Transcript Slide 1

chapter
11
Building Effective
Work Teams and
Maintaining Morale
Supervision:
Concepts and Practices
of Management,
Second Canadian Edition
Hilgert, Leonard,
Shemko, and Docherty
© 2005 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited
Learning Objectives
1. Explain why work groups form
and function.
2. Classify work groups and their
relevance for supervisors.
3. State some important research
findings about work groups.
4. Discuss the importance of employee
morale and its relationship to
teamwork and productivity.
11-2
Learning Objectives
5. Understand the factors that
influence employee morale and the
supervisor’s role in dealing with with
both external and internal factors.
6. Discuss techniques to assess
employee morale, including
observation and employee attitude
surveys.
7. Understand why counselling is an
important part of the supervisor’s job. 11-3
Learning Objectives
8. Identify programs that
organizations use to assist
employees with personal and
work-related problems,
including workplace violence.
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Why Work Groups?
• Companionship
and identification
• Behaviour
guidelines
• Problem solving
• Protection
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Cohesive Groups
• Members perceive they have higher
status
• Generally are small
• Share similar personal characteristics
• Are relatively distant from other groups
• Form due to outside pressures or for
self-protection
• Can communicate relatively easily
• Have succeeded in some group effort
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Classifications of Work Groups
• Command—based on authority
relationships
• Task—cross-functional team
• Friendship—Based on similar
personalities and social interests
• Special interest—exist to accomplish
something as a group
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Hawthorne Studies
• Relay assembly room
experiment—primary
reasons for improved
performance were
attitudes and morale
• Bank wiring observation
room experiment—a work
group can negatively
impact job performance
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Team Research
• Team members must be committed to the
group and to the performance of the group.
• Teams function better when they are small.
• Teams should be composed of individuals
who have complementary and sufficient skills.
• Teams should be committed to specific and
realistic objectives.
(Source: Katzenbach and Smith)
11-9
Team Research
• Supervisors can feel threatened by a transition
to teams; they need coaching, support, and
encouragement.
• Team members must be held accountable.
• New team leadership roles for supervisors
include coaching and facilitating.
• Communication becomes more important.
(Source: Jones and Beyerlein)
11-10
Team Sports as a Model
“Team sports could not exist without, well,
teams. Competent, superbly professional
role players, the good soldiers who do
what’s asked of them and don’t bask in
anyone’s attention, are the sine qua non of
the organizations that win year after year.”
– Kenneth Turan
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Collaborative Workplace
• Throughout the organization,
employees and management share
authority for decision making.
• Teamwork processes promote trust,
integrity, consensus, and shared
ownership.
• People want and need to be valued for
their contributions.
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Teams that Work
• Focus on managing the
team as a group and
having the team manage
its members.
• Are designed to be
effective both in terms
of improving
productivity and the
satisfaction of team
members.
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16 Keys
1. Group members agree on and commit to
team goals.
2. All members participate actively in
meetings.
3. All team members follow team rules,
guidelines, and procedures.
4. All members are valued.
5. Team members share vital information.
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16 Keys
6. Members express their ideas without fear.
7. Use a systematic problem solving
approach, but encourages creative
thinking.
8. All members are included in problem
solving and decision making.
9. Decisions are made by consensus.
10. The team is cohesive.
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16 Keys
11. Conflict is viewed as healthy.
12. Groups members give honest feedback.
13. Team training and peer helping.
14. Team continually evaluates its
performance.
15. Pride in team accomplishments.
16. Members enjoy their team affiliation.
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Morale
The attitudes and feelings of
individuals and groups toward
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their work
their environment
their supervisors
their top-level management
the organization
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Workplace Spirituality
Organizational efforts to
make the work
environment more
meaningful and creative by
relating work to
employees’ personal
values and spiritual
beliefs.
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External Factors Influencing Morale
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Family relationships
Care of children or elderly
Finances
Friends
Vehicle breakdowns
Sickness or death in
family
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Internal Factors Influencing Morale
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Workplace incivility
Downsizing
Compensation
Job security
Nature of work
Relations with coworkers
Working conditions
Recognition
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Workplace Incivility
• Remember your purpose—eliminate the
behaviour and preserve the team.
• Pause and evaluate what was said—
content, context, tone.
• Be assertive—stay in control.
• Take action—stop the behaviour when
it happens.
11-21
Assessing Morale
• Observation and study
• Exit interviews–interviews with
individuals who leave a firm to assess
morale and reasons for leaving
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Assessing Morale
• Employee attitude surveys - survey of
employee opinions about major
aspects of organizational life used to
assess morale
11-23
Organizational Development
Meetings with groups under the
guidance of a neutral conference
leader to solve problems that are
hindering organizational effectiveness
11-24
Counselling
• Efforts by the supervisor to deal with
on-the-job performance problems that
are the result of an employee’s
personal problems
• May hold counselling interview to
encourage employee to discuss
problems openly and develop solutions
11-25
Assistance Programs
• Employee assistance programs
(EAP)–company programs to assist
employees with certain personal or
work-related problems that are
interfering with job performance
• Wellness programs–organized efforts
by a firm to help employees to get and
stay healthy in order to remain
productive
11-26
Assistance Programs
• Ombudsman–staff
person who serves as
a neutral mediator in
resolving conflicts on
the job
11-27