team leadership Flashcards
team
group of organizational members who are interdependent, share common goals, and coordinate activities to accomplish those goals
-can be face to face or virtual
heterarchy
-fluid power shifting in teams
shared/distributed leadership
- concerned with a distribution of power
- asks formal leaders to become more informal and informal leaders to formalize their efforts
four dimensions of distributed leadership
- translation of continual improvement into individual contexts.. individual owns their own performance (ego gets in the way)
- participate leadership.. all in the environment feel a part of the change processes
- facilitate leadership.. leaders draw from other resources when required ex) collaborative framework
- close referent relationships are fostered towards mutual learning
outcomes of effective teams
- greater productivity
- more effective use of resources
- better decisions and problem solving
- better quality products and services
- greater innovation and creativity
2 types of cohesion
task & social cohesion
task cohesion
involves a commitment to the group task
-acknowledge the instrumental basis of cohesion, all groups form for a purpose
social cohesion
refers to the quality of interpersonal relationships
-task cohesion is more important, need to be together working towards the same goal. If task cohesion is high, it doesn’t matter if you don’t get along with the members
the nature of cohesion
-a dynamic process which reflects the tendency for a group to stick together and remain united in the pursuit of instrumental objectives and or for the satisfaction of member affective needs
4 influences on cohesion
- environment
- leadership
- personal
- team factors
environmental factors influencing cohesion
- proximity and group size
- shared experience (purpose) allows for performance to increase
- enjoyment and cohesion decreases as size increases
- the more intimate you are, the more you gain a shared experience
personal factors influencing cohesion
- attribution-assign traits and causes to things that they observe
- state anxiety (only anxious in certain situations)
- adherence behavior (someone who says they’ll do something, and does it- walk the walk)
- individual sacrifice
- self-handicapping (sharing strategies to excuse under performance)
leadership factors influencing cohesion
- decision making style (democratic vs autocratic)
- autocratic is dictating, being lead by 1 person and group members do not have a say.
- democratic is opposite, all group members have a say
- social support behavior
team factors influencing cohesion
-role involvement ( roles or patterns of behavior of a team in a setting- based on social status, position on the team)
-team norms (collective shared behavior, written or unwritten)
2 ways team norms occur: team interaction and reinforcement- team norms are hard to take apart once they are established
-collective efficacy (same as self-efficacy but in a group setting)
group dynamics
- study of group processes and how they function and develop
- groups are more than just a collection of individuals
cohesion characteristics
1) dynamic not static- do things that both increase of decrease cohesion
2) factors that hold groups together are varied and numerous- multidimensional in nature. (factors vary between groups)
3) instrumental in nature- all groups form for a reason
4) affective reasons- strong emotional ties among group members- can be both functional and dysfunctional
four prinicpals of team building
- intimacy: learning about others in your group and allowing them to learn about you in turn
- communication: the act of conveying verbally and non-verbally info about others
- problem solving/ cooperation: working together to solve an issue
- trust/loyalty: knowing that others are keeping you save and respecting you. Can be both physical as well as emotional and psychological
groups as a liability
Social loafing: the reduction in individual effort which occurs when people are involved in group activities, generally increases as the size of the group increases
Self-deception: tendency for group members to overvalue in-group members, processes, and products and to undervalue those from the out-group
Conformity: tendency for members to adopt the dominant behaviors, attitudes and expectations of the group.
Group think: a set of non-conscious shared illusions accepted by all group members without serious dissent. Loyalty requires each member to avoid asking controversial questions ex) the gymnastics team
barriers to team building
- possibility of making things worse
- the person who talks too much
- the non participant of the group
- the importance of the process as well as the content
- “buy in” from the coaches
- negative rivalries
how to work against group think
- Increase individual accountability
- Acknowledge individual’s contribution
- Engage in activities that enhance social productivity
situational factors of group think: (non-conscious, occurs slowly so we don’t even know its happening)
- high stress from external threats
- temporary self-esteem
- recent failures
- excessive difficulties
- moral dilemmas
symptoms of group think
- Overestimation of the group
- illusion of invulnerability
- belief in the groups inherent morality - Closed mindedness
- collective rationalization: trying to make sense of something as a group. Stages of grief occur within this
- stereotypes of outgroups - Pressure towards uniformity
- self-censorship
- illusion of unanimity: illusion that we are all in this together
- direct pressure on dissenters: hazing, often involves corrosion
- self appointed mind guards: purposely directly your attention somewhere else so you don’t think/see certain person
10 group think preventions
- Each member should be a critical evaluator of the groups course of action; an open climate of giving and accepting criticism should be encouraged by the leader. Extremely rare
- Leaders should be impartial and refrain from starting personal preferences at the outset of group discussion; they should limit themselves initially to fostering open inquiry
- Establish multiple groups with different leaders to work the question in parallel
- Split groups into subgroups to assess feasibility and effectiveness of proposals
- Each member of the group should privately discuss current issues and options with trusted associates outside the group and report reactions (trump having group members sign a non- discloser agreement)
- From time to time, bring in outside experts to challenge the views of the core members (gymnastics scandal: this did not occur)
- There should be one or more devil’s advocates during every group meeting
- In conflict situations, extra time should be devoted to interpreting warning signals from rivals and to constructing alternative scenarios of their intentions
- Reconsider the decision in second chance meetings before going public
encouraging cohesion
- help team members build a collective identity
- make it easy for team members to be close together
- focus on similarities among team members
- put a positive spin on the team’s performance
- challenge the team
