Teams

how interaction works

dynamics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_dynamics

ranks (Raoul Schinder)

describes personas occurring in most groups

assigns roles based on interaction within the group and the environment:

  • Alpha as the leader and manages the environment.
  • Beta as the expects supporting alpha to part of the power process.
  • Gamma as a group member which identify with alpha without own power demands.
  • Omega which defies the targets set by alpha due to a different view of the environment.

get together

http://www.liberatingstructures.com/ls-menu/

self-organizing CDE (Hackmann / Hundermark)

describes basics to allow a self-organized team to flourish

to allow self-organisation, there needs to be:

  • Container (clear boundary between member or not member of team)
  • Differences (clear differences between the members in education, experience, culture, ...)
  • Exchange (communication within and without the container)

the team is part of the environment, which should provide the team with:

  • Information (sufficient information about the business/sales/analytics)
  • Infrastructure (sufficient hard/software, rooms, ...)
  • Education (allow the team to educate self)
  • Reward (exposure & money)

the manager is in charge to optimize the environment that the required properties can be achieved, and that team work is possible. Possible actions:

  • Container: change members, rooms, seating
  • Differences: change members, provocative questions, ensure all voices heard, change decision procedures
  • Exchanges: train members to solve conflicts, create cosy environments, change meeting concept/frequency, change communication channels

Trust Pyramid (Stuart Wells)

defines and describes stages of teams and how they can succeed.

Contractual as the lowest level of trust. Team members refer to job title, contractual arrangements and other rules of law. Communication is primary in the written form and escalated frequently. The team can function if everyone aligns to the contract.

Conditional which allows verbal agreements. Team members use phrases like "If you do that, I will to this*. Communication is primarily written but also verbal. The team functions if everyone cooperates fairly.

Cooperative when trust is established. Team members are passionate about the project, discuss disagreements openly and distribute work load according to skill level and personal needs. The team functions if everyone receives a fair share of the reward.

Un-Conditional when total trust is established. Team members know their and the others' value and place in the team and respect it. Members will cover for other to preserve the reputation of the team. The teams success comes first.

Performance Pyramid

describes attributes of functional / failing teams ordered by degree of escalation

good teams show trust, conflict readiness, commitment, shared responsibility and finally goal-orientation.
failing teams display lack of openness, lack of harmony (gossip), ambiguity, low standards and finally dominance of status/ego.

Self-organized teams (Ross Ashby / Heylighten)

describes how self-organization is characterized

a real team has the following features;

  • a compelling mission to fulfil
  • clear boundaries (information flow, alignment to organization, resources, decision power)
  • authority to self-manage (within given boundaries)
  • stability over some period of time

the following aspects have to be managed (either by the team or manager)

  • directions (target/purpose of the team)
  • designing the performing unit (environment, scheduling, work behaviour, ...)
  • monitoring/managing work progress
  • execution of the work

self-organized teams are characterized by:

  • distributed control
  • continuous adaptation
  • emergent structures
  • positive/negative feedback
  • resilience

Cross cultural teams

https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/ to assess cultural differences