Chapter Twelve: Team Building: A Leadership Strategy

Chapter Twelve
Team Building: A
Leadership Strategy
Chapter Preview: Team Building—
A Leadership Strategy
• Teamwork in an organizational setting
• Common types of work teams
• Characteristics of an effective work
team
• Behavioral science principles that
support team building
• Team-building skills leaders need
• Team-member skills employees need
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Leadership Challenges in a Changing
Workplace
• Rapid changes
• Greater employee stress and tension
• Long-term strategies versus short-term
demands
• Increased diversity
• Employment stability

Team Building:
An Introduction
• Leadership style that promotes team
building is positively associated with
– Productivity
– Profitability

Team Building:
An Introduction
• Teamwork is often associated with
– Reduced turnover
– Cost reduction
– Large production increases
– Gains in quality
– Improved customer service

Team Building:
An Introduction
• Teamwork
– Job gets done efficiently and harmoniously
– Fewer interpersonal relations problems
– Positive effect on the physical and
psychological well-being of employees
– Higher levels of job satisfaction and less
stress

Team Building:
An Introduction
• Synergy is another positive outcome of
teamwork
– The interaction of two or more parts to
produce greater results than the sum of the
parts taken individually
• Especially important when organizations
value creativity

Teamwork Doesn’t
Come Naturally
• The concept of teamwork has been
around a long time
• Many organizations work hard to get all
employees to pull together as a team
• Most jobs today require ongoing
interaction between coworkers and
managers

Teamwork Doesn’t
Come Naturally
• Need commitment and cooperation of
every employee
• Requires meaningful employee
participation in planning, solving
problems, and developing ways to
improve

Teamwork Doesn’t
Come Naturally
• Barriers
– Some value individualism over teamwork
– Conflict can cause a breakdown in
relationships
– Heavy workloads and long hours lead to
weary employees
• Teamwork flourishes under strong
leadership

The Transition to
Team-Based Structures
• Teams have become popular because
they encourage participative
management
– Process of empowering employees to
assume greater control of the workplace
• There are two common types of teams
– Self-managed
– Cross-functional

Self-Managed Teams
• Assume responsibility for traditional

management tasks as part of regular
work routine

Self-Managed Teams
• Typically
– 5 to15 members
– cross train and rotate jobs within group
• Increases accountability
• Reduces time on dull and repetitive
tasks
• Taps employees full potential

Cross-Functional Teams
• Task groups staffed with a mix of

specialists focused on a common
objective

Cross-Functional Teams
• Typically
– Temporary units
– Members from different departments
• Involve developing new work
procedures or products, devising work
reforms, or introducing new technology
• Often make decisions that directly
influence improvements

Real Teams Are Rare
• Greater use of teams in organizations

• Most "teams" are really single-leader
work groups that rely on their leaders
for
– Purpose
– Goals
– Motivation
– Assignments

Real Teams Are Rare
• Using teams is not a quick fix

– Can take one or two years for members to
learn all the tasks they will perform as they
rotate from job to job
– Time for team to be comfortable
• Making decisions, scheduling work, hiring,
training, and problem solving

Real Teams Are Rare
• A real team
– Draws its motivation more from its mission
and goals than from its leader
– Each member is accountable for the
group's performance and results

Basic Beliefs About Teamwork
• Approach I
– Examine careers of successful leaders
who demonstrate ability to develop
teamwork
• Approach II
– Review the findings of scholars who have
identified the characteristics of successful
leaders

McGregor’s Influence
• Emphasized “unity of purpose” as the

main feature of productive work units
– Common goals and common commitment
– Groups accomplish more than it would
without them

McGregor’s Influence
• Suggests several characteristics of an

effective work team
– Informal and relaxed atmosphere
– They discuss work-related issues and have
comfortable disagreements
– Tasks and objectives are well understood
– Members listen to each other
– People freely express feelings and ideas

Total Person Insight
The day soldiers stop bringing you their

problems is the day you have stopped
leading them. They have either lost
confidence that you can help them or
concluded that you do not care. Either
case is a failure of leadership.
General Colin Powell (Ret.)
United States Army

The Leadership Grid®
• The Leadership Grid® (formerly known

as The Managerial Grid) is based on
two leadership style dimensions:
– Concern for people
– Concern for productivity
• Five most important differences among
managers

Impoverished management
• Might be classified as “inactive”
managers
• Display little concern for people or
production
• Give little of themselves

Country club management

• Shows low concern for production
• Shows high concern for people
• Steps are taken to prevent unhappiness
and dissension

Authority compliance
• Task oriented, placing much attention
on getting the job done
• Shows concern for production, not
people, regardless of the cost

Middle-of-the-road management
• Displays a moderate concern for both
people and production
• Sees a limited amount of participative
management as practical

Team management
• A proactive style
• Displays high concern for people and
production
• “One best style”

• Team management style is most

positively associated with
– Productivity and profitability
– Career success and satisfaction
– Physical and mental health
– Shared responsibility
– High participation
– Commitment

Hall’s Contributions
• High-achieving managers
– have deep interest in both people and
productivity
– rely heavily on participative approach
• Low/moderate-achieving managers
– avoid involving subordinates in planning
and decision making

Hall’s Contributions
• Participative management practices are

more likely to be fostered in an
organization where management
projects confidence in workers’ potential

Behavioral Science
Principles
1. Shared participation in problem
solving is basis for growth,
development, and contribution
2. Mutual trust and respect underpins
productive human relationships
3. Open communication supports mutual
understanding

Behavioral Science
Principles
4. Conflict management by direct
problem-solving confrontation
promotes personal health
5. Responsibility for one’s own actions
stimulates initiative

Life is good when trust is present. Life

hurts when trust disappears. We
understand this at a level so deep it is
indistinguishable from our very being.
Michael Crom
Vice President, Dale Carnegie & Associates,
Inc.

Team-Building
Skills for Leaders
• In today’s environment, there is a high
demand for individuals with strong
leadership skills

Team-Building
Skills for Leaders
• Successful leaders share some
behavioral characteristics
• Two of the most important are
– Consideration
– Structure
• These dimensions are separate and
independent of each other

Consideration
• Extent to which a manager’s

relationships with workers are
characterized by
– Mutual trust
– Respect for employees
– Consideration of feelings
– Warmth in interpersonal relationships
– Good rapport
– Two-way communication

Structure
• Extent to which a supervisor is likely to

direct workers toward goal attainment
• Managers actively direct group activities
by
– Scheduling
– Planning
– setting goals
– Communicating information
– Evaluating performance

Consideration and Structure
Consideration Concern for people

Structure Concern for
production
• Each is independent of the other

• Competency can be developed in both

Improving Consideration Skills
• The effective use of consideration skills

creates a positive work environment
• Leaders with consideration skills follow:
– Law of empathy – sensitivity and
awareness of the needs, feelings, and
motivations of those they lead

Improving Consideration Skills
• Practices that can improve

consideration
– Recognize accomplishments
– Provide for early and frequent success
– Take a personal interest in each employee
– Establish a climate of open communication
– Discover individual employee values

Improving Structure Skills
• The supervisor who incorporates

structure into his or her leadership style
plays an active role in directing group
activities.
• The team builder gives the group
– Direction and standards
– Maintains accountability

• Practices that develop structure skills

– Communicate your expectations
– Encourage individual and team goal setting
– Provide specific feedback often
– Deal with poor performance immediately

• Management by objectives (MBO)

– A formal approach to goal setting
– Specific targets are set for specific periods
– Set and agreed on by supervisor and
employee
– Individual goals should mesh with
organizations goals
– Conduct review at the end of the period

Situational Leadership
• Theory that most effective leadership

occurs when leader’s style matches the
situation
• Emphasizes the need for flexibility
• Applying the right leadership style for
each situation

Two Dimensions of Situational Leadership
• Task behavior
– Extent to which the leader engages in
defining duties and responsibilities of
individuals or groups
– Telling people what, how, when, where,
and who’s to do task

Two Dimensions of Situational Leadership
• Relationships behavior
– Extent to with the leader engages in two-
way or multi-way communication
– Listening, encouraging, facilitating,
providing clarification, and giving socio-
emotional support

Model Similarities
Relationship behavior
• Consideration
• Concern for people
Task Behavior
• Structure
• Concern for production

Model Differences
When attempting to influence others:

• Diagnose readiness level in the
follower for specific task
• Provide appropriate leadership style
for that situation

Situational Leadership
• Need to decide amount of relationship

and task behaviors needed for each
situation
• To become a situational leader you
must first develop task (structure) and
relationship (consideration) behavior
skills

Additional Leadership Qualities
• Character
• Emotional intelligence
– Both can be developed

– Key to growth is self-awareness

Figure 12.2
Additional
Leadership
Qualities

Character
• Personal standards of behavior

– Honesty
– Integrity
– Moral strength
• Impossible to build trusting relationships
without character

Character
• Effective leadership characterized by

– Honesty
– Truthfulness
– Straight dealing

Emotional Intelligence
• Ability to monitor your own and others’

emotions and deal with them effectively
• Leaders with emotional intelligence are
– More likely to detect friction and eliminate
conflict
– More flexible
– Better situational leaders

Teamwork:
The Employee’s Role
• Most valued employees are willing to
assume leadership roles and
responsibilities
• Each team member should
– assume an active part in helping the work
unit achieve its mission
– be a team builder

Employees as Leaders
• Effective leaders are helping work team

members develop leadership skills
• The team’s success does not always
ride on one person
• Merit in establishing diversity of
leadership within work group

Valued Team Members
• Every employee has potential to be a

leader
• Success often depends on your ability
to be an effective team member

Becoming a
Valued Team Member
• Avoid becoming part of a clique or
subgroup within the team
• Avoid any action that might sabotage
the team
• Keep in mind that effective team
membership depends on honest, open
communication
• Do not feel the need to submerge your
own strong believes, creative solutions,
and ideas

Great challenges require great teamwork,
and the quality most needed among
teammates amid the pressure of a difficult
challenge is collaboration….Each person
brings something to the table that adds
value to the relationship and synergy to
the team.
John C. Maxwell
Author, The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player

Managing the
Relationship with Your Boss
• Relationships usually more effective
when both parties assume responsibility
• Burden for managing relationships
should not fall solely on supervisor
• Supervisor will become more effective
at performing his or her job

Managing the
Relationship with Your Boss
• Assess your own strengths
• Develop an understanding of your boss
• Flex your communication style
• Be frank and candid

Summary
• Teamwork ensures that a job gets done

and that it gets done efficiently
• Teamwork can mean the difference
between a profitable and unprofitable
organization
• Team-building leadership style is suited
to today’s employees

Summary
• Many companies are forming specific

types of teams
– Self-directed
– Cross-functional

Summary
• Two ways to learn about teams

– Leaders who promote teamwork
– Scholars who discuss it

Summary
• Effective teamwork is informal and

relaxed
• People are
– Involved
– Interested
– Eager to participate in work-related
problems
• Goals and objectives are clearly
understood

Summary
• Two dimensions of supervisory

leadership
– Consideration
– Structure
• Additional qualities of effective
managers
– Character
– Emotional intelligence

Summary
• Consideration reflects the maintenance

of employee relationships
• Structure reflects direction through
planning, goal setting, communication,
scheduling, and evaluating

Summary
• Effective work group members should

assume leadership roles
• Each helps the group achieve its
mission

Summary
• Employees are in a unique position to

give guidance and support to their
supervisor
• Bosses need assistance and support to
achieve success

Summary
• Learn to understand your boss

• Assess your strengths
• Identify personal characteristics that
might impede or facilitate a working
relationship
• Be frank and candid
• Sometimes you need to disagree with
your boss

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Chapter Twelve

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• Assume responsibility for traditional

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• Task groups staffed with a mix of

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• Greater use of teams in organizations

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• Using teams is not a quick fix

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• Emphasized “unity of purpose” as the

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• Suggests several characteristics of an

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The day soldiers stop bringing you their

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• The Leadership Grid® (formerly known

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Country club management

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• Team management style is most

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• Participative management practices are

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Life is good when trust is present. Life

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• Extent to which a manager’s

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• Extent to which a supervisor is likely to

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Consideration Concern for people

• Each is independent of the other

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• The effective use of consideration skills

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• Practices that can improve

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• The supervisor who incorporates

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• Practices that develop structure skills

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