Managing and Leading Team Dynamics Module 8 Wrap.docx

Managing and Leading Team Dynamics
Module 8: Wrap Up
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Module Introduction
Readings
*Required*

* Leading teams? Use smart silence
<https://search-ebscohost-
com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&A
N=86047254&site=ehost-live>.
(2013). /Executive Leadership/, /28/(2), 4.
* Kerber, K.W., & Buono, A.F. (2004). Leadership challenges
in global
virtual teams: Lessons from the field/. SAM Advanced
Management
Journal/, /69/(4), 4. (This article can be found in the Article
Reserve
<https://csuglobal.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-450307-
dt-content-rid-19909_5/xid-19909_5>.)
For Your Success
In this module, you will review, reflect, and synthesize what
you have
learned in this course about teams, teamwork, relationships
between

teams, and virtual teams.
Your Final Portfolio Paper is due at the end of this course. In
this
paper, you should identify a fictional or real-life example of a
project
that requires team execution in a team that includes your
participation.
MBTI theory and insights gained from class readings and
discussions, and
your own experiences should be included in your team design
and project
execution. Incorporate details on team creation, organization,
and
leadership functions needed to achieve successful projection
completion,
and information on your participation and contribution to the
team
process as a leader, manager, or follower.
*Learning Outcomes*

1. Synthesis of the factors for effective teamwork and
leadership of teams.
2. Synthesis of components for effective virtual teamwork and
leadership of teams.
//Backward Forward//
Defining and Designing a Team
Team
Teams can help facilitate organizational objectives in a world
with
increasing globalization, rapid technological advancements, and
dynamic
market conditions. Defining and designing a team for
productivity and
effectiveness considers:

1. Specific tasks or objectives that the team is to accomplish
2. Identification of team member skills, motivations, and roles
3. Understanding of how pay structures and rewards can
facilitate
productive team outcome
Teams that plan or develop performance strategies usually
perform better
if they preplan and plan between periods of task completion.
/Planning
should consider/:
1. Is the goal clearly defined?
2. How much authority does the team have to manage its own
work?
3. What is the focus of work the team will do?
4. What is the degree of task interdependence among team
members?
5. Is there a correct solution that can be readily demonstrated
and
communicated to members?

6. Are team members’ interests perfectly aligned (cooperative),
opposing (competitive), or mixed in nature?
7. How big should the team be?
8. What are the time constraints and do they present capacity
and
capability problems?
There are also /different types of teams/ in organizations and
the type
may change depending on the organization, the goals, and
attributes of
the team members:
1. Manager-led teams. The manager acts as the team leader and
is
responsible for defining the goals, methods, and functioning
of the
team.
2. Self-managing or self-regulating teams. The manager or
leader
determines the overall purpose or goal of the team, but the

team is
at liberty to manage the methods by which to achieve that
goal.
3. Self-directing or self-designing teams. Such teams determine
their
own objectives and the methods by which to achieve them;
management
has responsibility only for the team’s organizational context.
4. Self-governing teams. These teams are usually responsible
for
executing a task, managing their own performance processes,
designing the group, and designing the organizational
context.
*Teamwork*
Effective teams incorporate three key attributes:
1. /Knowledge, skill, and ability of each team membe//r/. Team
member

skill such as technical, interpersonal, decision-making,
problem-solving should be identified. Consideration should
also be
given to member learning curves and expertise, social
facilitation
versus social inhibition, the state of flow, and stress vs.
challenge levels.
2. /Motivation and effort/. Team members should be aware of
member
motivational gains, social loafing, and free riding, and the
reasons
behind the circumstances, and the ways in which negative
effects can
be overcome.
3. /Coordination strategies/. Skills, efforts, and actions of
members
should be coordinated when executing strategy. For effective
coordination, teams should be fewer than 10 members with a
clear
agenda of where the team is going and how it will meet its
objectives.

The ability of team members to work effectively involves
incorporating
the individual aspects of team members and blending them into
one team
entity. To build /cohesion /and a productive team, leaders and
members
of teams need to be aware of the impact of:
* How their individual personalities affect one another and the
overall team
* The impact of diversity
* Communication challenges and information exchange
* Decision-making processes
* Conflict management
* How to enhance and support creativity
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Virtual Teams
Team
While virtual teams can be highly effective and necessary in a
global
world, there are threats to process and team effectiveness.
Information
technology has a powerful effect on social behavior. When
communicating
or working virtually, you can expect:
1. Reduced status differences
2. Equalization of team member participation
3. Generation of face-to-face meetings

4. Increased time to make decisions
5. Increased communication
6. Increased risk-taking in group decisions
7. Less observance of social norms
8. The same or lesser task performance and quality of group
decisions
Threats to team member effectiveness and overall team
productivity include:
1. Reduced member effort or motivation
2. Reduced understanding of and transfer of member knowledge
and skill
*Team Decision Making*
With good communication and sharing of information, teams are
equipped
to make decisions. When making decisions, research has found
that group

decisions outperform individual decision-making.
Unfortunately, not all
team decisions are good ones, so exploration of the decision-
making
process and decision pitfalls can help facilitate effective
decision
making.
Teams and their leaders have the most control over the
decision-making
process although well-documented decision biases affect the
ability of
people to effectively process information and weigh
alternatives. There
are five group-related decision-making pitfalls to be aware of:
Groupthink, Escalation, The Abilene Paradox, Group
Polarization, and
Unethical Decision-Making.
*Enhancing Team Creativity*

Brainstorming is an effective way to encourage creative thought
in
teams, as it maximizes the quality and quantity of ideas. Rules
for
brainstorming should include expressiveness in which
freewheeling is
welcome, non-evaluation in which criticism is ruled out,
combinations
and improvement of ideas is encouraged, and quantity of ideas
is valued.
There are four major threats to effective brainstorming:
1. /Social loafing/: tendency for people to slack off or not work
as
hard as they would if they were alone
2. /Conformity/: the desire to be liked and accepted encourages
unusual
behavior to gain acceptance in a group
3. /Production blocking/ /or coordination problems/: when
group members

cannot express their ideas because others are presenting their
own
4. /Performance matching or downward norm setting/:
performance of
people working within a group converges over time.
The four major threats can lead to failure to follow or abide by
rules
of brainstorming, slacking off on production of ideas,
participating in
social rituals that negate creativity, or setting performance
benchmarks
too low. It can also cause team members to conform, or
experience
inhibitions, anxiety, and self-presentational concerns.
Outside of the Team

Team
Team productivity and effectiveness are also affected by how
teams and
team members relate to the external environment and to other
teams. The
use of team members in the external environment provides for
information
exchange, the acquisition of knowledge, and social capital.
Teams in the
external environment will also likely encounter increased
competition
and conflict from other teams that can be both helpful and
detrimental
to team productivity. Teams should:
* Understand the role of the team and team members in the
external
environment
* Understand the challenges that can impede effective
teamwork between
teams and team members and what can be done to help
mitigate the factors

* Be aware of the impact that different cultures and bias have
on the
ability of teams to work together effectively
External roles of team members are not formally assigned but
instead are
taken on by team members by implicit team negotiation. The
most common
and important /roles observed in real workgroups/ include that
of a:
* Boundary Spanner: acts as a bridge between units or people
in an
organization
* Bufferer: protects the team from bad or disappointing news
* Interpreter: shapes the collective understanding of the team
* Advisor: informs the team about options they should
consider
* Gatekeeper: controls the flow of information to and from the
team
* Lobbyist: controls the interpretation of what the team is
perceived

to be doing
To try to expand their network, increase social capital, and link
their
team within the organization, leaders should consider /network
expansion/. Practical steps for individuals, teams, and
organizations to
build more connections across functional groups include:
* analyzing social networks to gain an accurate perception of
the networks
* determining the brokers in social networks to more
effectively use
the networks
* identifying “structural holes” in the organization and find
ways to
bridge the gaps
* expanding the size of the network
* understanding gender scripts in networks to define the
conditions
under which networks are most effective

* diversifying networks to include complementary assets at all
levels
of an organization
Team bonding to each other and to others in the external
environment can
also be beneficial in increasing social capital and can be
facilitated
by friendship ties, trust ties, and advice ties (for the exchange
of
expertise and information).
Leading the Team
Team
Leadership in a team is a key component to team success.

Leadership
ensures that team structure, communication and decision-
making
processes, and team functioning are enabling team productivity.
Team
leadership includes:
* Consideration of leadership style
* Effective use of power
* The determination of decision-making style
* Facilitation of team member participation
Leaders and Decision Making
Leaders, like teams, make decisions. The challenge for leaders
is to
determine the appropriate level of team member input into
decision
making to achieve a balance of quality and team acceptance. For

effective decision making, leaders need to accurately identify
the
problem and consider all of the questions and alternatives
before making
a decision.
* /Decision styles/ of leaders include:
* /Autocratic/: little to no involvement of other team members
* /Inquiry/: asks for information from team but ultimately
makes
decisions independently
* /Consultative/: involves different degrees of consultation
with team
members
* /Consensus-building/: involves extensive consultation and
consensus
building with the team
* /Delegation/: the team makes the decisions with little to no
input
from leader

A /participative style of management/ encourages contributions
from all
followers and can lead to optimum decision-making. To evoke
this style
of management, leaders should incorporate team empowerment
and invite
participation through:
* Task delegation by giving meaningful tasks and
responsibilities to
others
* Parallel suggestion involvement by inviting followers to
make
suggestions about organizational procedures and processes
* Job involvement by restructuring tasks to make them more
rewarding
and more autonomous
* Organizational involvement by restructuring the organization
to
provide a sense of involvement for all followers

*Final Thoughts on Teams*
Teams are not always the answer. Teams may provide insight,
creativity,
and knowledge in a way that a person working independently
cannot, but
teamwork may also lead to confusion, delay, and poor decision-
making.
Therefore design, leadership, and effective team interaction are
key
components of successful teams.
However, as we have learned, strong leadership is not always
necessary
for strong teams. A leader has two main functions: structure the
team
environment and coach team members so that they can work
together
effectively. In addition, leaders can also be responsible for team
failure by faulting the wrong causes for a team’s lack of
success,
failing to recognize their team-building responsibilities, and

erroneously equating managing their team with managing the
individual
people on the team.
Nonetheless, errors and experimenting with failures can lead to
better
teams. It may seem ironic, but one of the most effective ways to
learn
is to experience failure. As you likely found in your class
experience
in teamwork, addressing the challenges of the task, of the
people, and
of the processes can be daunting and frustrating, and can make
you feel
that the objective will never be met. However, as you have
hopefully
learned, by creating the appropriate learning and working
structures,
and by understanding and accepting individual differences,
teamwork can
ultimately be successful and provide an outcome far superior to
what you
could have accomplished on your own.

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Conclusion
This concludes module 8. Based on this module and what you
have learned
in this course, you should have gained knowledge on team
structure,
effective team interaction, the importance and challenges of
work
between teams, and the key components of team leadership. You
should

also be able to demonstrate your ability to apply these concepts
to a
reality-based situation and be able to identify ways to enhance
team
effectiveness and productivity.
This course was intended to equip you with the information,
experience,
and personal introspections and reflections that you need in
order to be
an effective team leader. I hope that the information and
frameworks
provided for team contributions, leadership, and decision-
making will
facilitate your successful participation of your present and
future team
situations.
References

Thompson, L.L. (2014). /Making the team: A guide for
managers /(5th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Thompson, L.L. (2008). /Making the Team/ (3rd ed.). Pearson:
Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Thompson, L.L. (2008). /Instructor's Manual: Making the Team/
(3rd ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
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Module 7: Team Relationships and Organizational
Productivity
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* Chapter 12 in /Making the Team/
* DeVilbiss, C.E., & Gilbert, D.C. (2005). Resolve conflict to
improve
productivity. /Leadership Management in Engineering,
5/(94), 87-91.
(This article can be found in the Article Reserve
* Dooley, R. (2003). Four cultures, one company: Achieving
corporate
excellence through working cultural
complexity./Organization
Development Journal/, /21/(1), 1. (This article can be found
in
the Article Reserve
For Your Success

In this module, we will be addressing the relationships between
teams.
We will explore the conflicts and competition that may exist in
interteam relationships and how to facilitate effective working
relationships between teams. We will also briefly look at the
impact
that bias and culture have in working with teams from different
countries.
This week reflect on what you have learned from your group
project, your
self-analysis work, the reading materials, and the key concepts
you have
learned in this course. Consider how you could apply what you
have
learned to enhancing the productivity and effectiveness of past
team
experiences, and how you could deploy them in future
teamwork.
*Learning Outcomes*

1. Explore the challenges that can impede effective teamwork
between
mitigate the
factors.
2. Examine the impact of a global world on effective teamwork.
Personal and Team Identity
Team
People naturally seek group affiliations, as they are a critical
source
of self-identity and self-esteem. The types of teams and groups
often
common to people’s identities include:

1. Gender groups
2. Position, level, class
3. Functional unit
4. Regional unit
5. Ethnicity and race
Examples of groups in which people come together because they
share
common identity or bonds are mothers that meet every morning
to walk
with their strollers, a group of customer service representatives
that
meet monthly for lunch, or a group of Air Force recruits that
meet every
morning to jog, or a group that forms to accomplish an
organizational goal.
People also define themselves based on their own unique traits,
their
dyadic relationships, and their group and team memberships,
and include

considerations of:
1. Independent versus interdependent self orientation
2. Self-interest versus group-interest
3. Ingroups and outgroups
People also have identities derived from the social motives of
inclusion
and differentiation wherein people want to be included in teams
but they
also want to be distinct and different from one another. The
/Optimal
Distinctiveness Theory/ explains why people seek and maintain
conceptualizations of themselves while they also seek to be part
of a
collective team, as they balance the need to belong and the need
to be
distinct.
It is an interesting fact that while some people prefer to do
things on

their own nearly all of the time, they still want to be a part of
something more than themselves. Typically, people want
individual
recognition and rewards for their individual contributions to the
team
(i.e., Optimal Distinctiveness Theory). Under an appropriate
leadership
style, these needs can be addressed. For example, a
transformational
leadership style can elevate individual thinking to consider the
needs
of the team before themselves while empowering them to
individually
contribute and to feel good about their contributions.
Interteam Relationships
Team

The relationships between teams involve multiple identities
which affect
organizational performance. Relationships between teams can
trigger
social comparison processes, team rivalry, and intergroup
conflict.
Such relationship issues can be particularly predominant after a
merger
wherein teams divide into ingroups and outgroups.
For example, if Company A acquires Company B, the teams in
Company B
will likely be the outgroups, meaning they will have less
influence on
the newly combined entity. In contrast, the Company A teams
will be the
ingroups with resources and influence that they need to
accomplish their
objectives. However, if the leader of Company B is to be the
designated
leader of the merged entity, Company B teams will be the
ingroups and

Company A groups will be the outgroups.
It is the responsibility of the team leaders to redesign or
redefine
teams to try to balance their teams to be effective.
*Intergroup Conflict*
Intergroup conflict between teams can be separated into
realistic
conflict when teams compete over scarce resources and
symbolic conflict
that reflects fundamental differences in values. Conflict can
also arise
because teams have a desire to cooperate because they all work
for the
same company but they also feel that they are in competition
with other
teams, referred to as Mixed-Motive Conflict.

For example, accounting and sales teams can end up in
intergroup
conflict because the sales team usually favors price discounting
for the
customer and additional incentives for their sales. Although
both teams
know that they work for the same company, the accounting team
may try to
stop the sales team actions, while the sales team believes that
the
accounting team is not a “team player” and is detrimental to the
growth
of the company. Effective leadership can lessen these types of
conflict
by facilitating joint understanding of team perspective and
reinforcing
the need to be effective for the benefit of the entire
organization.
Intergroup conflict and competition can have varying results
depending
on how they are managed, but intergroup conflict based on bias
can be
detrimental to organizational productivity. Types of bias

include:
1. /Stereotyping/: when people categorize others on the basis of
superficial information
2. /Categorization/: Us versus them tendency to create ingroups
and
outgroups
3. /Ingroup bias/: viewing members of their own group more
favorably
than members of the outgroup
4. /Racism and racial discrimination/: favorable or unfavorable
treatment based on race
5. /Denial/: the belief that because one has not experienced
something
it does not exist
6. /Outgroup homogeneity bias/: perceived greater homogeneity
of
opinion, beliefs and interests among members of the outgroup
than
among members of their own group

Strategies for reducing negative effects of intergroup conflict
include:
1. /Superordinate goals/ that represent the greater good
2. /Contact/ among members of different groups increases
cooperation
between group members
3. /Cross-cut role assignments/ in which people are
simultaneously
members of more than one task group or team
4. /Communal sharing norms/ to help groups share common
resources
For this type of conflict, transformational leadership again
becomes a
possible solution in mitigating unproductive competition. If the
leader
can inspire and motivate team members to put team interests
ahead of
individual interests, a great deal of intergroup conflict can be
alleviated. And, through empowering team members to work
together and

make decisions on their own, individual members can work
together to
solve their own intergroup conflicts in the manner that best
suits the
teams and their members.
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Global Teams and Intergroup Conflict
Team

Diversity brings different perspectives, new knowledge, and
creativity.
However, diversity as it relates to teams from different
countries can
present additional challenges to team productivity due to bias
and
culture differences. In working with teams from different
countries,
consideration should be given to:
1. Intercultural awareness between ethnic groups
2. Understanding perceptions of fairness in different cultures
3. Understanding of how communication, decision-making, and
processing
conflict is conducted in different cultures
4. Including members from all representative cultures to
participate in
management strategies for group working structure
Teams that have people from different cultures face additional
communication and cooperation challenges. Although all team

members may
want to work effectively together, misunderstandings can derail
those
intentions. For example, because of cultural differences, a team
in
Japan that has been waiting for the U.S. team member to
provide
deliverables that it needs to execute a project, may not feel
comfortable announcing that it has not received the deliverables
for
fear of embarrassing its U.S. counterpart or the U.S. member.
Instead,
the Japan team may try to delay the weekly meeting or give
other reasons
as to why it has not completed its part of the project. So while it
is
not the intention of either team to cause issues, the project may
be
delayed or never completed.

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Conclusion
This concludes module 7. From this module, you should have
gained an
understanding of the challenges and issues that can occur
between teams.
From the information learned in this module, you should now be
able to:
* Identify bias and the impact of cultural differences between
teams;
* Apply methods to alleviate conflict between teams;

* Identify the challenges that can impede effective teamwork
between
mitigate the
factors;
* Evaluate the impact of a global business environment on
effective
teamwork.
References
managers /(5th
Upper

(3rd ed.).
System University
Reserved
Module 6: The External Environment and Leadership
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Module Introduction
Readings
*Required*
* Chapter 10 & 11 in /Making the Team/
* Johnson, D. (2001, July). Society: Investing in human
relations. /The Futurist, 35/(4), 9. (This article can be found
in
the Article Reserve

For Your Success
In this module, we will explore the interactions of teams and
team
members with the external environment, and the effect of
leadership on
team behavior and decision making. We will identify roles of
team
members relative to the external environment, ways that team
members can
increase social capital, leadership styles, and leadership
decision-making styles. You will also begin work on your Final
Portfolio
Paper.
*Learning Outcomes*
1. Explore the role of the team and team members in the
external
environment and identify your own role in teams.

2. Identify the role leaders play in effective teamwork through
their
styles and use of power, and your role as a team leader.
Team Boundaries
Team
The study of how team members interact with the external
environment
affects team productivity. Team leadership can also affect team
effectiveness. Understanding the facets of both components can
facilitate productive teamwork and enhanced decision making.
To understand how a team effectively interacts with the external
environment, attention should be give to consideration of team

boundaries. Team boundaries differentiate one work group from
another
and affect knowledge transfer and distribution of resources.
There are four types of teams based on their relationship to the
environment:
1. /Insulating teams/ that are mostly sequestered from the
environment
2. /Broadcasting teams/ that concentrate on their internal
processes
and inform others what they are doing
3. /Marketing teams/ that concentrate on achieving buy-in from
outsiders through advertising, self-promotion, and lobbying
4. /Surveying teams/ that concentrate on diagnosing needs of
customers,
experimenting with solutions, and revising their knowledge
Organizations should avoid hidden costs of team-to-
environment
relationships that include:

1. Failure to effectively manage relationship between team and
external
environment leading to perceived team ineffectiveness
2. Placing constraints and barriers on the team’s ability to
control
and gain access to resources hinders team effectiveness
3. Team’s inability to overcome an initial negative evaluation
that may
be perceived as failure, even if it eventually achieves its
goals
The outside world is not always a kind place, nor is the
environment
outside of a given team in an organization always welcoming.
Nonetheless, to truly be effective, teams must interact with the
outside
environment and work to meet organizational needs.
Competition can
create and perpetuate negative perceptions and it is the
responsibility
of leaders to facilitate team success outside of the team

environment.
For example, Mattel’s recent issues with lead in its toys led to
massive
television coverage and inquiry into what Mattel was or was not
doing in
the best interests of its customers. While just specific toys were
affected and those toys were immediately removed from
shelves, the media
continued to perpetuate the stories until Mattel leadership
intervened
and explained what the company had done and would do to
ensure the
safety of its toys. In a crisis, it is especially important that
teams
are able to effectively interact with the external environment
and that
its leadership is actively supportive.

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External Roles of Team Members
External roles of team members are not formally assigned but
instead are
taken on by team members by implicit team negotiation. The
most common
and important roles observed in real workgroups include that of
a:
1. Boundary Spanner: acts as a bridge between units or people
in an
organization
2. Bufferer: protects the team from bad or disappointing news
3. Interpreter: shapes the collective understanding of the team
4. Advisor: informs the team about options they should
consider

5. Gatekeeper: controls the flow of information to and from the
team
6. Lobbyist: controls the interpretation of what the team is
perceived
to be doing
7. Negotiator: negotiates on behalf of the team
8. Spokesperson: the voice of the team
9. Strategist: plans how to approach management for resources
10. Coordinator: arranges formal or informal communication
with other
people or outside teams
In the real world, these roles exist and function to both help and
hinder team performance. As a leader or a team member,
understanding and
recognizing the roles which members acquire helps to facilitate
information flow and teamwork. For example, it would be
important that
the team Boundary Spanner be kept fully informed of team
activities and
challenges of the team so that he or she could solicit help from
other

teams; or it would be prudent to send the Advisor to seminars
and
trainings so that he or she could report back to inform the other
team
members; or, it would be appropriate to send the Negotiator to
industry
association meetings to ensure that team and organizational
needs are
considered by the other industry members. The impact of
external roles
can be significant and a thoughtful leader can help guide this
informal
process of responsibility distribution.
*Networking: A Key to Successful Teamwork *
Networking
To build relationships between teams and the organization,
consideration

should be given to the value of:
1. Effective communication
2. Human capital
3. Boundary-spanning
4. Group social capital
5. Leadership ties
To try to expand their network and link their team within the
organization, leaders should consider network expansion.
Practical steps
for individuals, teams, and organizations to build more
connections
across functional groups include:
* analyzing social networks to gain an accurate perception of
the networks
* determining the brokers in social networks to more
effectively use
the networks

* identifying “structural holes” in the organization and finding
ways
to bridge the gaps
* expanding the size of the network
* understanding gender scripts in networks to define the
conditions
under which networks are most effective
* diversifying networks to include complementary assets at all
levels
of an organization
Team bonding to each other and to others in the external
environment can
also be beneficial in increasing social capital and can be
facilitated
by friendship ties, trust ties, and advice ties (for the exchange
of
expertise and information).
The value of networking should never be underestimated and
team member
outreach activities should be supported by leaders while leaders

themselves participate in network functions. Warren Buffet and
Bill
Gates met at a charity function over a decade ago, and from that
meeting
a relationship grew to the point that Buffet has pledged most of
his $44
billion to Gates’ foundation. While not all networking
opportunities
will reap such a large reward, associations, relationships, and
information gathering can be garnered from the effort at all
levels of
team and organizational groups.
Other Considerations
*Knowledge Valuation *

Information garnered inside and outside of teams can be
valuable.
Managers should use high quality knowledge regardless where it
comes
from with the understanding that there are biases in knowledge
valuation
such as:
1. In-group favoritism (not-invented-here syndrome)
2. Greater value placed on outside versus inside knowledge
3. Organizational incentives for valuing external ideas
4. Relational perspective that internal knowledge is more
readily
available and, therefore, considered less valuable than
external
knowledge. For example, while a Human Resource
department may have a
team member that can provide training on various topics such
as time
management or dealing with conflict resolution,
organizations often

bring in and pay outside teams to do such trainings.
Download Transcript
Leadership Theory
Definition of leadership
The success of a team is also linked to how its leadership leads
the
team. Leadership is not the same as management, and there are
different
styles and forms of leadership. In general, the more effective
the

leader the more effective the team, so while leaders are often
necessary
for teamwork, their existence could negatively affect teamwork
and
vice-versa.
Extensive research has been conducted on leadership, and
theories have
evolved from the findings. Some of the theories include:
1. “Great Man” theory: Leaders are born, not made.
2. “Great Opportunity” theory: Leadership can be learned as a
skill
3. Nature versus nurture summary
4. Trait-based leadership.
There has been and continues to be great debate as to whether a
leader
is born or made. When we look at “great” leaders we actually
see some
basic characteristics paired with training and understanding. For

example, John F. Kennedy was born a Kennedy but not all
Kennedy’s are
effective leaders; or consider your own family and your siblings
and who
is the leader and who is not. Having all been born and raised in
the
same family and environment, if environment or genetics acted
alone, all
siblings would be leaders. Research into leadership continues to
evolve
and although there are no concrete determinants, what leaders
should
consider is that there is evidence that people can be educated
and
formed into leaders. So for teams, the role could be filled by
someone
who has not previously been identified as such.
*Leadership Styles*
Leadership style must also be considered in determining

effective
leadership. The list of leadership styles is extensive and
includes:
1. Task versus person leadership
2. Transactional versus transformational leadership
3. Active versus passive leadership
4. Autocratic versus democratic leadership
5. Mood in which leadership moods influence team mood
Research has found that leaders that empower their teams are
more likely
to have productive teams. Transformational leadership
motivates members
to work towards group goals that go beyond immediate self-
interests. For
example, Jack Welch of General Electric has been considered a
transformational leader because he inspired and challenged his
teams to
reshape the company and gave them the resources and authority
to make

the changes they deemed necessary. Under his guidance the
company’s
market value grew from $14 billion to $410 billion. Not every
transformational leader has that level of success, but team
leaders have
the ability to motivate or de-motivate. A style which motivates
members
has a better chance of enhancing team productivity than a style
that
restricts member contribution.
*Leadership and Power *
Leadership involves relationships between people, and in any
relationship power operates as the key dynamic. The source and
use of
power, the management of power, and implications of using
power should
be considered. Specifically, power is desirable at a fundamental,
preconscious level. Further, people in a position of power are
often

egocentrically biased, and power affects the cognitions,
behaviors, and
emotions of those with power and those without.
Leaders have different types of power over followers including:
1. Legitimate power: based on holding a formal position
2. Reward power: based on having access to rewards
3. Coercive power: based on having the ability to punish
4. Expert power: based on expertise in a certain area
5. Referent power: based on respect and liking
Power used for the benefit of team can provide significant
impact. For
example, a leader can utilize power to obtain resources that the
team
needs to fulfill its objectives, or facilitate acceptable behavior
and
useful contributions of team members.

*Leader Decision-Analysis Models*
Leaders, like teams, make decisions. The challenge for leaders
is to
determine the appropriate level of team member input into
decision
making to achieve a balance of quality and team acceptance. For
effective decision making, leaders need to accurately identify
the
problem and consider all of the questions and alternatives
before making
a decision.
Decision styles of leaders include:
1. /Autocratic/: little to no involvement of other team members
2. /Inquiry/: asks for information from team but ultimately
makes
decisions independently
3. /Consultative/: involves different degrees of consultation
with team

members
4. /Consensus-building/: involves extensive consultation and
consensus
building with the team
5. /Delegation/: the team makes the decisions with little to no
input
from leader.
A participative style of management encourages contributions
from all
followers and can lead to optimum decision-making. To evoke
this style
of management, leaders should incorporate team empowerment
and invite
participation through:
1. Task delegation by giving meaningful tasks and
responsibilities to
others
2. Parallel suggestion involvement by inviting followers to
make

suggestions about organizational procedures and processes
3. Job involvement by restructuring tasks to make them more
rewarding
and more autonomous
4. Organizational involvement by restructuring the organization
to
provide a sense of involvement for all followers.
In a real-life team situation, a participative style can be
effective
when interviewing potential employees for addition to the team.
Involving team members in the creation of the position
requirements, in
the interview process, and in the eventual training process
encourages
all team members to contribute and consider what is in the best
interests of the team.

Conclusion
This concludes module 6. From this Module you should have an
understanding of how teams can effectively integrate with the
external
environment and the ways that team members can increase
connections with
other teams.
able to:
* Identify the role of the team and the role of team members in
the
external environment.
* Analyze and enhance your own role in teams.
* Identify the role that leaders play in effective teamwork
through
their styles and use of power.

References
managers /(5th
Upper
(3rd ed.).
System University

Reserved
Module 5: Conflict and Creativity
//
HRM425
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Module Introduction
Readings

*Required*
* Chapters 8 & 9 in /Making the Team/
* Sutton, R. (2006, July). Eight tips for better
brainstorming. /Business Week./ Retrieved
fromhttp://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jul2006/id2
0060726_517774.htm
For Your Success
In this module, we will examine two areas that appear when
team members
work together: conflict and creativity. We will identify types of
conflict and how to effectively use conflict to enhance
outcomes, and we
will look at creativity generation in teams and explore
brainstorming as

a method in achieving new ideas.
Your paper on the Group Project is due this week. This is an
individual
paper based on your response to the final project outcome, the
challenges you and the team faced, and insights into what you
might have
done differently. You should also discuss your own weaknesses
and
strengths in the group process and what you could do to enhance
your
individual team participation and leadership skills in future
teams.
*Learning Outcomes*
1. Identify types of group conflict and concepts that can help
mitigate
the impact of conflict on productivity.
2. Explore how to facilitate optimal team creativity.

Types of Conflict
In the process of working together and making decisions,
conflict among
team members is not unusual. Differences in interests,
perceptions, and
preferences are inevitable and conflict results, and if not
properly
managed, then team performance can suffer. Teams and leaders
can
proactively manage conflict by understanding how to effectively
use or
deflate conflict.
The first step in dealing with conflict is to identify the conflict
type
which can include:

1. /Relationship conflict/ that involves disagreements based on
personal and social issues that are not related to work
2. /Task conflict/ that involves conflict about ideas, plans and
projects
3. /Process conflict/ that involves disagreements that team
members
have about how to approach a task and who should do what
*Conflict Management Styles and Approaches *
Conflict
Research has found that team members can take at least five
courses of
action when they find themselves involved in conflict. The
courses of
action are based on the concern for oneself and concern for the
other
party to result in: competition, avoidance, compromise,
collaboration,

and accommodation.
Another approach is the *Contingency Theory of Task Conflict
and
Performance*. In this approach, teams views team performance
as a
function of the type of task conflict, conflict management style,
and
the nature of the task performed by the group. The three
approaches to
managing this conflict are:
1. /Collaborating approach/ that considers the interests of all
parties
2. /Contending approach/ that considers the rights of each party
and
the power of each party
3. */Avoiding approach/* in which all parties avoid each other.
Wageman and Donnenfelds’ Conflict Intervention Model is
another model.
This model identifies interventions to improve the conflict

resolution
processes and includes:
1. /Team (re)Design/ that involves deliberate changes in
structure
2. /Task process/ /coaching/ that involves helping the team
perform
better through changes in effort, strategy, and talent
3. /Conflict process coaching/ that involves direct intervention
in a
team to improve the quality of conflict the team is having
4. /Changing the individual/ that involves individual-level
training
with the goal of making specific team members more tolerant
and
thoughtful when they disagree with others.
How teams address conflict impacts their performance and
productivity.
In most teams, there is usually a few people who really do not
like or
respect each other (i.e., relationship conflict), and then there are

people who disagree on the process to meet objectives (i.e.,
process
conflict), and then there is usually at least one person who
believes
that the plan to meeting the team goal will not work (i.e., task
conflict) but has no proposal for a plan that he or she believes
will
work. The approaches that the team can take to address the
conflicts can
vary. The team can ignore the conflicts (i.e., avoidance), make
comprises (i.e., hybrid processes or tasks), become competitive
among
each other, or they can become collaborative and
accommodating of
individual issues and still be effective.
For example, to address the relationship conflict, the team can
separate
those in conflict with subgroups that work on different aspects
of the
objectives; to address process conflict a coach or third-party can
be

brought in to facilitate a review of the processes and the
creation of
new ones; and to address task conflict the negative employee
can undergo
training and coaching to help him or her positively impact the
team
versus negatively impact it. Through this scenario, the team is
able to
continue to move forward towards meeting its goals while
actively
addressing the conflict issues.
*Norms of Fairness *
Conflict among team members can be caused by differences in
what members
consider norms or methods of fair allocation. There are three
primary
methods in which fair allocation is viewed:
1. /Equity method or contribution-based distribution/:

prescribes that
benefits and costs should be proportional to team members’
contributions
2. /Equality method or blind justice/: prescribes that all team
members
should suffer or benefit equally regardless of input
3. /Need method or welfare-based justice/: prescribes that
benefits and
costs should be proportional to member needs.
Norms of fairness affect the mood and emotions of teams. In
reality,
these norms are usually determined by the overall organization
which
incorporates assessments and incentives at the individual and
team
level. For example, the team could be given a task that has
various
components that can be divided up by knowledge so while there
may be a
difference in the task, all members are working equally hard and
long on
their specific task. Or, a team could adhere to the need method

of
fairness in which a team member may be given a lesser time-
intensive
task due to a need, such as a medical situation that requires
extensive
amounts of time away from the office.
*Minority and Majority Conflict In Groups *
Group Conflict
Team conflicts can involve subgroups represented by a
statistical
majority or minority that works to influence team members
directly or
indirectly. It is believed that majorities influence by inducing
compliance due to direct influence and pressure, while
minorities
influence by inducing conversion or private acceptance.

Additionally, minorities in groups are believed to be beneficial
because
they stimulate greater thought about issues and they stimulate
broader
thinking about issues. Research has shown that even when a
minority is
wrong about a given issue, the presence adds value to the group
as it
stimulates divergent thinking to increase creativity and better
solutions.
For example, a new team member may join your group from a
competitor.
While your group has always followed the same template for
generating
proposals, the new team member tells you that her experience
has been
that colorful and graphically designed 1-page proposals have
been
effective. Now, your team has always delivered black and white
documents
of spreadsheets for its proposals so the thought of a brochure-
type

proposal creates initial conflict, but given that input, the team
determines that adding charts and graphs instead of
spreadsheets into
its otherwise black and white printed proposal might be a better
way to
communicate the information.
Download Transcript
Team Creativity
In Module 2, we learned about cross-functional teams and the
level of

diversity that they can deliver. In such teams, conflict can be
caused
by lack of understanding of how team members from different
areas have
different mental models about a task, referred to as
representational
gaps. The greater the representational gap, the more likely the
team
conflict, so a transfer of knowledge through education or
experience is
important in shrinking this gap.
Although team members can encounter conflict while working
together,
they can also generate new ideas and arrive at creative
solutions. There
are four general domains in which new ideas can be classified:
1. /Creative realism/, the most desired outcome with ideas that
are
highly imaginative and highly connected to current structures
and ideas

2. /Conservative realism/, represents ideas that are highly
traditional
and highly connected to current knowledge and practices
3. /Conservative idealism/, the worst type of outcome with
ideas that
are unrealistic and not connected to existing knowledge
4. /Creative idealism/, represents highly original yet highly
unrealistic ideas.
To evaluate creativity there are three indices of:
1. Fluency: a measure of how many ideas a person or team
generates
2. Flexibility: a measure of how many types of ideas a person or
team
generates
3. Originality: the ability to generate unusual solutions and
unique
answers to problems.
There are two key skills in creative thinking:

1. /Convergent thinking/ in which thinking proceeds toward a
single answer
2. /Divergent thinking/ in which thinking is out-of-the-box and
without
boundaries, and in many directions.
Creativity is a characteristic of both individuals and groups.
Creative
people that are effective team contributors are passionate about
specific things, in tune with their creativity and knowledge
about how
to reinvigorate themselves, can select relevant information and
ignore
irrelevant information, and are hard-working with at least 10
years of
expertise in a particular domain.
One way to enhance creativity is to bring in an outside person
to the
team that will help facilitate new thought and perspective.
Similar to
brainstorming, this “creative” person is often from an

advertising
agency or other creative field who knows little to nothing about
your
particular teamwork or objective. Without mental boundaries,
that person
will start the creative process by contributing ideas to the group
from
his or her perspective. While some ideas may seem unrealistic
on the
surface, team members who understand their environment and
the
organization can often take those concepts and adapt them to be
innovative and new yet still fit established parameters.
Brainstorming as a Method to Creativity
Creative Idea
Brainstorming is an effective way to encourage creative thought
in

teams, as it maximizes the quality and quantity of ideas. Rules
for
brainstorming should include expressiveness in which
freewheeling is
welcome, non-evaluation in which criticism is ruled out,
combinations
and improvement of ideas are encouraged, and quantity of ideas
is valued.
There are four major threats to effective brainstorming:
1. /Social loafing/: tendency for people to slack off or not work
as
hard as they would if they were alone
2. /Conformity/: the desire to be liked and accepted encourages
unusual
behavior to gain acceptance in a group
3. /Production blocking/ /or coordination problems/: when
group members
cannot express their ideas because others are presenting their
own
4. /Performance matching or downward norm setting/:
performance of

people working within a group converges over time.
The four major threats can lead to failure to follow or abide by
rules
of brainstorming, slacking off on production of ideas,
participating in
social rituals that negate creativity, or setting performance
benchmarks
too low. It can also cause team members to conform, or
experience
inhibitions, anxiety, and self-presentational concerns.
*Enhancing Brainstorming*
There are three areas that can enhance team creativity in
brainstorming:
1. Cognitive-goal instructions
2. Social-organizational suggestions

3. Structural-environmental suggestions
Another way to facilitate brainstorming is through the use of
computers.
Electronic brainstorming allows members to interact and to
exchange
ideas through computers. The advantages of electronic
brainstorming include:
1. Parallel entry of ideas
2. Anonymity
3. Flexibility in team size
4. No proximity requirements
5. Documented memory of ideas
6. Refinement and evaluation of ideas
7. Equality among team members
The disadvantages of electronic brainstorming are that it is not
as
effective as face-to-face interaction for small teams there is a
loss of

social interaction and power among participants, and that it is
difficult to award credit to individual team members who
generate ideas.
Additional thoughts on brainstorming:
1. Positive side benefits associated with brainstorming include
increasing team cohesion and building morale.
2. Developing hybrid methods for creative work may be more
effective
than the use of just brainstorming.
3. The key to using brainstorming is to deploy it at the right
time, in
the right way.
Globalization makes electronic tools for brainstorming
necessary for
organizations that have geographically dispersed teams. As you
have
learned from the readings, the processes and norms for
brainstorming can

and should be customized to individual team needs. For
example, for its
brainstorming sessions, the International Women’s Forum
(IWF)
electronically gathers top scientists and researchers to address
issues
that impact women worldwide. Each panel member is reflected
in real-time
on an individual screen and IWF members physically gather to
participate
in the brainstorming session with the input of the panel as to
what
could be feasible solutions to the problem being addressed. As
this
example highlights, a team leader’s ability to secure the
resources the
team needs to effectively exchange information is an important
function
of ensuring efficient information generation and exchange.

Download Transcript
Conclusion
This concludes module 5. From this Module you should know
the key
challenges that face teams and team members: conflict and
generating
creativity.
able to:
* Identify types of group conflict and concepts that can help
mitigate

the impact of conflict on productivity
* Facilitate optimal team creativity in your own organizations,
and
specifically how to effectively conduct brainstorming
sessions
References
managers /(5th
Upper
(3rd ed.).

System University
Reserved
Module 4: Team Exchange
//
HRM425

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Module Introduction
Readings
*Required*
* Chapters 6 & 7 in /Making the Team/
* Deeter-Schmelz, D.R. (1997). Applying teams to logistics
processes:
Information acquisitions and the impact of team role clarity
and
norms
dt-content-rid-19909_5/xid-19909_5>. /Journal
of Business Logistics/,18(1), 159-178.
* Moorhead, G. Ference, R. & Neck, C.P. (1991). Group
decision
fiascoes continue: Space shuttle challenger and a revised
groupthink

framework. /Human Relations/, /44/(6), 539-550. (This
article can be
found in the Article Reserve
For Your Success
In this module, we will examine the components of team
communication and
the information exchange process. We will explore how to lead
and
participate in effectively communicating with team members,
and the
pitfalls of team decision-making processes.
This week you work on your Team Advertisement Project. Use
your skills
in team-conflict management and decision-making to complete
this task.

*Learning Outcomes*
1. Identify the key skills for effective teamwork and
management of teams.
2. Comprehend the components and considerations of
performance-reward
systems.
3. Explore the basic principles of the MBTI and experience
taking the
assessment.
Team Communication
Team Communication
The exchange of information between team members can be a
valuable or

detrimental component in team work. How effectively a team
communicates
determines the extent it can establish a shared knowledge base
which can
then determine its success or failure. Communication is also a
key
component of effective decision-making.
In a perfect system, a sender would communicate a message,
and the
recipient would accurately receive it. However, the reality is
that
there are many points in which communication can be flawed
due to biases
and points of possible error in message transmission and receipt
caused by:
1. Message tuning
2. Message distortion
3. Biased interpretation
4. Perspective-taking failures

5. Transparency illusion
6. Indirect speech acts
7. Uneven communication
As a child, you likely played the game “Telephone.” In that
game, one
person would whisper a phrase into the ear of another person,
and then
that person would whisper what he heard to another person, and
so on
until everyone had a change to “hear” the message. The last
person in
the chain would then repeat aloud what she had heard. Usually
what the
last person relayed to the rest of the group was completely
different
than what the initiator had said, and as children laughter soon
followed.
In organizations however, the noise and errors that occur in
communication are not usually funny and are usually significant
to

overall team outcomes. Interestingly, as much as we are aware
of the
distortions in communications we don’t often allow for them.
We send an
email of important information and just expect it got there and
that the
recipient understands what we are trying to convey; or we leave
a voice
mail of project details and expect that our vision of what we
want
produced will be adequately conveyed through our voice mail.
Even when
we are in face-to-face conversations we may be distracted and
not fully
receive the entire content of a given message, nod “yes” we
understand,
and walk away with an entirely different concept of what was
intended by
the transmitter.
In teams, being aware of the importance of effective
communication is
helpful, but teams must also consider appropriate structures to
manage

communication. Teams must also be aware of the factors that
are impacted
by communication effectiveness such as knowledge sharing and
learning so
that they can plan and prepare for successful information
exchange.
Intellectual Bandwidth and Information Dependence
Effective communication among team members can facilitate
the
establishment and utilization of a shared knowledge base for
intellectual bandwidth based on the process of understanding:
1. Data
2. Information
3. Knowledge
4. Wisdom

Intellectual bandwidth and a shared knowledge base require that
members
depend on one another for information. However, such
dependence is often
subject to:
1. The /common information effect/ in which team members
rehash
commonly known information rather than pooling unique
information
2. /Hidden profiles/: superior decision alternatives, but because
team
members do not share information, the alternatives are not
raised
and remain “hidden.”
3. /Ineffective information-sharing methods/ including
increasing the
amount of discussion, separating review and decisions,
increasing
the size of the team or information load, making teams
accountable,
or pre-discussion polling.

An effective intervention to information-dependence issues
include
putting a team leader in the position of information manager,
who acts to:
1. Redirect and maintain focus of discussion to unshared
information
2. Label the task as problem to be “solved,” not a “judgment”
to be made
3. Rank rather than chooses
4. Consider decision alternatives one at a time
5. Heighten team members’ awareness of types of information
likely to
be possessed by different individuals
6. Suspend initial judgment
7. Build trust and familiarity among team members
8. Communicate confidence
9. Minimize status differences
An effective team leader can have tremendous impact in

ensuring quality
information exchanges. A team leader can ensure that all
members know
the skills and capabilities of each other, and they can actively
facilitate information exchange by setting the proper example
for team
members to follow. By listening and asking probing questions
to obtain
information, by encouraging contributions at all levels while
suspending
initial reactions to them, and by thoughtfully addressing and
considering each contribution, leaders can create an
environment in
which members feel comfortable sharing information.
Collective Intelligence
Mental model of house

Mental models allow people to understand, predict, and solve
problems in
a given situation. An effective team mental model includes:
1. A common understanding that team members share about
how something
works
2. Accuracy of the model in terms of how closely it fits the
objective
that the team is trying to achieve
3. Correspondence between member models such that the
members can adapt
to external demands and anticipate other members’
information needs
because of shared knowledge structures or team mental
models.
A mental model helps us synthesize information but in a team
situation
with multiple “mental models,” they can be confusing and
contribute to

poor team performance. For example, a parent may tell a child
that they
will go later to a playground. From an adult perspective, “later”
is
usually hours away, but from a child’s perspective “later”
means after
he puts his shoes on to go. Therefore, since mental models are
perspective-based, team members must clarify and try not to
assume that
all member definitions are the same.
It would be difficult for members to clarify everything that
everyone is
communicating and still meet set objectives, but certainly on
key points
of projects, the terms should be outlined as specifically as
possible.
For example, imagine being on a global team and you said that a
project
should be completed at the end of the week. In the U.S., that
typically
means Friday, but in other parts of the world that could be
Thursday or

Saturday, so team members could end up being unduly
frustrated over
something so simple to establish in advance.
Transactive Memory System
Another information-processing system for team is the
/Transactive
Memory System,/ which combines knowledge possessed by
particular team
members and awareness of who knows what, keeping in mind
tacit
coordination to synchronize members’ actions based on
assumptions about
what others on the team are likely to do. A Transactive Memory
System
can be developed through:
1. Work planning
2. Optimizing human resources

3. Monitoring stress and pressure
4. Teams that will work together should train together
5. Planning for turnover
A simplified example of this concept is a typical family system.
If we
set ourselves back in the 1950’s, the Mom would know all about
cooking
and laundry, the Dad would know all about yard maintenance
and how to
repair the cars, and the oldest Sister would know what would
best occupy
her siblings. In this scenario, everyone has an area of expertise
and
contributes it as needed to benefit the family or the team for a
Transactive Memory System.
Team Learning

The ability of team members to learn from one another is an
important
component to successful teams. However, another component is
the degree
that teams can learn from others outside of the team. Team
learning can
be attributed to:
1. Learning from the environment
2. Learning from newcomers and rotators
3. Longevity: Routinization versus innovation trade-offs
A certain amount of routinization is desirable in a team;
however, the
overly-routinized team hinders communication and obstructs
innovation,
so it may be desirable to design teams whose primary objective
is to act
as innovation experts for creation and transfer of the
organization’s
best practices.

For example, if a team comprised of all U.S. manufacturing
workers were
assembled one day and then dropped into China the next without
training,
there would be an overload of information to learn: language,
customs,
work style and so on. The overload would cause productivity of
the team
to plummet as it navigated the multiple challenges and worked
to regain
its focus on the goal. However, if the same team had a team
training
program to learn to speak some of the language and understand
the
Chinese culture, and had someone from the China plant join
them in the
U.S. and then accompany them as a team to work on the China
manufacturing lines, they would know how to work with each
other and
then be able to begin effectively working as soon as they
arrived.

Download Transcript
Decision Making in Teams
With good communication and sharing of information, teams are
equipped
to make decisions. When making decisions, research has found
that group
decisions outperform individual decision making.
Unfortunately, not all
team decisions are good ones, so exploration of the decision-
making
process and decision pitfalls can help facilitate effective
decision

making.
Teams and their leaders have the most control over the
decision-making
process although well-documented decision biases affect the
ability of
people to effectively process information and weigh
alternatives. There
are five group-related decision-making pitfalls:
Decision-Making Pitfall 1: Groupthink
Groupthink: Definition & Examples
Go to the Video
<http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/group-think-
definition-examples.html>

Groupthink occurs when team members place consensus above
all other
priorities including good judgment. Examples of groupthink in
history
include the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis scenarios.
Three key symptoms of groupthink are:
1. /Overestimation of group/ such that members of the group
regard
themselves as invulnerable and morally correct and,
therefore,
exempt from standards
2. /Close-mindedness//,/ which can lead to collective
rationalization
and stereotyping.
3. /Pressures toward uniformity/ such that there is a strong
intolerance for diversity of opinion.
Groupthink can occur when lapses occur due to incomplete
survey of

alternatives and objectives, failure to reexamine alternatives,
selection bias, poor information search, and failure to create
contingency plans.
To avoid groupthink, team leaders should
1. Monitor team size
2. Provide a face-saving mechanism for teams
3. Use a risk technique
4. Invite different perspectives
5. Appoint a devil’s advocate
6. Structure discussion principles
7. Establish procedures for protecting alternative viewpoints
8. Create a second solution
9. Beware of time pressure
As you will read in the supplement materials and see in the film
clip,
the Challenger Shuttle disaster was a classic example of

Groupthink. The
highly educated scientists and operations personnel of the space
program
were so afraid of being a dissenting opinion that some have
admitted
that they knew that there were problems with the Shuttle but
didn’t say
anything. Human lives were at stake but due to time and
financial
pressures no one stopped the Shuttle from its ascent. Now, our
everyday
issues may not be as dramatic, but as a team leader or
participant it is
your role to provide and encourage diversity of opinion to make
the best
decision possible; otherwise there really is no need for a team
of
people to get together to make a decision as it could be decided
on by
just one person.

Decision Making Pitfalls
*Decision Making Pitfall 2: Escalation of Commitment*
Angry man
In some conditions, teams will persist with a losing course of
action
even in the face of clear evidence to the contrary. This
condition is
known as escalation of commitment. To help prevent this
pitfall,
consideration should be given to:
1. /Project determinants/ that are the objective features that can
be
used to evaluate teamwork
2. /Psychological determinants/ that are the cognitive and

motivational
factors that propel people to continue with a chosen course of
action
3. /Social determinants/ that provide approval, acceptance, and
respect
for team members and the team
4. /Structural determinants/ that reinforce a poor decision or
position.
Teams can avoid the escalation of commitment problem by
setting limits,
avoiding the bystander effect, avoiding tunnel vision and bad
team mood,
recognizing sunk costs, and conducting external reviews of
decisions.
An excellent example of this pitfall is probably the last
argument you
had with your significant other. In any given argument, a person
will
determine a solution to a given problem, and despite evidence
that it is
not a good or the best solution, adamantly refuse to accept

another
solution. Dr. Phil and Oprah would probably tell you to just
walk away
and come back at another time. And in fact, research shows that
to avoid
this pitfall, avoiding bad moods and conducting further
investigation
into alternative solutions (e.g., walk away and think about it
some
more) is a good way to prevent it.
*Decision Making Pitfall 3: The Abilene Paradox *
Another decision-making pitfall is the Abilene Paradox in which
there is
consensus because group members want to avoid conflict. Key
causes of
self-limiting behavior in teams can include the presence of
someone with
expertise, the presentation of a compelling argument, a lack of
confidence in one’s ability to contribute, an unimportant or

meaningless
decision, the pressure from others to conform to team’s
decision, or a
dysfunctional decision-making climate.
To avoid the Abilene paradox, team leaders can:
1. Confront the issue in a team setting
2. Conduct a private vote
3. Minimize status differences
4. Frame task as a decision to be made
5. Provide formal forum for controversial views
6. Take responsibility for failure
How many times have you been in a meeting with employees
and supervisors
and a human resource manager wants input into how everyone
feels about
the organization and no one says anything? Then everyone nods
their

heads that the current environment is “good” even though it
might not
be? This is a simplified example of Abilene’s Paradox; team
members
don’t offer dissenting views because they want to avoid conflict
with
other members. As a team leader or participant it is important
that you
welcome different perspectives and genuinely seek individual
contribution.
*Decision Making Pitfall 4: Group Polarization*
Group polarization is a decision-making pitfall that occurs
because of a
tendency for group discussion to intensify group opinion, which
produces
a more extreme decision than would have been obtained if
individual team
members where polled separately. This behavior can cause more
risky or
more cautious decision making. Group polarization can be

caused by the
need to be right or liked or conformity pressure.
To avoid Group Polarization, team leaders can:
1. Ensure sharing of information
2. Support individual team member positions
3. Encourage team members to feel confident about their
expertise and
their positions.
Before the demise of Enron, its energy traders were a team of
aggressive, profit-minded individuals. As a team, they made
tremendously
risky bets using Enron funds to arbitrage the energy market and
can be
seen in video footage talking together about what they were
doing and
sharing their individual exploits. As individuals however,
placing such
trades and manipulating power flow to ensure such trades were

successful
would likely not have occurred, but clearly from the results,
among
other things this team experienced Group Polarization.
*Decision Making Pitfall 5: Unethical Decision Making *
Unethical decision-making is a pitfall that can occur among all
people
and organizations. Such decisions have been attributed to
various
reasons including The Rational Man Model what maintains that
people seek
to maximize their self-interests, pluralistic ignorance in which
people
believe bad behavior is acceptable because everyone else is
doing it,
and desensitization such that unethical behavior becomes
perpetuated
because the behavior becomes the norm.

Ways to remedy or prevent unethical decision making include:
1. Accountability for behavior
2. A reward model for ethical behavior
3. Appropriate role models
4. Elimination of conflicts of interest
5. Creation of a culture of integrity
Unethical decision-making is unfortunately seen all too often in
the
financial markets. While examples of Health South, WorldCom,
Merrill
Lynch, Martha Stewart, and of course Enron are excellent
portrayals of
unethical decision-making, sometimes ethical decisions aren’t
as
obvious. As leaders and team managers we have to consider all
aspects of
a situation before making a decision. For example, some would
claim that
it is unethical for Las Vegas casinos to use the tremendous

amounts of
water that they do when there is such a water shortage in the
West. From
the casino’s perspective, the water enhances the Las Vegas
experience
and draws people in to help keep all Nevadans employed. As in
most
ethical situations, there is no absolute right or wrong answer but
it is
our responsibility as leaders and team members to evaluate the
impact of
actions on all stakeholders and then make the most ethical
decision
possible.
Download Transcript

Conclusion
This concludes module 4. You should now have an
understanding of the
information exchange process and how to facilitate effective
team
decision making.
able to:
* Identify the components of a shared knowledge base and
effective
information exchange and learning among team members.
* Apply the model and processes of optimal decision-making
in teams
with an understanding of elements and outcomes of poor
decision making.

Reserved
Module 3: Designing and Integrating the Team
For Your Success
In this module, we will examine the components of building a
team in
terms of designing the task, selecting the people, and then,
managing
their relationships. The role of team leaders or the team itself in
a

self-directed team scenario is not only to plan for the
construction of
teams but also to coach the team through balancing the issues of
task,
people and processes. We will then explore ways to build
cohesion and to
gain the benefits of diversity while understanding the dynamics
that
form the personality of a team.
Your paper on the MBTI Outcomes is due this week. You
should review the
outcomes of your own personality dimensions and those of your
team
members and then discuss how those dimensions are affecting
project
progress, and whether there are any changes you might want to
make based
on what you have learned. You should also consider what
changes you
could make in your own interactions and behaviors to increase
the
effectiveness of your team in its project mission.

*Learning Outcomes*
1. Explore the factors and considerations in building teams for
effective teamwork.
2. Identify challenges of diversity and components to building
team
cohesion.
3. Comprehend the personality dimensions from the MBTI
assessment.
Building the Team
Team problems can be better understood by examining internal
dynamics of
the team, keeping in mind that it is more important to have a
well-designed team than a team with a good leader. There are

three key
aspects to consider when building teams:
1. Task
2. People
3. Processes
The Task: What Work Needs to Be Done?
Teams that plan or develop performance strategies usually
perform better
if they preplan and plan between periods of task completion.
Planning
should consider:
1. Is the goal clearly defined?
2. How much authority does the team have to manage its own
work?
3. What is the focus of work the team will do?

4. What is the degree of task interdependence among team
members?
5. Is there a correct solution that can be readily demonstrated
and
communicated to members?
6. Are team members’ interests perfectly aligned (cooperative),
opposing (competitive), or mixed in nature?
7. How big should the team be?
8. What are the time constraints, and do they present capacity
and
capability problems?
For example, if your team was given the task of initiating the
next
company global training conference, there would be many
factors that
would need to be considered before anyone did anything to even
book the
training rooms. For such a task, you would need to consider the
scope of
the task: will the team be responsible for planning the entire
event or

is it only to find an appropriate conference location, and if just
the
conference location does your team have geographical
restrictions; do
you have an established budget and the authority to reserve the
meeting
space and make any other necessary arrangements; and if you
are planning
the entire conference, do you have enough members to cover all
aspects
of executing the plans.
The People: Who is Ideally Suited to Do the Work?
Team
Teams are about people working together to meet goals and
objectives.
Therefore, the human aspect of team design is a significant and
complex

factor that has many considerations including:
1. Skill sets of members
* Technical or functional expertise
* Task-management skills
* Interpersonal skills
2. How skills will be assessed
* Self-report
* Past accomplishments
* 360-degree reports
3. What motivates members to select certain teams
4. Diversity
* Advantages of diversity
* Challenges of diversity
* How to create diverse teams
* Managing diversity
Determining team design is key to effective teamwork and
performance.

Once the Task is fully defined, team design would follow. For
example,
if the team goal is to code the next generation of software, the
team
should be comprised of engineers who can strategically and
effectively
work together since they understand the same vocabulary
(communication),
have a basic understanding of how engineers in generally work
(norms),
and they have or understand differences in individual
knowledge and
skills. If, however, the team goal is to determine the design of
the
next generation of software, the team should be comprised of
sales and
marketing representatives to convey what the customer is
looking for,
finance personnel to understand the costs for the various needs,
engineers to understand and convey what is needed to be
actually
developed, and human resources representatives to understand
the

specifics of what kind of additional personnel are needed to
meet the goals.
*Processes: How to Work Together?*
Beyond team design and member selection is the question of
how teams
actually work together and achieve their goals through team
norms and
team processes. Factors for effective teamwork include
consideration of:
1. Team structure
2. Team norms
3. Behavioral integration
4. Prescriptive Model of Necessary Conditions for Effective
Teamwork.
This Model incorporates:
* A clear and elevating goal
* A results-driven structure

* Competent team members (including technical as well as
personal
competency)
* Unified commitment
* Collaborative climate
* Standards of excellence
* External support and recognition
* Principled leadership
Once the people are assembled, the team needs to determine
how it will
actually meet its goals and accomplish its Task. As covered in
the
supplemental readings, it is helpful if team members
collectively agree
on how and when they will communicate and work and through
what tools,
role assignments such as who will be the direct contact for the
accounting department or another department that will be
affected by the
team’s work but not a part of the team, and what the team

expectations
will be for deliverables and the established procedures for
notification
of deliverables or any problems with fulfilling commitments.
Are We A Team?
Although the design and construction of a team is an important
step, it
is also important to consider the human variables involved in a
group of
people actually feeling like part of a team. These variables
include:
1. /Group entitativity/, meaning to what degree people perceive
themselves to be a team

2. /Group attachment/ type between relational and collective
attachments
3. /Common identity/ and common bonds between team
members and to the
group
4. /Group-serving attributions/ to the degree that individuals
consider
team interests over self-interest
5. /Group-serving judgments/ to the degree that a team
attributes good
performance to internal team factors and bad performance to
external
factors.
*Group Potency and Collective Efficacy *
Team
The collective belief of group members that the group can be
effective

paired with an individual’s belief that a team can perform
successfully,
allows groups to see themselves as powerful and able to effect
change.
This group potency outcome has a powerful ability to create
successful
and effective teams.
Groups also have moods and emotions that affect teamwork and
team
success. Group emotion serves an important role in promoting
group
survival, and consideration should be given to how emotions get
shared
in groups and the role that leaders have in working with
emotions for
effective teamwork.
The emotional factors of teams have a significant impact on
team
function and productivity. For example, if we are on a
basketball team
that is playing at our home court, and if we know that our

friends and
family are present cheering us on, we’re going to try harder to
win and
we will work with our teammates to do so. As the cheers from
the home
stands get louder and the chants about how great we are can be
heard as
we rest on the bench, we feel closer to our team members and
put aside
any individual issues that we may have with one another to play
the best
game we know we can with each other. We may have lost last
week to the
same team, but right now our mood is positive and we feel
powerful and
confident in fulfilling our mission and winning the game.
Group Cohesion
Group cohesion can be considered a special type of group
emotion, and it

is a critical element in creating team member bonds. Cohesion
can be
attributed to team behaviors and performance and is an
important factor in:
1. Helping the team build identity
2. Making it easy for the team to be close together
3. Focusing on similarities among team members
4. Putting a positive spin on the team’s performance
5. Challenging the team
Trust is another component of team cohesion and performance
and can be
established in various ways including:
1. Faith-based trust
2. Incentive-based or calculated trust
3. Trust based on familiarity
4. Trust based on similarity
5. Trust based on social networks

6. Implicit trust
7. Psychological safety in teams
Team Development and Socialization
Teams are dynamic and constantly being reconfigured.
Understanding how
team dynamics develop and change over time and how they
affect
individual team members will provide insight into working with
and in
teams. Group socialization is a key factor in facilitating
effectiveness of members who move in and out of teams. A
model for group
socialization includes:
* Evaluation

* Commitment
* Role transition
* Best practices for a favorable match between an individual
and a team
Turnover and reorganizations can be disruptive to group
performance.
However, newcomer innovation, while disruptive, can create a
positive
effect of turnover. Three factors determine the extent to which
newcomers can introduce change:
* Their commitment to the team
* Their belief that they can develop good ideas for solving
team problems
* Their belief that they will be rewarded
As discussed earlier, team emotion impacts team performance.
Becoming
part of a team and learning to work with each other is not only
about

meshing skills and knowledge but also about how team members
feel about
each other and themselves. For example, often team members
that are
insecure about their skills or ability to contribute may have
negative
emotions and be defensive about suggestions for enhancing their
work
product. Conversely, a new team member added to a team with
specific
skills that the team needs to progress will likely feel valuable
and
positive because they feel welcome and are confident that they
can
deliver what the team needs.
Time in Teams
Team

The balance of time spent on group work versus individual work
is an
important consideration to effective teamwork and performance.
How
groups think about time affects use of time and ultimately team
performance. There are several theories on how time is viewed
in groups:
* Clock time
* Developmental or growth patterns
* Performance cycles or episodes
Therefore, time is a teamwork factor that can create harmony or
discord
within the team and facilitate either optimal productivity or
failure to
complete tasks. For example, if the team considers time by
Clock time,
it would have norms of established date deadlines for
deliverables.
However, if it was a team of instructors it would consider time
by

performance cycles, such that it might determine deadlines for
deliverables based on academic semesters. Time for teams then
various on
established norms predicated on industry, team objectives, and
job type.
*Role Negotiation in Teams*
Teams formally or informally assign roles to team members.
Teams
typically have a role of a leader, task-management roles, and
people-management roles.
The process of role negotiation usually occurs with team
members
engaging in actions designed to take on a role which is either
then
accepted or rejected by other members of the team. This
negotiation may
take the form of status competition within the team, as members
work to

acquire the authority and legitimacy to be the taskmaster.
We will cover more on team roles in this course but this
foundational
information highlights yet another factor for consideration in
team
development. In teams, roles can be formally or informally
assigned, and
depending on the length of time that a team is assembled, the
roles may
formally or informally change. This movement and management
of team
roles is a leadership challenge in which individual traits and
motivations should be considered and monitored as members fill
and
change roles depending on the informality or formality of the
team
structure.

Conclusion
This concludes module 3. You should now have an
understanding of the
planning considerations needed for team construction and
maintenance.
able to:
* Identify the factors and considerations in building teams for
effective teamwork.
* Identify challenges of diversity.
* Explain how team roles, personality, moods, and emotions
affect
individual and team behavior, performance, and cohesion.
* Comprehend the personality dimensions from the MBTI
assessment.
Additionally, your reading and work on the MBTI outcomes
should have

provided insights into your own role and those of your project
team
members. Integration of the information with the text book
readings, and
your own team experiences should facilitate an enhanced
perspective on
the importance of team planning and design.
References
managers /(5th
Upper
(3rd ed.).

System University
Reserved
Module 2: Team Performance and Productivity
For Your Success

In this module, we will study and discuss the key components of
enhancing team performance beginning with team creation,
moving through
team development and appraisals, and ending with
compensation. The work
on this module should not only cause you to reflect on your past
team
experiences but provide you with tools for building a strong
foundation
for your next team.
For your team project, this week you should take the MBTI
Assessment.
This Assessment will give you insight on your own personality
dimensions, and those of your team members. This information
exchange
will give you the opportunity to understand how member
personalities are
affecting the team project, and you may want to re-organize
your team
and team members as necessary based on the information.

*Learning Outcomes*
1. Identify the key skills for effective teamwork and
management of teams.
2. Comprehend the components and considerations of
performance-reward
systems.
3. Explore the basic principles of the MBTI and experience
taking the
assessment.
Integrated Model of Successful Team Performance
Team
Successful team performance is a multidimensional concept. An

integrated
model of teamwork is based on the context of the team and how
it affects
the team’s ability to perform, motivate, and coordinate people,
ultimately to determine a team’s performance.
The team context includes the larger social and organizational
setting
within which a team does its work, design of a team in terms of
internal
functioning, and culture of a team. To increase the likelihood
that a
team’s work will be successful, attention should be paid to:
1. Organizational context. Consider the basic structure of the
organization, the information system, the education system,
and the
reward system.
2. Team design. Consider the leadership style within the team,
functional roles, communication patterns, composition of the
team,

and training of members.
3. Team culture based on prescriptive or proscriptive norms.
For example, if you have a work team that is to address whether
or not
your organizational compensation structure is competitive, you
would
have to consider organizational elements such as how large of a
team you
would need to gather information on your industry, on the
position, your
geographic reach; you would have to consider team design
issues such as
whether or not you would incorporate team members for other
geographical
regions, how you would communicate with team members, and
how you would
ensure that team members are fully exchanging information; and
you would
have to consider individual and team norms such as
expectations for
timely deliverables, expectations for participation on conference
calls,

and expectations on the quality, quantity, and format of
information in
the deliverables.
Effective Teams
1. /Knowledge, skill, and ability of each team member/. Team
member
skill such as technical, interpersonal, decision making,
problem
solving should be identified. Consideration should also be
given to
member learning curves and expertise, social facilitation
versus
social inhibition, the state of flow, and stress vs. challenge
levels.
2. /Motivation and effort/. Team members should be aware of
member
motivational gains, social loafing, and free riding, and the
reasons
behind the circumstances, and the ways in which negative
effects can

be overcome.
3. /Coordination strategies/. Skills, efforts, and actions of
members
should be coordinated when executing strategy. For effective
coordination, teams should be less than 10 members and a
clear
agenda of where the team is going and how it will meet its
objectives.
As depicted in Exhbit 2-3
<http://csuglobal.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/xid-13687_2>
the Social
Loafing Effect is dependent on the number of people working.
As that
number increases the amount of individual effort decreases so
that one
person working alone provides the highest level of effort while
large
groups have the lowest level of individual effort being
extended.

Team Performance
The effectiveness of teams can be evaluated through its
productivity,
its cohesion, the ability of members to learn, and the
applicability of
the team’s performance to the overall organization.
Furthermore, actual
productivity should consider the inputs of potential productivity
based
on task demands, resource availability and usage, and synergy
of the
team members, less the threats faced by the team.
It is clear at this point that there are so many varied and
multiple
dimensions of team performance. It is often amazing that teams
are able
to synthesize all that they need to and be productive at the same
time.
It is this concept that makes leadership and management so
crucial in

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