Chapter 9: Teams: Face-to-Face and Virtual 1 Introduction Teams and committees are commonplace in organizations Making teams productive and satisfying is a challenge for leaders and workers Member expectations influence team processes and outcomes Challenge for team leaders is manager from the point of verbal creation to the end point of dissolution 2 Case Study: The MacIntosh Pirates Steve Jobs felt stifled in his attempts to help the Lisa team at Apple, Inc. and formed his own “Macintosh” team Jobs hoisted a “pirate” flag with an Apple logo on it to set the tone for his team of creative recruits Jobs inspired and empowered his team and took risks with his behaviors Macintosh became famous, and Jobs credited his team for its success What is your opinion of how Jobs created and managed his team? Teams – What Are They? A team represents a group of people with different abilities and responsibilities, brought together to accomplish a task or variety of needs Teams require players to work together Functional perspective of teams includes assumptions: Members are motivated to make the best choices Choice to be made is nonobvious Members have access to information/resources necessary to complete the task Members collectively possess cognitive and communication skills to deal with decision-making/problem-solving 4 Types of Teams Primary Work Groups Employees formally assigned within an organization Committees Team of people charged with implementing an organizational plan Task Forces Teams put together for a short time, usually to accomplish a specific task Focus Groups Groups or teams put together in order to discuss specific issues within the organization Technology, Social Skills, and Face-to-Face Teams Digital Natives Those born since the 1980s, have never known a world without computers, cell phones, 24-hour-a-day television or the Internet Digital Immigrants People who were born before the advent of digital technology who are entering the digital communication arena People are more connected now than ever before but on a more superficial level Both Natives and Immigrants often need to fine-tune their interpersonal social skills The Virtual Team Members engage each other locally, regionally, and globally without being face to face Members primarily function in cyberspace, creating both advantages and disadvantages Technologies such as Skype have created low-cost ways of connecting Allows for both verbal and nonverbal interaction 7 Team/Group Characteristics Case Study: Southwest Airlines’ Success Southwest decided to make flying fun and less expensive, so they built their team by hiring for attitude and then trained for skills Put employees first and customers second Open to learning from their mistakes and adapted as necessary Less structure, but hard work still expected What do you think of the idea that employees come first? 8 Team Job Design Job Design Theory (Hackman and Oldham, 1975) Teams are most effective ...

1. Chapter 9:
Teams: Face-to-Face and Virtual
1
Introduction
Teams and committees are commonplace in organizations
Making teams productive and satisfying is a challenge for
leaders and workers
Member expectations influence team processes and outcomes
Challenge for team leaders is manager from the point of verbal
creation to the end point of dissolution
2
Case Study: The MacIntosh Pirates
Steve Jobs felt stifled in his attempts to help the Lisa team at
Apple, Inc. and formed his own “Macintosh” team
Jobs hoisted a “pirate” flag with an Apple logo on it to set the
tone for his team of creative recruits
Jobs inspired and empowered his team and took risks with his
behaviors
Macintosh became famous, and Jobs credited his team for its
success
What is your opinion of how Jobs created and managed his
team?
Teams – What Are They?

2. A team represents a group of people with different abilities and
responsibilities, brought together to accomplish a task or
variety of needs
Teams require players to work together
Functional perspective of teams includes assumptions:
Members are motivated to make the best choices
Choice to be made is nonobvious
Members have access to information/resources necessary to
complete the task
Members collectively possess cognitive and communication
skills to deal with decision-making/problem-solving
4
Types of Teams
Primary Work Groups
Employees formally assigned within an organization
Committees
Team of people charged with implementing an organizational
plan
Task Forces
Teams put together for a short time, usually to accomplish a
specific task
Focus Groups
Groups or teams put together in order to discuss specific issues
within the organization
Technology, Social Skills, and Face-to-Face Teams
Digital Natives
Those born since the 1980s, have never known a world without
computers, cell phones, 24-hour-a-day television or the Internet
Digital Immigrants
People who were born before the advent of digital technology

3. who are entering the digital communication arena
People are more connected now than ever before but on a more
superficial level
Both Natives and Immigrants often need to fine-tune their
interpersonal social skills
The Virtual Team
Members engage each other locally, regionally, and globally
without being face to face
Members primarily function in cyberspace, creating both
advantages and disadvantages
Technologies such as Skype have created low-cost ways of
connecting
Allows for both verbal and nonverbal interaction
7
Team/Group Characteristics
Case Study: Southwest Airlines’ Success
Southwest decided to make flying fun and less expensive, so
they built their team by hiring for attitude and then trained for
skills
Put employees first and customers second
Open to learning from their mistakes and adapted as necessary
Less structure, but hard work still expected
What do you think of the idea that employees come first?
8
Team Job Design
Job Design Theory (Hackman and Oldham, 1975)

4. Teams are most effective when they possess these 5 factors:
Skill variety
Task identity
Autonomy
Significance
Feedback
Cohesion and Loyalty
Cohesiveness
A sense of unity can develop as team members gain
understanding and insight about one another and begin
successfully completing tasks
Loyalty
A loyal team member is committed and faithful, devoted, and
feels a sense of obligation to the team
Framing and “Fantasy”: Important for Group Cohesion
Interaction that gives group work meaning is often related to
fantasy
Members can draw upon past experiences to make work more
fun and imaginative
Leaders can use fantasies or frames to help members feel a
sense of involvement or identification
Trust
Necessary element for effective teams
Refers to reliability and predictability of group members
Nonverbal communication helps us to determine whether to

5. trust
Since nonverbals can be absent in virtual teams, it can be
difficult to interpret a message
Nonverbal communication awareness is important for relational
success
Efficiency in Teams
Accomplishing tasks with the least amount of resources in the
least amount of time possible under given circumstances
Lack of efficiency is one reason people hate working in teams
Teams can be more creative, bring more skills to solve
problems, create employee engagement
Motivation
Represents what drives us to accomplish tasks
Shared sense of purpose creates more motivation in teams
Leaders are challenged to determine how to motivate
individuals differently in teams
Synergy
Motivated employees who work together create something
greater than what individuals working alone could have
accomplished
Can happen both negatively and positively
Teams must push to focus on shared outcomes
Fairness: Finding a Reasonable

6. Solution
Sense of fairness felt by employees impacts their efficiency
Treating everyone equally does not always put everyone on
equal footing
Treating everyone fairly can put everyone on equal footing
Feedback and Listening
Employees and organizations alike should be learning and
growing with training and experience
Team learning
Transforming knowledge and information in a way that
promotes skill development and new understandings
Feedback
Positive or negative responses to our behavior
Norms

7. Expectations of behaviors in the organizational environment
High performance norms are critical to the success of teams
Virtual work groups rely heavily on communicative norms
Groupthink
Faulty decision-making of a group, where groups do not
consider all of the possibilities because they sacrifice quality
decisions to promote unanimity
Happens when:
Groups have become very cohesive and don’t want to risk
harming sense of unity
Group is under time constraints that cause them to rush the
process
Devil’s advocate
Someone assigned to argue against the cause for the sake of the
group
Diversity
Teams, especially those that are virtual, can include coworkers
from across the globe
Individuals bring unique characteristics to the relationship
Team members may lack understanding of different cultural

8. values and expectations
Netiquette
What is considered ethical behavior when using the computer,
especially when on the Internet
Satisfaction
Social networks show us it is possible to have satisfying
relationships without being in physical proximity to one another
Too much virtual interaction may decrease satisfaction with the
work environment
Opportunities to interact face-to-face may be important for
some
The Impact of Technology on Teams
Technology creates expectations in everyday life and in the
workplace
Technology has changed the way people communicate
Technology can be incorrectly used and abused
Technology can not only facilitate understanding and efficiency
but also create misunderstanding and unrealistic expectations

9. Voice Mail
Useful when the recipient listens to the messages
No guarantee that messages are heard
Standard landlines and, thus, voice mail is still a useful
communication tool for connecting to all areas of the world
Teleconferencing and Videoconferencing
Rise in telecommuting means connecting through telephone or
video is increasingly important
Videoconferencing allows for interviewing options
Both are vital tools for interacting and developing relationships
with coworkers
Computer-Mediated Technology
Case Study: Instant Gratification Expectations
Sam works late one evening and emails Janika
The next morning, he still has not received an email response
and thinks she is punishing him because she is unhappy with
him
Sam sends a message to their boss, criticizing Janika
A few minutes later, he receives a reply from Janika indicating
that her child had been sick and that she is grateful for his work

10. Email can be damaging and destructive if not used thoughtfully
Has anything like this ever happened to you?
Email
It is often assumed that email messages will receive a quick
response because people are expected to be “connected” 24/7
Thoughtful use of email is important; it is easy to send an email
too quickly
To avoid an email that is a flame, print it out before you send it
and give it to someone else to read
People are bombarded with these easy types of messages
Employees can fall victim to continuous partial attention
Case Study: Oops, I hit reply all!
Wayne has been a top three sales rep who often took the
initiative to do extra tasks that he was not paid for
Rajan, the CEO, did not like Wayne and sent an email to a
regional sales manager with a negative message about Wayne
Rajan accidentally hit ”reply all” and Wayne received the
message
The relationships of all involved changed as a result of the
email
What would you do if you were Wayne? What would you do if

11. you were the regional manager who received the email?
Faxing
Faxing has become less inviting and less necessary to use
Documents can be emailed in PDF form, which is faster and
more secure than sending a fax
Social Networks
A real part of both personal and organizational life
Many organizations are utilizing social networks to connect
with customers and each other
Many social networks, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, VoIPs, and
more provide many tools for organizations
Organizations are creating positions to manage social network
accounts
Timing and Culture
How one understands the use of time is related to cultural
expectations
Monochronic time structures involve focusing on one activity at
a time
Cultures that are monochronic include norther n Europe, North

12. America, Germany
Polychronic time structures involve juggling a variety of tasks
at one time
Cultures that are polychronic include Latin America, the Middle
East, Japan, France
Context Matters
For-Profit Organizations
Very small amount of these types of organizations represent
American society
Small Businesses
Entrepreneurial businesses typically have smaller teams
Nonprofit Organizations
Teams may consist of both paid employees and volunteers
Government Sector
Federal government is the nation’s largest employer
Chapter 7:
Organizational Relationships

13. Introduction
Human beings are inherently social
Tasks are accomplished through division of labor, individual
specialization of skills and tasks, and interaction with others
through relationships
Many factors influence these relationships, particularly in the
workplace
Case Study: The Flight Attendant
August 9, 2010 – Steven Slater was working for JetBlue
While taxiing after landing, Slater instructed a passenger to
remain seated
While ignoring Slater, the passenger continued in her efforts
and in the process hit Slater in the head with her bag
Slater promptly announced his unhappiness on the plane’s
intercom, pulled the emergency evacuation chute, slid down,
drove off and was arrested later that day
Emotion in the Workplace
Employees bring their emotions to work with them every day
Emotions are an inseparable part of everyday life
Emotions are intense feelings directed at someone or something,

14. they are reactions to a person or an event
How many different emotions can you think of?
Emotional Labor
Work that requires the employee to display certain emotions as
part of the job
Explained by Hochschild as “labor requiring one to induce or
suppress feeling in order to sustain the outward countenance
that produces the proper state of mind in other . . . .”
Professions with high emotional labor:
Doctors
Nurses
Restaurant wait staff
Flight attendants
Regulating Your Emotions
Accept the fact that as human beings we are going to be
emotional, positive/negative impacts on our communication
Be aware of our own emotions and the psychological and
physical impact they are having on us at any given time
Decide on what action is necessary in light of our emotions and
the emotions of our colleague
Emotions are tied to stress, which is linked to burnout

15. Practicing empathy, or the identification and understanding of
the way others feel, will help us better know how to balance the
emotional and rational aspects of our communication
Critical Thinking Questions - Emotions
Are there jobs where it is completely inappropriate to show
emotion?
Are certain personality types better suited for jobs with high
levels of emotional labor?
Listening and Relationships
Active listening is listening and responding in a manner that
supports mutual understanding of a message
Active listening requires concentration and feedback of the
message so the sender can determine the accuracy of the
listener’s interpretation

16. What are some reasons that we don’t listen?
Perception in the Workplace
Perception is the process by which we become aware of our
surroundings and interpret meaning
Perception checking is important for effective interactions, and
we do so by asking questions and seeking out alternative
viewpoints
Our perception, which is based on our experiences, what we
think, and our emotional state, inherently become our reality –
meaning that our perception, or our interpretation of a situation,
affects how we approach organizational relationships
Perception Model
Nonverbal Communication in the Workplace
Nonverbal interactions, including body movements, facial
expressions, intonations and other subtle factors, can easily
impact the delivery of a message.
Nonverbal channels include:

17. Physical appearance
Kinesics
Touch
Facial Expression
Space
Voice (tone and emphasis)
Our use of time
Personality and Organizational Relationships
Personality (sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to
and interacts with others) is an important consideration for
organizational relationships
Analyzing a person’s different personality can better help to
understand a situation
Myers-Briggs type indicator
Big 5 model
Emotional intelligence
Attribution theory
Fundamental attribution theory
Case Study: CBS Hit The Big Bang Theory
Sheldon, a character on the show The Big Bang Theory is a
scientist with an IQ of 187

18. Though academically intelligent, he has a very low level of
emotional intelligence
The television show features characters with various levels of
emotional intelligence, and Sheldon’s EI grows over time
Can you rank the EI of the characters?
Decision-Making and Relationships
Decision-making occurs as a reaction to a problem, or an
awareness that a discrepancy exists between the current and
desired state of affairs
Decisions can be made in a variety of ways, including leader
mandates, powerful minorities, majority rule, and consensus
Processes to assist with decision-making include:
brainstorming, the Delphi technique, nominal group technique
Critical Thinking Questions – Decision-Making
Consider the organizations of which you have been a part: for

19. example, family, church, school, a job. What type of decision-
making process was typically used?
How did these decision-making processes influence the
relationships of those involved?
Power, Politics, and Ethics: Effects on Relationships
Ethical standards adopted by an organization can constrain the
abuse of power, and can provide appropriate guidance to help
direct employee relational behavior in positive ways
Ethical abuses can occur, so communicating in a positive
manner and developing solid relationships is useful
Context Matters
For-Profit Organizations
Many different personality types typical in large organizations
Small Businesses
Fewer employees, both challenging and positive personalities
Nonprofit Organizations
Mission or affiliation can draw like-minded people
Government Sector
Political understandings can constrain relationships

20. MBA 5713 - Organizational Communication Name:
______________________
Chapter ____ Reaction Paper Scoring Rubric
Each performance area is evaluated based on your
understanding and engagement with the content of the chapter.
Total Score: ____/50
Performance
Area
Excellent
10
Good
7-9

21. Satisfactory
4-6
Poor
0-3
Score
Content
Analysis
Content is accurate,
focused, and
consistent; clearly
articulates
understanding of

22. chapter content.
Content is accurate
but lacks clarity;
solid but slightly
ambiguous analysis.
Content is
somewhat vague;
lacks clarity of
content; off topic at
times.
Content is unclear;
lapses in coherence;
unrelated to task;

23. simplistic,
underdeveloped
ideas.
Critical
Thinking
Skillfully evaluates
information
gathered from
observation,
experience,
reflection, or
reasoning.

24. Adequately
demonstrates
reasonable
relationships among
ideas.
Simplistic analysis;
limited clarity and
complexity of
thought.
Insufficient
relationship among
ideas; lacks
complexity of

25. thought.
Practical
Application
Accurately links
real world
examples to chapter
content.
Links mostly
accurate real world
examples to chapter
content.
Attempts to link

26. real world
examples, but lacks
accuracy and
clarity.
Completely
unrelated examples
OR no attempt to
link real world
examples.
Organization Method of
organization is well
suited-suited to
thesis; clear

27. introduction, body,
and conclusion with
effective transitions.
Organization
supports thesis and
purpose; sequence
of ideas could be
improved; easy to
follow.
Some signs of
logical
organization; may

28. have abrupt or
illogical shifts and
ineffective flow of
ideas.
Poorly organized;
demonstrates
serious problems
with progression of
ideas; reads like a
written form of
speech.
Writing
Mechanics

29. Essentially error
free; APA
formatted; meets
word count
requirement.
Some mechanical
errors; violates 1-3
formatting rules;
meets word count
requirement.
Repeated
weaknesses in

30. mechanics; pattern
of flaws; violates
major formatting
rules; does not meet
word count
requirement.
Severe mechanical
errors; unable to
identify formatting
approach; extreme
lack of progress
toward word count

31. requirement.