Module 5 "Team Leadership"

Definition of team

Definition of team

combination of two or more people who who try to achieve a common goal and depend on each other to achieve this goal

Why is a team important?

because they increase productivity and effectiveness, they help reach competitive advantage in a globalised market, people are more creative and can adapt faster to changing business environments

Which are constitutive characteristics of a team?

1 Multipersonality

2 Interdependance

3 Goal orientation

Which are descriptive characteristics of a team?

1 interpersonal interaction: exchange personal and proffesional info regularly

2 membership perception: being a part of a social unit within the organization

3 structured relationships: existing roles, norms and regulations control team behavior

4 Reciprocal influence: employees influence each others opinions and behaviors

5 individual motivation: being a part of a team satisfies their needs

Main idea of the concept leadership in different types of teams

Leaders should respond to different behavioral patterns of teams to be successful

On what depend behavioral patterns of a team?

1 Relational level

2 Task- related level / factual level

Meaning of relational level

Gives info about interpersonal interaction within a team

Indicators of a high relational level

• Members are friendly to each other

• There are no personal conflicts

• Members enjoy working on a team

• Members can respond to each other

• Members support each other on personal problems

Meaning of task-related /factual level

Prioritises the achievement of goals, gives importance to task related aspects of team

Indicators of a high task-related / factual level

• Clear standards regarding performance

• Problem solving techniques are applied

• information is shared regularly and systematically

• team examines possible alternatives and its feasibility before decision making

Which are the four types of teams that result from the combination of factual and relational levels?

1. Social group

2. Lone fight club

3. real team

4. expert team

Describe the Lone figther club type of team

• No emotional cohesion or professional cooperation within the team

• Team performs poorly

• Evident in newly formed teams that are still in an early phase of development

Leaders should try to improve both the factual and relational levels in parallel.

Describe the real team type of team

• Factual (task-related) and relational levels are highly developed

• Cooperation and communication flows are clearly regulated

• Team members exchange information intensively and support each other in personal matters

Leader should try to maintain the high level, for example by setting appropriate team goals and should keep the team flexible

Describe the social group type of team

• Focus is primarily on the exchange of personal concerns and less on fulfilling the work task

• Team spends a relatively large amount of time and energy to cultivate personal relationships or to deal with personal conflicts; at the expense of the team's performance

Leaders should strengthen team structures by means of fact-oriented leadership instruments

Describe the expert team type of team

• Factual level is strong and the relational level is relatively low

• Performance is impaired because team members support and communicate with each other to a very limited extent in personal matters

• No cohesion between the members

Leaders should improve the relational level

Mention another 6 set of criteria to distinguish teams

1. Hierarchical position ( execution teams, mngmt teams)

2. Duration: (project teams, permanent)

3. functional heterogeneity (mono or multifunctional)

4. institutional heterogeneity (intra organizational or interorganizational)

5. intercultural heterogeneity (monocultural or international)

6. intensity of personal interaction (F2F, virtual or bionic teams)

What are bionic teams?

Consists of at least three members (human & robots) who perform joint tasks interdependently, interact socially to achieve a common goal

Examples of how can robots be considered part of a team in different areas

*In a production related team, the robot is considered an automation, a machine

*In a office related team, the robot is compared as social companion

Which are the two dimensions to identify bionic teams?

y= Role of technology: partner or tool

x= Mode of teamwork: virtual/remote or F2F

Which are the four types of bionic teams?

1. Remote HRTS (human robot teams)

2. Human Robot Teams (HRTS)

3. Technology intense teams/ tech supported teams

4. Virtual teams

Integration of robots into teams

1. Human directed robot team

2. Robot directed team

3. Human and Robot direct mixed team (one team robot is boss, another team human is boss)

4. Autonomous mixed team (humans and robots work together to accomplish complex team tasks)

Challenges in team leadership

1. Company related

2. Employee related

Based on the challenges in team leadership, which are company-Related Opportunities and Risks of Teamwork

Opportunities

• Improved coordination due to interdependencies in the team

• Increased efficiency through improved coordination of specialized skills

• Improved decision quality through integration of different perspectives

• Better customer service through accumulation of competences in customer contact

Risks

• Reduction of decision quality through peer pressure

• Increased coordination effort due to interdependencies in the team

• Increased risk of conflicts due to different professional or personal views of team members

• Increased resistance of the team to change through the development of a “subculture”

Based on the challenges in team leadership, which are employee-Related Opportunities and Risks of Teamwork

Opportunities

• Faster familiarization through information exchange with other team members

• Self-reflection of own behavioral patterns through feedback from other team members

• Beneficial learning of new skills and knowledge

• Increase of identification with the company due to the team membership

• Increased motivation by satisfying central needs for social contacts and recognition

Which are sources of conflicts in teams?

*Healthy : Focus on task issues, differences of opinion about the task, differences in values and perspectives, different expectations about the impact of decisions

*Unhealthy: competition over power, rewards and resources, hold grudges of the past, conflicts between individual & group goals, poor team meetings, bad communication

Which are the two dimensions for conflict resolution approaches?

Based on two dimensions,

y= Leader assertiveness : extent to which a leader can influence others to reach his goals

x=cooperativeness of a team

Which are the conflict resolution approaches?

There are 5 approaches

1. Confrontation: high level of leader assertiveness but no cooperativeness of team

2. Collaboration: high level of cooperativeness of team and high level of leader assertiveness

3. Compromise: middle level of leader assertiveness and middle level of cooperativeness of team

4. Avoidance: team avoids conflicts at all costs

5. Accommodation: members try to keep actual status and avoid changes

What is social loafing?

the extent to which members reduce their own performance by relying on the performance of others. Also known as free riders or sucker effect

Why is social loafing important to address?

Because as some members give different engagement to their tasks and other members notice it, this can interfere with the team performance

How to avoid or reduce social loafing?

1.- Make performance transparent

2.- Increase motivation for each member

*divide tasks into individual responsibilities

*implement metrics to measure individual contributions

*give individual bonuses or rewards

*implement individual objective performance measures

Lifecycle Concept of Teams

It focuses on the relation between the team formation and team performance

Newly formed teams take time to reach its full performance potential

Lifecycle of Teams

1. Forming

2. Storming

3. Norming

4. Performing

What is the importance of the factual level and relational level in the lifecycle of teams?

1. Forming: Relational level HIGH, factual level LOW

2. Storming: Relational level HIGH, factual level LOW

3. Norming: Relational level LOW, factual level HIGH

4. Performing: Relational level HIGH, factual level HIGH

What is the intensity of team leadership?

Extent to which a leader influences the activities of a team

Which are the effects of team leadership intensity on team success?

1. Intensity of team leadership AND degree of communication/ collaboration (processes)

2. Intensity of team leadership AND degree of personal/ task conflict

Explain the graph of intensity of team leadership AND degree of communication/ collaboration (processes)

When degree of team leadership is low, degree of collaboration starts to increase, as the degree of team leadership keeps increasing level of communication increases too until it reaches a point that it starts to decrease again when the degree of team leadership is high.

-→ Lack or extreme team leadership leads to negative effects of team success due to lack of identification of members with goals, limited creativity due to no group dynamics

-→ Medium degree of team leadership is most suitable for team communication

Explain the graph of intensity of team leadership AND degree of personal conflicts

Medium level of team leadership is related with lowest level of conflict because members have a joint agreement of team goals and they use creativity techniques

Lack or extreme degree of team leadership leads to high level of conflicts.

What is the assumption on team constellations as a function team leadership

the more involved a leader on operational activities is, the bigger the influence on the team

Which are the team constellations? (management positions in teams)

1. Moderated team: leader acts as a moderator, coordinating and supporting the team

2. Autonomous team: leader doesn’t exist, team is responsible for their own task achievement

3. Integrated managed team : leader has fixed role, he is responsible for decision making, task implementation and fulfilment

4. Led by management team: several team members who also act as leaders, decide tasks and responsibilities

5. Led by team speaker: team speaker acts as a mediating role AND team member

6. Individually led team: members have a bilateral interaction with leader but there is almost no connection between team members