your Vancouver-based author, shows that when there is a large discrepancy in wages
among group members, collaboration is lowered.^36 A study of baseball players’ salaries
also found that teams where players were paid more similarly often outperformed teams
with highly paid “stars” and lowly paid “scrubs.”^37
Composition
This category includes variables that relate to how teams
should be staffed. In this section, we address the skills,
personality, and roles of team members, the diversity and
size of the team, member flexibility, and members’ pref-
erence for teamwork. This chapter’s CBC Video Case
Incident demonstrates how putting together a good team
can lead to a very successful company.
Skills
To perform effectively, a team requires three different types of skills:
1.It needs people with technical expertise.
2.It needs people with the problem-solvingand decision-making skillsto be able to
identify problems, generate alternatives, evaluate those alternatives, and make
competent choices.
3.It needs people with good listening, feedback, conflict resolution, and other
interpersonal skills.^38
No team can achieve its performance potential without developing all three types
of skills. The right mix is crucial. Too much of one at the expense of others will result in
lower team performance. But teams don’t need to have all the complementary skills in
place at the beginning. It’s not uncommon for one or more members to take responsi-
bility to learn the skills in which the group is deficient,
thereby allowing the team to reach its full potential.
Personality
Teams have different needs, and people should be selected
for the team on the basis of their personalities and pref-
erences, as well as the team’s needs for diversity and spe-
cific roles. We demonstrated in Chapter 2 that personality
has a significant influence on individual employee behav-
iour. Personality also influences team behaviour. Many of
the dimensions identified in the Big Five model of per-
sonality have been shown to be relevant to team effec-
tiveness. Specifically, teams that rate higher in mean levels
of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and
emotional stability tend to receive higher managerial rat-
ings for team performance.^39
Very interestingly, the evidence indicates that the vari-
ance in personality characteristics may be more impor-
tant than the mean.^40 So, for example, although higher
mean levels of conscientiousness on a team are desirable,
mixing both conscientious and not-so-conscientious
members tends to lower performance. Including just one
person who is low on agreeableness, conscientiousness, or
extraversion can result in strained internal processes and
decreased overall performance.^41
Chapter 5Working in Teams 163Why do some
teams seem to get
along better than
others?*
Being a gracious team member can make a difference. When Atlanta-
based CNN decided to revise its morning program American Morningin
summer 2005, CNN/US President Jonathan Klein decided to replace co-
anchor Bill Hemmer, who had held the anchor position for several years.
In explaining the decision, Klein noted that he wanted a male anchor
who would work with female co-anchor Soledad O’Brien and help her
look good too, rather than trying to take all the attention himself.Earth Buddies