The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Essay Example

‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team’ From the list of attributes of effective teams listed on page 493 of your text, who or what is most responsible for the Decision Tech’s ineffectiveness. Give specific examples to support your conclusions. According to the list of things attributed to effective teamwork operation, some of the things that mostly contributed to ineffectiveness in the Decision Tech Company include: 1. ‘Absence of Trust”; the unwillingness of the members of the company to stay vulnerable with the operation of the company as a group was the main cause of this ineffectiveness. Both the workers and the management were expected to have enough trust on each other and be free to admit and accept their mistakes. In Decision Tech case, Kathryn addressed Mikey directly when she realized he was mainly concerned with his own reputation and not the interest of the whole team as a company. 2. ‘Fear of Conflict’; conflicts in any organization should be taken positively as constructive conflicts are important in helping teams to work to solve their pending problems, have their things done and settle for the best solution possible to their pending issues. Although most of the members were against the introduction of Kathryn in the management of the company and that resulted to conflicts among the employees. This was a good move as her introduction solved the company situation with all the employees seeing the sense of working together as a team. If there is lack of trust among members of any group, then there will be no room for constructive conflict. 3. Lack of Commitment’; in order for team members to have full commitment to the decisions they make, they need to have the assurance that their opinions can be heard and appreciated. If this is not the case, then some members will neither be committed nor care in any way about the prosperity of the company. 4. ‘A voidance of Accountability’; each member has to be accountable for setting and meeting the high standards. Some members feel that they are equal with the rest of their colleagues thus feel that it is not right for them to confront them on what they are not supposed to do. This responsibility should not be left just to the leader to hold the members accountable but give room even for the rest of the members to correct themselves. Mikey was selfish in his role at the company yet no other member was in a position to correct him, this led to him being expelled from the team by Kathryn. 5. ‘Inattention to Results’; this results is with regards to the outcome of the overall team. The main cause of this ineffectiveness results is individual status desires, personal achievement status and personal ego which are put before the team’s goals. This was evident in Decision Tech when the company was performing poorly and Kathryn was the most likely candidate to take over. Some of the executive members like Nick felt they were best placed than her putting their goals and ego before the company. Review the information on the establishment of team “Norms” during the forming and norming stages of team development in your text on pages 498 -501. What behavioral norms had been established by the executive team at Decision Tech before Kathryn took over? How did these norms help or hurt the company’s performance? Several norms practiced by the executive team contributed to the situation in which Decision Tech was in before Kathryn took charge. These were the main contributors to the poor performance of the company. At some point, backstabbing was the order of the day among the executives of the company. The executive lacked the sense of camaraderie or unity thus leading to a level of commitment that was muted. Any new idea meant to save the company’s situation used to take too long to be consequential. The company’s involvement in politics was a major set back as the company at that time had so much at stake to take care of and its involvement in political matters was a major set back in dealing with its problems. Kathryn says that she can’t watch as the company is being wasted away with politics. All over the valley, Decision Tech had the reputation of being among the most unpleasant and political places one can work at. Kathryn insisted that the board could not tolerate this any longer. This scared away most of the workers who were willing to join the company. This made the company remain dysfunctional owing to the crisis in which it was in. This was the main issue that Kathryn was out to address when she took over as it was the main setback to the company. She stated that her mission was to have everyone adopt the common set measurements and goals and apply them collectively to make daily basis decisions. She had to remind each team member that they were all responsible for customer service, product development and finance. Kathryn also identified the executive team of the company as having been careless regarding their involvement in politics. She justified her allegation by stating that in such an environment, the members based their actions and words on other people’s reactions and not on what they really thought. Carlos also contributed to the issue of teamwork and the company’s situation by telling Mikey that his department cannot remain stable if the company is falling and now that the company was falling, then they were all falling leaving them with no way of justifying individual department performances. Did the Decision Tech Team experience the four stages of team development. If yes, discuss the effectiveness of Kathryn’s approach to helping the team move through each stage. Give specific examples from the novel. To revive the situation of the company, Kathryn made the initiative of taking the team through the four stages that were meant to help in team development. Her approach was mainly based on teamwork and effective management. In doing so, she had the measures and goals of the company all unified and adopted by every member of the company and ensured that they were all based on making the day-to-day decisions of the company. Kathryn’s approach ensured that the views of every member of the team had the right to have his or her views and used this opportunity to criticize the executive team for its involvement in politics. This involvement had tarnished the image and operations of the company. She created the opportunity for every member to be able to communicate what they felt and also air their concerns. This is witnessed when she asked Mikey to leave, as she had to sacrifice him for the sake of the rest of the team members. Though seasonal, she was a firm and authoritative leader thus she could not put up with any behaviors which threatened to undermine the team. She believed that unless the rest of the team worked together, chances were that she would lose even those members that were ready to accomplish the company’s goals together by working hard. The team work approach solved most of the setbacks the company was facing and the only remaining challenge was the company’s set accountability in future. The greatest work facing the team was to hold each member accountable for the goals of the team and the results that they desired. She preached to them that teamwork involved the practicing of the set of principles not just once but over a long period of time. By doing this, the members of the team will be better placed to overcome the natural tendencies that were responsible for making commitment, trust, accountability and focus elusive. Which of the seven tools for developing credibility listed on pages 507- 508 of your text do you feel Kathryn used most effectively? Give brief examples to support you answer Among the tools used in developing credibility, Kathryn focused on teamwork, leadership and equal rights to views. By stating how elusive teamwork can be to any organization, she warned the members that because teams were made up of imperfect human beings, they are likely to be inherently dysfunctional. Though there were high chances of teamwork being doomed in the company, she gave hopes to the members by encouraging them on the possibility of building a strong team that was remarkably simple. She encouraged them to master some behaviors that were initially theoretically uncomplicated but remained difficult to implement. For the members to succeed, they had to overcome all the behavioral tendencies that corrupted the teams leading to dysfunctional politics. This was best illustrated by the five dysfunctions that she illustrated using a pyramid and came up with possible solutions out of them. Teamwork is not enough as it requires effective leadership to see it through. Kathryn was the best example in justifying the above statement. She was the best leader the Decision Tech could have. The performance of the leaders would ensure that the members remain as a team and meet the company’s set goals. Such leadership will also give room for all members to share their views and concerns about any issue affecting the team. Other than Kathryn, pick three different characters from the Decision Tech staff that exhibit one of each of the following 3 roles and give a brief example for each: Among the staff at Decision Tech, the one who took charge of playing a facilitating role was Carlos. He hardly spoke and whenever he did he had something constructive and important to share. He was seen to work for very long hours for the sake of the company and at no time did he complain remaining the most trustworthy and low maintenance staff in the team. Even Kathryn had no worries about his work as he always facilitated all the matters that passed his desk. Nick was the member of staff that assumed a role of building relationships among other members. Though frustrated with the position of the company, he never complained and still gave in his best to build relationships. This did not matter if the relationships were shallow ones even to his colleagues who happen to be inferior to him. He felt that he was the most qualified to be the company’s CEO but did not fall out with those who came his way. Mikey was the blocking character among the team members. As the rest of the members were working hard to come up with a strong team, Mikey put his advertizing department before other departments. Kathryn even confronted him with a warning that he was not making necessary changes that were required for him to be an effective team member. He was only concerned about his own contribution and reputation more than the team’s effectiveness thus blocking the way forward of the team. He was coming in the way of the team coming together and operating as a unit as that was the agreed way forward. Kathryn had no option but force him out of the team to ensure unity. Work cited Lencioni Patrick. The Five Dysfunctions of Team. California: Jossey-Bass, 2002. Print Read More