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Management Practices and Organisational Behaviour

Notes meet only long enough to generate ideas or develop proposals. The work group takes on
problem solving as one of its daily activities. Because this team has a limited scope of
control, the use of teamwork has essentially no impact on the organisation's management
structure. Advice/involvement teams the routinely handle quality issues are often called
quality circles. Such teams typically meet about an hour each week to generate ideas for
improving quality in a given area.
2. Production and Service: Production/service teams, are charged with the activities related
to producing and selling goods and services. Production/service teams, draw their
membership from a broad base and often are formed as a way to empower first-line
employees. They are low on differentiation and high in integration. They must coordinate
their work extensively with suppliers, customers, and other groups in the organisation.
3. Project and Development: A project/development team is charged with planning,
investigating, analyzing and reporting, often with the objective of creating outputs that
are complex and unique. Project/development teams are highly differentiated because
they require employees with expertise in particular areas. They tend not to be highly
integrated because team members generally face internal deadlines, and coordination is
primarily among group members.
4. Action and Negotiation: Action/negotiation team are usually comprised mainly of experts
with specialized skills. Owing to their expertise, the team is highly differentiated; it is also
highly integrated with the organisation. It must closely coordinate its efforts with the
work of support personnel or with other action/negotiation teams.
Table 12.2: Ways Organizations Apply Team Work

Source: Eric Sundstrom, Kenneth P De Meuse, and David Futrell, "Work Teams: Applications and
Effectiveness," American Psychologist 45 (2) (February 1990): Page 125.

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