Showing papers on "Psychological safety published in 1996"

Training team performance‐related assertiveness

Abstract: The present paper extends the existing literature on assertiveness in a way that supports industrial training as well as the selection of individuals for team positions. Data are reported from three studies that examined determinants of team performance-related assertiveness. First, data from 149 college students demonstrated that assertiveness consists of multiple dimensions which were not all related to performance in a team decision-making task. Second, data obtained from 225 business students indicated that correlations among self-report measures and peer ratings of the same assertive responses assigned by intact team members varied according to the interpersonal context (i.e., personal, stranger, work related) in which scale items were framed. Third, data from 60 college students suggested that team performance-related assertiveness has a significant skill component. Whereas both attitudinally focused and skill-based training improved attitudes toward team member assertiveness, practice and feedback were essential to producing behavioral effects. Implications for selection and team training are discussed.

Team Talk: The Power of Language in Team Dynamics

Abstract: Part 1 Introduction: a different perspective on teams team talk. Part 2 Team realities: a team task and the right people - medical products division and the alpha team functional hierarchy and individual accountability - building controls division and the Tech I team leadership and team accountability - Wayne Division and the front-end team personal commitment and organizational accommodation - occupational health division and the eurous team. Part 3 Team possibilities: the power of language - advice to teams listening to teams - advice to managers. Appendices: description of the research methodology the academic context of this research.

Managing effectively through teams

Abstract: Points out that, if high performance is to be sustained in metal‐industrial organizations, co‐operative action among personnel becomes essential ‐ the explosion of information today and the complexity of our times demand it. Maintains that team management, then, is vital to achieve and maintain high output at a time of fast growth. Stresses that thinking managers must be committed to learning the skills of group dynamics, including how to influence team processes and activities, norms and values, and task and maintenance functions. Discusses group leadership which implies clarifying roles and relationships; sharing of unique talents and decision making; and acquiring new tools such as the computer to control the diverse elements involved in matrix, project or product management. Discusses the creation of an effective team culture which improves performance beyond the sum of individual member efforts. Suggests that behavioural scientists can provide team building to ensure group productiveness and synergy. Determines that successful management actively not only promotes a team spirit, but installs team mechanisms and the means to develop in team skills.

How Teamwork Works: The Dynamics of Effective Team Development

Abstract: Part 1 Teamwork: team development, resistance, feedback on performance speaking skills questioning skills listening skills task, maintenance and process warming up and warming down team identity. Part 2 Team thinking: team belief systems conceptual blockbusting. Part 3 Team task cycle: team map awareness understanding decision-making implementing completion. Part 4 Team types: the creative team the process improvement team the executive team the planning team the problem-solving team.

Understanding and Evaluating Cross-Functional Sourcing Team Leadership

Abstract: INTRODUCTION There is little question that firms worldwide are experiencing relentless pressure to innovate and improve. Many are responding to this pressure by creating organizational structures designed to promote cross-functional and cross-company communication, coordination, and collaboration. To support this effort, cross-functional sourcing teams have become increasingly important, particularly as firms attempt to develop leading-edge sourcing strategies and practices.[1] While 80 percent of the major U.S. firms surveyed plan to emphasize the use of sourcing teams through the remainder of the 1990s, the success of this approach will vary widely from company to company and team to team, even across teams within the same business.[2] When executed properly, the cross-functional team approach can bring together the knowledge and resources required for responding to new sourcing demands, something traditional functional structures are often incapable of doing. However, in a classic work 35 years ago, Likert noted that groups and teams can accomplish much that is good, or they can do great harm. There is nothing implicitly good or bad, weak or strong, about teams, regardless of where an organization uses them.[3] Because most firms expect to use teams to support procurement and sourcing decision making, it is important to understand how to effectively manage the cross-functional sourcing team process. Unfortunately, researchers who study teams rarely reach the same conclusions about the key factors affecting team success. The study of teams is complex because no two teams or organizations are the same. A factor affecting one team may have little impact on another. Each team is a unique entity displaying its own behavior and nuances. There is one variable, however, that exerts an unusually strong and consistent impact on team success - the effectiveness of the formal team leader. The purpose of this article is to examine the critical role that team leaders play and the challenges they face in a cross-functional sourcing team environment.[4] First, the article outlines the important relationship between leadership and other variables critical to the sourcing team process. Second, the specific responsibilities and requirements that sourcing team leaders must satisfy to be effective are discussed. The final section details three assessment scales used to help identify a sourcing team leader's behavioral style and ability to satisfy critical leadership requirements. The use of these scales highlights opportunities for development and growth at the team leader level. LINKAGE BETWEEN SOURCING TEAM LEADERSHIP AND TEAM SUCCESS Why should organizations concern themselves with team leadership? Does it really make that much difference? While many variables potentially affect cross-functional team success, the influence of the team leader is particularly important.[5] The team leader can affect a team's effort, cohesion, goal selection, and goal attainment. Further, only a formal team leader can perform many of the responsibilities associated with team leadership.[6] For example, the formal team leader almost always serves as the primary link between the team and the rest of the organization. Previous research relating leadership to team performance points out the absolute need for carefully selecting individuals who have the ability to satisfy the requirements and responsibilities of formal sourcing team leadership. Of all the variables potentially affecting a team, few exert as strong an influence on team performance as team leadership. This is true in part because the team leader is in a position to influence so many other variables that affect performance. An earlier study of sourcing teams identified a direct link between sourcing team leadership and other variables critical to team interaction and performance.[7] Overall, effective leadership demonstrates a strong and positive relationship to team performance. …

Enhancing Innovative Performance of Self-Directed Engineering Teams

Abstract: Based on a field study, this article investigates the characteristics of high-performing self-directed teams in technology-oriented work environments and the leadership style most conducive to innovative work group performance. Barriers and drivers critical to effective team performance are identified, and the relationship between the organizational work environment and innovative performance is analyzed. The study shows that effectively managing innovative engineering teams involves a complex set of variables related to the task, people, and organizational environment. The correlation of these variables to performance suggests that to be effective, team leaders must consider both the physical and the psychological environment of the project team to foster a work environment conducive to the team's needs.

How to make a team work: mediating effects of job satisfaction between leadership and team citizenship.

Abstract: This study examined how leadership causally related to team citizenship behavior. Three waves of data collection allowed causal analysis. Empowering leadership related directly to Team Citizenship....

Cross-cultural team building : guidelines for more effective communication and negotiation

Abstract: Introduction to cross-cultural team building the business of culture and the culture of business management and the structure of culture bridging the language gap through international networking culture change and team building in Hungary training Germans and Americans in conflict management team building in the United Nations team building in Asia diversity and team building reducing prejudice between unions and management leading and facilitating international teams facilitation skills for cross-cultural learning.

Psychiatrists as treatment team leaders: pitfalls and rewards

Abstract: The multidisciplinary treatment team has become a conventional component of inpatient psychiatric care delivery. Treatment team dynamics and their implications for the patient, the team members, the organization, and the team leader in particular have been generally understated in the training of psychiatrists, however, as has its value as a model for learning about administration. This article highlights the history and evolution of the multidisciplinary treatment team in psychiatry, the mix of mental health disciplines, philosophies, and roles involved, the characteristics of mental health care professionals, the conflicting manifest and latent work group tasks, and the dynamics and functions of team leadership. While reviewing information on which to base a systematic approach to team leadership, the author advocates for application of universal standards for education in administrative psychiatry including supervised leadership of multidisciplinary treatment teams and discussions of complimentary readings, examples of which are provided.

Towards an Anti-Racist Social Service Organization

Abstract: This paper outlines key concerns for social sendee agencies working toward the establishment of an anti-racist organization. The spectrum of barriers at the individual, client-professional, organizational and community levels will be presented. These issues will be surfaced for the purpose of alerting professionals and administrators to both the discrete and concomitant sets of multicultural issues that can affect an organization's functioning. Moving towards an anti-racist stance requires: (1) awareness of those issues impacting the agency's capacity for serviceability, psychological safety and a value added environment for the worker, the consumer and the neighboring community; and (2) a willingness to seek out expert consultation and information about a needed process of sustained diversity intervention.

Stage 3: Adventures in Team Teaching:

Abstract: This article examines the trials and tribulations of team teaching in the integrated MBA format. Beginning with a discussion of various forms and issues associated with team interdependence, it then addresses several key aspects of team teaching: differing teaching styles, sharing the workload, team grading, and team decision making. The article concludes with general observations about the team teaching process.

Ten Rules for Timely Task Completion in Cross-Functional Teams

Abstract: Corporate America is reinventing itself through the use of crossfunctional (CF) teams. But, the realization that teams-crossfunctional teams, particularly do not always work is slowly spreading (1). Any one or more of the following can derail a cross-functional team: team leadership, team's authority, goal clarity, boundary management, performance appraisal, rewards and recognition, interpersonal dynamics among team members, team size, and management support. What constitutes a failing or failed team effort? From a decision-making perspective, CF teams are assembled to make particularly complex decisions. A team's task is completed when all relevant decisions have been made, or when the team makes provisions for other entities to make decisions; for example, by delegation to individuals or smaller teams. A team's work cannot be considered complete or successful until the intended decisions have been made on time. There are several factors that impede progress toward decision making in teams. Our insight into cross-functional teamwork from four years of working with CF teams and studying them at our Center tells us that the following are impediments to decision making in such teams. Four Impediments 1. Seeking a consensus in all decisions. 2. No sense of deadline among all or some of the members of the team. 3. Seeking one global decision as opposed to making progress through incremental decision making; i.e., several smaller decisions that progressively lead to the completion of the team's entire task. 4. Locking team into a data collection or analysis mode and never moving on to a decision making mode; i.e., never making choices among alternatives. How could a team overcome these impediments to decision making? The role of team leaders is critical. First, leaders must recognize that these impediments can stop teams from making good and timely decisions. Team leaders may employ one or more of the rules described below to move CF teams toward their goals. The rules are based on our work with CF teams at the Thomas Walter Center for Technology Management, Auburn University. Ten Rules for Timely Task Completion 1. Nudge individual perspectives closer to a team perspective. (For example, engage the straying individual member in a dialogue during the meeting to help narrow the distance between his/her perspective and the team perspective. Continue the dialogue between meetings if needed.) 2. Maintain a concern for time. 3. Alert the team when it is seeking "vague and undefined perfect solution"-this could become a wild goose chase, with no end in sight. 4. Discourage the repeated explosion of distracting or marginal ideas after an issue has been discussed in great detail and the team is on the verge of making a decision, by coaxing team members to focus on the agreements reached so far. (If one difficult individual is the cause of distractions, use informal voting to determine if the entire group wants the discussion to deviate from its course-this is a useful tactic when the leader senses that most team members are not ready to discuss the distracting idea. …

Games Teams Play Dynamic Activities for Tapping work Team Potential

Abstract: Self-directed work teams. Task forces. Committees. Focus groups. Partnerships. ... These are the words of the '90s workplace. But once the teams are formed how do you turn these groups of individuals into effective, productive work teams? Managers and trainers are discovering that games and activities are the key to triggering team development. Games Teams Play provides everything you need to create a powerful team development session - whether in a half-hour meeting or a full day workshop the Team Fitness Test will take the pulse of each team to diagnose its strengths and pinpoint the areas that present opportunities for improvements; handouts, including worksheets, participant's notes, activity instructions, individual and group assessments; and overhead masters for use in your presentations. There are more that 50 games, exercises and activities to help groups develop the characteristics of high performance teams - shared leadership, strong communication, cohesiveness, and group synergy. These stimulating and easy-to-use activities have helped hundreds of groups become healthy work teams. Whether you are the manager, trainer, a human resources professional, team leader or individual team player you can help your teams to greater levels of achievements through Games Teams Play.

People Skills: Launching a Cooperative Learning Team

Abstract: In a recent guest column, the benefits of using cooperative learning methods to help students acquire people process skills while they learn were discussed. The fundamental building block of the active learning method is the cooperative learning team. Each learning team consists of a small number of students who share responsibility for actively leading and supporting each other in the learning process. Knowing how important the process of forming groups is to team building, I decided to write this article to provide teachers and students with some process guidelines from the discipline of group management and team development to help them launch their cooperative learning teams as quickly, easily, and effectively as possible.

How to get the most from team training

Abstract: Teams are championed to improve many aspects of organizational performance, including customer service, productivity, employee morale, and job satisfaction. But not all teams are successful. Recent studies show that one major cause of team failure is the lack of appropriate training for team members. Team training is most productive when it focuses on important behavioral and process subjects needed for group success. Additionally, training material is used most effectively when it is presented at a logical point during team development. This article discusses ways to develop superior team training programs and the proper sequencing of training content for effective application. It also presents a model training program based on the four recognized stages of team development.

Managers, leaders, and teams in a team-based environment.

Abstract: In order to succeed in today's dynamic environment, abundant with corporate restructuring and downsizing, into what must today's manager transform? Part of the answer lies in "leadership." Some managers are leaders, some leaders are managers, but the two are not synonymous. There are notable differences between managers and leaders, particularly in the role each plays in the transition towards organizations that are customer-focused, empowered, and team-based. The evolution towards team-based organizations begins with three different, concurrent transitions: of managers into leaders, of employees into teammates, and of functional hierarchical organizations into those of team empowerment.

Great teams build themselves

Abstract: Describes the process of team development, emphasizing the role of the team members. Notes the importance of “catalyst” team members and the need for pace in the development process and the meeting of objectives. Gives examples from the author’s experience and concludes that the process is a positive one, bringing worthwhile results.

The Relationship between Team Leader Behaviors and Team Performance and Satisfaction

Abstract: The purpose of this study, a quasi experimental design, was to investigate the relationship between team leader behavior and team performance and satisfaction. This field research tested leader behavior dimensions from two theoretical models of team effectiveness: Hackman's (1992) "expert available coaching," and Cohen's (1994) "encouraging supervisory behaviors." The relationship between coaching behaviors and team performance, employee, and customer satisfaction was assessed. Manager behavior was assessed with the SMT Leader Survey (Burress, 1994), an instrument determined appropriate for team environments, that measures Communication, Administration, Leadership, Interpersonal Skills, Thinking, and Flexibility. Employee satisfaction and performance information was archival data provided by the organization. The results demonstrated that leader behavior is a less important component of team effectiveness than initially expected. Even though direct customer interaction was 25% of these manager jobs and considered the organization's most important predictor of corporate profitability, no relationship between leader behavior and customer satisfaction was found. Among the key findings was, that while flexibility differentiated leader behavior more than any other scale, its relationship with both team performance and team satisfaction was negative. Interpersonal skills were positively associated with team performance, while leadership was positively associated with team performance and satisfaction. The SMT data were factor analyzed and formed into three factors. Two were historical leadership constructs: consideration (which correlated positively with employee satisfaction) and structure. A third factor, decisiveness, was negatively related to team performance. This research determined some essential skills for managing high performance teams and improving employee satisfaction. The results indicate that managers in a team environment may need to alter their roles if high performance and employee satisfaction are organizational objectives. Possibilities include building and developing the corporation's business, creating in depth relationships with customers, and establishing alliances and partnerships with other organizations. These roles will require new manager skills which have the potential to increase manager job satisfaction and augment manager value to the corporation.

Integrated Product Team Implementation and Leadership at the Program Level.

Abstract: : This thesis presents exploratory research that investigated how integrated product teams at the program office level are being implemented in response to Department of Defense policy Research data were gathered by conducting interviews with twenty participants from three teams representing two program offices Interviewees were queried about their experiences with integrated product teams relative to issues derived from research literature on effective teams: team implementation processes, mission and structure, training, team management, decision making and conflict resolution methods, and implementation challenges and pitfalls The research, though only a small sample size, revealed that program managers are consistent with what current teaming literature considers to be 'good teaming practices' in the areas of basic team structure and functional area mix, openness and participation in meetings, and the administration of team meetings The research also identified practices or problems that the research literature suggests limits team success such as the lack of: team consistency and stability, team specific training, team self-assessment and evaluation methods, and the absence of formal feedback mechanisms Mixed findings were revealed in the areas of empowerment, team self-management, decision making and conflict resolution processes, and support for the teaming concept by senior management

Facilitation skills for team development

Abstract: What are facilitation skills? what is a team? development through facilitation understanding team members being clear about objectives setting the contract identifying issues clarifying and dealing with problems summarizing skills agreeing action dealing with problems with the team a seven-step process for team facilitation an exercise in using the seven-step method keeping on track reviewing the team's performance.

Transitioning to Teams

Abstract: Every person in a medium- to large-size organization hears the word team or team building at least once every day. No less than 50 books praise the business worthiness of teams or team building in modern organizations. Americans have latched on to the concept “team” because the Japanese and the Europeans have used “teams” to improve productivity, customer satisfaction, and return on investment. Business, organizational, and psychological magazines and journals offer 20-point leads about the success of teams.