Google’s “Three-Thirds” HR Team.

Using your readings from this module, and at least two additional resources, evaluate group/team development by considering the following: • Using Table 11-1, what must be done to turn Google’s HR group into a team? • Explain how Google’s HR team members could have been instructed in the teamwork competencies from Table 11-3. • How important is trust to a cross-functional team? Describe how managers can build trust among cross-functional teams, which comprise diverse backgrounds and differing perspectives. • Explain which type of cohesiveness, socio-emotional or instrumental, is more important in this type of cross-functional team. • What strategies would you offer Google’s Laszlo Bock to help in creating, developing, and leading effective cross-functional work teams? Table 11-1 Evolution of a Team A work group becomes a team when 1. Leadership becomes a shared activity 2. Accountability shifts from strictly individual to both individual and collective 3. The group develops its own purpose or mission 4. Problem solving becomes a way of life, not a part-time activity 5. Effectiveness is measured by the group’s collective outcomes and products Table 11-3 How Strong Are Your Teamwork Competencies Orients Team to Problem-Solving Situation Assists the team in arriving at a common understanding of the situation or problem. Determines the important elements of a problem situation. Seeks out relevant data related to the situation or problem. Organizes and Manages Team Performance Help team establish specific, challenging, and accepted team goals. Monitors, evaluates, and provides feedback on team performance. Identifies alternate strategies or reallocates resources to address feedback on team performance. Promotes a Positive Team Environment Assists in creating and reinforcing norms of tolerance, respect, and excellence. Recognizes and praises other team members’ efforts. Helps and supports other team members. Models desirable team member behavior. Facilitates and Manage Task Conflict Encourages desirable and discourages undesirable team conflict. Recognize the type and source of conflict confronting the team and implements an appropriate resolution strategy. Employs “win-win” negotiation strategies to resolve team conflicts. Appropriately Promotes Perspective Defends stated preferences, argues for a particular point of view, and withstands pressure to change position for another that is not supported by logical or knowledge-based arguments. Changes or modifies position if a defensible argument is made by another team member. Projects courtesy and friendliness to others while arguing position. Google’s “Three-Thirds” HR Team. If you’ve ever imagined a “dream team” of human resource professionals, a collection of diverse talent drawn up to have maximum impact on organizational results, it may have had similarities to the People Operations department at Google, the fast-growing technology company in Mountain View, Calif. Google’s HR team is built on what Laszlo Bock, vice president of global people operations, calls the “three-thirds” staffing model. Roughly one-third of the team’s employees have HR backgrounds and bring expertise in client relations as well as specialty skill areas such as employment law, and compensation and benefits. This group also has what Bock calls high-level “pattern recognition” skills, or the ability to identify organizational trends and anticipate issues even before they’re on line units’ radar. An example would be predicting ebbs and flows in hiring and attrition. Another third have little or no human resource experience and were recruited from strategic consulting firms or Google line functions such as engineering or sales. Most in this group are embedded within business units. Staff in this subgroup have “tremendous problem- solving skills and knowledge about how everything outside of HR works,” Bock says. “If you can find people with that skill set, plus an aptitude for people-related issues, we’ve found they partner very well with traditional HR employees.” The final third is a workforce analytics group featuring people who hold doctorates in statistics, finance, organizational psychology and other areas. These analysts help make determinations on matters such as setting compensation levels that will retain top talent for maximum periods and conducting the right number of interviews to ensure selection of the best job candidate. Subteams within this third group also conduct more-esoteric research. For example, they explore cognitive heuristics–the mental shortcuts that people use in making decisions or solving problems but that can also lead to biases. This group also examines ways to counter influences such as the halo effect–a job candidate considered good or bad in one category is assumed by hiring managers to be similarly good or bad in other categories–and the recency effect, in which too much weight is given to an employee’s most recent performance in yearly evaluations. Analytics specialists also focus on predictive modeling, or using principles of mathematics and psychology to determine the profiles of people who will be most successful at Google and those likely to leave the company prematurely based on their changing behavior patterns. “This group helps us prove what we do in People Operations works and contributes directly to Google’s business results,” Bock says. While the three-thirds model might appear to set up walled-off silos in the department, Bock encourages regular interaction and knowledge sharing among HR team members.