jobs3. Self team selection and self evaluation4. Their tasks typically consists of

a. Planning & scheduling workb. Task assignment and operating decisionsc. Customer and Supplier management

d. Problem Solving


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A mature self-managed team, when compared to typical hierarchical management, woulddisplay:

H igher Levels of Lower levels of

EnthusiasmIndividual opinion about what s

important

Learning from peers Reliance on individual abilities

Comfort knowing help is there Panic when workload peaks

Camaraderie Backbiting

Shared responsibility Protecting information

Focus on the organization What s in it for me?

Responsibility for the team Stress on the "supervisor"

Simple, visible measurement Feeling unaccomplished

Although individuals on these teams tend to report higher levels of job satisfaction compared toother individuals, they also sometimes have higher absenteeism and turnover rates.Inconsistency in the findings suggests that the effectiveness of the team is influenced bystrength and makeup of team norms, type of tasks and reward structure the team operates

under- each of which can significantly influence how well the team performs.

One of the examples of this team was one formed in Aeroquip Global Hose Division, EatonCorp. 285 employees divided into 50 self managed teams. On studying the performance of thedivision from 1993 to 1999 it was observed that there was 99% improvement in customer response time, 50% improvement in productivity and 50% drop in accident rates.

Cross-functional Teams A Cross-functional team is a group of people with different functional expertise working toward acommon goal. It may include people from finance, marketing, operations, and human resourcesdepartments. Typically, it includes employees from all levels of an organization. Members may

also come from outside an organization (in particular, from suppliers, key customers, or consultants).

Typical tasks in which cross functional teams are put to:

1. To solve a problem that impacts on multiple parts of the organization.2. To improve a work process that crosses organizational lines.3. To coordinate ongoing processes or activities that cross organizational boundaries.


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4. To accomplish tasks that requires breadth and depth of knowledge, skills, andexperience.

Some of the drawbacks of this form of team are as follows:

1. Team management is complex2. Members need to learn to work with diversity & complexity3. Trust building & teamwork is time consuming

A non-business, yet good example of cross-functional teams are music bands, where eachelement plays a different instrument (or has a different role). Songs are the result of collaboration and participation, and the goals are decided by consensus. Other examplesinclude teams in Boeings C-17 program, IBMs System 360 development, Harley Davidsonmotorcycle manufacturing.

V irtual teams 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 strengthenedby webs of communication technology. They have complementary skills and are committed to acommon purpose, have interdependent performance goals, and share an approach to work for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. Geographically dispersed teams alloworganizations to hire and retain the best people regardless of location. Members of virtual teamscommunicate electronically, so they may never meet face to face. However, most teams willmeet at some point in time.

The following are the drawbacks of this form of team:

1. Difficulty in managing the performance of the team. Working on a project over the virtualworkspace causes lack of project visibility. There may be difficulty contacting other members except via email, instant messaging, etc. There may also be differences in timezones.

2. Building trust may be challenging because mechanisms different from those used inface-to-face teams are required to build trust. Specific nuances such as facialexpressions and other subtle gestures can also be missed through virtual communicationas opposed to meeting face to face.

a. This problem is magnified when working with teams across cultural bordersbecause of nuances in the English language.

b. It can be difficult for team members to fully comprehend the meaning of text-based messages.c. Distrust can also be incurred due to insecurities of job retention if the offshore

team members are less expensive and more proficient at the task at hand.3. Members fail to take 'ownership' of project

Some of the Managerial Steps to counter these challenges are as follows:


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1. Closely monitor team progress. Store charts, diagrams, etc. on the internet so that thewhole team can see them. Create a code of conduct. This will avoid delays and will makesure that requests are answered in a timely fashion. When the rules are clear,misunderstanding diminishes.

2. Establish trust network - Allow the team members to get to know each other by arranging

occasional face to face meetings. This can also be accomplished using webcams andvideo conferencing which may or may not necessitate that all team members use thesame hardware and/or software applications.

3. Publicize team efforts and products. Do not allow team members to disappear. Have acalendar for each team member so that everyone's schedule is available to view.

Virtual teams have been implemented strongly in universities in the U.K., especially KingstonUniversity, which has a module emphasizing its importance.


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Creating E ffective Teams

Figure : Team Effectiveness Model

Teams differ in form and structure. This model attempts to generalize across all varieties of Teams, and so one needs to be careful not to rigidly apply the models predictions to all teams.

Also creating effective teams in situations which would be better served by individual effort isequivalent to solving the wrong problem correctly.

Conte x tual Factors Ad equate resource support from organization

Teams are part of a larger organization system. As such, every work team relies onresources outside the group to sustain it. Every team requires organizational support, whichincludes timely information, proper equipment, adequate staffing, encouragement, andadministrative assistance.

Context

Adequate ResourcesLeadership & StructureClimate of TrustPerformance evaluation& reward Systems

Composition

Abilities of MembersPersonalityAllocating rolesDiversityTeam sizeMember flexibility

Work Design

AutonomySkill varietyTask identityTask significance

Process

Common purposeSpecific goalsTeam efficacyConflict levelsSocial loafing

Team

Effectiveness


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L ea d ership & Structure Teams cant function if they cant agree on who is to do what and ensure that all memberscontribute equally in sharing the work load. Agreeing on the specifics of work and how theyfit together to integrate individual skills requires team leadership and structure. This can beprovided directly by management or by the team members themselves. Even with self

managed teams, where most of the managers skills are absorbed internally by the teammembers, a manager is important to manage the outside of a team. Leadership is especiallyimportant in multi-team systems where different teams need to coordinate their efforts toproduce a desired outcome.

Cl imate of trust Members of effective teams trust each other. And they also exhibit trust in their leaders.Trust in leadership is important in that it allows a team to be willing to accept and commit toits leaders goals and decisions.

P erformance eva luation & Rewar d systems Such systems ensure that team members are individually and jointly accountable. Theprevalent systems reward individual performance and tend to conflict with the groupsinterests. Organizations should look to develop systems that assess teams based onachievement of team objectives, providing group incentives such as team vacations andprofit-sharing etc.

Team CompositionThis category includes variables that relate to how teams should be staffed.

y Ab ilities of mem b ersPart of a teams performance depends on the knowledge, skills, and abilities of its individualmembers. To perform effectively, a team needs three different types of skills, namely, pr oblem solving skills, decision-making skills, and inte r - p e r sonal skills .

Matching team abilities to the task at hand is extremely important high ability teams mightbe ineffective at simple tasks since their advanced problem solving skills would be wastedhere. Also, they might inefficient for such tasks since their turnaround time might be morethan that of moderate or low ability teams who would be more suited to solve simpleproblems.

y P ersona lity of mem b ersPersonality has a significant influence on individual employee behavior. Teams rating higher on mean levels of conscientiousness and openness to experience tend to perform better.

Conscientious people are valuable in teams because they are good at backing up other team members, and theyre also good at sensing when that support is truly needed.

y A ll ocation of Ro lesTeams have different needs, and people should be selected for a team to ensure that all thevarious roles are filled. Managers need to understand the individual strengths that eachperson can bring to a team, select members with their strengths in mind, and allocate work


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assignments that fit with members preferred styles. R efe r to A pp endix A fo r the team r oleclassification as p e r Belbin.

y D iversity of Mem b ersContrary to popular belief, studies show that diversity in teams doesnt necessarily helpperformance. Diversity in terms of ethnicity, culture etc are likely to lead to lead to a lack of collaboration in the team because of the formation of groups based on such commoncriteria. Organizational demography the degree to which team members share a commonattribute, is a key reason for the formation of such sub-groups within teams. When teamshave excess members, cohesiveness and mutual accountability decline, social loafingincreases, and more and more people do les talking relative to others.

y Size of teamsTo reduce confusion and conflict, experts advocate small teams. The ideal team size as per experts is about 5 9 members.

y Mem b er P references Not all individuals are team players; Individual preferences should be considered whenmaking teams.

Work D esigny Ski ll Variety

One of the characteristics of an effective team is the opportunity to use different skills andtalents to achieve the team objective. The basic need to form a team is to bring together different people with different skills to solve a particular problem.

y T ask I d entity Another aspect of an effective team is the ability for each member to complete a whole and

identifiable task. This helps build a sense of ownership in the team member as well.y T ask Significance

It is also important for the effective functioning of a team that each member work on a taskor project that has a significant impact on other members and on the other project tasks.

y A utonomy an d Fee db ack Individual tasks must also be independent in that the members must have the opportunity towork on their own and employ their skills and own discretion to a certain extent. It is criticalto the success of work teams to have effective feedback from fellow team members to helppeople improve their output. The right balance between task independence and constructivefeedback is an important aspect of effective teams.

Process Factory C ommon P lan an d P urpose

An effective team has a common plan and purpose that provides direction, momentum, andcommitment for members. This common purpose, when accepted by the team, becomes theequivalent of what celestial navigation is to a ship captain.

y Specific Goa ls


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Successful teams translate their common purpose into specific, measurable, and realisticperformance goals. Team goals should be challenging. Difficult goals have been found toraise team performance on those criteria for which theyre set.

y T eam efficacy Effective teams have the confidence, and self belief that they can succeed. Successfulteams raise their beliefs about future success, which, in turn, motivates them to work harder.

y Menta l Mod e ls Effective teams have accurate and common mental models knowledge and beliefs, aPsychological map belief about how work gets done.

y C onf lict leve ls Contrary to popular belief, a certain amount of conflict contributes to the increasedperformance of the team. Task conflicts are functional in that they lead to increasedperformance and clarity on roles in teams, whereas relationship conflicts are almost alwaysdysfunctional in that they reduce the performance of the team.

y Socia l loafing This refers to the phenomenon of certain people performing below their individual capacitywhen part of a team. This behavior is usually brought on by a reduced sense of responsibility when individuals are part of a group. Thus, this negative effect of reducedindividual efforts, or inefficient people hiding in groups (free-riders).

Turning I ndividuals into Team Players

Many people are not inherently team players. Organizations have different methods of turningindividuals into team players, or fostering team spirit amongst its employees. Here we discuss afew of these ways in what we call the S- T -R way.

S electionBy hiring team players into the organization

T rainingBy creating team players through training

RewardingBy providing incentives to employees to be good team players

Team Building and Team Based Work (TBW)

Team building is the process of building effective teams to achieve certain objectives. Thecharacteristics of effective teams have been detailed extensively. However there is another approach to working in teams, Team Based Work or TBW. TBW can be defined as Building organizations that ensure the effectiveness of work teams and of their organizations.


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Building Collaborative Teams

Tackling any major initiative like acquisitions or overhaul of IT systems companies rely on large,diverse teams of highly educated specialists to get the job done. These teams are often

convened quickly to meet an urgent need and work together virtually, collaborating online andsometimes over long distances. However recent research into team behavior at 15 multinationalcompanies reveals an interesting paradox. Following are four traits that are crucial to teambuilding but also undermine them.

y L arge size - As the size of the teamincreases beyond 20 members, the levelof natural co-operation among membersof the team decreases.

y D iversity - Higher the proportions of people who dont know anyone else on

team and greater the diversity, the lesslikely the team members are to shareknowledge.

y Virtua l P articipation - as the teambecome more virtual collaborationdeclines

y H igh E d ucation leve ls - greater theproportion of highly educated specialistson a team, the more likely the team is todisintegrate into unproductive conflicts.

To build a collaborative team there hasidentified 8 factors through research and theyfall into four general categories

a. Executive support

Following are the points which a executive canindulge in to promote team behavior.

1. Investing in signature re lationshippractices - the most collaborative

companies had what we call signaturepractices- practices that where memorable, difficult for others to replicate, and particularlywell suited to their own business environment. For example RBS invested 350 millionpounds in building new headquarter to foster productive collaboration among theemployees. Build around an indoor atrium and is designed to improve communication,increase exchange of ideas, and create a sense of community among employees

The Idea in Practice

What executives can do

y Invest in building and maintaing social relationships throughout your organization

Royal Bank of Scotland s C EO commissionednew headquarters built around an indooratrium and featuring a Main Street withshops, picnic spaces, and a leisure club. Thedesign encourages employees to rubshoulders daily, which fuels collaboration inRBS s complex teams.

BP, being a global company, aims to buildsocial networks by moving employees

across functions, businesses and countriesas part of their career development.Though the easier and cheaper call wouldbe to leave the executives in their ownunits where, after all, they know thebusiness BP instead trains them to takeon new roles. As a consequence any seniorteam today is likely to be made up of people from multiple heritages.


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2. Gift cu lture - Teams do well whenexecutives invest in supportingsocial relationships, demonstratingcollaborative behavior themselvesand we create what we call a gift

culture- One in which employeesexperience interaction with leadersand colleagues as somethingvaluable and generously offered, agift.

3. Mod e ling co ll a b orative b ehavior -Perceived behavior of senior executives plays a significant role indetermining how co-operativesteams are prepared to be. While the

behavior of executive teams iscrucial to supporting a culture of collaboration, the challenge is tomake executives behavior visible.For example its widely accepted atstandard charted banks thatmembers of general managementcommittee will frequently serve assubstitutes for one another and thisinvestment in face to faceinteraction creates manyopportunities for people across thecompany to see top executives inyour action.


What executives can do

Microsoft UK has a D epartment of Peopleand Culture to focus on characteristics tofocus on the characteristics that create and

strengthen social capital throughout theorganization. Although the employees worklong and hard hours, 89% reported that they

love working there in a Sunday Times survey.

y M odel collaborative behaviour

At Standard Chartered Bank, top executivesfrequently fill in for one another, whetherleading regional celebrations, representingSCB at key external events, or initiating

internal dialogues with employees. Theymake their collaborative behavior visiblethrough extensive travel and photos of leaders from varied sites working together.The senior team s collaborative naturetrickles down throughout the organisation.Employees quickly learn the best way to getthings done is through informal networks.

y U se coaching to reinforce a gift culture

At Nokia, informal mentoring begins as soonas someone steps into a new job. Typically,within a few days, the employee s managerwill sit down and list all the people in theorganisation, no matter in what location, itwould be useful for the employee to meet.This is a deeply ingrained cultural norm,which probably originated when Nokia was asmaller and simpler organisation. It is thenstandard for the newcomer to actively set upmeetings with the people on the list, evenwhen it means travelling to other locations.

The gift of time in the form of hours spenton coaching and building networks is seenas crucial to the collaborative culture atNokia.


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b. H R practices

According to the researches the type of rewardsystems- whether based on team or individualachievement or tied explicitly to collaborativebehavior or not- has no discernable effect oncomplex teams productivity and innovation.However two practices did improve teamperformance

1. Ensuring the requisite ski ll s - Studies

showed that a number of skills werecrucial for building a collaborativeculture in the organization becausemost of the employees are not skilled inpracticing collaborative culture itself.Some of these skills includeappreciating others, being able toengage in purposeful conversations,productively and creatively resolvingconflicts and program management.For example PWC training includemodules that addresses teamwork,emotional intelligence, networking,holding difficult conversations,coaching, corporate social responsibilityand communicating the firms strategyand shared values. PWC also teachesemployees how to influence otherseffectively and build healthypartnerships.

2. Supporting a sense of community -HR can play a critical role in cultivatingcommunal spirit by sponsoring groupevents and activities such as womensnetworks, cooking weekends, andtennis coaching or creating policies andpractices that encourage them.Committed investment in creating


What HR can do

y Train employees in the specific skillsrequired for collaboration: appreciatingothers, engaging in purposeful conversation,

productively and creatively resolvingconflicts, and managing programs.

PricewaterhouseCoopers emerged ashaving one of the strongest capabilitiesin productive collaboration. Withresponsibility for developing 140,000employees in nearly 150 countries,PwC s training includes modules thataddress teamwork, emotionalintelligence, networking, holdingdifficult conversations, coaching,corporate social responsibility andcommunicating the firm s strategy andshared values. PwC also teachesemployees how to influence otherseffectively and build healthypartnerships.

y Support a sense of community by sponsoring events and activities such as

networking coaching. Spontaneous,unannounced activities can further foster community spirit .

Marriott has recognized theanniversary of the company s firsthotel opening by rolling back thecafeteria to the 1950s and sponsoring ateam twist dance contest.

ABN Amro makes technology neededfor long-distance collaboration readilyavailable to groups of individuals withshared interests. The company alsoencourages employees that travel to anew location to arrange meetings withas many people as possible. As projectsare completed, working groupsdisband but employees maintainnetworks of connections. Thesepractices serve to build a strongcommunity over time one that setsthe stage for success with futureprojects.


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informal networks is also a centralplank of the HR strategy of manyinstitutions and one of the bestexamples are Google and Marriott.

c. Strength of the team lea d er

The groups that have high level of collaborative behavior, the team leadersclearly made a significant difference.Teams leaders achieve this by layingflexibility in their behavior as managers.

1. A ssigning lea d ers that have b othtask an d re lationship oriente d -The most productive and innovative

teams were led by people who wereboth task and relationship oriented.These leaders also changed their style of working during the project.

At the early stage they exhibit taskoriented leadership: making goalclear clarifying the individualresponsibilities. At the certain pointin project they switched to arelationship orientation.

d. Structure of team - the final set of for developing and managing complex teamsdeals with makeup of the structure of theteams itself.

1. B ui ld ing on heritagere lationships - new teams particularly withhigh proportions of members who werestrangers at the time of formation, find itmore difficult to collaborate then thosewith established relationship. Forming

teams that capitalize on pre existingheritage relationships increases thechance of a projects success. In newlyformed teams, when some team membersalready know and already know and trustone another, they can become nodes,which over time evolve into networks.


What teamleaders can do

y B uild on heritage relationships

When Nokia needs to transfer skillsacross business functions or units, itmoves entire small teams intact insteadof reshuffling individual people into newpositions.

y Incorporate role clarity; task ambiguity need not be removed.

At the BBC, teams are often large andinclude members with a wide range of skills and from many disciplines.There isgreat clarity with which members viewtheir own roles and the roles of others.Every team is composed of specialistswho had deep expertise in their givenfunction, with each person having aclearly defined role. Yet the tasks the BBCteams tackle are, by their very nature,uncertain, particularly when they involvebreaking news. The BBC clarifies teammembers individual roles with so muchprecision that it keeps friction to aminimum.


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2. U n d erstan d ing ro le c larity an d task am b iguity - collaboration increases when the role

of individual team members are well defined and well understood. Without such clarity,team members are likely to waste too much energy negotiating roles or protecting turf,rather than focus on the task.

Documents

WorkTeams Session11 Report