What makes high-performance teams excel? Research Technology Management
Order ID 53563633773 Type Essay Writer Level Masters Style APA Sources/References 4 Perfect Number of Pages to Order 5-10 Pages Description/Paper Instructions
What makes high-performance teams excel? Research Technology Management
Part 1 (400 words or more make sure questions are answered)
Post a response based on your own experience, observations, and this week’s 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 contribute 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?
*Article attached for help
Reference
Weiss, J.,& Hughes, J. (2005). Want collaboration? Accept and actively manage-conflict. Harvard Business Review, 83 (3), 93- 101. Retrieved from https.//hbsp. harvard. edu/ tu/cff2e6d5
Part 2 (Each Colleague 250 words or more, answer all questions in instructions)
Read a selection of your colleagues’ posts.
Respond to two or more of your colleagues’ postings in one or more of the following ways:
- Compare what your colleague describes to the teams on which you have served. How would you contrast the characteristics of team members with whom you enjoyed working versus those where you struggled to get along and work effectively? What have you observed about what makes teams function and what managers have done to ensure that they do? What actions have you taken when you have had to work with team members that you did not like or that did not fulfill their responsibilities to the team?
- If you were the manager of the team envisioned by your colleague, how will you monitor the health of the team? What specific things would you do to manage situations where the team is not functioning? How would you structure team evaluations in such a way that individuals have personal accountability for their contributions to a project?
1st Colleague to respond to
In order for a company to be successful, it must have an effective team that makes the company succeed. The three characteristics of individual team members that I think are important for establishing a collaborative team environment would be collaboration spirit, mutual accountability, and team trust. The reason these three characteristics were chosen is that as individuals we must think beyond the norm which is a team is a group of members that work together to achieve one common goal. Yes, this is true however, we must think of how we can make this team successful and this where these characteristics came about. Coutu & Beschloss (2009) state.” For your team to reap the benefits of any coaching you provide, you’ll need to focus that coaching on enhancing group processes, not on guiding and correcting individual behavior.”
When we look at collaboration spirit we must remember that the more we communicate is the more we create better products. this type of collaboration is used by high-performance team members. This can also be difficult when you have strong-minded members or members with strong personalities. This is where successful teams need a strong leader to keep everyone on the same page while keeping the high personalities to a minimum. Another characteristic to have is mutual accountability this is when high performing team members take responsibility for their actions and do blame each other for their failures and mistakes. No one person should spend time in justifications but they all should celebrate as a team. Finally, team trust is important because when team members can not trust one another or do not believe one another their is seldom success in the workplace. Trust can happen but views must be able to be shared freely without feeling judged. For example, in the working environment that I teach, there was an issue where all the members had a group (WhatsApp group) where something was mentioned towards members of another school, but someone in the group leaked what was said and this made the person very uncomfortable and because of this she exited our staff group and the communication is limited with the other coworkers. Team trust should be a vital characteristic in the workplace. This was then discussed by our leader as a group on how we must be able to trust each other, but I believe that no matter how good a leader is they still can not create these characteristics in their members. Coutu & Beschloss ( 2009) states that even the best leader on the planet can not make a team do well. ” All a leader can do is put things into place for their members to follow.
Three characteristics or behaviors of individual team members that can lead to dysfunction of lack of collaboration would be lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability and fear of conflict. These three characteristics can hinder the growth of a team from coming together for great success in the workplace. Members tend to lack this behavior when they do not feel valued by their employer. This can occur when a person does not have a voice in the workplace. For example, in the establishment that I work my employee as a tendency of asking for the members’ input but never uses the information that is given to her. This makes the team feel that their input is not valued, because of this no one is committed to doing things that are asked of them because they know it will always be changed. Gratton & Erickson (2007) noted” Assign distinct roles so team members can do their work independently. They’ll spend less time negotiating responsibilities or protecting turf.” Another behavior that can hinder the growth of a team will be an avoidance of accountability when teams don’t commit. The management team is responsible for letting the workers know where they are not living up to the commitments in the workplace. For example, at the place where I work, we are told to do two weeks forecast with a lesson plan. This forecast allows the leader to see what will be taught throughout the semester. However, some of the employees do not live up to this request and are sometimes late. The leader then reminds them of when it is due because this is a guideline that she follows as we teach. Lastly, another characteristic that can hinder the workplace is fear of conflict. Managers, want to be the good guys so they tend to avoid addressing certain issues in the workplace. This can also be seen when an employee does not want to address an issue amongst their team members because the member may take it in the wrong context or may simply think the other worker is trying to outshine them. These issues can be avoided when we set the atmosphere that we want to have in the workplace. Its all about teamwork and effective team collaboration. Weiss & Hughes (2005)” So instead of trying simply to reduce disagreements, senior executives need to embrace conflict and, just as important, institutionalize mechanisms for managing it.” Giving rewards and clear standards to make sure these areas remain healthy.
In conclusion, as a manager leading a team that consists of different groups of people is not easy. There are different personalities that you would encounter and this can lead to miscommunication but if handled with the right tact everything will work out fine. I would give my employees ownership this simply means making their own decision as i am there to guide them this also will make them accountable for their own individual work. Example, allowing them to be in charge of a committee or even spearhead an event. Communication is also one of the key factors that contribute largely to team productivity, so I would make sure that communication takes place even if I have to have little breaks where we get together and express how we feel on the job and this is will be an opportunity for different ideas. Because in the absence of communication comes a lot of miscommunication and this causes conflict. Steps I would take as a manager, to monitor how well the team is functioning and how my strategies are impacting productivity and success would be asking for an account. This simply means if I give feedback I would expect to hear how they used the advice given and how it helped to make them better, I would also have employees use self-monitoring tools. This is where we can use a checklist this can help monitor the things that are meant to be done at a given time-frame.
References
Coutu, D.,& Beschloss, M.(2009). Why teams DON’T work. Harvard Business Review, 87 (5), 98-105. Retrieved from https: //hbsp.harvard.edu/tu/1e4dcbb1
Gratton, L.,& Erickson, T. J. (2007). Eight ways to build collaborative teams. Harvard Business Review, 85 (11) 100-109. Retrieved from https: //hbsp.harvard. edu/tu/3fa61dda
Weiss, J.,& Hughes, J. (2005). Want collaboration? Accept and actively manage-conflict. Harvard Business Review, 83 (3), 93- 101. Retrieved from https.//hbsp. harvard. edu/ tu/cff2e6d5
2nd Colleague to respond to
As a manager assembling a stellar team to work on an important, time sensitive project, I outline the overall objectives of the project, the needs, and the type of individuals who can not only excel at the tasks needed, but who are integral to the makeup of a successful team.
Every member of a high-performance team must possess a unique skill set and/or personality characteristic that meets the demands necessary of a high functioning, productive, and collaborative team (Daniel, 2009).
Features/traits the group should have is a willingness to engage with one another and able to quickly bond with one another, forming interpersonal relationships that support one another individually and collectively. They should have a sense of ownership as to their responsibilities to the group (own the process and their part to drive success), have an open communication style, willingness to share information, and be resilient to less than glowing feedback. Morevoer, having a group with diverse experiences will enhance the overall problem solving needs as required to achieve success (Daniel, 2009)
As team lead, I would be the one performing key management and leadership tasks to orchestrate the group to work efficiently. In scenarios like this it is more efficient to have a small team as compared to a large one (Casse, 2011). While at first blush I would hope for a team to work seamlessly, in my experiences, it is seldom the case to allow for the group to become comfortable with one another. For this hypothetical team I would scrupulously select team members that have characteristics similar to mine and adding one who has a skillset I don’t possess. The team might be comprised of one adept at Mapping, one as a Pusher, Social Networker, and Releaser. The expectations of this team would be to work within the confines of a flexible and open team structure without too many egos causing trouble (Daniel, 2009).
In my last position I was tasked to build a team and ensure they were well-trained and quickly deployable. Each of these members was in a different part of the US, and I incorporated video cam calls (which no one initially likes) but it brought the team together quickly, and we had many funny stories that resulted from these calls. The team had diverse backgrounds that complemented one another, and they quickly bonded together and worked hard because of the mutual respect they had for one another and me. I stay in touch with these team members as a coach and professional reference and they will say that of all my traits, I know how to build a good team.
The team had many of the above characteristics and they naturally fell into the roles described. The total number of the team was nine, which was a good amount, as small teams can be more efficient and less cumbersome to manage compared to large ones (Coutu, 2009). Highlighting a few characteristics of that team, Sonya was the social networker who used her vast connections to contact consultants she knew to bounce ideas and bring them back to the team when there were questions about whether an idea could work. Corey was the Mapper, and used his organizational skills to set timelines, ensuring technology worked, creating master contact sheets, timelines, and a shared resource network. Margo was the Releaser, making sure we had healthy snacks, keeping track of timing so the team could take bio breaks, organize mile-long walks to clear our heads and tell jokes, and raise periodic ‘sanity checks’ to make sure ideas were aligned to the general objectives of the project. My role was as leader and Pusher. It could also be classified as the ‘deviant’, or ‘naysayer’ whose role is to challenge the status quo (Coutu, 2009). I say I work as an academic, playing devil’s advocate and challenging people to think. I set parameters for all to get to know one another, learn new information, role play and play rapid fire frequently asked question games. One of my rules is to make sure team members know this learning takes place in a ‘safe’ environment where people can make mistakes. Sometimes voices get raised, but it is for the goal/good of the project and not to be taken personally.
This worked well, except when one time, when several observers from upper management sat in. Having ‘outside’ people changed the dynamic of the group and the team was less open to sharing ideas, in part because a certain toxic manager sat among the group. I learned my lesson, and you can be assured that were I to organize a team brainstorming meeting, I would to close it to all outside members, even upper management, explaining that the creative process needs to be cultivated and protected.
Characters that cause dysfunction in a group is the person who whines and complains and has a problem with authority. People with these traits can completely undermine a group. This once happened to me when I was brought in from the outside to manage a team. One team member that had been with the company for years thought she should have my job and was openly resentful, rude, contrary to my style and tried to get me in trouble any time she could. She ultimately left the company (after receiving a package from the corporation). Another dysfunctional team member is the passive-aggressive person who just does not want to work. They give only the smallest bit of their efforts to appear compliant. They are hardly ever unpleasant, or outwardly defiant (Neilson, 2005). They are the people whose technology never works, whose computer crashes, often, or whose appointments just never materialize despite coaching. Another dysfunctional trait is when certain team members band together in a clique and challenge the work, the direction, and insist that “in their old job it was done in a much better way”. They alienate the rest of the group and create drama that is inappropriate for the professional setting.
To bring together a team I would do much of what I did previously and as noted above.
- Bring together diverse members with complementary skills, personalities, and ethnicities
- Assign individuals tasks aligned with their interests and goals
- Allow team members to be noticed by upper management
- Call out and recognize achievements of team members to the smaller group and larger interdepartmental groups
- Learn what drives them: family, religion, etc
- If they are remote travel and ride along with them
- Organize separate group activities when the larger company gets together
- Allow them to visit headquarters on occasion
- Respect differences in personalities, traits, and work ethics
- Carve off time for fun and allow the team to see your humanity
References:
Casse, P., & Banahan, E. (2011). 21st century team skills. Training Journal, 11–16.
Coutu, D. (2009). Why teams don’t work. Harvard Business Review, (5), 98. 1– 9.
Daniel, L. J., & Davis, C. R. (2009). What makes high-performance teams excel? Research Technology Management, 52(4), 40–45.
Neilson, G.L., Pasternack, B.A., Van Nuys, K.E. (2005). The passive-aggressive organization. Harvard Business Review, (10), 83. 1–12.
RUBRIC
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