Structures and Systems to
Support Teamwork and Diverse Employees as Assets
TEAMS:
homogeneous and heterogeneous
Homogeneous:
fewer social conflicts but lack diversity to deal with complex/dynamic
issues
Heterogeneous:
after coord/communication issues resolved, they have broader strengths
4 examples of
heterogeneous dimensions (ways to categorize and understand differences):
1.
Myers-Briggs Personality Typologies
3.Creative group A6
hats@ roles
2.
Functional Organizational Roles
4. EEOC Diversity Acategories@
Over time,
surface diversity less important than deep diversity (attitudes, org
commitment, job sat.)
(Harrison, Price, & Bell, AMJ, 1998: 96-107)
FAMOUS
EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL HETEROGENEOUS TEAMS
-
Star
Wars
-
Star
Trek
-
Magnificent
7
-
Lou
Holtz, Notre Dame
How can you
become effective diverse teams? What
changes need to be made in systems?
Buffalo says
change the systems first, then the attitudes will change (pp. 201-215).
**How can you
become aware of your systems of reward?
-
Look at your current results and see how results reflect current reward
systems.
-
Gather information about reward systems (this class? Folly exercise?)
-
Let those doing the work, suggest different forms of reward systems.
**What are the
major systems to be reviewed?
1. Performance Management System: a) manager determines overall
parameters;
b) standards
set between performers and customers; c) specific measurable expectations
2. Information System: a) performance is visible to all; b) real time
data;
c) continuing
conversations between performer and customer
3. Reward System: a) assure that there are consequences; b) mix $ and
non-$ rewards
*note: performers
must design and administer the reward system
**Ensuring that
Organizational Structures Support the Teamwork/Great Performance Systems
1. Decentralized decision-making to the point of customer contact.
2. Multidiscipline teams
3. Simplification of processes and procedures.
HorseSense
Example: racing/competing vs. coordinating/cooperating; effects of subtle
structures.
KEYS to effective
teamwork:
1. How you see the problems (individual vs team) (horse going up a hill
example);
2. How you see opportunities (individual vs team)(capitalize on your
intellectual capital!)
3. Establishing a common ground and common language (Buffalo book, group
games, etc.)
Change and Teams:
1. Change can be scary (flying/falling; new horse example)
2. Right might feel wrong at firstC(example: the barn-sour horse)
3. The danger of success (ex: cat in the oat barrel)
4. The need to practice; practice vs performance; (ex: dance classes,
flying lead changes)
Measuring the
Right Stuff (pp. 216-222)
1. Performers and
customers must establish the measures.
2. Performance
feedback is motivating (as with bowling, any target practice) IF:
a)
timely
and b)
relevant
3. People produce
what is measuredBbe
sure you are measuring what is wanted.
4. The best
people to measure performance, are those doing the performance (those who do,
check).
5. Not Easy: must
find ways to measure Anon-quantifiable@
and impossible-to-measure activities.
6. How to measure
CEO performance
Example:
7. Feeling good
vs. being good: Performance is its own reward; satisfaction follows
performance
** Do all
people know how well they=ve done before they go home every night?**
AOn
the Folly of Rewarding A While Hoping for B@
by Steven Kerr, Acad.Mgmt.Exec, Feb 1995
(Reprinted from Acad.Mgmt.Journal, #18, 1975, pp.769-783)
Table I
Common Management Reward Follies
|
We hope for. . .
|
But we often reward ...
|
|
long-term growth; environmental
responsibility
|
quarterly earnings
|
|
teamwork
|
individual effort
|
|
setting challenging
"stretch" objectives
|
achieving goals; "making the
numbers"
|
|
downsizing; rightsizing; delayering;
restructuring
|
adding staff; adding budget; adding
Hay points
|
|
commitment to total quality
|
shipping on schedule, even with
defects
|
|
candor; surfacing bad news early
|
reporting good news, whether it's true
or not;
agreeing with the boss, whether or not (s)he's right
|
_ WHY we
reward A and not B:
1. Ease of
quantification (fascination with "objective@
criteria, leading to goal displacement)
2. Overemphasis
on the visible (ex: citizenship, teambuilding, and creativity are hard to
observe)
3. Hypocrisy (we
did not really want B anyway)
4. Morality &
Equity is rewarded, not efficiency (ex: ADA)
FOLLY EXERCISE
IN CLASS:
1. When have you seen examples of rewarding A while hoping for B in your
personal life?
2.
What examples of rewarding A (buffalo behavior) while hoping for B (geese
behavior)
do you see in PSL?
3. Use David=s
problem-solving methodology to suggest changes to selected items from #2.
APPENDIX
Individuals first seek information concerning what activities are
rewarded and then tend to do those things, often to the virtual exclusion of the activities not
rewarded (Farooq-e-Azam, 2000).
- In universities officials hope that teachers will not neglect their teaching responsibilities but rewards them almost entirely for
research and publications. Students get rewarded for getting good grades, not necessarily for acquiring knowledge.
- In bureaucracy the the rhetoric says - to minimize red tape, but its
rewards are for more perceived job security, better reputation for accuracy and clean reports from the audit bodies,
etc. which ends up creating more red tape, adherence to rules, and layers
of officialdom.
- In corporations executives say they want long range vision and mission
and strategy but get personally rewarded for short-term quarterly gains.
- Why - (1) obsession with highly "objective" criteria, (2) overemphasis on highly visible behaviors,
(3) hypocrisy, and (4) emphasis on morality or equity rather than
efficiency.
- We can add one to Kerr's (1975, 1995) work (5) rewarding individual
Buffalo performance does not work in complexity of a network of Geese
doing team work.
- Remedy (1) selection, (2), training, (3) alter reward system
References
Cheemam Farooq-e-Azam (2001) Rewarding the undesired behavior.
Web article
Kerr, S. (1975) "On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B." Academy of
Management Journal, 18(4): 769-783.
Kerr, Steven (1995) "On the folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B."
The Academy of Management Executive. 9(1): 7-14 (Same
article with table rejected by editors).