...Creating A High Performing Virtual Team March 28, 2015 Northeastern University Creating A High Performing Virtual Team Abstract Project teams have changed from being collocated to being diverse, globally located teams of highly skilled, individuals. Virtual teams are generally brought together quickly to complete a project in the shortest time frame within a budget and schedule. The challenge for organizations is to create a high performing virtual team, which takes time to achieve. This paper outlines characteristics and qualities of individuals who comprise a high performing virtual team. The team building approach is laid out and the levels that a team and it’s leader progress through to becoming a high performing virtual team. Introduction Globalization has lead to organizations changing from project managers of collocated teams to project leaders of virtual teams. In addition to having the necessary skills and experience, the people who comprise a virtual team bring unique characteristics and qualities to build a strong team. Building a virtual team takes analyzing every aspect of the project including the people who will work on the project. The team leader is not just managing a project, but leading and coaching highly effective people to produce at their highest level and meet the project objectives. Areas of Concern for Creating a Virtual Team Dr. Ginger Levin (2009), found that the following areas are important to building a high performing virtual...
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...Introduction This paper will cover several topics related to high-performing teams and work groups. It will discuss how these two kinds of workplace people sets and how they differ in their pursuit of organizational strategy and compare these differences to virtual teams. It will identify the characteristics of successful leaders of high-performing teams and finally discuss why high-performing teams are important to organizations. High-Performing Teams and Work Groups Before we can define high-performing teams or work groups, we will need to define the term team first. A team can be defined as a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. "That definition lays down the discipline that teams must share to be effective (Katzenbach, 2005). Organizations utilize teams to perform operational and project based tasks. People working in teams have the capacity to solve complex problems that cannot be solved by individuals working alone. People working in teams bring more resources to a task, including a variety of perspectives, knowledge, skills, and experience (Capella University, 2008). This diversity of perspectives, knowledge, skills, and experience allows a team to outperform the sum of its parts and is a critical component of a team being labeled as a high-performing team. Teams come in many forms, they can be permanent or temporary, they...
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...Leading high-performance teams The team working is an important concept of the society wherein few people work together towards a common goal. In American culture, working in teams often considered contrary. Marvin Weisbord, author and organizational development expert, mentioned that, “Teamwork is the quintessential contradiction of a society grounded in individual achievement.” Still building, leading and organizing successful teams considered as a critical leadership task. It is always challenging to have people work together closely to achieve specific tasks in any team environment. The team is “a group of individuals who work together to produce products or deliver services for which they are mutually accountable.” -- Mohrman et al. The team is “a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.” -- Katzenbach and Smith The team is “two or more people who must coordinate their activities to accomplish a common goal.” -- Shonk High Performance Teams are always working collaboratively and effectively across the organization to accomplish given team tasks and objectives, delivers the competitive results quickly enough to remain as top performers. There are challenges such as team conflicts, obtaining maximum results from the teams and managing highly diverse teams – maintaining teamwork mentality as well capitalizing on the diversity of talents...
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...of the stages of team development in the course textbook, Organizational Behavior, (2010, p. 166) of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning, the majority of the group members are in the norming stage, but never resolved issues that started in the storming stage. Therefore, collectively, they are still in the storming stage. The group is in a state of conflict because Mike is non-committal with meeting, does not hand in quality work, and is acting jealous of the relationships the team has formed while in his absence. Mike’s role in the group was not clearly defined. Christine is the team coordinator, Steve is assigned to creating an agenda each meeting, Diane is resourceful, and Janet is reliable in doing more than what is expected for the group. All of these roles have been informally defined, and Mike’s role and expectations were not defined well enough for him to see his value to the group. In the forming stage of team development, team members are concerned more with seeing where they fit in, and what their role is on the team. Since the rest of the group has been meeting, they have formed a relationship and a clique without Mike. When other group members see they are not being included, this can create emotion and conflict, which is characteristic of the storming stage. Later in the case, we learn that Christine feels that she needs his input because he “has creative ideas.” If she had knowledge of the developmental stages of a team, she would have encouraged...
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...High Performance Teams Waseem AL Rousan J3 M2 Assessment1 30675904 Waseem Al Rousan High Performance Teams Content J3 M2 Assessment1 30675904 Waseem Al Rousan Contents Introduction: ................................................................................................................................................. 2 What is a group ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Team Development Stages: Group Formation Theory (Tuckman’s 4/5 Stage Model) ................................. 3 Group performance theories ........................................................................................................................ 3 The T7 Model of Team Effectiveness ........................................................................................................ 3 Rubin, Plovnick, and Fry Model—The GRPI Model of Team Effectiveness .............................................. 4 Katzenbach and Smith Model—Focusing on Team Basics........................................................................ 6 High performing team case study/Umniah’s IT Infrastructure team ........................................................... 6 Team Performance Measurement and Management .............................................................................. 8 Team Behaviors and Values ...........................................................................
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...300-word response: List the specific names of the motivation theories from Ch. 7 (i.e. Maslow’s, Expectancy Theory, Goal-Setting Theory, Equity Theory, Job Enrichment Theory) which are found in each case study Describe these theories you identified in the case studies and cite specific examples of how they were used. What was each business owner’s approach to creating high-performing teams within their company? The motivation theories used in Two Men and a Lot of Trucks are the Expectancy Theory and the Equity Theory. With having the motto “To treat others as you would want your Grandma treated.” the company is expecting the owners and employees to treat customers with respect as well as their belongings, therefore causing the customers to be satisfied and to refer other friends to use the services of Two Men and a Truck. With the Equity Theory the company has set up a computer lab where franchisees can compare data of other franchisees and communicate about what is working and what is not. Mary Ellen Sheets approach to creating high-performing teams was to be the best out there. She came up with a moving company to move clients within city limits or short distances, and by charging by the hour instead of by the pound. She also made sure everything was spotless and her employees were in clean uniforms. She guaranteed the work done, and followed up with any complaints that were made and resolved them. The motivation theories used in Siemen’s...
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...CheckPoint: Motivation and Teams Case Study • Resource: Ch. 7 of Introduction to Business • Read the two case studies on pp. 233–236 of the text. • Answer the following in a 200- to 300-word response: • What motivation theories may be found in each case study? • Describe the theories found in each case study and cite specific examples. • What was each business owner’s approach to creating high-performing teams within their company? In the first case study, The Two Men and a Truck, the motivation theories used by Sheets were Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory, the expectancy theory, and the job enrichment theory. Originally, Sheet’s motivation was to assist her two sons part-time moving business attract more customers. By doing this, Sheets was using the Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory because she was focused on her sons’ physiological needs of earning income. Because she did not want to reject the business call, she decided to take advantage of the orders she was still receiving. Sheets saw a demand for a localized moving company. After her last child completed college, the expectancy theory applies because she believed that she had a service that would serve the needs of other individuals to begin their own business by creating a franchise opportunity. She believed that she possessed the ability, self-efficacy, to create the moving franchise opportunity. By creating this opportunity for others to reward for their work efforts and efficiencies, she empowers the job enrichment...
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...Abstract Self-directed teams are groups of individuals who work together without typical managerial supervision. These types of teams are an asset to companies because they by nature do not rely on direct administration to accomplish tasks. For an organization to establish self-directed teams, they need to understand the difficulties in in creating self-directed teams, be able to identify the characteristics of these teams, encourage the success of self-directed groups, and have a plan to assist struggling teams and managers. Self-directed teams are a way to maximize the human resources of a company by reducing the workload of managers and by increasing the personal responsibility and accountability of employees. Self-directed teams are autonomous work groups that solve problems, implement solutions, and take full responsibility for outcomes (BOMI). Establishing this type of work team is crucial to the success of an organization. These teams function without direct supervision, thus leaving managers free to focus on other tasks. Sometimes managers struggle with implementing these teams. A few difficulties a manager may encounter when working to create self-directed teams are a lack of trust among team members, uncooperative members, lack of team training, vague goals, an absence of corporate support for teams, or hostile corporate atmosphere (individually competitive or manager-controlled). The corporate atmosphere is the first thing that must be addressed. If the...
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...motivation theories may be found in each case study? Describe the theories found in each case study and cite specific examples. What was each business owner’s approach to creating high-performing teams within their company? In the first case study, The Two Men and a Truck, the motivation theories used by Sheets were Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory, the expectancy theory, and the job enrichment theory. Originally, Sheet’s motivation was to assist her two sons part-time moving business attract more customers. By doing this, Sheets was using the Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory because she was focused on her sons’ physiological needs of earning income. Because she did not want to reject the business call, she decided to take advantage of the orders she was still receiving. Sheets saw a demand for a localized moving company. After her last child completed college, the expectancy theory applies because she believed that she had a service that would serve the needs of other individuals to begin their own business by creating a franchise opportunity. She believed that she possessed the ability, self-efficacy, to create the moving franchise opportunity. By creating this opportunity for others to reward for their work efforts and efficiencies, she empowers the job enrichment theory. Her approach to creating a high-performing team was to provide a personal touch, provide excellent customer service, and comprehensive training. The second case study, Kleinfeld of Siemens, represents the motivational...
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...Introduction Bill Clinton Middle School is one of the failing schools in Florida. I have recently been appointed as the new principal. According to the former principal’s evaluation he was not an effective communicator at all. There was no rapport with the staff, he did not encourage employee interaction, nor did he show interest in faculty and staff events. These factors could have been the reason for the low staff morale and lack of collegiality in the school. I have an opportunity to come into a horrible situation and work wonders. I plan on doing this by completely remodeling the methods of communication in the school. Needs assessment Administrators can sometime set the tone for the entire school. This includes decisions, actions, and communication style. At Bill Clinton Middle School, the employee morale was low. I have come to the conclusion that this stems from the fact that the previous principal did not communicate well at all with employees. People have something called a reference group. These are the people that are used to evaluate self worth (Adler, Proctor, & Rosenfeld, 2004). In a school setting, co-workers may serve as a kind of reference group. The evaluated actions of the previous principal explain the attitude of the current employees. If the teachers felt this way I can only imagine how the students acted and performed. Happiness breeds more happiness. This calls for a definite need to increase employee morale and make the school seem more like...
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...perceptions and make attributions about others with his employees. Joe Salantino, as the President of the Great Northern American, has the charge of creating a successful sales force. A successful element in creating this successful sales force is the understanding of the perception of the sales team. According to Hellriegel & Slocum, perception “is the declaration of the way individuals sift, arrange, and interpret sensory information”. (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011). It is Joe’s responsibility constantly assess the team develop a model and atmosphere that reflects his idea of type of people he envisions for his sales team. Also, this would include the development of a model for his sales team to use to screen customers and create a repeat customer base, which according to the case study, he believes is critical to become a top performer. Joe’s model should consider various internal and external factors that coincide with the vision that he believes makes up a successful sales force. The internal factors include learning, personality and motivation while the external ones consist of size, contrast, repetition, and intensity. These factors must be conveyed to the sales team in an effective manner so that they not only understand them, but take ownership of Joe’s vision for the sales team and hold other members of the team accountable. As the leader of his organization, Joe must make sure that sales force has an accurate perception of the goals of the organization...
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...Introduction Research carried out on 48 virtual teams that had different effectiveness depicted that there were five characteristics and practices that distinguished between the highest and lowest performing virtual teams. These differentiators include; commitment and engagement, collaboration, information flow, shared decision making processes and trust. Below I will discuss four of the differentiators. Differentiator 1: Commitment and Engagement From the research, it shows that high performance virtual teams as being proactive, engaged and very initiative. They have a score of around 3.6 from a possible 4 points as compared to their counterparts that have a score of 3.06. These top performing teams always tend to go above and beyond so as to make sure they achieve their successes. Another reason for success would be the use of team leaders who help to motivate the others members and hence play a role in commitment and motivation. Most of the top performing teams had members that would take on leadership responsibilities and hence reduce the leader’s burden, but the low performing teams would not do so. It is crucial for virtual team members to help in sharing the official leader’s responsibilities this is because it means that they can work under less supervision and hence will be very effective in carrying out their other responsibilities than those members who cannot share the leader’s responsibilities. Teams that coordinate their day to day activities to the...
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...Knowledge Management and Information Systems Strategy Table of Contents Knowledge Management and Information Systems Strategy 1 Executive Summary: 3 Three distinctive characteristics of Toyota approach to knowledge management 3 Learn local: 3 Act global, Learn local: 3 Learn local, act global: 4 British Petroleum (BP’s) approach to KM: 4 Business objectives of British Petroleum to KMS: 4 Developing better ideas: 4 Organization wide best practice: 4 Greater collaboration among entities: 5 Generating new ways: 5 Reduces cost: 5 Challenges of KMS implementation in BP: 5 Transferring best practice: 5 Train modest performing teams: 6 Management tools to avoid failure of KMS in BP: 6 Build a Case for Change Management: 6 Visionary Leadership: 6 Communication: 6 Time: 7 Deploy agents: 7 Proper performance measures: 7 Culture changes: 7 Social media in reconsidering the previous KM approach: 7 Socialization: from tacit to tacit: 7 Externalization: from tacit to explicit 8 Combination: from explicit to explicit 8 Internalization: from explicit to tacit 8 Conclusion: 8 References: 8 Executive Summary: Knowledge management is a multi-disciplined process of creation, developing, improving and disseminating the knowledge in the organization (Unc.edu, 2014). Toyota is one of the largest car manufacturing companies around the world. It produces car not only in its originated country but also different countries around the world. To be competent, Toyota puts much...
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...more business and profits, she quit her “day” job in order to build her business. I believe she saw the rewards the business was starting to show, and decided to devote all her time and energy into the moving company. Mary Ellen Sheets approach to creating high-performing teams within her company was to build a school called “Stick Men University”. Here she trained franchise operators and employees the basics of the company, from answering the phones to how to move furniture. Doing this helped to train her workers and franchise operators how to maximize their profits and make the business successful. Siemens’s New Boss The motivation theory that I feel Kleinfeld used was Goal-setting theory. I believe he set goals for his workers in his medical equipment unit in order to keep this unit of Siemens open and profitable for the company. All of the employees would have lost their jobs if Kleinfeld did not motivate the workers to become more productive, and with their efforts and team work, they were able to build a 100,000 dollar machine in one week versus the 6 weeks it previously took them. This generated more income for the company, and helped keep this part of the company open. Kleinfeld’s approach to creating high-performing teams within Siemens was to encourage people to work together. Kleinfeld is also trying to merge different parts of the company together so each unit can perform at a higher...
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...this essay is to explore high performing work team by analyzing a survey or questionnaire provided by Professor Dr. Nicholas J. Scalzo in Week 3 from the class of Managing Virtual and Global Teams (HRMD/665). High performing work team is important because it operates in an atmosphere of mutual respect in which team members identify with each other and with the team as a whole. According to Moldjord, and Iversen, (2015), high performance teams have members whose skills, attitudes and competencies enable them to achieve team goals, make tough decisions, communicate under stress, manage conflict, and solve challenging task. By the end of this essay, it will be determined if this survey or questionnaire is sufficient to measure a high performing work team and if it can be utilized as such. High Performing Work Team Team performance is what contributes to a team success of failure. According to Thompson (2014), team performance analysis consists of productivity, cohesion, learning, and integration. This analysis identifies the factors on how team performance effectiveness should be evaluated. Productivity measure whether the team achieve their goals. It requires the team to have a clear goal and adapt accordingly as new information arrives, if the goals changes, and if the organizational priorities has shifted. Productivity is what evaluates the team’s output meets the standards of those who have to use it. It is imperative that each members of the team accept the identified goals...
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