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8/9/2019 Unity and High Performance Teams
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High Performance Teams
Unity and High Performance Teams
Chenista Rae Straubel
MGT 331
Stephan Daniel
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High Performance Teams
March 25, 2010Abstract
As an ever-evolving entity, teams represent a powerful tool for obtaining effective
and efficient results for planning, organizing, leading, and controlling projects and
methods within innovative organizations. When created with a written mission or
purpose in mind (charter), teams define their own norms, harness the collective
brainpower of the membership, and motivate and encourage each other to achieve
dramatic results in a short time.
Effective high performing teams are made up of both leaders and influencers
who share common goals. High performing teams have the necessary resources to
obtain goals, are empowered to make and to implement decisions, and have the
synergy of unity as a common ground. Team members are empowered with trust,
respect, and support and are often coached or facilitated by management or other staff
members. Team members are encouraged to reach beyond their comfort zone and to
stand on the edge to improve the quality of their teamwork as well as their output.
When teams are granted the necessary tools and resources and are empowered
to use those resources and tools, they become a valuable asset for facilitating change
within innovative organizations. This paper reviews attributes of high performing teams
including cultural diversity and team dynamics.
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High Performance Teams
Unity and High Performance Teams
Definition and Elements of High Performing Teams
Team performance can be measured by accessing outcomes. Team member
satisfaction is generally linked to participation efforts and group consensus. Quality
decisions are linked to the amount of time it takes to arrive at the decisions and then the
overall effectiveness of the quality of that decision (how well it responds to the issue is
resolves). Listed below are qualities inherent in high performing teams.
Focus
Members of high performing teams share a vision that focuses on goals and
objectives. The vision gives meaning to their work, direction, and way to measure their
own contributions and see the results or fruits of their labor both individually and as a
team. Developing a shared vision helps to inspire team members in big ways and to
create the synergy of unity toward the common goals. The vision becomes the common
ground shared by all members.
Commitment
Team members sharing common goals operate within deadlines and are
seriously committed not only to the project, but also to their membership in the team
and to their team mates as well. Team members maintain a willingness to go the extra
mile to complete the team mission successfully. The commitment helps the team to
work closely together and keeps their meetings from becoming a joint session filled with
politics or just another rap session.
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High Performance Teams
Communication
Communicating the plan is only part of effective communications. The plan must
be accepted and acknowledged by all members. High performing teams use all
available communication vehicles to obtain and to transmit meaningful information that
each team member will find useful. Effective team members recognize and accept the
obligation for keeping team members informed about their progress and they also know
that it is their responsibility individually to hold other team members both accountable
and responsible.
The Zone
As defined by GuruNet, in the zone refers to a state of focused attention or
energy so that ones performance is enhanced. It can also mean that team members
need to move outside of their comfort zones or areas of concern and to try new and
different ways to solve everyday issues. This helps create a bond with team members
who then become individually focused and stronger. It is a feel the fear and do it
anyway sort of notion that is shared among the team members and creates a propelling
synergy of enthusiasm and sometimes even euphoric joy as their intentions come to
fruition.
Reality Checks
Team members meet frequently to review individual and team progression
toward the united goals. Timelines are reviewed with progression and adjusted as
necessary. Learning is internalized and team members check their own and the teams
anxiety levels helping each other by offering shared experiences and empathy.
Reality checks ensure that the quality of the work is held to agreed upon standards and
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this improves the collective performance of the team. As members work through their
own the zone and reality checks, they help other team members and this increases
their bond and unity bonds in synergy.
Involvement
In order to feel important in a project, team members must be involved, their
opinions and views must be heard, and they must become integrated into the united
team effort. Each team member must know and appreciate the strengths and
weaknesses, insight and contributions, and capabilities and achievements of other team
members. Becoming involved means being able to connect with not only team goals
but also with team members in such a way that individual distinctions, ideas, strengths,
and weaknesses are almost unknown or unidentifiable. The united mind will appear
chaotic to outsiders, but the team members understand.
Self-Directed
Self-directed teams know how the work is to be accomplished, remain solely
accountable and responsible for accomplishing the work, and take on the responsibility
for motivating team members into performance objectives. In order to be effective,
teams must have all resources required available to them and management is limited to
and responsible for facilitating and for making sure resource requirements are met.
Success
Victories are celebrated, even small ones! A victory may be a new insight, idea,
completion of a task or phase of development, etc. A victory is something that everyone
agrees upon and sees the ends justifying the means. The celebration helps keep and
build morale and increases individual determination to achieve goals. A celebration can
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be something as simply as just shouting YEA! in unity or the celebration can include
awards and rewards.
Cultural Diversity and its Impact on Group Behavior
Understanding cultural characteristics helps us to connect with people who may
think, feel, or behave differently. Cultural awareness includes:
1) Self: Understanding our own unique experiences, values, and interpersonal
activities
2) Relationship: Developing skills to work in multi-cultural groups and being honest
about your level of competence.
3) Interacting: Understanding how our culture motivates our behaviors and
thoughts and its emotional impact on the ability learn other cultures.
4) Heritage: Understanding how local issues and experiences affect our
communities and political structures.
5) Global: Stepping outside of biases and accepting other cultures and how their
ways of perceiving the world are similar to our own.
Socioeconomic Status
Individuals with low socioeconomic status tend to be more vulnerable to outside
stresses than those individuals with a higher socioeconomic status. These people tend
to have difficulties agreeing on issues within a group environment and therefore this
may affect the ability of the group to arrive at a consensus.
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High Performance Teams
Values and Attitude
Cultural conditioning affects how individuals respond to and accept outside
stimuli. This affects coping mechanisms. Values and attitudes measure how well
individuals cope with changes in their environments.
Personality
Personality refers to individual distinctive traits and behaviors. Personality helps
us to measure and to feel self worth and self-esteem. Different cultures have different
measures of self worth and self-esteem therefore the means being measured by
personality in a multi-cultured team may be different among team members.
Affects of Diversity on Teams
Conflict Management
Samarah, Paul, and Mykytyn (2002) found the cultural diversity might lead to
feelings of rivalry among members causing them to stay away from collaborative spirit in
favor of a more competitive, less conciliatory approach to conflict resolution. In
addition they offer we expect cultural diversity to have a weakening impact on the
positive effect of collaborative attitude on consensus. During their research they
developed the following hypotheses:
1) The collaborative conflict management style will exert a positive impact on a
virtual teams level of participation.
2) The cultural diversity of a virtual team will weaken the positive effect that the
collaborative style will have on participation.
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3) The collaborative conflict management style will exert a positive impact on a
virtual teams level of consensus.
4) The cultural diversity of a virtual team will weaken the positive effect that the
collaborative style will have on consensus.
5) Member participation in a virtual teams discussions will have a positive impact
on the members perceived decision quality.
6) The level of consensus in a virtual team will have a positive impact on members
perceived decision quality.
Skills and Abilities
A persons ability to feel competent in their role and with abilities affects their self-
image through self-esteem. It is important to note that measuring ones abilities and
skills is not the same as comparing individuals to one another which creates havoc and
discord among diverse groups and subgroups.
Group Dynamics and Behavior
Increased efforts to implement multi-culturalism within an organization helps
individuals to feel more connected to their environment giving them a greater
satisfaction while improving their self-image. By improving the processes of mutual
engagement and learning to respect, understand, and tolerate differences, the culture of
a particular group or team can retain their traditional values while integrating or co-
existing in teams, organizations or communities without feeling impeded or held-back by
their cultural conditioning, beliefs, values, and / or their perceptions.
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Summary
Studying diversity and its affects upon individuals and teams helps managers
identify potential issues and to adjust their own behaviors or corporate culture to suit the
environment. When studying the affects of diversity, it is necessary to identify why
individuals are affected more than others and how they cope with differing stressors.
Applying this information to team settings helps us to build more effective, high-
performing teams.
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References
Samarah, Imad, Paul, Souren, and Mykytyn, Peter (2002). Exploring the Links Between
Cultural Diversity, The Collaborative Conflict Management Style, and
Performance of Global Virtual Teams. Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
McLeod JD, Kessler RC. (Jun 1990) Socioeconomic status differences in vulnerability to
undesirable life events. J Health Soc Behavior; 31(2): 162-72. Retrieved
05/02/2004 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?
cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=2102495
Unknown. (November 7, 2002). Vulnerability. ORD/Regional Cumulative Risk
Assessment Workshop. Retrieved 05/01/2004
http://www.epa.gov/osp/presentations/cumrisk/tcallaha.pdf
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=2102495http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=2102495http://www.epa.gov/osp/presentations/cumrisk/tcallaha.pdfhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=2102495http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=2102495http://www.epa.gov/osp/presentations/cumrisk/tcallaha.pdf