Team effectiveness and decision-making

Evidence regarding the effectiveness of teams in organizations and explanation of the failure of some teams to operate as effectively as possible

A team is composed of individuals who have complementary skills, committed to some performance goals or have a common purpose for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. (Greenberg, 2013) Teams are considered to produce impressive results but they can also cause failure. Effective teams have been found to possess certain characteristics: According to Greenberg (2013), two psychological mechanisms make the teams effective, that is, the normative control (peer-based), where the members of a team long to be included in teams, to be part of those who purse the accepted goals, and the rational control (peer-based), where the members go along with their teams with the belief that they will be rewarded for doing what is appropriate.

According to Ritcher, Dawson & West (2011), for a team to be effective it is characterized by the following; an active leader who maintains order and strives to move the team forward.  Each team member must have a specialty that he/she can use for the team to achieve its goals. Every team member is responsible for the production of up to standard products. To maintain the effectiveness of a team, there has to be a good process of conflict resolution. Manager’s reluctance and lack of cooperation in the team lead to failure.

Explanation of the three major approaches to individual decision making (the rational-economic model, the administrative model, and image theory).

The rational-economic model approach focuses on the search of an ideal decision (Greenberg, 2013). This is a decision that maximizes attainment of goals. This model assumes that the decisions are optimal in every manner. The decision maker has perfect and complete information that he/she is able to process to find optimum solution to a problem. This model is considered as normative or prescriptive approach that describes how decision makers should behave to make the best possible decisions (Pina et al, 2008).

The administrative model approach acknowledges the limits of human rationality (Greenberg, 2013). Decision makers have an imperfect and limited view of the problems facing them. Solutions are limited by the innate capabilities and the resources available. Decision makers do not assess all the available options to decide on the optimal, they usually take the first alternative that is acceptable to them (Ritcher et al, 2011).

Image theory is an intuitive approach to decision making. In this approach, weighing all options is not a major concern (Greenberg, 2013). People consider how decision alternatives fit with their goals and plans. This approach is represented by the image theory, which deals with decisions about embracing a certain course of action or changing currents course of action. Decisions are made on in two stage processes, that is, the compatibility test and then the profitability test (Pina et al, 2008).

Various factors that contribute to imperfect decision making in our organization

            Laziness of some of my supervisors has in several occasions led them to appoint incompetent juniors to lead missions, some of which were unsuccessful. Some of my managers fail to anticipate for unexpected events. When we sometimes go for our military missions and fail in the mission, some managers take that opportunity to make transfers of some of the team members, instead of taking that as an experience to improve the team. Some decisions are never made since some of our managers over-depend on either other fellow managers or on their juniors. There are several times when good decisions turned into imperfect ones, simply because they were not communicated properly.

References

Pina M. I. D. P., Martinez A. M. R., Martinez L.G. (2008) “Teams in organizations: a review on team effectiveness”, Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 14(1/2) 7 – 21

Ritcher A. W., Dawson J. F. & West M. A. (2011). The effectiveness of teams in organizations: a meta-analysis. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 22(13), 2749-2769.

Greenberg, J. (2013).  Managing Behavior in Organizations. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.  ISBN-10:  0-13-272983-0.