Team Leadership

The Team Leadership theory

o    This approach has become one of the most popular and rapidly growing areas of leadership today.

o    Teams are organizational groups who are interdependent, share common goals, and must coordinate activities to reach their goals.

o    The study of groups began in the 1920s and 1930 (Porter and Beyerlein, 2000) with focus on human relations. The focus shifted to "group dynamics" in the 1940s. The focus shifted again in the 1950s moved to sensitivity training and T-Groups. In the 1960s/70s, the focus shifted to developing team and leadership  effectiveness through intervention. Due to competition from Japan in the 1980s, the focus shifted to  quality teams, benchmarking and improvement. In the 1990s, while still focused on quality, shifted to global perspective.

o    The organizational team structure is one way organizations today  can respond to adapt to the rapidly changing workplace conditions (new technology, global economy, economic competition, and increasing diversity).

o    Current research I focused on practical problems and how to make teams more effective.

o    Effective team leadership is the primary ingredient of team success (Zaccaro, Ritman, & Marks, 2001). Ineffective leadership is the primary reasons why teams fail to develop, yield improvement,  and quality.

o    The  organizational  structure  of  excellent  companies  has  changed  from  a  functional  and  matrix organization into a process and team organization. Teams are important performance and  learning units  in  organizations  today.  Team  work  should  enable  the  company  to  offer  better  customer service, improve  the  efficiency of  internal processes and   improve the motivation of personnel.  It should be  remembered  that a  team  is a means  of operation,  not a goal  itself;  it should  always be evaluated,  if team work  is the best way to achieve the objective. Moving over  to  team work  is   a lengthy development process itself, which needs a lot of training.  A working group needs time to develop through different phases of being a pseudo-team, potential team and real team (Katzenbach & Smith 1994, 84). Nevertheless, the use of organizational teams has been found to lead to greater productivity, more  effective use of resources, better decisions and problem  solving, better  quality product and services and increased innovation and creativity (Parker 1990).

o    Organizing and leading teams, rather than groups engaged in working together to manufacture or sell a product, has proved challenging. Organizations that are able to make teams work have a significant advantage in the world market.

o    The team leadership and the team leadership model do not compose a theory that makes predictions and is tested by research. This discussion is more of an attempt to highlight the special problems and difficulties that exist in the leadership of teams. It identifies places to look when problems arise in working with a team and gives a new team leader some guidelines as to how she or he could analyze and approach the task at hand.

 

Leader roles in the various team structures.

 

The "Functional Model" of the team Leadership

o    Early scholars identified  two critical functions of leadership:

·         Help the group accomplish its task. (Team Performance)

§  Include solving problems, adapting to changes, making plans, achieving goals.

·         Keep the group maintained and functional. (Team Development)

§  Include developing positive climate, solving interpersonal problems, satisfying members' needs, and developing cohesion.

o    The current focus of research is on "teams" as opposed to "groups". It also focuses on the effect of the environment on the teams.

o    Effective leadership helps the team balance the internal and external demands.

o    McGrath developed  a model for team leadership that looks at two dimensions:

·         Monitoring versus taking actions

·         Focus on internal group issues versus external group issues.

o    The functions within this model of leadership does not require that the leader alone carries the responsibility of execution, but experienced members within the team itself can also share these leadership behaviors as well.

o    The key assertion of the functional model is that a leader needs to do whatever in order to take care of any unmet needs of the team. If the team members are taking care of most of the needs then the leader has to do very little.

  

o    The functional model is a practical approach that is designed primarily to answer "What functions does the leader perform to help the group be more effective?"

o    The leader is the one who processes information (Barge, 1996). They essentially help the team develop an organizing framework or set of procedures.  This structure help both the leader and teams members interprets information, make judgments, and take action for the good of the group.

o    Effective team performance begins with the leader's mental model of the situation. The mental model reflects not only the components of the problem confronting the team, but also the environmental and organizational contingencies that define the larger context. Here the leader develops a mental model of the what the team problems are within the current context. The leader needs to be behaviorally flexible.

 

Monitoring

o    To develop an accurate mental model, a leader needs to monitor both internal and external environments, continually gather information, reduce equivocality, provide structure,  and overcome barriers. 

o    There are two phases to monitoring (defined by Fleishman et al., 1991)

·         Information search: seek out information

·         Information structuring:  Analyze, organize, and interpret.

o    All members of the group can be engaged in monitoring (information search and structure)

 

Action Taking

o    In addition to information gathering, there is also taking the 'right' action.

o    Action mediation is at the heart of leadership because it involves selecting from among competing courses of actions and helping the group create a system of organizing that allows the team to make quality decisions. (Barge, 1996)

o    There are two skills for actions mediation

·         Ability to facilitate decision making and task accomplishment.  (Task/Team Performance)

·         Ability to manage interpersonal relations (Team Development)

o    Team leaders must learn to be open and objective about diagnosing the team problems and skillful at selecting the most appropriate actions to help achieve the team goal.

 

Characteristics of effective teams

o    Teams are judged on their performance outcomes and achievements.

o    Researchers began to study organizational work teams t better understand what makes them effective or ineffective (Hackman, 1990; Hughes, Ginnett & Curphey, 1993; LaFasto & Larson, 2001; Zaccaro, 2001)

o    The following criteria were suggested by Hackman and Walton in 1986 as necessary for effectiveness of task-performing  teams:

·         Clear, engaging direction.

·         An enabling Performance situation.

§  A group structure that foster competent task work.

§  An organizational context that supports and reinforces excellence.

§  Available, expert coaching and process assistance.

3.       Adequate material recourses.

o    Larson and LaFasto (1989) conducted research that included 6000 team members and 600 leaders from various industries. They found that regardless of the type of team, there were 8 characteristics that were associated with team excellence.

 

 

o    Clear, elevating goals

·         Team goals need to be very clear to easily tell if objectives have been realized.

·         Team can fail due to vague goals or if other things replace or shadow the goals such as personal agendas, or power issues, etc.

·         Leaders need to keep the team focused on the goal.

     Results-driven structure

·         Teams need to have the best possible structure in order to accomplish their goals.

·         Top management for example deal with power and influence, task forces deal with ideas, customer service teams deal with clients, production teams deal with technology, etc.

§  Problem solving team such as task force need to have a structure that emphasizes 'trust' so that everyone contributes

§  Creative teams need to have a structure that emphasizes autonomy to that everyone can take risks.

§  Tactical teams such as an emergency room team need to have a structure that emphasizes clarity.

3.       Competent team members

·         Groups should be composed of the right number and mix of members to accomplish the tasks.

·         Members need to be provided with sufficient information, training and education.

·         Team members need to not only be able to do the job, but to be able to collaboratively work together.

4.       Unified Commitment

·         Team need to develop a sense of unity and identification.

·         This can be developed by involving team members in all aspects of the process (Larson & LaFasto, 1989).

5.       Collaborative climate

·         Trust based on honesty, openness, consistency, and respect seems to be essential for building a collaborative climate.

·         Members should feel free  to compensate for one another, take risks, listen to each other, be focused on the problems, and listen to each other.

·         The cause of team failures may reside not only in member inability, but also in their collaborative failure to coordinate and synchronize their individual contributions (Zaccaro, 2001).

6.       Standards of excellence

·         It is important to setup standards of excellence within a team for their processes. This will  pressure the members to perform at their highest levels. The standards need to be clear and concrete.

·         The team leader can facilitate this process by:

§  Requiring results - making expectations clear

§  Reviewing results - providing feedback to resolve performance issues.

§  Rewarding results - Acknowledge superior performance.

7.       Principled leadership

·         Leadership is central to the team effectiveness (Zaccaro, 2001). It affects the team through four sets of processes:

§  Cognitive - Helps the team understand the problems facing the team.

§  Motivational - The leader helps the team become cohesive  and capable of setting high performance standards and accomplishing them.

§  Affective - Helps the team handle stress circumstances by providing career goals, assignments and strategies.

§  Coordination - Leader coordinate team activities by matching skills with roles.

8.       External support

·         A common mistake is to give organizational teams challenging assignments, but no organizational support to accomplish these assignments (Hackman, 1990)

·         The best goals do not mean much if you don't have money, equipment, or supplies to accomplish the goals.

 

Leaders can reduce the effectiveness of their team when they are unwilling to confront inadequate performance, when they dilute the team's ability to perform by having too many priorities, and by overwhelming the positive aspects of team performance. Effective leaders perform the following behaviors:

1.       Keeps the team focused on the goal

2.       Maintains a collaborative climate

3.       Builds confidence among members

4.       Demonstrates technical competence

5.       Set priorities

6.       Manages performance

 

Team Leadership Model

Hill (2001) has also developed a model for team leadership. The model attempts to integrate what

we know about teams, leadership and effectiveness and to provide specific actions (Mental roadmap) that leaders can perform  to  improve  team  work.  Effective  team  leaders  need  a  wide  repertoire  of   competencies, which  can  be  different  than  traditional  leaders  need. Team  leaders  and  members  could  use  the model to support decision-making about the current state of the team and to consider what specific actions they need  to  take  to improve the  team´s functioning. The model should  offer a cognitive map to analyze the team situation

 

The model demonstrates the mediation decisions that a leader must make?

1.      Decision #1 - Whether monitoring or action taking is the most appropriate for the issue at hand.

2.       Decision #2 - If an action course is needed, then the leaders asks what level of team process needs leadership attention? Is it internal, external, team issues, etc.

3.       Decision #3 - Determine the most appropriate function or skill to be performed in the intervention.  Actions must be carefully selected based on the situation.

 

There are three sets of skills that a leader need to implement

1.     Internal task leadership functions (this is to improve Task Performance)

·         Goal focusing (clarifying, gaining agreement)

·         Structuring for results (Planning, organizing, clarifying roles, delegating)

·         Facilitating  decision making (informing, controlling, coordinating, mediating, synthesizing, issue focusing)

·         Training team members in task skills (Educating, Developing)

·         Maintaining standards of excellence (Assuming team and individual performance, confronting inadequate performance)

2.     Internal relationship leadership functions (this is to improve Team Relationship)

·         Coaching team members in interpersonal skills.

·         Collaborating (including, involving).

·         Managing conflicts and power issues (Avoiding confrontation, questioning ideas).

·         Building commitment and esprit de corps (being optimistic, innovating, envisioning, socializing, rewarding, and recognizing).

·         Satisfying individual member needs (trusting, supporting, advocating).

·         Modeling ethical and principled practices (fair, consistent, normative).

3.     External environmental Leadership functions (This is to improve environmental interface with the team) - Teams do not exist in a vacuum.

·         Networking and forming alliances in environment (gather information, increase influence).

·         Advocating and representing team to environment.

·         Negotiating upward to secure necessary resources, support, and recognition for the team.

·         Buffering the team member from environmental distractions.

·         Assessing environmental indicators of team's effectiveness (surveys, evaluations, performance indicators).

·         Sharing relevant environmental information with team.

 

How does the Team Leadership theory work?

o    Leaders can use this model to help them make decisions about the current state of their teams and realize what actions they need to take to improve the team's functioning in order to achieve effectiveness.

o    The model provides the leader with a cognitive map to identify group needs.

o    The model helps the leader make sense of the complexity of groups and offer practical suggestions.

o    The model helps the leader understand whether they need to monitor or take actions.

o    Helps the leader distinguish between internal and external challenges.

o    The model helps point the way to constant team analysis.

o    Research suggests that team leaders overestimate their effectiveness on the dimensions of leadership. They score themselves much higher than group members. By comparing scores by the leader and members, the leaders can determine which dimensions of team or leadership are in need or improvement.

Strengths

o    It focuses on real life organizational work teams and the leadership needed therein. This has not been the focus of other approaches.

o    It provides a practical model that helps leaders to design and maintain effective teams especially when performance is below standards.

o    It takes into account the changing role of leaders and followers in organizations.

o    It can help selecting team leaders by clarifying the competencies which an effective team leader

will need. It can help in the process of selecting team leaders.

Weaknesses 

o    It is a new approach, and it is not completely supported or tested by research. Would the model hold true in the new technology connected virtual teams?

o    Although the theory takes into account the complexity of teas, it is complex in and of itself.

o    It does not offer on the spot answers for specific situations.

o    It  is  still more  like a  framework,  but  doesn’t  offer  clear answers  to  specific  situations  for  the team leader.

o    It doesn’t either offer clear instructions how to focus team leadership training.

 

Leadership instrument

Several instruments are available, but Larson & LaFasto, 1989 have developed a survey after studying many excellent organizations teams. Their research has demonstrated 8 criteria or factors that are consistently associated with high performing teams. The team excellence survey contains more than 40 questions across the 8 factors to diagnose the team performance. The team members are given the survey, their results are averaged and compared against the leader's answers.