TEAM-WORK

LECTURE 6 – ENGINEERING ETHICS

 TEAM WORK

• People have worked together in a supportive way since the

dawn of history; hunting for food, growing crops etc.
• People started to work in teams in order to overcome
obstacles or to perform tasks individuals could not do alone.
• Management theories after industrialization broke down
teamwork in favor of men working as machines in mass
production factories.
• New management theories calls for new forms of teamwork
for more flexible organizations & to face global competition.

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 WHAT IS A TEAM

A manager talks about his team as a group of individuals

whose commonality of purpose is simply to prevent
themselves being overwhelmed by the workload.
Jon Katzenbach, Director at McKinsey & Co., and Douglas
Smith have been very influential in the study of teams. In
their book, The Wisdom of Teams, they define teams as
follows:
• Working towards a common goal
• The personal success of team members is dependent on others
• Have an agreed and common approach
• The knowledge and skills of team members are complementary
• A small number of people, usually fewer than twenty
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 TEAM WORK

Non Effective Teams:

- A poorly led operation team
- A cross functional team without a common objective
- Virtual team without robust communication in place

Effective Teams:
- Teams where there is energy, enthusiasm, and a great feeling
of camaraderie
- High performance standards, project finish on time & budget
- Creativity & “blue skies” thinking results in a new range of
services and products

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 WHY WORK IN TEAMS

 To pool resources when addressing a challenge. “in

unity there is strength”. A single twig can be broken by a
child while a bundle of twigs is stronger than a grown
man

 To bring together variety of specialist skills to overcome

various obstacles

 Team members grow into a social group with emotional

supports for individuals who are feeling low

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 TYPES OF TEAMS
A variety of teams can be found in an organization:
• Operational – Teams you form part of by joining an organization,
such as HR, finance, marketing, etc.
• Quality circles – Teams throughout the organization examining
continuous improvement activities.
• Self-managed teams – Working together in their own way towards
a common goal which is defined outside the team. For example, in
a production line situation the senior management will have
decided on the packaging/cardboard boxes to be used for
containing a product, but the team will do their own work of
scheduling/training/rewards and recognition.
• Self-directed teams – As above, working towards a common goal
which the team defines, but also handles compensation and
discipline and acts as a profit center by defining its own future. For
example, in a university a commercial unit could be set up to
handle in-house assignments with corporate clients and be reliant
on generating sufficient income to cover its own costs and
generate profit.
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 TEAM DEVELOPMENT
Four main stages of team development are described:
1. Forming: Coming together, members are trying to find out
about one another
2. Storming: Open conflict, Individuals start to sort out and
negotiate what they want from the group process.
Differences emerge
3. Norming: Settling, agreement and consensus is formed
amongst the team. Roles & responsibilities established
4. Performing: Executing tasks, members function as a team
knowing why they are doing what they are doing
5. Mourning: Letting go, end of task or a project. Members will
no longer function as a team but may continue personal
relationships
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 CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH PERFORMING
TEAMS

“ It’s surprising what a team can achieve if everyone forgets

about his personal gain”

 The first condition for good teamwork is that each member

of the team is aware that he or she is responsible for the
whole.
 It is not shared responsibility, it is the responsibility for
everything on the shoulder of each one.
 The state of mind of each team member reflects the state of
mind of the whole: it is the definition of TEAM SPIRIT.
 The goal is to realize the HOLOGRAPHIC TEAM.

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 CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH PERFORMING
TEAMS

The necessary conditions for reaching the ultimate

stage of the holographic team:

 Certain values
 Certain skills
 Certain foci of interest
 Fun
 Confidence
 and . . . A GOAL!

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 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEAM LEADERS

Being a team leader is rewarding and challenging. The benefits

of being a team leader are many and include:

• Skill development – A chance to utilize and develop key

workplace and management skills.
• Career development – Leading teams and projects are
experiences that enhance your CV.
• Satisfaction – You can feel a genuine sense of achievement.
How might it feel to be able to make things happen?
• Improved network – It’s a great way to meet new people
inside your organization and to enhance your career
prospects.
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Role and responsibilities
of team leaders (cont’d)
• The team leader’s role is to
achieve the team’s objectives.
• The team leader’s specific
responsibility role is to
(proactively) control change.
• Must be aware that they have
to lead their teams along a safe
path through an uncertain
future.
 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEAM LEADERS

Key responsibilities and approximate time split:

• Identify, recruit and retain team members: 20%
• Project management: 50%
• Team communication, management and
monitoring: 30%

The great team leader ensures that his/her team

does not have to deal with (react to) the same
mistakes over and over again. If this happens, some
manager, some place, is not doing their job.
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 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEAM LEADERS
Key personal attributes of team leaders:
 Developing/coaching people
 Managing relationships
 Influencing others
 Integrity
 Decision making
 Credibility
 Supporting personal attributes
 Meeting customer needs
 Business awareness
 Communication

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 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEAM LEADERS
Skills required to undertake the role:
 Interpersonal skills
 Presentation skills
 Influencing and negotiating skills
 Leadership skills
 Time management skills
 Coaching/counselling
 Ability to continually identify and implement
business improvements

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 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEAM LEADERS
Leader-led relationship should include:
• Enthusiasm about the organization
• Honesty and openness
• Decisiveness and the courage to defend decisions
• Admitting errors
• Sensitivity to people’s feelings.

Principles of human team leadership:

• Set an example by demanding the most of yourself.
• Demand the most of your team members to give them
opportunities to be proud of themselves!
• Personally provide your team with as much assistance as
possible.
• Protect team members from fear and help them to overcome it.

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 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEAM LEADERS
Team leader responsibilities are varied and can include:
• Focus team members upon the purpose and tasks of the team
and projects; remind the team of the outcomes the organization,
team itself and service users seek and how these fit with the
organization's vision, mission and goals.
• Perform effectively in clearly defined functions and roles.
• Promote values for the team and demonstrate the values of good
team leadership through your own behavior.
• Take informed, transparent decisions and manage risk.
• Develop the capacity and capability of the team.
• Engage stakeholders and make accountability real.
• Organize the team, securing resources (space, time, people,
budget) and clearing organizational boundaries.
• Assist others or facilitate meetings; encourage quiet team
members to speak up, and when necessary shut down those team
members who tend to dominate.
• Work safely and ethically.
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 EFFECTIVE TEAM WORK

• A team is any group with common goals, a task that must be

done by more than one person, and some kind of payoffs or
benefits for every member.
• The team should first develop rules for governing its activities.
• Inspire creativity along with problem solving.
• Members are committed to consensus decisions.
Compromise implies some are giving up what they want.
• Differences among members can be channeled and
managed to produce high quality results.
• A team constitution is a set of rules that governs the team’s
activities.

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 RUNNING A MEETING

 A meeting is an expensive use of an organization’s most

valuable resource: time.
 There is the direct cost of bringing people together and
holding the meeting itself, as well as lost time of
attendees not doing their normal work
 A meeting should be carefully planned and executed
efficiently
 Keep the meeting on track and create a protocol sheet
for ongoing actions required and timeframes to be
adhered to

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 MEETING PREPARATION

The purpose of preparation is to ensure that all attendees

understand:
- Why they have been invited
- What they are expected to contribute
- What decisions are to be taken

The Agenda should be narrowly defined, so that everyone can

contribute to each item

Start the meeting on time and set a time limit for each subject

Keep minutes of the meeting and distribute them within one or

two days to attendees and interested parties
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 TEAM WORK

 Everyone has to be a team player

 Being on a team does not guarantee success
 Effective teams take work on every member’s
part

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 TEAM WORK
Members arrive on time?
+ Members are prompt because they know others will be
- Members drift in sporadically and some leave early

Members prepared?
+ Members are prepared and know what to expect
- Members are unclear what the agenda is

Meeting organized?
+ Members follow a planned agenda
- The agenda is tossed aside, and freewheeling discussion ensues
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 TEAM WORK
Members contribute equally?
+ Members give each other a chance to speak; quiet members
are encouraged
- Some members always dominate the discussion; some are
reluctant to speak their minds

Discussions help members make decisions?

+ Members learn from others’ points of view, new facts are
discussed, creative ideas evolve, and alternatives emerge
- Members reinforce their belief in their own points of view, or
their decisions were made long before the meeting 22
 TEAM WORK
Any Disagreement?
+ Members follow a conflict resolution process established as part of
the team’s policies
- Conflict turns to argument, angry words, emotion, blaming

More cooperation or more conflict?

+ Cooperation is clearly an import ingredient
- Conflict flares openly, as well as simmering below the surface

Commitment to decisions?
+ Members reach a consensus before leaving
- Compromise is the best outcome possible; some members don’t
care about the result
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 TEAM WORK

Member feelings after team decision?

+ Members satisfied, valued for their ideas
- Members glad it’s over, not sure of results of outcome

Member support decision afterward?

+ Members are committed to implementation
- Some members second- guess or undermine the team’s
decisions

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 TEAM WORK

Team constitution

Team collaboration

Team consensus

Team cooperation in dealing with conflict

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 Team Constitution
• Members help develop, follow, and enforce the team’s own
pre-established policies and procedures- the team’s
constitution

• The effective team develops its own rules about how it will
conduct business

• These rules range from simple ones, like having members

arrive on time and notifying attendees about the agenda, to
complex policies, such as how to resolve conflict
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 Team Collaboration

• It is the responsibility of all team members to make sure that

everyone gets a chance to offer ideas- even risky or silly-
sounding ideas- without being ridiculed or ignored.

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 Team Consensus

• Consensus is a stronger and more powerful outcome than

compromise.

• It is the responsibility of team members to stick with a

discussion until all issues are unraveled, consensus among
members is formed, and reservations are resolved.

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 Team Cooperation in Dealing with Conflict

• The effective team member knows that conflict is natural and

that a full, far-reaching and fact-filled discussion about the
conflict will eventually lead members to a clearer
understanding of different points of view
• It is the responsibility of all team members to approach
conflict and disagreement non-defensively and to discuss
differences open mindedly
• On a team, no one ‘wins’ an argument.

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RESOLVING CONFLICT

Bargaining
Problem Solving
Voting
Research
Third-Party mediation

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 Bargaining
Horse- trading, if you do this, I’ll do that. Basic politicking,
dealing, or negotiating. Bargaining usually resolves conflicts
through compromise.
• Before you start, identify what your bargaining chips are, that is, what
you’re willing to give up.
• See if you can do the same thing for the other side. Speculate on what
their bargaining chips are.
• At the same time, decide your absolute minimum acceptable resolution,
the limit of bargain beyond which you simply can not go.
• Start the process by presenting the least valuable of your bargaining
chips. Offer it (“If you do this, I’ll do that”), and see what happens.

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 Problem Solving
It is one of the most objective ways of dealing with conflict. The key is to
get different sides to define the real problem everyone is trying to solve.
• Make sure everyone involved in the conflict participates in the problem-solving process.
• Restate the goal of the team in trying to resolve the conflict. “Remember our purpose is
to raise money for the fund drive as quickly as possible.”
• Ask each side of the conflict to present its view. Probe for facts that have led to those
points of view and avoid arguing.
• As a result of hearing these different views, state the problem. “We have two different
opinions about how to ask employees for money. One is direct and demanding,
requiring a specific amount, the other is more open ended. Is that our problem?”
• Develop alternatives, using team collaboration skills. Be creative
• and encourage all members to participate.
• Evaluate the alternatives and select one that works for everyone.

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 Voting

• Simply voting for one side or the other is a legitimate way to

resolve conflict. It’s the parliamentary approach. There are
winners and losers in a voting situation. A voted resolution to a
conflict may have even less support than a compromise.

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 Research

• Many teams argue about issues on the basis of lots of opinion

and few hard facts. One objective way to resolve these endless
discussions is to gather data through research and interpret
the findings.

• If the findings are inconclusive, then either conduct more

research or accept the ambiguity and start problem solving.

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 Third Party Mediation

• When conflicts between the team reach a point of flexibility,

the time may be right to seek the counsel of an objective third
party.

• Objectivity is key. If the mediator appears biased, either

toward one team member or a particular point of view, the
process is undermined.

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 Third Party Mediation Contd.
• The team should identify who the objective, third-party mediator should
be.
• Before the mediation process, all parties must agree to abide by the
results.
• During mediation, each side will present its facts and opinions.
• The mediator will ask questions.
• A good mediator will try to facilitate problem solving among the
conflicting parties. Only when this fails to reach a breakthrough will the
mediator make a final determination.
• The team should reflect on the process, seeking to learn how to avoid
the inflexibility that led to mediation instead of a team- generated
resolution.
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 TEAM SUMMARY
# 1 - Shared purpose or common goal
People with different abilities, talents, experience, and
backgrounds have come together for a shared purpose or
common goal

#2 - People have to work together

o Teams’ purposes can’t be easily achieved, if at all, by
people working by themselves
o People need other people to achieve the goal.
o Different viewpoints and knowledge mean more
brainpower is focused on achieving the goal.
o Knowledge & Skills of members are complementary.
o Talent is pooled effectively. 37
 TEAM SUMMARY
# 3 - A payoff or benefit to everyone on the team

o The work of the team & achieving the purpose or the

goal benefits everyone on the team, directly or
indirectly.
o Not every team starts off with a feeling of
commitment.
o Some people feel skeptical about teams because
they’ve never experienced how satisfying a good
team can be when working towards a common goal.

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