Book Review: Patrick Lencioni's 'The Five Dysfunctions of a Team'

My discussion this week will be based on my reaction to Rick DuFour’s video on Groups vs Teams. Rick DuFour defined a team as a group of people who work together to achieve a common goal. He further stated 3 elements a team must possess.

As David’s original team falls apart, his effort of building another team has the potential to follow the same route and fall into similar obstacles that lead to the downfall of the original team if he doesn’t analyze deeper the circumstances and factors that lead to the failure. Although the potential team members are promising, there is no guarantee of a cohesive team not unless David invests more on his people to build a harmonious relationship between his subordinates. On the other hand, his initiative to persevere even if challenged with the task of starting all over again to rebuild the team is commendable.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni is a leadership fable centered on a fictitious up and coming technology firm called DecisionTech. DecisionTech located outside of Silicon Valley. Patrick Lencioni used this fictitious technology firm and its executive team, also known as “The Staff,” with very diverse characteristics to explain his five dysfunctions of a team. In addition to how each of the dysfunctions can hurt not only the team but also the company.

Patrick Lencioni is an American writer, who focuses on writing books particularly in relation to business and team management. He is best known for ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team’, an allegory following the journey of DecisionTech’s new CEO, Katheryn Peterson. In this tale, Lencioni revels the basics of teamwork by creating a fictional business, in which is struggling to grow as a company, due to lack of commitment by its employees. The company fails to accept responsibilities and to come to any agreements, ultimately, resulting a plummeting disposition. Furthermore, throughout the fable, the five dysfunctions of a team become more evident, in which are, absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment avoidance of accountability and

Teams are formed when individuals with a common taste, preference, liking, and attitude come and work together for a common goal. Teams play a very important role in organizations as well as our personal lives.

We were lucky to see Captain Jeff Kuss and his team - The Us Navy Blue Angels performed at the Lynchburg airshow on May 21, 2016. That was the best airshow ever and my husband took some great pictures. Among those were the Blue Angel # 6. Few days ago, we learned of Capt. Kuss's passing. Thanks You and Rest in Peace Angel # 6.

This fable was a great way to promote the importance of a team and its functions. This book had many highlights throughout the context and I would highly recommend it to leaders of a corporation or of that of a team like setting. This book offered many great implications of the model and how to use it in many diverse settings when trying to build and manage successful teams.

What are the five dysfunctions of a team, define each dysfunction and give a real-world example:

After reading The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Pat Lencioni, discussing the function of effective teams in class, and completing various team building exercises, I have developed a much better understanding of the importance of a proper team in a business setting and how good team work can produce more efficient and productive results.

If we were randomly asked to define the word “team” many of us would have numerous variations of this multifaceted word; some would proclaim it means helping others, backing one another while others might define it as unanimity or culpability. The French associate the word team, with the slogan “Esprit de corps” a majestic word that was adopted by the United States Marine Corps. This matchless catchphrase means: “a sense of unity, of enthusiasm for common interests and responsibilities.” As early as childhood it has been ingrained into us that teamwork is congenial and effortlessly achieved. When in fact it wasn’t until society was introduced to Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, written by Patrick Lencioni, did civilization start to realize that teamwork is hard to measure and even harder to achieve because the has been loosely used as well as misinterpret. Lencioni understands that teamwork is a difficult thing to measure and achieve, his book reminds us that the power that comes from teamwork cannot be denied. It would be hypothesized that through the authors’ comprehensive exploration and methodical examination, he reveals ways for civilization to comprehend the term as well as employ each other successful; conversely this can’t be done until the dysfunctional factor is properly identified and controlled. Hence the reason for his in-depth plunge in explaining the five dysfunctions and method that can be utilized by teams to overcome the dysfunctionalities.

The nature of an effective a senior leadership team (SLT) will be the topic of this essay. The idea of team work and various models of SLT will be covered linking their roles, strategy, values and pitfalls. I will interlace this essay with some personal experience and relevant literature Belbin and Fullan to conclude through an historical analogy, my personal understanding of what SL T represents.

Comment on the following quote by Katzenbach, Smith "simply put, teams will be the primary building block of performance in the high performance organization of the future. As a result, effective top managers will increasingly worry about both performance and the teams that will help deliver it." (p. 239, The Wisdom of Teams). By referring to the concepts you have learned in this course including the different dynamics teams bring to the workplace discuss what have been the key lessons learned about teams and leading them for you and how you will or would apply those in an organization.

Generally, the team dynamics are good and the team works well together since the members know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Looking at the team from the context of Tuckman’s model of team development, I believe that the team is past the forming, storming, and norming stages, and we are now at the performing phase. The performing stage is usually characterized with optimal task attainment and a high level of cohesion, collaboration, and communication as well as genuine pride in the successes of the team (Management training Australia, 2015). Everyone within the team is strategically aware and understands what the team is doing and what is expected of them. The leader delegates activities with minimum supervision and members within the team look after one another. Although disagreements may arise every now and then, the team is now mature enough to attend to such disagreements and solve them in a positive way. The following are the team members;

The first thing that I found interesting was Sennett's description of how the ideals of "team work" has replaced "supervisors". It might be thought that in team-working, a sense of workplace community would be fostered. However, he explains that no lasting networks are formed. Within teams workers learn to develop a false persona, they fake co-operation, they know how to say the right things so that they can be seen to be ‘team players'. I found this to be very true of how I have acted in certain team situations.

The purpose of this paper is to write a summery of the main topics presented in an article