Organizational Context

The organizational context has a significant effect on whether teams operate

successfully (Guzzo & Dickson, 1996). Teams may be used to improve the operations of organizations, but teams are sensitive to their organizational environments and need the right conditions to succeed. The organizational context relates to the culture of the organization, the support it provides for teams, and its evaluation and reward systems.

Teams are more likely to be successful in organizations with supportive organizational cultures. Supportive cultures encourage open communication and collaborative effort. Power and responsibility are given to teams so they can control their own actions. Although the use of teams can help change an organization’s culture, it can be difficult to initiate change when limits are imposed by the existing culture.

A number of organizational supports should be provided to help teams function more effectively (Hackman, 1990b). Teams perform better when they have clear goals and well-defined tasks. They must be provided with adequate resources, including financial, staffing, and training support. Reliable information from the organization is required for teams to make decisions, coordinate their efforts with other parts of the organization, and plan for future changes. Finally, technical and group process assistance should be available to the teams. They need technical help to solve their problems and facilitation or coaching to deal with interpersonal difficulties.

Building effective teams requires the efforts of both team members and the organization. To improve on the way team members operate, a team needs feedback on its performance and an incentive to change. To an extent, the team can evaluate itself, and team members can provide support for one another, but an effective team requires feedback from the organization and rewards for good performance. Without this, team members cannot focus on the goals the organization has established for the team.

Characteristics of Successful Teams

What makes successful teams? Many researchers have tried to answer this question. Their typical approach is to find examples of successful teams and use interviews and surveys to determine what makes those teams successful. Although research approaches are similar, the types of teams that researchers investigate often are different. In addition, the types of questions used to examine teams differ depending on the backgrounds of the researchers. The following are several examples of attempts to define the characteristics of successful teams.

Hackman (1987) is an organizational psychologist whose specialty is job design. His research examined a wide variety of teams both at work and in the laboratory. He lists five factors necessary for the successful development of teams:

Clear direction and goals. Teams need goals to focus efforts and evaluate performance.

Good leadership. Leaders are needed to help manage the internal and external relations of teams and orient teams toward their goals.

Tasks suited for teamwork. Tasks should be complex, important, and challenging, requiring the integrated efforts of team members, and the tasks should not be capable of being performed by individuals.

Necessary resources to perform tasks. These include material, training, and personnel resources.

Supportive organizational environment. Organizations must allocate sufficient power and authority to allow team members to make and implement decisions.

Levi and Slem (1995) are psychologists who examined teamwork in high-tech companies. They studied factory production teams and engineering research and development teams to determine factors related to team success. These are the factors they found necessary for the successful development of teams:

Evaluation and rewards. Teams need fair and objective criteria for evaluation, team member performance evaluations should relate to their team contributions, and members should be rewarded when their teams are successful.

Social relations. Teams need training in social skills so they can resolve internal conflicts and function smoothly.

Organizational support. Management, the organizational system, and the

organizational culture must support the use of teams. 4. Task characteristics. Teams need clear direction and goals, tasks that are

appropriate for teamwork, and work that is challenging and important. 5. Leadership. Leaders need to facilitate team interactions and provide assistance

to teams when problems occur.

Larson and LaFasto (1989) are experts in group communication. They studied a variety of teams from business, sports, and government. Just as in the studies mentioned above, they found that clear goals with standards of excellence, principled leadership, and external support and recognition were important factors in successful teams. In addition, their research indicated that a results-oriented structure, competent team members, a unified commitment, and a collaborative climate were important.