Monica Hutchins LDR-601 Dr. M. Parsons

“Teams are organizational groups composed of members who are interdependent, who share common goals, and who must coordinate their activities to accomplish these goals” (p. 207). Here are a few examples… Project management teams, work units, quality teams, improvement teams, task forces.

Advantages  Greater productivity  Effective use of resources  Better decisions & problem solving  Greater innovation & creativity  Networking  Providing feedback  Sharing information Disadvantages  Ineffective team leadership  Poor communication  Members who do not work well together.  Difficulty in understanding the leaders role.  Members lack understanding of the team’s vision.

 Teams must have very clear goals.  Teams must find the best structure for accomplishing their goals.  Groups should be composed of the right number and mix of members.  Teams are carefully designed and developed.  Members must work collaboratively.  Effective group norms should be established and followed.

 Goal Focusing (clarifying, gaining agreement)  Structuring for results (planning, visioning, organizing, clarifying roles, delegating)  Facilitating decision making (informing, controlling, coordinating, mediating, synthesizing)  Training team members in task skills (educating, developing)  Maintaining standards of excellence (assessing team and individual performance, confront inadequate performance)

Leaders will need to work to improve team relationships.  Coaching team members in interpersonal skills.  Collaborating (involving)  Managing conflict  Building commitment  Satisfying individual members needs (trust, support, advocate)  Modeling ethical and principal practices.

Leaders need to improve team effectiveness.  Networking and forming alliances.  Advocating and representing team to environment.  Securing necessary resources, support, team recognition.  Assessing environmental indicators (surveys, evaluations, performance). If after monitoring the environment the leader learns the superiors and others in an organization are unaware of the team’s successes…What can be done???

 Leadership models have yet to be fully supported or tested.  Models are not practical and doesn’t provide easy answers for difficult leader decisions.  Fails to provide much guidance for handling everyday interactions and complications of team management.  More focus required on how to teach and provide skill development in areas of diagnosis and action taking.

 Provides answers to what constitutes excellent teams.  Provides a cognitive guide that assists leaders in designing and maintaining effective teams.  Recognizes the changing role of leaders and followers in organizations.  Can be used as a tool in group leader selection.

Team leadership is complex, there are no simple recipes for team success. That’s all I have….Any Questions??? Thanks!!!