MGT 390 Chp 14

Eight characteristics consistently associated with team excellence

Compelling purpose: 1. Clear, elevating goal: A compelling purpose energizes team members, orients them towards their collective objective, and fully engages their talents. Teams fail because other goals can replace that goal, not motivated, keep team focused 2. Results-driven structure: find best structure to accomplish goals, task design, team composition, core norms of conduct so all will be willing and able to contribute. Right people: 3. Competent team members: right mix, need skills both technical and interpersonal. Oppenness, supportiveness, action orientation, positive personal style. Real team: 4. Unified commitment Work groups are only collection of individuals. Teams develope sense of unity or identification. 5. Collaborative climate: stay focused, listen and understand, develop trust, consistency, and respect. Team failure may result from the members "collective failure to coordinate and synchronize their indiidual contributions" Clear norms of conduct 6. Standards of excellence: Clear norms of conduct, standards set for performance. Supportive organizational context 7. External support and recognition: rewards for performance, educational system, information system, do not give challenging assignments without support to accomplish them. Team-focused coaching 8. Principled leadership: leadders driver to team effectiveness through four sets of processes: 1a. Cognitive: help recognize problems 2b. Motivational: become cohesive and set standards 3c. affective: handle stress by providing goals and strategies 4d. Coordination: leader helps integrate team activities by matching members' skills to roles If one or more not address then need to.

Team effectiveness

Focus is on team excellence of desired outcomes of teamwork Two critical functions: performance (task accomplishment) and development (team maintenance). performance: quality of the outcomes of the team's work. Development: Cohesiveness of the team and the ability of team members to satisfy their own needs while working effectively with other team members. Good teams do both to get job done and maintain cohesiveness.

How does the team leadership model work?

Identify team needs, suggest actions, make sense of complexity of teams and offers practical suggestions based on theory and research.

McGrath's critical leadership functions

In Quadrant 1, the leader is diagnosing group deficiencies. In Quadrant 2, the leader is acting to repair or remedy the observed problems. In the third quadrant, the leader is scanning the environment to determine and forecast any external changes that will affect the group. In the fourth quadrant, the leader acts to prevent any negative changes in the environment from hurting the team.

Leaders reduce effectiveness when...

Leaders can reduce the effectiveness of their team by being unwilling to confront inadequate performance, diluting the team's ability to perform by having too many priorities, and overestimating the positive aspects of team performance.

Shared or distributed leadership

Shared team leadership occurs when members of the team take on leadership behaviors to influence the team and to maximize team effectiveness. AKA team leadership capacity: leadership comes from entire time, sharing of influence by team members, step forward when situation warrants, provide the leadership necessary. risk: takes courage. Virtual teams more effective when shared team leadership, benefit from shared leadership when the task is complex.

Team leadership model

The hill model for team leadership, monitor the team and then take whatever action is necessary to ensure team effectiveness. 1. Leadership decisions 2. LEader actions 3. Indicators of team effectiveness. Suggests specific actions leader can improve team effectiveness, simplify team leadership for making decisions. Needs to be behaviorally flexible and have skills. Construct models to solve problem. leadership behavior is seen as team-based problem solving, in which the leader attempts to achieve team goals by analyzing the internal and external situation and then selecting and implementing the appropriate behaviors to ensure team effectiveness

Intervene or observe?

Two phases: information search and structuring. A leader must first seek out information to understand the current state of the team's functioning (information search) and then this information must be analyzed, organized, and interpreted so the leader can decide how to act (information structuring)

slow to act leaders

cnourage members to emerge as leaders, but taking delay might cause the team's problem to become unmanageable.

Teams

composed of organizational groups of members who are interdependent, share comon goals, and must coordinate their activities to accomplish these goals. Must work together, can be located anywhere, even virtually. The study of teams focuses on maintaining competitive advantage through strategies.

heterarchy

dynamic and fluid lateral power shifting in teams from traditional vertical decision making in org hierarchy to lateral decision making. Allows everyone sto have a say, positive outcomes, shift of power, help supports collaborative work.

mental model

effective team performance begins with how leader sees the situation that the team is experiencing, components of problems, environmental and org contingencies that define the larger context of team action.

External environmental leadership actions

environmental 1. Networking and forming alliances in environment 2. Advocating and representing team to environment 3. Negotiating upward to secure necessary resources, support and recognition 4. Buffering team members from environmental distractions 5. Assessing environmental indicators of team's effectiveness 6. Sharing relevant environmental information with team.

groups go through stages of

forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.

Internal task leadership actions

goal focusing: clarifying, gaining agreement. Structuring for results: planning, visioning, organizing, clarifying roles, delegating. Facilitating decision making: Informing, controlling, coordinating, mediating, synthesizing, focusing on issues. Training team members in task skills: Educating and developing Maintaining standards of excellence: assessing team and individual performance, confronting inadequate performance.

Team based structures

important way for organizations to remain compettive by responding quickly and adapting to constant, rapid changes. Focuses on team processes and outcomes, researchers focused on problems to confront.

functional perspective

leaders should do whatever is necessary to take care of unmet needs of the team.

hasty to act leaders

might prevent problems from getting out of control, but they might not make the right intervention because they do not have all the information, and such fast action might undermine the development of shared leadership.

Application

model is useful in helping the leader make decisions: should I act? If so, how should I do so? If the team is not performing effectively (team effectiveness), then the leader can make the first strategic choice by monitoring the situations or acting to improve team functioning.

Team-based and technology enabled

new organizational structures, rely on teams and new tech to enable communication across time and space.

Team leadership

process oriented, faciliates team success and helps teams avoid failures.

Leadership actions

specific leadership actions that can be performed internall: task, relational, environmental. Needs to make the choice of the most appropriate function or skills for the intervention. To be an effective leader, one needs to respond with the action that is required of the situation.

Leadership decision 2: Should I intervene to meet task or relational needs?

task and maintenance, tema leadership focuses both on task and maintenance functions and are related to perceived team effectiveness.

Leadership decisions

the major decisions the team's leadership needs to make when determining whether and how to intervene to improve team functioning. 1. Observe ot intervene 2. task or relational intervention is needed 3. Intervene at the internal level (within the team itself) or external level (in the teams environment) Leads to McGrath's critical leadership functions

Leadership decision 3: should I intervene internally or externally?

what level of the team process needs leadership attention inside the team or external of the team? If between team members, take internal relational action. Team goals unclear: Internal task intervention to focus goal. Org environment not providing support: external environmental intervention.

Internal relational leadership actions

1. Coaching team members in interpersonal skills 2. Collaborating, encourage compromising 3. Managing conflict and power issues. 4. Building commitment and esprit de corps (being optimistic, innovating, envisioning, socializing, rewarding, recognizing.) 5. Satisfying individual member needs (trusting, supporting, advocating) 6. Modeling ethical and principled practices (fair, consistent, normative)

Criticisms

1. It lists only SOME of the many skills that leadership might need to employ in making such decisions, additional skills might be needed that focus more on the environment. 2. Quite complex, team leaders need to spend time adjusting to the framework so that it comes naturally to them when decisions are needed. When is the best time to intervene, what do you say to a member who is upset and crying? What specific actions should be taken? 3. Many teams have shared leadership, roles can change over time

Three phases of group life and the leadership needed during each

1. Motivational coaching (at start) 2. consulting coaching (at midpoint) 3. educational coaching (at end)

Strengths

1. designed for real-life org work group with a focus on performance and team effectiveness. 2. Cognitive guide that helps leaders to design and maintain effective teams, especially when performance is below standards. 3. Takes into account the changing role of leaders and followers in organizations, focuses on critical functions of leadership as diagnosis and action taking. 4. Can help in selection of team leaders and team members. If a leader must be chosen for the team, it might be best to select one who is perceptive, open, objective, analytical, and a good listener who has good diagnostic skills.

Effective org teams lead to many outcomes like

1. greater productivity 2. more effective use of resources 3. better decisions and problem solving 4. better-quality products and services 5. greater innovation and creativity In order for teams to be successful, the org culture needs to support member involvement.

six enabling conditions that lead to effective team functioning

1. is it a real team 2. does it have a compelling purpose 3. Right people? 4. Are the norms of conduct clear? 5. Is there support from the organizational context? 6. Is there team-focused coaching?