The Group After Joining Their Team

Lack of communication (mutual interaction) and dearth of reciprocal influence becomes evident as we go through the case. Also, Team members shared limited information which

Trust- should be slowly built up across team members, through developing confidence in each other’s competence and reliability. Trusting individuals are willing to share their knowledge and skills without fear of being diminished or exploited.

Throughout the beginning of the book ‘The Five Dysfunction of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni it was apparent that the DecisionTech, Inc. executive team was not a team at all. This group of individuals lacked some of the key attributes that make great teams. One of the most important attributes that was being neglected was that the executive group did not have interdependent members. This attribute was highlighted in the beginning of the book when the author said “Backstabbing among the executives had become an art. There was no sense of unity or camaraderie on the team, which translated into a muted level of commitment” (7). Due to the executive teams lack of interdependence, critical deadlines began to slip and morale deteriorated.

She is expected to build a system that demonstrates trust, understands conflict, commits to collective decision making, and have the ability to hold one another accountable for the betterment of the company. Furthermore, Lencioni incorporates his real life theory the five dysfunctions of a team, into the fable in hopes to persuade the reader to use his methods in real world scenarios. Moreover, Lencioni then describes the five levels of dysfunctions in depth supporting his stance that teamwork is the most important aspect of any successful business. “Teamwork comes down to the mastering of set behaviors that are once theoretically uncomplicated, trust.” (Lencioni, 2002, pg. 21) Furthermore, inspiring the first team dysfunction in absences of trust. The absence of trust ultimately stems from a team being unable to open up to one another about their strengths and weaknesses. “Trust is the foundation of real teamwork and failure also referring the failure on the part of the team members to open up to one another.” (Lencioni, 2002, pg. 42) Furthermore, supporting the authors purpose of the fable, in which is, success depends being committed to enforcing

Throughout the readings communication was identified as a vital component for establishing and maintaining relationships. Porter-O Grady sanctioned for leaders to establish firm rules of engagement to help support a positive group dynamic (2013). While Kelly & Tazbir explained that friction and conflict were a normal part of group development and were representative of the Storming stage of group process (2014). Moreover, they explained that with assistance from the team leader the team can overcome these obstacles, strengthen inter-professional relationships, and enter into the Norming stage (Kelly & Tazbir, 2014). Here the team is able to participate in the effective exchange of communication and begin making progress toward goals. This represents progression into the Performing stage of group process (Kelly & Tazbir, 2014). When the team has met its intended target they are ready to anylze the outcomes of their work and enter the final stage of group process—Adjourning (Kelly & Tazbir,

The team leader’s ability to identify, understand and correct any dysfunctional teams is also an important process to stay productive. There are three types of dysfunctional teams (MCMANUS, 2014) the “war zone” team is an environment where everyone is watching their backs and jockeying for position behind closed doors. There is usually a struggle for power and is generally a very completive environment between team members. The “love fest” team is heavily focused on

Reid Hastie, in his book “Wiser,” discusses many of the common points of how groups succeed and fail mainly due to group think. Throughout his years of research, he found a number of attributes that effective teams have in common. From his book, we have extracted ten important lessons that we believe are the most important for teams to learn and implement to be high performing. These findings also relate to the “5 Dysfunctions of a Team” that are outlined by Patrick Lencioni. Teachings taken from “Wiser” are symptoms, or indicators, of dysfunctions within a team, and many of his solutions help teams to overcome certain dysfunctions.

Aspects Essential in Identifying the Appropriate Members for a Team and Ensuring the Team Is Successfully Launched

Fear of conflict – with no trust leaves the team incapable to engage in debate of ideas. Leaving the team to never truly engage without holding back.

This is the third demand for work that was exposed in the incident, and it arose from the AA chairperson. Facilitators during group meetings have the role of providing leadership during conflict situations (Kellerman, 2006). The chairperson intervened by taking charge of the situation by neutralizing the aggressor in a polite, and humble manner to ensure that he was not humiliated despite his negative comments. The reaction from members (external stimuli) was that of relief as the moderator had restored the group cohesion by treating all members equally and neutralizing the source of conflict. My personal thoughts at the time (internal stimuli), were that removing the aggressor from the meeting would have been the most effective way of handling

Group member cohesiveness was absent from the group meeting for several reasons, but the primary reasons were due to the fact that the group members did not have a common description of value or structure to the discussion. Each member viewed their own area of involvement within the organization as being more valuable than any other area, and it was this exclusion of other valuable traits that lead the group to begin to clash in such a

Following spring break, varsity team members became unhappy and critical of one another. These behaviors were an early indication of a lack of trust needed to be addressed immediately. Trust is paramount in crew. It is important for team members to trust others to correct mistakes, allowing the boat to regain balance and maximum speed (Snook & Polzer, 2004). The early lack of trust among Varsity team members later resulted in a fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results by team members. This was verified by a diagnostic tool described Lencioni’s book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. In order to have been successful, the Varsity team would have to trust one another, engage in unfiltered conflict around team issues, commit to decisions and plans of action, hold one another accountable, and focus on the achievement of collective results (Lencioni, 2002).

After further review of the case study, conflict management among team members needs to be addressed. Resolving conflict can often be like a constant balancing act among the opposing needs and interests; conflict can be unpleasant and stressful (Haraway & Haraway III, 2005). Conflict manage is essential for the success of healthcare organizations. Learning, as an organization, to constructively manage and succeed in conflict situations is a foundational construct of leadership and management (Ledlow, 2009). There are six different conflict styles: (1) accommodating, (2) avoiding, (3) collaborating, (4) competing, (5) compromising and (6) problem solving. After reading the case study, the surgical team is displaying conflict style of avoiding “potential disruption outweighs the benefits of resolution, gathering information supersedes immediate decision making, others can resolve the conflict more effectively and issues seem a result of other issues,” (Ledlow, 2009). Instead of going to the Physician Assistant, Nurse B should feel comfortable speaking to the surgeon with her questions and concerns.

The interpersonal interactions between the two groups during meetings were not conducive to progress. During meetings the business team members often felt lost, confused, and would

Bob had cohesive team he was proud to lead; they had broken new ground in the study of photon measuring devices. Meetings were held daily that incorporated the entire team, in which the team guided the project, and evaluated work daily. Bob’s leadership style incorporated the entire team’s input and direction to the project, and has produced good results. Simon Fester has been added to the team, and regardless of brilliance, his presence has caused a shift in the team atmosphere and productivity. In the past meetings were a collaborative effort, including everyone with a connection to the team, including secretaries. The addition of Fester broke down the meetings to Fester, Link, and Knowlton actively discussing Festers contributions, and the remainder of the team; Bob Davenport, George Thurlough, and Arthur Oliver, once engaged, now quietly listening with no participation. Bob Knowlton has left the company, Link has been placed in an interim leadership role, and Fester has been moved to the Air Force Project.