Does it need a gifted player, veteran leadership, a talented coach, or a savvy owner? Teams, regardless of the sport, cannot rely on only one of these elements to be successful. Many people, from the players who play the game, the trainers that work with them, to the coaches that strategize with them, need to play complimentary and supportive roles to sustain success. Two talented players that fail to work together, a coach that fails to motivate a team, or even an owner that does not show respect for the efforts of the member of his organization may accomplish only flashes of success. The metaphor of building a championship team often enters the business world, where managers find themselves with a similar challenge. They must learn how to build a team of employees that work well together, and who have the expertise and temperament to sustain success. This week, you will explore how members of a team can develop characteristics and behaviors that support collaboration. You will also develop a vision for teamwork and teambuilding for a collaborative work environment. Learning Objectives Students will: Evaluate team-member characteristics/behaviors that support a collaborative team environment Evaluate individual skills critical to effective collaboration Develop a Team Charter to promote teamwork and teambuilding Photo Credit: [George Doyle]/[Stockbyte]/Getty Images Learning Resources Required Readings Colquitt, J., Lepine, J., & Wesson, M. (2013). Organizational behavior: Improving performance and commitment in the workplace (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Chapter 12, Teams: Processes and Communication (pp. 380415) Chapter 12 focuses on the different processes involved in taskwork and teamwork. It reviews the importance of these processes in the development of successful teams and explores the factors that influence communication processes. Casse, P., & Banahan, E. (2011, September). 21st century team skills. Training Journal, 1116. In this article, Casse and Banahan evaluate and critique current models for developing teams. Then, the authors discuss what they consider to be the essential key skills that individuals need to be success team members in the 21st century. Coutu, D., & Beschloss, M. (2009). Why teams DONT work. Harvard Business Review, 87(5), 98105. Retrieved from https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/pl/71750113/71750119/e1978c426e265fcbe03257ef1f443d45 Teams are not always as effective as organizations want them to be. This article examines several factors that teams need in order to be effective, and lists the reasons why so many teams fail to fulfill their potential. Daniel, L. J., & Davis, C. R. (2009). What makes high-performance teams excel? Research Technology Management, 52(4), 4045. In this case study, the authors discuss the techniques IBM uses to develop high-performing teams. Flanagan, T., & Runde, C. (2010). Conflict-competent teams. Sales & Service Excellence, 10(9), 7. In this brief article, Flanagan and Runde discuss why conflict is an essential and unavoidable aspect for good teams. They discuss how managers need to create the right climate for teams to succeed, how to help teams constructively engage in conflict, how to establish appropriate team norms, and how to ensure the teams stay on track. Gallo, A. (2012, February). How to work with someone you hate. Finweek, 3940. Unfortunately, you may not always enjoy the company of those you work with. In this article, Gallo presents the tactics and rules you should use when you have to work with a colleague you may not like. Gratton, L., & Erickson, T. J. (2007). Eight ways to build collaborative teams. Harvard Business Review, 85(11) 100109. Retrieved from https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/pl/71750113/71750143/482b170c59053dafb82b449a4aa3a12b Complex projects often require the collaboration of teams of experts. However, experts do not always know how to collaborate on teams. In this article, Gratton and Erickson describe eight success factors that managers and organization can use to help build successful and collaborative teams. Lencioni, P. M. (2003). The trouble with teamwork. Leader to Leader, 2003(29), 3540. Patrick Lencioni is a renowned author and expert on building teams and teamwork. In this article, he shares why being on a team is not a trivial task and what team members should be prepared to do make the team work. Lencioni, P. (2009). Teamwork, leadership and suffering. Focus: Teams, 6(1), 8. In this article, Lencioni argues that when managers build a compelling vision for their employees to work together, their teams are better equipped to avoid infighting, turf wars, and office politics. Lencioni, P. (2006). Silos, politics, turf wars. Leadership Excellence, 23(2), 34. This article examines feedback techniques that can be effective for Generation Y (people born between 1977 and 1997).The authors share some characteristics of this group that are different from other age cohorts and the types of mentoring they find helpful. Smith, G., & Yates, P. (2012). The benefits of self-reflection. Training Journal, 4951. In this article, Smith and Yates discuss how to facilitate and guide the development of soft skills so that employees can work effectively on their teams. Weiss, J., & Hughes, J. (2005). Want collaboration? Acceptand actively manageconflict. Harvard Business Review, 83(3), 93101. Retrieved from https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/pl/71750113/71750147/a74b8dbd19480c2995a7af34478389d9 In this article Weiss and Hughes provide six strategies that organizations can use to actively manage conflict to promote cross-organizational collaboration. Byrd, J. T., & Luthy, M. R. (2010). Improving group dynamics: Creating a team charter. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 14(1), 1326. Byrd and Luthy provide a rational and a process for developing a team charter. They also include suggested topics a team charter should cover. McComb, S., Schroeder, A., Kennedy, D., & Vozdolska, R. (2012). The five Ws of team communication. Industrial Management, 54(5), 1013. In this article, the authors discuss how to use communication technologies effectively, to whom to assign responsibilities for communicating, what information needs to be communicated, where to communicate this information, as well as when to do it. Optional Resources Lencioni, P. (2008). Team dysfunction. Sales & Service Excellence, 8(4), 6. Wellington, P., & Foster, N. (2009). 21st century teamwork. Engineering & Technology, 4(18), 7275. HSM Global. (Producer). (2013). Angela Ahrendts: A culture built for success [Video file]. Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 3 minutes. Angela Ahrendts is the CEO of the British luxury fashion house, Burberry. In this video, she talks about how to build a culture of teamwork and collaboration. Accessible player HSM Global. (Producer). (2013). Claudio Fernndez-Aroz: Four factors for career success [Video file]. Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 6 minutes. Claudio Fernndez-Aroz is a renowned expert on hiring and promoting executives. In this video, he discusses what the most important characteristics of a job candidate are. Accessible player HSM Global. (Producer). (2013). Roger Martin: Ban the phrase prove it! [Video file]. Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 2 minutes. Roger Martin is Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. In this video, he discusses how organizations and managers can unleash the talent of their employees. Discussion: Shared Practice: Forming a Team and Selecting the Members Many organizations rely on the belief that teams automatically add value by being more creative and productive than the aggregated efforts of individuals. However, J. Richard Hackman asserts that leaders cannot always depend on teams to magically come together, work well together, and perform above and beyond the aggregate efforts of individuals. Instead, Hackman argues teams more frequently underperform than excel. This occurs when leadership does not clearly define the team in terms of membership, the team does not have a clear purpose for being together, unstructured in terms of tasks and norms, or reward structure in place does not facilitate teamwork (Coutu, 2009). Thus, for teams to be successful, managers have to build teams conscientiously and deliberately. For this Shared Practice, place yourself in the role of the manager who has to assemble a team to work on an important project. Managers need to carefully consider the need and types of resources for the team, the characteristics of the team members and the behaviors that lead to productive teams. With these thoughts in mind: Post a response based on your own experience, observations, and this weeks content that addresses the following: Describe three characteristics/behaviors of individual team members that you think are most important for establishing a collaborative team environment. Explain why you selected these characteristics/behaviors, how they contributes to a functioning team, and provide an example of each, based on your experience or your readings this week. Describe three characteristics/behaviors of individual team members that you think are most likely to lead to team dysfunction or lack of collaboration. Explain why you selected these characteristics/behaviors and provide an example of each based on your experience or your readings this week. Include suggestions on how to mitigate or manage the impact of these characteristics/behaviors on the functioning of the team. As a manager, explain what you would do specifically to create an environment in which teams are more likely to be productive and successful. Include steps you would take, as a manager, to monitor how well the team is functioning and how your strategies are impacting the team productivity and success?
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