A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal .
69-863: As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management , "[a] team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to information, resources, knowledge and skills and who seek to combine their efforts to achieve a common goal". A group does not necessarily constitute a team. Teams normally have members with complementary skills and generate synergy through a coordinated effort which allows each member to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Naresh Jain (2009) claims: Team members need to learn how to help one another, help other team members realize their true potential , and create an environment that allows everyone to go beyond their limitations. While academic research on teams and teamwork has grown consistently and has shown
138-597: A 'video-shorts' series that provided 3-minute practical advice to managers on how to brainstorm, negotiate, and develop team charters. Soon after, Thompson developed a sub-hour best practice video series called, “Negotiation 101” and “Teamwork 101” that was also publicly available. In 2015, Thompson developed a MOOC titled High Performance Collaboration: Leadership Teamwork and Negotiation. The course available through Coursera teaches leadership skills, negotiation strategies and team management. In 2019, Thompson developed and launched an interactive course called, 'Negotiating in
207-668: A Virtual World'. She launched this in the full-time MBA program at Kellogg and also at the executive level. Thompson has two sons and one daughter. She is an avid cyclist. She is a USA cycling national time trial champion. In 2010, she won a masters time trial championship at the world level. Quality control Quality control ( QC ) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production . ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach places emphasis on three aspects (enshrined in standards such as ISO 9001): Inspection
276-405: A business setting are independent teams. Coaching an interdependent team like a football team necessarily requires a different approach from coaching an independent team like a gymnastics team, because the costs and benefits to individual team members—and therefore the intrinsic incentives for positive team behaviors—differ markedly. An interdependent team benefits from members getting to know
345-477: A clear example of an interdependent team: On the other hand, a track-and-field team is a classic example of an independent team: If all team members each perform the same basic tasks, such as students working problems in a maths class, or outside sales employees making phone calls, then it is likely that this team is an independent team. They may be able to help each other—perhaps by offering advice or practice time, by providing moral support, or by helping in
414-423: A collaboration with cognitive psychologists Jeffrey Loewenstein and Dedre Gentner to study analogical reasoning in managers. Her article, 'Avoiding missed opportunities in managerial life: Analogical training more powerful than individual case training' marked the beginning of several research projects focused on how to help managers apply knowledge from classroom training to business situations. In 2003, she edited
483-416: A collection of people when a strong sense of mutual commitment creates synergy, thus generating performance greater than the sum of the performance of its individual members. Thus teams of game players can form (and re-form) to practise their craft/sport. Transport logistics executives can select teams of horses , dogs , or oxen for the purpose of conveying passengers or goods. Of particular importance
552-532: A competition whereas women approach it as an opportunity to build connection. In 1996, Thompson wrote a chapter titled 'Conflict in Groups', published in Social Psychology: Handbook of Basic Principles. It marked the beginning of her research on team and group performance. She wrote about group decision making and social cognition in groups in the late 1990s. Later she conducted research on
621-574: A construction team designing blueprints for a new building, and then guiding the construction of the building using these blueprints. A team used only for a defined period of time and for a separate, concretely definable purpose, often becomes known as a project team. This category of team includes negotiation-, commission- and design-team subtypes. In general, these types of teams are multi-talented and composed of individuals with expertise in many different areas. Members of these teams might belong to different groups, but receive assignment to activities for
690-615: A country or across the world, rarely meet face-to-face, and include members from different cultures. In their 2009 literature-review paper, Ale Ebrahim, N., Ahmed, S. and Taha, Z. added two key issues to definition of a virtual team : "as small temporary groups of geographically, organizationally and/ or time dispersed knowledge workers who coordinate their work predominantly with electronic information and communication technologies in order to accomplish one or more organization tasks". Many virtual teams are solving customer problems or generating new work processes. Work teams are responsible for
759-481: A demarcation between the temporary organization and its environment. The demarcation is driven by four interrelated concepts (the four T's): "The concepts also differ from the crucial concepts that define the permanent organization. Permanent organizations are more naturally defined by goals (rather than tasks), survival (rather than time), working organization (rather than team) and production processes and continual development (rather than transition)" A sports team
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#1732766166389828-437: A final product (Devine, 2002). For instance, a quality-control group on an assembly line would be an example of an advisory team: they may examine the products produced and make suggestions about how to improve the quality of the items being made. A product reaches the final stage and is put for sales after getting approved by the advisory teams. The advisory team consists of experts who possess extraordinary skills. The goal of
897-412: A life-cycle of stages, identified by Bruce Tuckman as: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning . Team cognition has been defined as an "emergent state that refers to the manner in which knowledge important to team functioning is organized, represented, and distributed within team." This emergent state can manifest in two ways. Compositional emergence occurs when individual level cognition
966-474: A new team structure, where management and the company was more supportive of the union workforce. Some people use the word "team" when they mean "employees". A " sales team" is a common example of this loose or perhaps euphemistic usage, though inter-dependencies exist in organisations , and a sales group can be let down by poor performance in other parts of the organisation upon which sales depend, like delivery, after-sales service, etc. However "sales staff"
1035-708: A one year fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences . She left University of Washington in 1995 to join Northwestern University as the John L. & Helen Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Management and Organizations and an adjunct professor of psychology. In 2001, she was endowed the J. Jay Gerber Distinguished Professorship of Dispute Resolution and Organizations at Northwestern. From 1995 to 2006, Thompson served as
1104-518: A panacea that realizes the Human Relations Movement 's desire to integrate what that movement perceives as best for workers and as best for managers . Many people believe in the effectiveness of teams, but also see them as dangerous because of the potential for exploiting workers — in that team effectiveness can rely on peer pressure and peer surveillance . However, Hackman sees team effectiveness not only in terms of performance:
1173-509: A session of brainwriting before brainstorming can increase the number of ideas generated as well as the creativity of ideas. Her research in this area has also highlighted that people can be primed for creativity by asking them to share embarrassing stories prior to brainstorming session. Thompson has conducted research and written about various topics in organizational behavior and social psychology aside from her work on negotiation, teams and creativity. Her early work in this area has dealt with
1242-458: A sharp increase over the past recent 40 years, the societal diffusion of teams and teamwork actually followed a volatile trend in the 20th century. The concept was introduced into business in the late 20th century, which was followed by a popularization of the concept of constructing teams . Differing opinions exist on the efficacy of this new management fad . Some see "team" as a four-letter word : overused and under-useful. Others see it as
1311-408: A team. The emergence of team cognition is thought to impact team effectiveness because it can positively affect a team's behavioural process, motivational states, and performance. Team cognition consists of two broad types of content. Task related models are related to knowledge of the major duties and resources possessed by the team. Team-related models refer to interactions and interdependence among
1380-440: A truly effective team will contribute to the personal well-being and adaptive growth of its members. English-speakers commonly use the word "team" in today's society to characterise many types of groups. Peter Guy Northouse's book Leadership: theory and practice discusses teams from a leadership perspective. According to the team approach to leadership , a team is a type of organizational group of people that are members. A team
1449-552: Is a group of people which play sports (often team sports ) together. Members include all players (even those who are waiting their turn to play), as well as support members such as a team manager or coach . Developments in information and communications technology have seen the emergence of the virtual work-team. A virtual team is a group of people who work interdependently and with shared purpose across space, time, and organisational boundaries using technology to communicate and collaborate. Virtual team members can be located across
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#17327661663891518-430: Is a major component of quality control, where physical product is examined visually (or the end results of a service are analyzed). Product inspectors will be provided with lists and descriptions of unacceptable product defects such as cracks or surface blemishes for example. Early stone tools such as anvils had no holes and were not designed as interchangeable parts . Mass production established processes for
1587-497: Is a more accurate description of the typical arrangement. Groups develop into teams in four stages: In the first stage, group development is characterized by members' dependency on the designated leader (identical to 'Forming' in Tuckman's model). In the second stage, the group seeks to free itself from its dependence on the leader and groups have conflicts about goals and procedures (identical to 'Storming' in Tuckman's model). In
1656-452: Is composed of members who are dependent on each other, work towards interchangeable achievements, and share common attainments. A team works as a whole together to achieve certain things. A team is usually located in the same setting as it is normally connected to a kind of organization, company, or community. Teams can meet in-person (directly face-to-face) or virtually when practicing their values and activities or duties. A team's communication
1725-549: Is done, and not by management's wishes or by the fashions of the latest management fad . Teams in areas of work or study such as in the medical field, may be multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary . Multidisciplinary teams involve several professionals who independently treat various issues a patient may have, focusing on the issues in which they specialise. The problems that are being treated may or may not relate to other issues being addressed by individual team members. The interdisciplinary team approach involves all members of
1794-400: Is imagined along a continuum, starting with a manager-led team in which team members complete the required tasks but someone outside the team performs the executive functions. As the person's job it is who performs the executive functions is to define the goals and methods for the team, the team itself holds the sole responsibility of the execution of the work that needs to be performed. Next in
1863-433: Is significantly important to their relationship. Ergo, communication is frequent and persistent, and as well are the meetings . The definition of team as an organizational group is not completely set in stone, as organizations have confronted a myriad of new forms of contemporary collaboration. Teams usually have strong organizational structured platforms and respond quickly and efficiently to challenges as they have skills and
1932-488: Is similar in form and function to its manifestation at team-level. Compilational emergence, on the other hand, represents a greater degree of synergy among team members and represents a new-team level construct. As such, higher degrees of compilational emergence are more closely related to team process and performance than is compositional emergence. Research into team cognition has focused on how teams develop mental models and transactive memory systems. Mental models refer to
2001-517: Is the concept of different types of teams. Although the concept of a team is relatively simple, social scientists have identified many different types of teams. In general, teams either act as information processors, or take on a more active role in the task and actually perform activities. Common categories and subtypes of teams include: An action team is a group of people with leadership skills. It devises strategies, analyze situations and execute needed actions. Advisory teams make suggestions about
2070-637: Is the author and editor of eleven books including Negotiating the Sweet Spot: The Art of Leaving Nothing on the Table , Creative Conspiracy: The New Rules of Breakthrough Collaboration , Stop Spending, Start Managing: Strategies to Transform Wasteful Habits , Making the Team: A Guide for Managers, The Mind And Heart of the Negotiator and The Truth about Negotiation . Thompson is a fellow of
2139-509: Is the creating the team's organizational context. Self-directed teams offer the most potential for innovation, enhance goal commitment and motivation, and provide opportunity for organizational learning and change. Team size and team composition affect team processes and team outcomes. The optimal size (and composition) of teams is debated and will vary depending on the task at hand. At least one study of problem-solving in groups showed an optimal size of groups at four members. Other works estimate
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2208-568: The Association for Psychological Science . Thompson received a B.S. in speech from Northwestern University in 1982 followed by an M.A. in education from University of California, Santa Barbara in 1984. Subsequently, she returned to Northwestern University, where she received her Ph.D. in psychology in 1988. After completing her Ph.D., Thompson joined the University of Washington as an assistant professor of psychology. In 1994, she had
2277-507: The National Science Foundation and its program review committee. Along with her work in academia, Thompson has worked as a speaker, consultant, and trainer for several companies. Thompson's research is focused on the topics of creativity, innovation, teamwork and social psychology . She has also done considerable research on negotiation, focusing on how men and women negotiate, how to improve negotiation skills and
2346-429: The 1990s researching and writing about negotiation. Some of her work during this time also included perceptions of fairness in negotiation, and negotiations in teams. In 1998, Thompson wrote the book The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator . The book discusses on how people can negotiate better. Used as an undergraduate and graduate course book, it has been translated into Mandarin, Portuguese and Korean. The 7th edition of
2415-810: The Kellogg Leading High Impact Teams Executive program and the Kellogg Team and Group Research Center. She also serves as the co-director of the Navigating Work Place Conflict Executive program and the Constructive Collaboration Executive program. Thompson's research has been focused on the topics of negotiation , group decision making , analogical reasoning and creativity . She has written over 130 scientific articles and book chapters. She
2484-430: The actual act of creating tangible products and services (Devine, 2002). The actual workers on an assembly line would be an example of a production team, whereas waiters and waitresses at a diner would be an example of a service team. One common distinction is drawn between interdependent and independent teams. The difference is determined by the actions that the team members take while working. A rugby team provides
2553-457: The background during a busy time—but each individual's success is primarily due to each individual's own efforts. Runners do not win their own races merely because the rest of their teammates did, and maths students do not pass tests merely because their neighbours know how to solve equations . In the business environment, sales teams and traditional professionals (such as doctors, lawyers, and teachers), work in independent teams. Most teams in
2622-535: The book The Social Psychology of Organizational Behavior: Key Readings. It featured a number of articles in the field of organizational behavior, with focus on micro-organizational behavior. In 2008, Thompson wrote the book Organizational Behavior Today. The book explains key organizational behavior concepts such as the influence of people on organizations, differences between leadership and management, teamwork and levels of communication. The book has been translated into Mandarin. In early 2010, some of Thompson's work
2691-642: The book Tools for Teams. She was the co-editor of the 2007 book Conflict in Organizational Groups: New Directions in Theory and Practice. In the late 2000s, Thompson conducted research on creativity in groups and organizational teams. She collaborated with Hoon-Seok Choi to produce an edited book, Creativity and Innovation in Organizational Teams. In the late 2010s, some of her work in this area dealt with
2760-418: The book was published in 2019. In the early 2000s, Thompson began studying the impact of gender on negotiation skills. She also wrote about how negotiation can be taught and learned as a skill. Some of her research during the early 2000s in this area dealt with how emotion influences negotiation behavior and outcomes. In 2006, Thompson edited the book, Negotiation Theory and Research and in 2008 she wrote
2829-601: The book, The Truth About Negotiations. Published by Financial Times Press, the book has been translated into six languages. The second edition of the book was published in 2013. In the early and mid 2010s, Thompson's research in this area returned to teams and negotiation. In the late 2010s, Thompson conducted research on how divergent and convergent thinking can impact negotiation performance. In 2018, she conducted further research on how negotiation differs for men and women. Her research highlighted that men lie in negotiations more often than women because men approach negotiation as
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2898-490: The capability to do so. An effective organizational team leads to greater productivity, more effective implementation of resources, better decisions and problem-solving, better-quality products/service, and greater innovation and originality. Alongside the concept of a team, compare the more structured/skilled concept of a crew , the advantages of formal and informal partnerships , or the well-defined – but time-limited – existence of task forces . A team becomes more than just
2967-488: The command team is to combine instructions and to coordinate action among management. In other words, command teams serve as the " middle man " in tasks (Devine, 2002). For instance, messengers on a construction site, conveying instructions from the executive team to the builders, would be an example of a command team. An executive team is a management team that draws up plans for activities and then directs these activities (Devine, 2002). An example of an executive team would be
3036-444: The creation of parts and system with identical dimensions and design, but these processes are not uniform and hence some customers were unsatisfied with the result. Quality control separates the act of testing products to uncover defects from the decision to allow or deny product release, which may be determined by fiscal constraints. For contract work, particularly work awarded by government agencies, quality control issues are among
3105-411: The degree in which team members have similar cognitive understanding of the situation and performance goals which include shared representations of the task. Transactive memory systems relate to how knowledge is distributed among team members and retrieved in a coordinated fashion, the way that team member rely on knowledge that is possessed by other members and how knowledge sets are differentiated within
3174-644: The director of Behavioral Research Lab at Kellogg. In 1997, she became the director of Kellogg Team and Group Research Center and the Leading High Impact Teams Executive Program. In 2013, she was appointed the director of Constructive Collaboration Executive Program. Thompson is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. She has served on the selection panel of the Decision, Risk, and Management Program at
3243-494: The evaluation of events, perception of justice, fairness and conflict resolution. Thompson co-edited the book Shared Cognition in Organizations in 1999. The book was a compilation of articles on the topic of shared knowledge. Administrative Science Quarterly reviewed the book positively and wrote that "perhaps the most admirable feat achieved in this book is the breadth of perspectives presented." In 1999, Thompson began
3312-465: The factors that impact creativity in groups and how it can be improved. In 2000, she wrote the book, Making the Team: A Guide for Managers . The book explains how teams should be designed to function optimally. It also highlights the skills needed to become a productive part of a team. Making the Team's 6th edition was published in 2017. It has been translated into Korean and Russian. In 2001, she wrote
3381-401: The formation of a team to complete such tasks does not guarantee success. Rather, the proper implementation of teams is positively related to both member satisfaction and increased effectiveness. Organizations who want to receive the benefits afforded by teams need to carefully consider how teams are built and implemented. Often, teams are created without providing members any training to develop
3450-419: The hierarchy are self-managing teams , followed by self-designing teams. Finally, at the top of the hierarchy, come self-governing teams. The model describes four different types of control that fully self-governing teams can possess. These include control over the execution of the task, monitoring and managing work processes, control over the design and performance of a team, and setting the overall direction of
3519-416: The hope of getting the best of both types. However, instead, they tend instead to produce the negative features of each and none of the benefits, and consequently under-perform. Pressuring teams to become independent or interdependent, on the grounds that management has decided that one type is intrinsically better than the other, results in failure. The nature of the team is defined by the type of work that
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#17327661663893588-498: The key findings of the book in a Google author talk in 2017. Towards the end of the 1990s, owing to the increase in the use of technology, some of Thompson's research examined electronically-mediated negotiations and how analogical encoding affects negotiation. She conducted an initial experiment examining how managers negotiate differently using email versus face-to-face negotiations. She conducted more studies that examined texting versus email negotiations. In 2015, Thompson created
3657-523: The kind of collaboration which makes teams more effective and how leaders can get their teams to be more creative. Reviewing the book, BusinessLIVE wrote that "her advice is practical and is applicable to everything from start-up teams trying to come up with new ideas to musicians working together to advertising account executives and creative directors developing pitches." Some of her research in this area has focused on brainstorming and how brainstorming can be made more productive. Her research highlighted that
3726-479: The limits. Quality was thus precisely defined using devices such as plug gauges and ring gauges . However, this did not address the problem of defective items; recycling or disposing of the waste adds to the cost of production, as does trying to reduce the defect rate. Various methods have been proposed to prioritize quality control issues and determine whether to leave them unaddressed or use quality assurance techniques to improve and stabilize production. There
3795-458: The optimal size between 5–12 members or a number of members that can consume two pizzas. The following extract is taken from Chong (2007): David Cooperrider suggests that the larger the group, the better. This is because a larger group is able to address concerns of the whole system . So while a large team may be ineffective at performing a given task, Cooperider says that the relevance of that task should be considered, because determining whether
3864-473: The organization. Take for example New United Motor Manufacturing Inc (NUMMI). Originally it was a General Motors automotive manufacturing plant that had to close due to numerous issues, causing it to be the worst performing GM plant. NUMMI was the collaborative creation of General Motors and Toyota. These two companies took most of the same work force and created one of the most productive automotive plants, producing high quality cars. They did this by implementing
3933-400: The other team members socially, from developing trust in each other, and from conquering artificial collective challenges (such as those offered in outdoors ropes courses ). Interdependent teams respond well to collective rewards, and independent teams perform better with individual rewards. Hybrid teams and hybrid rewards, which try to combine characteristics of both, are sometimes created in
4002-695: The role of emotions in negotiation. Since the beginning of her career, negotiation has been a focus of Thompson's research. Initially her work on negotiation was focused on why managers often fail to reach win-win negotiation agreements. She wrote her first paper in the area in 1988 titled 'Groups as Mixed Motive Negotiations' in Advances in Group Processes: Theory & Research . In the 1990s her research discussed biases in negotiation, behavior and negotiation, and how training, experience, and feedback impacts negotiation skills. She spent most of
4071-605: The same project , thereby allowing outsiders to view them as a single unit. In this way, setting up a team allegedly facilitates the creation, tracking and assignment of a group of people based on the project in hand. The use of the "team" label in this instance often has no relationship to whether the employees work as a team. Lundin and Soderholm define project teams as a special case in the more general category of temporary organizations which also includes task forces, program committees, and action groups. All of these are formed to "make things happen". This emphasis on action leads to
4140-529: The skills necessary to perform well in a team setting. This is critical, because teamwork can be cognitively and interpersonally demanding. Even when a team consists of talented individuals, these individuals must learn to coordinate their actions and develop functional interpersonal interactions. In their review of the relevant scientific literature, Kozlowski and Ilgen demonstrated that such training can greatly benefit team effectiveness. Finally, teams are more likely to be successful when they are fully supported by
4209-551: The team is effective first requires identifying what needs to be accomplished. Regarding composition, all teams will have an element of homogeneity and heterogeneity. The more homogeneous the group, the more cohesive it will be. The more heterogeneous the group, the greater the differences in perspective and increased potential for creativity , but also the greater potential for conflict. Team members normally have different roles, like team leader and agents. Large teams can divide into subteams according to need. Many teams go through
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#17327661663894278-400: The team members. When companies are in trouble, they often restructure into teams. However, putting people into teams does not solve problems; if not done thoughtfully, this may even cause more problems. The formation of teams is most appropriate for tasks that are difficult, complex and important. These types of tasks are often beyond the skills and abilities of any single individual. However,
4347-457: The team working together towards the same goal. In an interdisciplinary team approach, members of the core team will often rôle-blend, taking on tasks usually filled by people in different roles on the team. These types of teams result in the highest potential for innovative work and motivation among its members. Team members determine the team's objectives and the means to achieve them. The management's only responsibility among self-directing teams
4416-426: The team's collective performance greater than the sum of all individual members’ best performance. In short, a team is more than the sum of its parts. Leigh Thompson (academic) Leigh Thompson is the J. Jay Gerber Professor of Dispute Resolution & Organizations in the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University . She is the director of High Performance Negotiation Skills Executive program,
4485-403: The team. To understand how teams deliver extra performance, we need to distinguish between teams and working groups. A working group's performance is made up of the individual results of all its individual members. A team's performance is made up of both individual results and collective results. Teams produce work products/results though the joint contributions of team members. This is what makes
4554-420: The third stage, the group manages to work through the conflicts (identical to 'Norming' in Tuckman's model). And in the last stage, groups focus on team productivity (identical to 'Performing' in Tuckman's model). One aspect of teams that can set them apart from other groups is their level of autonomy. Hackman developed a hierarchical model of team autonomy which consists of four levels of team self-management. It
4623-440: The top reasons for not renewing a contract. The simplest form of quality control was a sketch of the desired item. If the sketch did not match the item, it was rejected, in a simple Go/no go procedure. However, manufacturers soon found it was difficult and costly to make parts be exactly like their depiction; hence around 1840 tolerance limits were introduced, wherein a design would function if its parts were measured to be within
4692-401: The topic of conflict in groups and creativity in groups. In 2013, she wrote a paper titled 'Why Teams Need a Creative Conspiracy for Success'. The paper led to the 2013 book titled The Creative Conspiracy: The New Rules of Breakthrough Collaboration . In the book she described collaborations that are conscious, planned and focused on creativity as a creative conspiracy. The book discusses keys to
4761-596: Was focused on envy at workplace and decision making in organizations. In 2016, she wrote the book Stop Spending, Start Managing: Strategies to Transform Wasteful Habits. Co-authored with Tanya Menon, the book discusses people-related problems that organizations face. Menon and Thompson interviewed one thousand managers and executives to collect data for the book. They discuss five spending traps - The Expertise Trap, The Winner's Trap, The Agreement Trap, The Communication Trap, and The Macromanagement Trap - that managers often fall into and how to avoid such situations. She discussed
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