Types of Teams

Within Department Vs. Multiple Departments

Permanent Vs. Ad hoc

Improvement Teams
Quality Circles
Process Improvement Teams
Cross Functional Teams
Project Teams/Task Forces
Natural Work Team

Supervision

Self-Directed Teams

Team Composition

Selecting Team Members

Pitfall: whoever is available

Adding New Team Members

Dont impose new team member

Involve team in selection process
Get teams input on needed skills

Removing Team Members

Handle delicately

Team Size
Team Diversity

Team Developmental Stages

Forming

Storming

Unclear expectations
Superficial interactions
Conflict (authority, vision, personality)
Conflict can be healthy or unhealthy

Norming

Group cohesion develops

Norms and routines developed
May use team building activities

Team Developmental Stages continued

Performing

Relationships and structure established

Consensus on purpose
Challenge addressed

Adjourning

Team disbands

Six Sigma Roles

Black Belts
Master Black Belts
Green Belts
Executive Sponsors
Champions
Process Owners
Steering Committee

General Team Roles

Leader (product)
Facilitator (process)
Team Member
Recorder/Secretary
Timekeeper

Nominal Group Technique

Team Assembled
Problem Presented
Generate ideas independently for 5 to 10 minutes
Ideas shared and recorded sequentially

No discussion

Ideas clarified, evaluated, extended

Voting

May be multiple rounds of voting

Multivoting

Generate and number list of ideas

Combine similar ideas
Have each member choose some number of ideas

1/3 of ideas

Tally votes
Eliminate ideas receiving small number of votes

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is among most, if not the most,

widely used techniques in business to stimulate
and foster creativity
Developed to
capitalize on synergistic effect of teams
Limit tendency to prematurely evaluate ideas as they are
being generated

Brainstorming Guidelines

Do not criticize ideas during the brainstorming

session
Express all ideas no matter how radical, bizarre,
unconventional, ridiculous or impractical they
may seem
Generate as many ideas as possible
Combine, extend, and/or improve on one
anothers ideas
Encourage everyone to participate
Record all ideas

Research Questions Effectiveness

One study compared quantity and quality of ideas

generated by people working in teams and
individually
Teams generated an average of 28 ideas
Same number of people working individually
generated an average of 74.5 ideas
Only 8.9% of ideas generated by teams were
evaluated as good ideas by panel of experts
12.7% of ideas generated by people working
independently were evaluated as good ideas

Threats to Team Creativity

Social Loafing
Conformity
Production Blocking
Downward Norm Setting

Methods to Enhance Team Creativity

Create Diversified Teams

Use Analogical Reasoning
Use Brainwriting
Use the NGTNominal Group Technique
Record Team Ideas
Use Trained Facilitators
Set High Standards
Change Team Composition
Use Electronic Brainstorming
Make the Workplace a Playground

Idealized Design

Idealized Design

Traditionally think in terms of correcting

problems
Alternative approach is to think in terms ideal
or ultimate work system
Only constraint that should be considered is
what is technologically feasible
Dont consider economic, legal, political, or
social constraints