Fit for Purpose - Work Group or Team?
by Sharon Feltham, Excellerate
The massive investment organisations make in establishing and developing high performance teams creates a huge challenge for leaders and employees. It can be extremely difficult for a team to live up to expectations by delivering the superior results the organisation is looking for. More often than not, in spite of considerable effort, both the organisation and the team are disappointed. Much of the frustration and disappointed could be avoided however, if organisations considered in the first instance whether a “team” or a “single leader unit” would better serve the mission.
Teams are not all they are cracked up to be
In many situations teams can be inferior to work groups, or even individuals. This is due in part to the fact that when we interact as a group we seem to lose our intelligence. James Surowiecki describes this dumbing down effect in his book “The Wisdom of Crowds”
“Interaction is incredibly problematic, especially when it comes to group behaviour. If there is too much interaction among human beings, groups end up being less intelligent than they would otherwise be. The more we talk to each other the dumber it is possible for us to become”
An example of this is the “Apollo Syndrome” where teams of highly intelligent individuals perform worse than teams comprised of less capable members.
Single-leader units however, are intrinsically faster and more efficient than teams. These are groups where tasks are clearly defined by one leader, and members work on their own much of the time. These single leader units are most effective where there is a strong leader who knows the market place, sets high performance standards and has a well-designed system for assessing individual results.
No one approach is superior though as problems can occur where there is a mismatch between the group’s organization and its purpose. Where the task calls for a real team, or where the group tries to become a team when a single-leader unit approach is more appropriate, morale and performance will suffer. The mismatch in either scenario produces weak leadership, low levels of commitment, wasted time, and poor performance results.
When it’s best to use teams
Teams should never be created for the sake of having a “team”. They can however be extremely effective when they are designed to meet the needs of a specific performance challenge. And, they will add the most value when the combined membership is better than the most effective individual.
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Teams are most effective when
- The task is complex requiring multiple skills and knowledge.
- There is too much or not enough information is incomplete.
- The task, problem or solution affects many people or reques input from other departments
- Creativity and new ideas are needed;
- There are no clear answers and the path forward is unclear.
- More efficient use of personnel is required.
- Sufficient time is available for team training and development and for reaching decisions
- High commitment is desirable.
- Cooperation needed for team implementation is likely.
- When division and coordination of labour is needed for the work to be accomplished
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Teams are least effective when
- One person has greater expertise on the subject than other members
- All information required is available
- Task or purpose contained within one area
- The task is straightforward.
- The task is routine.
- Insufficient space, equipment and resources for a team
- Time constraints do not support team training, development and decision-making
- Employee turnover is high.
- Lack of support for teams because of culture, management or union relations
- Where work can be divided amongst a few people and the leader can integrate those parts.
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Katzenbach, J.R., Smith, D.K., The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization, Harper Business, 1993
Robbins, H and Finley M, Why Teams Don’t Work Peterson's / Pacesetter 1995
Surowiecki J,The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations Knopf Publishing Group 2005.
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