Attributes of the Effective Team Missing from the Team - Essay Example

Management 4330 Attributes of effective team missing from the team One of the attributes of effective teams is trust since the team must be able to belief each other and demonstrates high levels of integrity (Whetten and Cameron 493). Kathryn soon realises that the executives cannot work together simply because they do not trust each other. In this case, she decides to first build on the team trust before engaging in business issues. Absence of trust implies that the team is unwilling to sacrifice their egos and open to others about their mistakes and weaknesses. The acceptance of differences among the group is the basis for trust in a team. Kathryn eventually leads the team to acceptance of their difference and corrections or criticisms from their individuals. In fact, the final retreat or meeting reveals a team that openly corrects one another. They follow her decision to correct other egocentric employees like Mikey, who could not take criticism from her peers (Lencioni 64). Therefore, Kathryn used trustworthiness as a tool to do away with mistrust problems like backstabbing and lack of openness. Effective teams nurture others and encourage team work and the attribute was missing in the previous leadership at Decision Tech. The underlying assumption is that teams that encourage group work outperform than individuals working alone. The attribute was previously missing in Decision since the members had bad relationships and poor communication. All problems within the company are as a result of the team’s inability to communicate clearly. Kathryn inherited a team where individuals are more self-centered and put their ego before anything in the company. For instance, Mikey, the head of marketing, has trouble communicating what she feels about others in the company (Lencioni 20). Others like Jan, with her experience in finance management, looks down on others and also treat company money like hers. When firing the head of marketing, Kathryn confirms that the manner in which the marketing head behaves affects the morale of the team. The new CEO also complains that Mikey does not consider how her behavior might affect others. The previous team was so self-centered that the members could not event confront each other in meetings. What behavioral norms had been established by the executive team at Decision Tech before Kathryn took over? At the group formation stage, the team always develops some norms where some are good while others are bad (Whetten and Cameron 498). At Decision Tech, Kathryn inherited a dysfunctional group with unique behavioral norms. One of the behavioral norms in the previous team was is the illusion of invulnerability. The team believed did past success and was sure that it would take them to the next level of success. However, when the new CEO asks the group to mention their strengths and weaknesses, few are willing to share. The point is that invulnerability entails not worrying about individual strengths and weaknesses can affect an organization. Kathryn in explaining the importance of vulnerability shares with the team some of her misgivings. The previous team had a misguided perception that everything would work as usual without any problems. However, the team was not worrying about what the strengths or misgivings were implying for the company. All the team members some personality traits that made them believe that they were invulnerable and would record the same level success over and over. Another behavioral norm eminent in the previous team is shared stereotypes. When Kathryn assumed duties as the new CEO, the whole team had an informed opinion about her and questioned her fitness for the job. In this case, shared stereotypes made the discredit any information coming from the new CEO. For instance, Martin as the head technology mentioned that the new CEO was referring to irrelevant issues in her first meeting with the group. Other executives like Martin and Jeff lacks respect for Kathryn as the executive leader. Being stereotypic also breeds a team that lacks respect. The head of technology, Martin, for instance, would participate less in the discussions and was always busy with the laptop during the meetings but would throw in sarcastic comments frequently (Lencioni 25) All the two behavioral norms influenced the performance of the organization since the team put their pride first before the mission and vision of the company. Invulnerability implies that the team focuses less on its fears or possible risks and believes that it will definitely achieve success. However, an effective is the one that weighs between its strengths and weaknesses and looks for alternative methods of handling possible threats. Besides, the previous team was stereotypic and had had the dilution that Kathryn would not make it as the new CEO (Whetten and Cameron 499). A stereotypic team does not have faith in their leadership which translates to poor performance. Did the Decision Tech Team experience going through all four stages of team development? All stages of team development are present in the Decision Tech team. To begin with, Kathryn inherits a dysfunctional group and starts to build it from the scratch. At the forming stage, the leader introduces new ways of doing things in the group and eventually, the group has different responses to the changes (Whetten and Cameron 498). Firstly, the leader must always receive resistance from the team who criticizes her decisions and actions. To help the team, Kathryn decided first to build a team work by using the formality approach where the team gets to know each other (Lencioni 56). She successfully created a team spirit from a broken group of the previous regime. Teamwork and team spirit relieve tension in the group thus rallying them for a common purpose. Kathryn effectively implemented the forming stage by first lecturing about trust. Eventually, she was able to build trust and steered the team to the next stage of development; storming. In the storming stage, the team has least freedom to make decisions though able to confront the leader for clarity (Whetten and Cameron 501). In the novel, Kathryn is a leader with her agenda and would not encourage decisions from the team. When for instance the team members made suggestions on topical discussions, the new CEO down played them and would stick to her own topics. However, her first meetings and retreats show how the CEO is flexible enough to allow criticism from the group (Lencioni 54). Martin is sarcastic about the agenda behind the executive retreats while others show little respect but Kathryn shows little concern for such challenges. At the forming stage, the leader has the right to do away with elements that may hinder the development of the team. . Eventually, Kathryn explains the rationale for firing employees like Mikey and the team confers with the idea since it was in the best interest for the company and the team’s performance. After settling on the team to work with, Kathryn moved the team to the norming stage where she defined the norms to govern operations in the company. She instilled responsibility and accountability in the team, and the group accepted their new roles (Lencioni 50). She also allowed the team to make big decisions like when the board was considering selling the company to their main competitor. Nonetheless, she allows small decisions to end at the individual levels like proposing that other executives should not report directly to her. Moreover, the approach she uses in the norming stage has created a new energy in the team that they consider follow-up meetings. Finally, Kathryn ensured that the team performs effectively by instilling a performance-based reward system. She ensured that promotions are in accordance to individual performances and everyone in the organization finally accepts her as their leader. Which of the seven tools for developing team leader credibility listed on pages 507- 509 of your text do you feel Kathryn used most effectively? Give brief examples to One of the tools that Kathryn uses to change the situation at Decision Tech is demonstrating integrity (Whetten and Cameron 508). She soon realizes that the executives cannot work together simply because they do not trust each other. In this case, she decides to first build on the team that values integrity and trust. Absence of integrity implies that the team is unwilling to sacrifice and open up about certain issues. However, a team is only able to demonstrate integrity when individuals within the group accept their differences. Integrity in this case refers to an individual’s ability to behave according to his or her values. Kathryn is a leader of integrity who would do anything to keep the team going. She sets a good example by firing the marketing head without considering what the board and other employees think about the issue. A leader of integrity does what he or she promises and encourages the team to trust one another. Another tool that Kathryn uses in building the team is creation of positive energy (Whetten and Cameron 508). At first, most employees had their own reservations about working in the organization and considered themselves as expertise. In the end, team spirit died as the team becomes more self-centered. However, being self-centered implies that there is criticism and negative energy in the team. Kathryn realized the importance of positive energy and worked the group towards accepting their differences and encouraging others with their tasks. Creation of positive energy worked well for the new CEO as she soon realized that the group increasingly preferred to stick together and engage in jovial discussions. Creation of positive energy is the reason as to why team eventually become successful and the company recorded improved sales. Kathryn creates positive energy by commending individuals who are performing well in the group. For instance, it is ironical how the sarcastic head of technology, Martin, gives positive remarks about others at the end of the case study. Roles in the organization Task facilitating role: Nick: Chief Operating officer Task facilitating roles fall on individuals with the task of implementing actions in the organization (Whetten and Cameron 515). They get the work done. Kathryn reshuffled the organization and maintained Nick as the chief operating officer. As the in charge, Nick has the duty of making sure that everything runs smoothly in the organization (Lencioni 183). The role requires information seeking, and this explains why Carlos and the new sales officer are reporting directly to Nick. They give him the information he needs to make certain decisions like level of productivity of on the operations and alternative methods of improving performance. Nonetheless, Nick’s good implementation of his task facilitating role explains the god outcomes of the organisation. Relationship building role: Relationship building role rests on the department of human resource management. However, there must be an overall in charge who confronts situations and reports from other departments (Whetten and Cameron 516). Kathryn gives the new task to Jan, who has good experience in handling such matters. The role entails maintaining a good relationship between the management and other employees by confronting issues affecting them. For instance, when Jeff is missing from the staff meeting, Jan is the first person to ask about is whereabouts implies that she is worried about the plight of other employees. In fact, Jan goes ahead and explains the implications of excluding Jeff from the staff meetings (Lencioni 183). Therefore, she is out to ensure that there is a good relationship between the executives and the leadership. Blocking Role: An individual with a blocking role tends to resist and offer negative or sarcastic comments towards certain issues (Whetten and Cameron 516). They are the type who plays blocking roles like dominating the group with excessive talking and too much interruption. At the beginning of the meetings, Martin played the blocking role perfectly even suggesting that Kathryn should address more important issues than trust and team building (Lencioni 54). Martin plays another blocking when Kathryn talks about Green Banana’s offer to buy the company. He asks why the board would leave the decision up to them thus he plays the blocker role perfectly. Work Cited Lencioni, Patrick. The Five dysfunctions of a group: A leadership fable. Sanfransico: Jossey-Bass, 2002. Print. Whetten, A. David and Cameron, S. Kim. (8th edn). Developing Management Skills. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2011. Print. . Read More