Analyzing Leading and Building Effective Team Term Paper

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teams have become the central focus for organizations in delivery of services, there is a persistent effort to incorporate the principle in major educational and training programs, including performance models. Team role is viewed as a way of pursuing cooperation with co-workers for the good of the company. The team leader therefore plays a critical role in establishing the proper working chemistry between the employees. This requires managing their emotions and maintaining focus on the common goal (Othman, Abdullah and Ahmad, 2009).

Leadership is often viewed from three windows, i.e. transactional leadership, transformational leadership and eco-visionary leadership. The typical transactional leader is one that deals with the follower in an overbearing, domineering rater bartering way. This type of leadership focuses on the primary aim that employees have for working. A transactional leader is one that responds to the self-interest of his followers. He seeks to reward the employees if their output is worthwhile. On the other hand, a transformational leader is one that seeks to encourage employees to go beyond their call of duty and focus on the team's wellness and the overall organizational success. Such a leader seeks to stimulate awareness of the central focus and the essence of achieving the set organizational objectives and goals. Both of the mentioned leadership styles make significant set of the power position or authority in the course of rendering their service. These types of leadership approaches are best suited for traditional organizations.

An eco-visionary leader has two identifiable characteristics, i.e. focus on positive relationship between an organization and the environment and the ability to recreate identities that can enhance the surroundings within which an organization operates. The leader bears visionary qualities that are essential for providing the optimum environmental circumstances for an organization to operate without hindrance. Such a leader sets up the ideal ecological fit for an organization (Bonner, 2010).

The Significance of Setting Up Strong Teams

Teamwork has, indeed, led to a lot of changes in strategic planning by organizations. It is an essential ingredient when such decisions are made. Companies explore teamwork models with the ultimate objective of gaining a head start or advantage over competitors in the changing business environment. For strategic decision making to have maximum impact, there must be productive exchange of information and ideas amongst the team members. In order for teamwork to succeed, team members must recognize their respective role in the final function of the whole team. There is need for collaboration in the process of decision making.

Why Literature Review Is Critical

In order to achieve critical objectives, institutions depend on teams' success. Available literature on teams cites that the success of teams is influenced by a multiplicity of factors. Stimuli at teal level including team leadership influence the behavior of members in a significant way. Individuals can play an essential role towards the growth of teams in various respects.

The effectiveness of the team role is explored including motivation so as to establish their relationship and how team building processes should be done. Team cognition; a key factor in performance is also examined.

Key Themes

The authors of the articles have centered on specific key issues:

Motivation for teams

The effect of good leadership on the team

The factors that influence positive team building

The impact of social factors in team building

Similarities and Differences Cited on the Themes Discussed by the Authors

Research points out that positive team behavior allows for the establishment of a collective efficacy of the team; which in turn boosts the performance of the team. That fact notwithstanding, little research is available with regard to the relationship between team cognition and collective efficacy. There is a concurrence among researchers, though, that team cognition closely links to team performance and the affective states of team motivation. The authors share the view that team members share three basic characteristics, i.e. contribution, subordination and representation.

On the other hand, some views seem to contradict. Team leadership is viewed differently by various authors. The approach of the leader towards change points out how they handle change. The possible reactions to a scenario like this one range from resistance, initiating change to welcoming it. Flexible leaders love change. They encourage it. Such leaders seize change as an opportunity to address customer concerns and to assist such customers deal with market changes and turbulence. An agile team leader is proactive in informing team members of impending change and the importance of embracing it (Bonner, 2010).

The Need for Vision and Strategies

Every organization requires a vision if strategic planning is to commence in a right note. If such vision is shared among team members, it will be instrumental in the setting of the team goals.

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A vision is a strong motivator for team members. They work towards a clear course. A vision feeds the plan of action for the team.

A successful vision resonates well with the members. It encourages them because it stirs their urge to compete. A vision instills a feeling and zeal to make a difference at work. It outlines the essence of an organization's existence. Consequently, it is rational that when a team leader bears a strong vision for the team, all players are carried in the vision and are almost obsessed with the cause.

Vision helps members place their eyes on the central common aim and encourages action with a clear purpose. Loyalty is built by involvement of all team members. The result is a clear purpose, identity and clear excellence standards that are anchored on integrity and common ideals. A good vision persuades rather than imposes. This is the perfect recipe for an enthusiastic team. A good vision must be clearly stated. It must be precise in order to be understood. If this happens, team members will easily align to its purpose and work towards achieving it. A good vision is a precursor to efficiency and subsequent productivity- it is a realization of the organization's unique strengths (Evolution Training, n.d).

The Internal and External Factors that Influence Teams

Managing a team successfully is a hard task. It entails complex processes. There are many factors that influence team building and management, even from the onset. Some of the common factors include: commitment, leadership, conflict, cultural values, quality management, ability, skill levels and satisfaction. Emotional intelligence has been cited to be a critical factor in the success of teams and their management. This aspect of team success has a bearing on the level of team success in life and at the work place. It is this type of intelligence that enables people to positively interact with the environment. It has a relationship with academic performance.

The main factors that influence team success are communication and conflict. Conflicts rock the boat. Those in conflict lose focus of the central aim. Team leaders should device ways of handling conflict with immediacy. It is the only way to refocus before losing too much precious time.

Effective teams are built at two levels, i.e. team to team communication and leader to team communication. Team leaders should encourage open communication between team members so as to enhance their learning to communicate with each other when need arises. Such encouragement spans both formal and informal communication. There should be regular training of members in order to enhance their ability to deliver. Leaders should also hold regular meetings with members so as to update the players on new developments or information that is essential to the team (Van den Bossche, Gijselaers, Segers and Kirschner, 2011).

Both negative and positive emotions influence teams significantly. Open communication is key here. When a positive affective tone was used, absenteeism was reported to be lower. When there was little negativity in teams, members tended to be ready to help each other. When intra-group relationship was positive, it was linked to the patterns of cooperation and management of conflict. Both trends were associated with confusing and contentious patterns while the negative affective feelings were linked to avoidance tendencies (Shahhosseini, Silong, Ismaill and Uli, 2012).

Although there has been significant progress in studying motivation in teams, there are still questions that beg for answers. It is not clear what really encourages some team members to contribute both knowledge and time to the betterment of the team while others do not find it as easy. We still do know when teams should exert contextual influence on members so as to encourage them to contribute.

Team leadership and the norms often influence the behavior of members. If we are to succeed in overcoming the inherent gap in teams, leaders should explore the tested models that show when and how team members' states of motivation relate to stimuli for empowering leadership and conflict relationship. Team level influences that are negative represent another gap. Negative influences and stressors make team members lose focus and disengage from productive activities for the team and the organization in general (Chen, Sharma, Edinger, Shapiro and Farh, 2011).

Finally, the cognitive perspective emphasizes the essence of group work….....

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