Team Building and Motivation
Abstract
The advantages of teams and their characteristics are described and tabulated. The well known Tuckman team development stages of Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Mourning are discussed, as are the nine Belbin characteristics required for building a balanced team. A diagram explains Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and Herzberg’s motivational hygiene theory includes a list of the hygiene factors and motivators.
Keywords
Team building; Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; Herzberg’s motivational hygiene theory; team development; Tuckman development stages Motivation and Teams
Chapter Outline
Large or complex projects usually require many different skills that cannot be found in one person. For this reason, teams have to be formed whose members are able to bring their various areas of expertise and experience together to fulfill the needs of the project and meet the set criteria. The project manager is usually the team leader and it may be his responsibility to select the members of the team, although in many instances he may be told by senior management or the HR department who will be allocated to the team. If the project is run as a matrix-type organization, the different specialist team members will almost certainly be selected by the relevant functional department manager, so that the project manager has to accept whoever has been allocated.
There are considerable advantages in operating as a team, which need not require all the members to be fully allocated to the project all the time. Nevertheless, the project manager must create an atmosphere of co-operation and enthusiasm whether the members are permanent or not.
The main advantages of teams are:
• Teams engender a spirit that encourages motivation and co-operation
• Different but complementary skills and expertise can be brought to bear on the project
• Problems can be resolved by utilizing the combined experience of the team members
• New ideas can be ‘bounced’ between team members to create a working hypothesis
• Members gain an insight into the workings of other disciplines within the team
• Working together forms close relationships which encourage mutual assistance
• Lines of communications are short
• The team leader is often able to make decisions without external interference
The following characteristics are some of the manifestations of a successful team:
• Co-operation and participation
• Pride in belonging to the team
• Good mix of talents and skills
• Willingness to overcome problems
• Enthusiasm to get the job done
• Good teams tend to receive good support from top management and sponsors. They are often held up as examples of good project management during discussions with existing and potential clients.
Clearly, if too many of the above characteristics are absent, the team will be ineffective. Merely bringing a number of people together with the object of meeting a common objective does not make a team. The difference between a group and a team is that the team has a common set of objectives and is able to co-operate and perform as a unified entity throughout the period of the project. However, to create such a team requires a conscious effort by the project manager to integrate and motivate them and instill an esprit de corps to create an efficient unit, whether they are in industry, in the armed services, or on the playing field.
Team Development
Building a team takes time and its size and constituency may change over the life of the project to reflect the different phases. Team development has been researched by Tuckman who found that a team has to undergo four stages before it can be said to operate as a successful entity. These stages are:
To these could be added a fifth stage termed mourning, which occurs when the project is completed and the team is being disbanded.
Forming
As the word implies, this is the stage when the different team members first come together. While some may know each other from previous projects, others will be new and unsure, not only of themselves, but also of what they will be required to do. There will be an inevitable conflict between the self-interest of the team member and the requirements of the project, which may impose pressures caused by deadlines and cost restraints.
Clearly at this stage the project manager will have to ‘sell’ the project to the team and explain what role each member will play. There may well be objections from some people who feel that their skills are not being given full rein or conversely that they do not consider themselves to be well suited for a particular position. The project manager must listen to and discuss such problems, bearing in mind that the final decision rests with him and once decided, must be adhered to. There is no virtue in forcing a square peg into a round hole.
Storming
Once the team has been nominally formed and the main roles allocated, the storming stage will start. Here the personalities and aspirations of the individuals will become apparent. The more dominant types may wish to increase their sphere of influence or their limits of authority, while the less aggressive types may feel they are being sidelined. There will be some jockeying for position and some attempts to write their own terms of reference and it is at this stage that the conflict management skills of the project manager are most needed. It is vital that the project manager asserts his/her authority and ensures that the self-interests of the individual become subservient to the needs of the project.
Norming
When the storming is over, the project should run smoothly into the norming stage. Here all the team members have settled down and have accepted their roles and responsibilities, although the project manager may use a more participative approach and do some ‘fine tuning’. The important thing is to ensure that the team are happy to work together, are fully aware of the project objectives and the required regulations and standards, and are motivated to succeed.
Performing
At this stage the team can now be considered a properly integrated working entity with every member confident of his/her role. All the energy will be focused on the well-being of the project rather than the individual. Communications are well established and morale is high. The project manager can now concentrate on the work at hand but must still exercise a degree of maintenance on the team. The organization should now run as ‘on well-oiled casters’ with everyone being fully aware of the three main project criteria: cost, time, and quality/performance.
Mourning
There is an inevitable anticlimax when a project has come to an end. Members of a project team probably feel what soldiers feel at the end of a war. There is a mixture of relief, satisfaction, and apprehension of what is to follow. Unless there is another similar project ready to be started, the team will probably be disbanded. Some people will return to their base discipline departments, some will leave on their own accord, and some will be made redundant. There is a sense of sadness when friendships break up and relationships built up over many months, based on respect and mutual co-operation, suddenly cease.
The project manager now has to take on the mantle of a personnel officer and keep the team spirit alive right up to the end. There is always a risk, on large long-running projects, that as the end of the project approaches, some people will leave before final completion to ensure further employment without a break. It may then be necessary for the organization to offer termination bonuses to key staff to persuade them to stay on so as to ensure there are sufficient resources to finish the job.
The Belbin Team Types
While the main requirement of a team member must be his or her expertise or experience in his or her particular field, in the ideal team, not only the technical skills but also the characteristics of the team members should complement each other. A study of team characteristics was carried out by Meredith Belbin after nine years of research by the Industrial Training Research Unit in Cambridge. At the end of the study, Belbin identified nine main types that are needed to a greater or lesser extent to make up the ideal team.
Unfortunately in practice it is highly unlikely that the persons with the right skills and the ideal personal characteristics will be sitting on a bench waiting to be chosen. More often than not, the project manager has to take whatever staff has been assigned by top management or functional managers. However, the benefit of the Belbin characteristics can still be obtained by recognizing what Bebin ‘type’ each team member is and then exploiting his or her strengths (and recognizing the weaknesses) to the benefit of the project. In any case, most people are a mix of Belbin characteristics, but some will no doubt be more dominant than others.
The nine Belbin characteristics are as follows:
The strengths and weaknesses of each of these characteristics are as follows.
Plant
Such persons are creative, innovative, imaginative, self-sufficient, and relish solving difficult problems often using new ideas and fresh approaches. Their unorthodox behaviour may make them awkward to work with and their dislike of criticism, discipline, and protocol may make them difficult to control.
Resource Investigator
These persons are very communicative, probably extroverted, show curiosity in new ideas, and are enthusiastic in responding to new challenges. Once the initial challenge or fascination is over, their interest tends to wane.
Co-ordinator
Co-ordinators are self-controlled, stable, calm, self-confident, can clarify goals and objectives, and are good at delegating and maximizing people’s potentials. When given the opportunity they tend to hold the stage.
Shaper
These persons are outgoing, dynamic, and thrive on pressure. Drive and courage to shape events, overcome difficulties, and a desire to challenge inertia or complacency are part of their character. They may therefore be anxious, impatient, and easily irritated by delays and blockages.
Monitor/Evaluator
These people are sober, prudent, and are able to evaluate the options. They have a good sense of judgement, are analytical, and can make critical and accurate appraisals. They could be easily judgmental and their tactless criticism may be destructive.
Team Worker
Such persons are co-operative, sensitive, socially orientated, and help to build a good team. They are often only noticed when they are absent. They may have difficulties in making decisions and tend to follow the crowd.
Implementer
Disciplined and reliable, conservative and practical, such persons turn ideas into actions systematically and efficiently. They could be inflexible and averse to new unconventional methods.
Completer/Finisher
Such people are painstaking, conscientious, and self-controlled perfectionists with a strong sense of urgency. They are good at checking and seeking out errors and omissions. They tend to be over-concerned with minor faults and find it hard to give in.
Specialist
Specialists supply skills that are in short supply. They tend to be single-minded, self-reliant, and dedicated to their profession. Their independence is not easily controlled, especially if they know they are difficult to replace. Being absorbed in their speciality, they may at times have difficulty in seeing the larger picture.
Motivation
The simplest dictionary definition of motivation is ‘the desire to do’. The strength or degree depends on the individual’s character and the reason or cause of the desire. In many cases the individual may be self-motivated, due to an inner conviction that a particular action or behaviour is necessary for personal, political, or religious reasons, but in a project context, it may be necessary for an external stimulant to be applied. It is undoubtedly the function of a project manager to motivate all the members of the project team and convince them that the project is important and worthwhile. The raison d’etre and perceived benefit, be they political, economic, social, or commercial, must be explained in simple but clear terms so that each team member appreciates the importance of his/her role in the project. In a wartime scenario, motivation can well be a question of survival and is often the result of national pride or convincing propaganda, but such clear objectives are seldom the case in a normal peacetime project, which means that the project manager has to provide the necessary motivation, encouragement, and enthusiasm.
There is little doubt that a large part of the success of the 2012 London Olympics was due to the collaborative approach, the team spirit of the design/construction team, and the motivation to complete the project on time, for what was regarded by everybody as a project of national pride and international importance.
Apart from the initial indoctrination and subsequent pep talks, a project manager can reinforce the message by the conventional management practices of giving credit where it is due, showing appreciation of good performance, and offering help where an individual shows signs of stress or appears to be struggling, mentally or physically.
A good example of the effect of motivating people by explaining the objective of a project or even a work package is shown in the following little story.
A man walking along a street notices that a bricklayer building a wall is very lethargic, clearly not enthusiastic, and looks generally unhappy about his work.
‘Why are you so unhappy?’ he asks the workman.
‘I have just been told to build this wall. Just placing one brick on another is monotonous and boring’ was the reply.
The man walked further up the street and met another bricklayer clearly building the other end of the same wall. This workman, on the other hand, worked quickly, was clearly interested in the work, and whistled a happy tune while he laid the bricks
‘Why are you so happy?’ he asked the man
The man looked up with shining eyes and said proudly: ‘I am building a cathedral’.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
A. H. Maslow carried out research into why people work and why some are more enthusiastic than others. He discovered that in general there was, what he called, a hierarchy of human needs, which had to be satisfied in an ascending order. These can be conveniently demonstrated as a series of steps in a flight of stairs where a person has to climb one step before proceeding to the next (see Figure 39.1).
The five levels on Maslow’s needs are: physiological, security and safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization. Maslow argued that the first needs are the ones that enable the human body to perform its functions, i.e., air for the lungs, food and water for the digestive system, exercise for the muscles, and of course, sex for the continuation of the species. Once these needs have been met, the next requirement is shelter, security in employment, and a safe environment. This is then followed by social acceptance in the society one frequents such as at work, clubs, or pubs, and of course, the family. The next step is self-esteem, which is the need to be appreciated and respected. Praise, attention, recognition, and a general sense of being wanted, all generate self-confidence and well-being. The last aspiration is self-actualization. This is the need to maximize all of one’s potentials, utilize fully one’s abilities, and be able to meet new challenges.
As in all theories, there are exceptions. The proverbial starving artist in his garret is more concerned about his esteem and self-actualization than his security or even social acceptance. Similarly the ideals of missionaries take precedence over the desire for physical comfort. However, for the majority of wage or salary earners, the theory is valid and must be of benefit to those wishing to understand and endeavouring to fulfill the needs of people in their charge.
Herzberg’s Motivational Hygiene Theory
Herzberg has tried to simplify the motivational factors by suggesting two types:
Motivators
The hygiene factors represent the first three steps of Maslow’s needs, i.e., physiological needs, security and safety, and social. The motivators are then esteem and self-actualization. From a management point of view, the first three can almost be taken for granted, as without reasonable pay or security, staff will not stay. To obtain the maximum commitment from an employee (or even oneself) motivators such as recognition of achievement, interesting or challenging work, responsibility, job freedom, pleasant working conditions, and possibility of advancement and growth must be present.
In general people like doing what they are good at and what gives them satisfaction. At the same time they tend to shun what they are less able at or what bores them. It is of benefit to the organization therefore to reinforce these behaviours, once they have been identified.