Effective Team and Performance Management - Essay Example

? Effective Team and Performance Management Introduction The following is a discussion of personal, interpersonal, and journey experiences within the context of a group or a team where many seminar activities were involved such as, lost on the moon, investigating a serious crime in and around the City Centre of Cambridge, and the egg challenge. The seminar activities discussed in this paper in respect to the team aim at facilitating personal and interpersonal team working as well as building skills. In addition, such activities as discussed in this paper aim at developing personal knowledge and understanding relationships with others in the team. Precisely, this discussion demonstrates personal and interpersonal awareness in addition to skill formation and development. The main reason for describing the personal and interpersonal awareness within a given team is to attempt explaining or creating an understanding of the effective management and performance of such groups. Effective team and performance management are the main epicenters of this discussion. In order to obtain the objective of the discussion, this paper is divided into three main parts excluding the introduction. The parts include reflection, alternative action, and overall learning. Reflection section of the discussion attempts to identify the key issues besides describing each of mentioned issues. In addition, the section provides an analysis of key issues involved while carrying out the activities of the team within the three contexts; investigating crime, lost on the moon, and egg challenge. Alternative action section identifies the recurring/overarching problems within the team whilst conducting its specific activities, avoidance of such problems, and impact of team members in ensuring that activities of team were effectively achieved. Lastly, the overall learning (conclusion) section identifies aspects learnt in the tasks and their relevance to future professional life. Team The team comprising of 6 members, 4 ladies and 2 gentlemen was formed on the basis of persons from different nationalities from Africa and Asia. Three main activities formed part of the seminar activities for purposes of understanding personal and interpersonal characteristics. The activities included lost on the moon, crime investigation in Park near Cambridge City Centre, and the egg flying contest. All these formed the seminar activities, which were aimed at evaluating effective management of teams or groups. Reflection During formation of the team of the four ladies and two gentlemen, I realized that there was so much potential not only in me but also other team members. Though anxious, I found it enjoyable and exciting to engage with people that were like strangers to me. Anxiety is one of the indicators within a person as described by Myers Briggs (Elwyn, Greenhalgh, and Mcfarlance, 2001, p.119). The first step was to introduce each other. In this process, team members were uneasy given the fact that they did not know each other. The idea of introduction to get to know each other was borrowed from Tuckman’s (1965) group forming stage. During the forming stage, Tuckman (1965) identifies that team members are always anxious due to being strangers. Other than problems of introduction, the team within its introduction stage had no clear specific individual roles and responsibilities, chain of command, and hierarchy of authority. What’s more, it is difficult to explicitly define roles and responsibilities of every member during the formation stage (Tuckman, 1965; Landale, 1999, p38). As Goleman (2002, p.253); Irvine et al (2002); and Kilman (1974) identify, there was a possibility of diversity conflict especially following that members of the team came from diverse backgrounds. The second activity within the formation stage involved identification of a team leader. Without a team leader, a group will not be spearheaded to the right direction since no one particular person will be responsible for initiating and directing activities of the group. Selection of a team leader took place through election where all the six members of the team agreed on the same person based on all the skills possessed by that person. Selection of a team leader was an effective activity for purposes of enabling us to find one who was going to provide direction to the team members. Despite the unanimous agreement on one person, there were traces of individual differences within the team. Nonetheless, through Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) of individual differences, every member was aware of such existing differences hence developed positive attitude towards each other. The individual differences amongst the members of the group included action-orientations for innovations, realism, and thoughtful realism. From the list of individual differences in the group, I score more in the idea of being a thoughtful realistic person due to the fact that I am sociable, mild, and sensitive. Moreover, my thoughtful realistic trait enabled me identify that from the perspective of Elwyn, Greenhalg, and Mcfarlane (2001, p. 117), there was a possibility of experiencing dysfunctional group or team through ineffective management considering the fact that members were from different groups hence had divergent traits, personalities, and ideologies. Following Belbin’s (2010) preposition on the various personality traits, I discovered that I was an extrovert, enthusiastic, curious, and communicative. These combinations of personal traits made me a good resource investigator, a position, which the team of crime investigation had given me to handle. Resource investigator was a challenging position though full of learning experiences both from the field as well as different personalities that formed the whole team. Through this position, I was able to identify and exploit opportunities whilst being able to think on my feet and probing others for information. Being a resource investigator made me develop the courage, will, skill, and knowledge of setting up external contacts for purposes of searching for resources outside the group. Being a good communicator both inside and outside the team, it was my duty to duly report to the members on every successful step I had taken in respect to opening up and exploiting resources that are useful in carrying out the necessary investigations. What’s more, Belbin (2010) also confirms that every role must be feasible and practical in order to enhance effectiveness and/or efficiency. From my relaxed personality, strong inquisitive sense, and readiness to see possibilities of new things made me to make the role of resource investigator feasible and practical. Though I feared the role when the members unanimously appointed me as the resource investigator, I later on realized how resourceful the role was in respect to making me understand my personality traits. Despite being a team, there are some individuals who pulled us down especially due to lack of commitment and being pessimistic. Amongst the members of the team, there were some who seemed always to be busy with their family affairs. The claim they gave was that they wanted time to be with their family members given their tender age. In addition, such members complained that their parents were very strict on them especially if they return home late. There were individuals who seemed to be pessimistic about our some of the seminar activities especially in scenarios where different results were obtained. For instance, during the lost on the moon seminar activity every team member had different results specific to him/herself thus creating that anxiety on the correct answer. In addition, such pessimists believed that the lack of adequate resources surrounding the controversies of Michelle’s attack, it was not going to be possible to have all the available resources and get adequate data for purposes of enhancing efficiency and effectiveness. Amazingly, there were lots of choices to be made during the investigation activities as well as different public opinions regarding the crime against Michelle in the park near Cambridge City Centre. With all these choices and opinions, the group had to read a consensus decisions taking into considerations all the members’ opinions. What’s more the leader had to choose from amongst the equal opinions. An appropriate decision had to be reached for purposes of providing required solution to the crime. With self-awareness being a keystone of emotional intelligence as asserted by Goleman (2002, p.253), the team leader was able to accommodate the opinions of every member thereby combining all the opinions to come up with the best solution. Through these actions and activities, I realized that Kilman’s (1974) proposition in Daft and Marcic (2010, p.486) concerning accommodation of behaviors or opinions to avoid team or group conflicts is very effective and efficient. Other than being appointed as the resource investigator during the crime investigation activity, my social orientation, being rather mild and sensitive coupled with strong interpersonal characteristics made the group to have faith and trust in me to lead them as the team worker. The role of the team worker was to prevent interpersonal problems within the group whilst ensuring that every member had effective contribution especially in respect to the various activities of the team. In all these roles of team worker and resource investigator within all the activities and crime investigation activity respectively, I needed strong guiding coalition as described by Kotter (1996, p.7) and Schein (1988) as cited within Burnes (2004, p. 983). Cooperation from members was an essential aspect of seeing into it that the team actually met its aims and objectives. Nonetheless, it was obvious that the team needed to adjust to various changes that were taking place especially within the course of carrying out the specific activities. Putting together the whole team whilst enhancing effectiveness required participative leadership. Likert (1967) affirms that participative leadership revolves around contributions and expressions from members regarding specific issues affecting a certain group. I saw this applied by the team leader within all the seminar activities. For instance, during the lost on the moon when everybody had different results, it took the team leader participative leadership to allow individual members to express their views hence attaining a group result. The same scenario occurred during the crime investigations where apart from the many available choices, there were also numerous public opinions as well as opinions of the members. Through participative leadership, the team leader was able to strike a balance thereby selecting the most appropriate solution whilst taking into considerations all the other proposals. Other than participative leadership, there was need to enhance interpersonal skills amongst the individual members of the team within all the three seminar activities. Smith (1997, p. 111) and Goleman (2002, p.253) assert that interpersonal skills within a given organization or group is essential for purposes of making sure that every member’s views are taken into considerations whilst enhancing team cohesion. Due to the age brackets of members of this group, most of them fear their parents especially in respect to extending while engaging in the seminar activities. Consequently, there was lack of team cohesion as the tasks within the seminar activities seemed to be unfavorable for them. West (2004) confirms that lack of team cohesion may lead to team dysfunction. Encouraging active participation was the only way through which lack of team cohesion could be minimized. Alternative Action There is no doubt that despite the success of the team, there were cases where we experienced low moments amongst the team members. Success within the team was attributed to the clear and effective leadership that existed in the team. As Nothouse (2010, p.256) asserts, lack of poor or clear and effective leadership is likely to cause dysfunction within the activities of the team. During the lost on the moon activity where every individual had his/her own findings, lack of leadership would have resulted into poor concluding and overall analysis. The leader through effective leadership was able to combine all the findings of the members to form a conclusive and final result. Nonetheless, there were some points during the seminar activities that we lost credential leadership thereby causing a lot of problems. Such non-credential leadership led to uncertainty within the team hence causing more troubles as well as forcing members to struggle in finding their way whilst accomplishing the different tasks associated with lost on the moon seminar activity. Therefore, Nothouse (2012, p.256) was right to claim that without proper leadership, a team of group is likely to be misled due to uncertainty and struggle to find the correct path of way for accomplishing required activities. Apart from lack of credential and effective leadership in some cases, the team also had to cope up with problems associated with rules and regulations governing its operations. When the group was formed no one identified the need of developing rules and regulations. The team members only thought of having a leader in addition to making introductions for purposes of knowing each other. Unavailability of rules and regulations governing the group was as big challenge since there were no prescribed codes of conduct or behavior. Katzenbach and Smith (1993) points out that every organization, group, or team must have prescribed code of behavior in a bid to not only enhancing discipline but also effectiveness within the team. For instance, had the group had established rules and regulations it would have been easier to deal with aspects of not attending meetings or being late for the seminar activities as earlier on prescribed by the members of the team during the formation stage. Failure of employing technology fully coupled with the fact that out team leader was not assertive created some few challenges despite having completed most of the seminar activities successfully. Goleman (2002, p.253) assert that every leader of any team or group must have the qualities and willingness of being at the forefront in speaking for and on behalf of the team. Whenever a team misses direction then it is the leader who should speak to bring the team back on track. Lacking assertiveness may be a big problem amongst leaders, which is consequently translated into the various teams. Nevertheless, despite all these problems, the team was able to succeed in most of its seminar activities. Conclusion From the experiences gained in the team whilst accomplishing the objectives of the seminar activities, there is no doubt that I have understood and acquired concepts of self-awareness. Self-awareness is an important skill that individuals should possess in a bid to ensuring that they act accordingly. What’s more, I was able to develop leadership skills, which previously I did not have. The team’s experiences made it easier for me not only to understand but also develop specific leadership qualities, which have seen me this far. I also understood what it means working as a team especially when there is cooperation. In scenarios where there was cooperation as we undertook all the seminar activities, things seemed to be very smooth with little or no challenge. Through these experiences I have realized how team dynamics influence not only individual perceptions but also leadership and individual qualities. I also learnt the idea of participative leadership within various groups or teams. Every individual within a given team must be willing and able to engage in participative leadership where every effort counts towards obtaining specified goals and objectives of the activities prescribed. Emotionally, it is important for maturity of team members in a bid to avoiding some of the challenges experienced in the process of fulfilling the missions and objectives of the seminar activities. Indeed, team experiences assisted me in understanding overall impact of leadership as well as specific skills in enhancing team and promoting management. Team management is an important concept that should be considered adequately without any malice. From the team experiences therefore, it is true that we learnt a lot in respect to effective management and performance of teams or groups whilst enhancing the necessary unity. References Belbin, M. R., 2010, Management teams: Why they succeed or fail. 3rd edition, London: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. 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