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Types of Teams

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13 views4 pages

Types of Teams

Uploaded by

Abdulaziz Almawash
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Activity 27 Types of Teams

Types of Team members

Teams can be divided into four main groups: project teams, self-managed
teams. Other terms used in business are
• operational teams (which are just project teams for a specific business
area),
• Virtual Teams – which is just a team that uses technology to hold their
meetings.

For this class, focus on Project Teams and Self-Managed Teams.

Discussion: Teams are critical in today’s businesses and social organizations. Bringing together
a team of dedicated professionals to meet a specific goal is very rewarding. However, not all
teams are successful!
Advantages of Teams
• Teams bring together different people with divers KSAs – Knowledge, Skills and Abilities.
• The communication level is higher on successful teams.
• Effective teams effective – they have the skills and authority to get the job done.
• Teams can be efficient by getting a lot of coordinated work done very quickly.
• Teams that have resources have an impact.

Note: if you get all the right players involved, there are not “white spaces”. The problem goes
into the team and it gets resolved by the team. No excuses concerning problems. You have the
resources, the people and the ability to GET THINGS SOLVED.

Disadvantages of Teams
• No defined purpose/goals creates activity without results
• Different goals/priorities by different members
• No leadership means uncoordinated or ineffective work
• Strong leader limits input/creativity.
• Wrong KSA’s limits ability of team to be effective
• No resources (e.g., ignored from the top, no authority, no funds) limits ability of the
team to implement recommendations.
• Group Think: the reluctance to speak out against the majority opinion. It’s about fear of
upsetting other members and disrupting social cohesion.
• Team rewards
• If poor performers get same reward as hard workers, morale and
performance issue.
• If team not recognized, little incentive to work on team goals.

Project team
A project team is a group of employees that work collectively and have shared goals
and strategies.

Categories of Project Teams:


1. Functional team
A functional team is permanent. It includes members of the same department with
different responsibilities. There is a manager who is responsible for everything.
Everyone in the team reports to him.
A functional team can be usually recognized in traditional project management
companies.
This type requires a manager who ensures that there are no obstacles when it comes to
transferring work from one team to another.

2. Cross-functional team
A cross-functional team consists of members from different departments. This kind of
team tackles specific tasks that require different expertise and inputs.
Cross-functional teams are becoming increasingly popular all over the world. However,
there is an opinion that the whopping number of all cross-functional teams are
dysfunctional.

3. Matrix team
A matrix team is a “2-boss system”. Here an individual reports to a different manager for
his/her work. A matrix team is the product of a Matrix management approach.
It helps top managers to retain control over the project without being involved in
decisions.
Problem: when everyone is in charge, no one is in charge. It is harder to hold
matrix teams accountable for getting things done.

4. Contract team
A contract team is an outsourced team where the members are tied down by a
contract.
The client can easily cut all ties to the team after the project is completed and the
contract has ended. In this kind of team, the role of project managers is crucial. They
have to maintain constant communication between the customer and team members, to
compensate for the lack of the team’s physical presence, to bear full responsibility for
project success or failure.

Self-managed teams
Self-managed teams consist of employees of the same company who work together.
Although they have a wide set of objectives, their key goal is to reach a common result.
There is no manager here. The members of self-managed teams should determine
rules and expectations, solve problems and bare shared responsibilities.
**** Self-managed Teams:
• Set own goals/deadlines (have autonomy)
• Must be intrinsically motivated for the goal (less external rewards)
• Shared values brings commitment/cohesion
• Still need structure/leader
• May have limited resources

EXAMPLE: Company Christmas Party. They get to decide where, when and how of the
event.

Best Practices in Setting Up a team (Boss’ actions)


• Set clear goals/mission. (USE SMART GOALS)
• Designate a Leader
• Leader has input on team members
• Leader has input on resources/funds
• Agreement on when and how often to brief the boss
• Boss designates when team is up for review (could it be
disbanded/changed)
• Boss Give Proper Level of Authority! (report or take action)
• Have a budget/resources

Best Practices of Leader (see next lesson)

Assignment: (1 point each)


• You are part of a book club. You meet every other Tuesday evening at a local coffee bar
and discuss a book you have read. The group collectively decides what books to read,
whether to suspend meetings for the summer or winter holidays and sometimes choose
to discuss the same book for several weeks. What kind of team do you belong to?
The team is self-managed.

• You set up a team to improve the accounting Department. What team are you?
A project team.

• You set up a team to get the shipping department and the parts department to work
together. If the team reports to each department head, what type of team is it?
Cross-Functional.

• You are “The boss”. You want a team to RECOMMEND solutions to a production
problem. How much authority does the team have to implement changes?
They do not have authority to make changes since their limit is to only recommend and not
make decisions or perform actions.
• A team is stuck on a complicated problem. The team leader tells everyone to come up
with a solution and present their solution at the next meeting. All the team players
come up with the same solution. This could be a case of finding the best solution.
However, this could be the result of group think.

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