4.12. Teams and Leadership

Question 1

What are teams?

Answer 1

• Groups of two or more people
• Exist to fulfill a purpose
• Mutually accountable for achieving common goals

Question 2

Types of teams

Answer 2

• Permanence: How long that type of team usually exists
• Skill differentiation: Degree of skill/knowledge diversity in the team
• Authority differentiation: Degree that decision-making responsibility is distributed throughout the team or centralized

e.g.
• Departmental teams (high permanence, medium skill differentiation and high authority differentiation)
• Bocconi student project groups (low permanence, low-medium skill differentiation and low authority differentiation)

Question 3

Best tasks for teams

Answer 3

• Complex tasks divisible into specialized roles
• Well-structured tasks
• Higher task interdependence

Question 4

Team advantages

Answer 4

• Make better decisions, products/services
• Better information sharing
• Increase employee motivation/engagement

Question 5

Team challenges

Answer 5

• Process losses – resources needed for team maintenance
• Social loafing – members potentially exert less effort in teams than alone
• Group think and overconfidence (inflated team efficacy); usually happens when group has little diversity, similar thinking styles/ people conform to avoid feeling like outcast

Question 6

Process losses

Answer 6

When keeping the team together is more work than doing the work

Question 7

Techniques in teamwork: Brainstorming

Answer 7

• Participants think up as many ideas as possible
• Four brainstorming rules
– Speak freely
– Don’t criticize
– Provide as many ideas as possible
– Build on others’ ideas
• Conformity effect can sometimes be overcome by making people write down ideas independently
• This is a useful technique when trying to come up with novel ways of thinking – NOT when making a decision

Question 8

Team size

Answer 8

• A team must be large enough to accomplish task
• But smaller teams are better because:
+ less process loss – need less time to coordinate roles and resolve differences
+ feel more responsible for team’s success
+ require less time to know members and for group to feel as a group (cohesion)

Question 9

Team cohesion

Answer 9

The degree of attraction people feel toward the team and their motivation to remain members

Question 10

When is team cohesion strong?

Answer 10

– Higher member similarity
– Smaller team size
– Regular/frequent member interaction
– Somewhat difficult team entry (membership) -cognitive dissonance reduction (refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs)

Question 11

Note about team cohesion

Answer 11

More cohesive teams perform better but risk of group-think higher

Question 12

Team composition - diversity

Answer 12

Team members have diverse knowledge, skills, perspectives, values, etc

Question 13

Advantages of team diversity

Answer 13

• view problems/alternatives from different perspectives (avoid group think)
• broader knowledge base
• better representation of team’s constituents

Question 14

Disadvantages of team diversity

Answer 14

• take longer to become a high-performing team

* less motivation to coordinate

Question 15

Stages of team development

Answer 15

• Forming: learn about each other.
• Storming: conflict; members proactive, compete for roles.
• Norming: roles established; consensus around team objectives and team mental model.
• Performing: efficient coordination; highly cooperative; high trust; commitment to team objectives; identify with the team.
• Adjourning: disbanding; shift from task to relationship focus.

Question 16

General guidelines for team decisions

Answer 16

• Team norms should encourage critical thinking
• Sufficient team diversity but also cohesion
• Checks/balances to avoid dominant participants
• Maintain optimal team size

Question 17

Define leadership

Answer 17

Leadership is the ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness of the organizations of which they are members.

Question 18

Formal leadership models

Answer 18

• Transformational
• Managerial
– Task leadership
– People leadership:
\+ Servant leadership
\+ Path-goal leadership
• Competency view

Question 19

Transformational leadership model

Answer 19

1. Develop/Communicate the vision
   – Framing the vision (McDonald’s setting up in Russia as “hamburger diplomacy”)
   – Communicate the vision with sincerity and passion
2. Model the vision
   – Symbolize and demonstrate the vision through their own behavior
   – Builds employee trust in the leader
3. Encourage experimentation
   – Encourage questioning current practices/trying out new ones
4. Build commitment to the vision
   – rewards, recognition, celebrations

Question 20

Managerial leadership

Answer 20

• Leaders do not spend their entire time working on a better future; they also need to deal with the reality
• Managerial leadership: Dealing with daily activities, support and guide the performance and well-being of individual employees and the work unit to achieve current objectives and practices
• Managerial leadership differs from transformational leadership
– Deals with the here and now
– Micro-focused (vs macro-focused)

Question 21

Task leadership

Answer 21

– Assign work,clarify responsibilities
– Set goals and deadlines,provide feedback
– Establish work procedures,plan future work

Question 22

People leadership

Answer 22

– Concern for employee needs
– Make workplace pleasant
– Recognize employee contributions
– Listen to employees

Question 23

Servant leadership

Answer 23

• Leaders serve followers

* Described as selfless, humble, empathetic, and ethical coaches

Question 24

Path-goal leadership

Answer 24

• Effective leaders choose styles that best influence employee motivation and firm performance in a given situation
• Four main path goal leadership styles
– Directive–Task-oriented behaviors;provide structure
– Supportive–People-oriented behaviors;provide support
– Participative–Employee involvement
– Achievement-oriented–Stretch goals; positive self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 25

Path-goal contingencies

Answer 25

• Skill and experience of individuals:
– Low: directive and supportive leadership
• Locus of control:
– Internal (own charge): participative and achievement leadership
– External (believe in luck): directive and supportive leadership
• Team dynamics
– Low cohesion: supportive leadership
– Dysfunctional norms: directive leadership

Question 26

Competency perspective

Answer 26

Idea that there is a “type” of person that is born to lead

• Still controversial – assumes there is only one correct way of leading

Question 27

Natural cultural issues in leadership

Answer 27

• Societal cultural values and practices:
– Shape leader’s values/norms
– Shape follower prototype of effective leaders
• Some leadership styles are universal, others differ across cultures
– “Charismatic visionary” seems to be universal
– Participative leadership works better in some cultures than others

Question 28

Level of task interdependence

Answer 28

• Reciprocal: everyone checks each other’s work
• Sequential: a -> b -> c
• Pooled: resources are divided specifically among a,b and c

Question 29

8 leadership competences

Answer 29

1. Personality: extroversion
2. Self-concept: consistent and clear self-view, positive self-evaluation
3. Leadership motivation: motivation to lead others, high need for power
4. Drive: inner motivation to pursue goals, action-orientated, inquisitive
5. Integrity: consistency in words and actions
6. Cognitive/practical intelligence: above average cognitive ability
7. Emotional intelligence: recognising and regulating emotions in self and others
8. Knowledge in business: understands organisation’s environment