Lecture Leadership - Theory and practice: Chapter 10 – Team leadership

Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership
Chapter 10 – Team Leadership

Northouse, 4th edition
 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Overview
 Team Leadership Perspective
 Team Leadership Model
 Leadership Decisions
 Leadership Actions
 Team Effectiveness
 Principled Leadership
How does the Team Leadership Model Work?
 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Historical Perspective of Team
Leadership – 1920s-1980s
20-30s

• Human
Relations
movement

40s

50s

• Group
dynamics

• Social
• Collaborative science
efforts at
theory
work

 

• T group

• Leader’s
role in
T group

60-70s

80s

• Organizational
development

• Quality

• Team
leader
effectiveness

• Benchmarking

teams

• Continuous
improvement


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Historical Perspective of Team
Leadership – 1990s
Parker

90s

• Global

1990

perspective

• Group
dynamics

• Flatter
organizational
structure

• Social
science
theory

• Strategies
for
competitive
advantage

• Team-based,
technology
enabled

 

 Effectiveness research
The use of teams has led
to:
– Greater productivity
– More effective use of
resources
– Better decisions & problem
solving
– Better-quality products &
services
– Increased innovation &

creativity


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Team Leadership Description
Perspective

 Team research (Ilgen, Hollenbeck Johnson & Jundt, 2005)
– Focus on team variables
– Role of affective, behavioral & cognitive processes in
team success
– Team performance & viability
 Role of mediating processes such as:
 Trusting, bonding, planning, adapting, structuring & learning

 Issues
– Difficult to understand the team process because of its
complexity
– Leader ineffectiveness is major obstacle to overall
team effectiveness
 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Team Leadership Description
Objectives

 Critical factor in success of organizational

teams – understand role of leadership in
teams:
– Ensure team success & avoid team failure

 Functions a leader must perform
– Complexity involved in performing these functions
– How performance of these complex functions relates
to actual team performance

 Team leadership capacity –
– Shared or distributed leadership
– Encompasses entire team
 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Team Leadership Model
Description
 Model provides leader or designated team
member with a mental road map to help
– Diagnose team problems, and
– Take appropriate action to correct team problems

 Effective team performance begins with leader’s
mental model of the situation
 Mental model reflects
– Components of the problem
– Environmental & organizational contingencies
 

Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Team Leadership Model
Description
 Leadership behavior
– Seen as team-based problem solving

 Leader uses discretion
– Which problems need intervention
– Make choices about which solutions are the most
appropriate

 Effective leaders have the ability to determine
– What interventions are needed, if any, to solve team
problems
 


Hill’s Model
for Team
Leadership

Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership Decisions

1. Continue monitoring the team or take
action based on current information
2. Determine the general task or
relational function of intervention
needed
3. Intervene at internal level (within team)
or external level (team’s environment)
 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership Decision 1
Should I Monitor the Team
or Take Action?
Leaders can:
– Diagnose, analyze, or forecast problems
(monitoring) or take immediate action to solve
a problem
– Focus on problems within the group (internal) or
– Which problems need intervention
– Make choices about which solutions are the most appropriate

 Effective leaders have the ability to determine
– What interventions are needed, if any, to solve team problems

 

Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership Decision 1
Should I Monitor the Team
or Take Action?
: McGrath’s critical leadership functions – two
dimensions of leadership behavior:
– Monitoring vs. taking action
 We can diagnose, analyze, or forecast problems (monitoring)
or take immediate action to solve a problem

– Internal group issues vs. external group issues
 Focus on the problems within the group (internal) or problems
outside the group (external)

 Two dimensions result in 4 types of group leadership
functions
 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership Decision 1

 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership Decision 2
Should I Intervene to Meet
Task or Relational Needs?

Leaders can:
– Determine if team needs help in dealing
with relational issues or task issues
– Task functions include:
 Getting job done
 Making decisions
 Solving problems
 

 Adapting to change
 Making plans
 Achieving goals


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership Decision 2
Should I Intervene to Meet
Task or Relational Needs?

Leaders can:
– Determine if team needs help in dealing
with relational issues or task issues
– Maintenance functions include:
 Developing a positive climate

 solving interpersonal problems
 Satisfying members’ needs
 Developing cohesion
 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership Decision 3
Should I Intervene
Internally or Externally?

Leader must:
– Determine what level of team process
needs leadership attention:
– Internal task or relational team dynamics, if:
 Conflict between group members
 Team goals unclear

– External environmental dynamics, if:
 Organization
  not providing proper support to team


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership Actions
Leadership Functions – performed
internally or externally

 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership Actions
Internal Task Leadership Actions

 Set of skills or actions leader might perform
to improve task performance:

– Goal focusing (clarifying, gaining agreement)
– Structuring for results (planning, visioning,
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 (assessing
team and individual performance, confronting
inadequate performance)
 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership Actions
Internal Relational Leadership Actions

 Set of leadership actions leader

needs to implement to improve team
relationships:
– Coaching team members in interpersonal
skills
– Collaborating (including, involving)
– Managing conflict and power issues
(avoiding confrontation, questioning ideas)
 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership Actions
Internal Relational Leadership Actions

 Set of leadership actions leader
needs to implement to improve team
relationships, cont’d.:
– Building commitment and esprit de corps
(being optimistic, innovating, envisioning,
socializing, rewarding, recognizing)
– Satisfying individual member needs
(trusting, supporting, advocating)
– Modeling ethical and principled practices
(fair, consistent,
normative)
 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership Actions
External Environmental Leadership Actions

 Set of skills or behaviors leader needs

to implement to improve environmental
interface with team:
– 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 team
 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Leadership Actions
External Environmental Leadership Actions

 Set of skills or behaviors leader needs

to implement to improve environmental
interface with team:
– Buffering team members from environmental
distractions
– Assessing environmental indicators of team’s

effectiveness (surveys, evaluations,
performance indicators)
– Sharing relevant environmental information
with team
 


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Team Effectiveness

 Team effectiveness – the desired
outcome of teamwork
 Team Performance – task
accomplishments
 Team Development – maintenance of
the team
 Researchers studied organizational work
teams & developed –
– Standard of effectiveness
–  Criteria of excellence


Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Team Effectiveness

 

Chapter 10 - Team Leadership

Team Effectiveness
 Clear, Elevating Goal
– Clear so that one can tell if performance
objective has been met
– Is motivating or involving so that members
believe it is worthwhile and important

 Results-Driven Structure
– Need to find the best structure to achieve goals
 Clear team member roles
 Good communication system
 Methods to assess individual performance
 An emphasis on fact-based judgments