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Team dynamics and resolving conflict
Team dynamics and resolving conflict
Team dynamics and resolving conflict
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Overview of the Main Concepts of Team Leadership
According to Northouse (2012), team leadership has become one of the most popular theories of leadership research. A team refers to a group of employees within an organization, who are interdependent of each, and share a common goal which can only be realized through coordination of their activities. Actually, this can be attributed to the fact that team members typically have dissimilar and unique roles that represent critical contributions to collective action. It goes without mentioning that a team can either be virtual or non-virtual (Tiffan, 2014).
A team leader refers to an employee who facilitates the activities of a team, for instance, by working collaboratively with them in a manner that helps ensure that tasks assigned to the team by an organization’s management are accomplished effectively and efficiently. Perhaps it’s imperative to mention that the roles of a team leader include guiding, instructing and offering directions based on an organization’s mission and vision (Northouse, 2012).
In essence, a strong team leadership creates an influence that helps strengthen others so as to achieve team excellence which can only be attained if a team leader has the capability to stimulate a group with aligned outcomes; essentially this includes both affective as well as developmentally based team outcomes (Tiffan, 2014). Much research has been focused primarily on the solutions to organizational problems that face teams, and thus this has gone a long way in creating a platform that guarantees team success while avoiding failure. For instance, current researches are focused on team variables like bonding, and the relationship between behavioral, affective and cognitive processes ...
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... or face to face in the case of virtual and non-virtual teams, respectively, as well as quick response to conflicting issues (Shuffler et.al., 2010).
The Importance of Communication, Conflict Resolution and Geographical Issues
Communication, conflict resolution and geographical issues play an important role in enabling team leaders to lead effectively. Kouzes and Posner (2012) outline that good communication allows members of both virtual and non-virtual teams and their leader to exchange ideas that foster collaboration among members. This actually enables team leaders to resolve conflicts that often arise from conflicting ideas, and hence this enhances the development and adoption of solutions to geographical issues like cultural conflicts. A team with good communication, limited conflict and a few issues can excel in nearly every sector of the global economy.
From the author’s perspective there are certain factors needed to build a strong team to overcome the obstacles the team faces. Davis, the author, thought that one of the factors necessary to build a strong team is to have a leader who can motivate the team to do their best. Another factor that the author thinks is necessary to have in the team is to have cooperation among the team
An effective team typically develops through several stages. Tuckman and Jensen developed a model for how teams should develop that includes five stages: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (as cited in Martin ,2006 and Fulk, Bell,& Bodie ,2011). In forming, the first stage in team development, team members are introduced to the team’s purpose and goals(Martin, 2006 ; Fulk et al. ,2011). Fulk et al. (2011) explain that members are usually motivated and excited about working together to accomplish the specific goal, but they point out that interactions among team members can be affected by uncertainty about purpose, anxiety, mistrust ,and reluctance to share ideas and opinions. Nevertheless, despite such uncertainties, team members usually avoid conflict and move on to the next stage, storming(Fulk et al.,2011). Unlike the forming stage, the storming stage is marked by conflict (Martin...
A virtual team refers to a collection of collaborating persons in geographically dispersed means. This group of persons do work across space, time and organizational boundaries and are connected together via information and telecommunication technologies in order to accomplish one or more organizational goals. The virtual teams do require new array of ways to work across boundaries through processes, systems, technology and people. This does require effective leadership in order to be a success.
This article examines the relationship between transformational leadership, cognitive trust, and collective efficacy, in addition to the impact of these variables has on team performance. With the increasing competition in every market, organizations are using teams as the key feature of sustainable competitive advantage. Organizations continue to highlight how forming teams are crucial to their success and that team performance impacts their bottom-line. While team performance is critical to organizational success, the team leader is the dominant one to ascertain the group’s performance. Meaning, leaders must possess the required leadership styles and techniques to discern how to build great teams. One of the most popular theories of leadership
It is proven that teams who work well together perform and have a higher rate of success compared to teams who do not work well together or communicate with each other. A recent article with regards to leadership discussed the topic of group cohesion and how this is a factor for success. The article discussed several situations, one about a business company, one about a sports team and one about a military operation. The article closely analyzed the leaders of the three situations and discussed the similarities and differences between the three. The main similarity between was there focus on cohesion. The article contained facts about how the business was operating and how that in recent years, production and sales as increased drastically, and one factor for this increase was the CEO implemented a mandatory team building exercise each
Team Dynamics - Conflict Resolution Strategies People work in groups or teams every day, whether in their career, education, political organization, church, or any other social setting. Conflict while working in teams or groups is inevitable. When taking people of different backgrounds, personalities, moral and ethical beliefs, and putting them together in a group, conflict will arise. The key to achieving your team goals is to construct and conquer your goals while keeping the greater good of the team in mind. Conflict, as it arises, should be combated and abated through swift and thorough resolution techniques.
When we think of the word team, individually many different ideas may come to mind about what a team really is. Some may think of an NFL team (Tennessee Titans), an NBA team (Sacramento Kings), or a NASA astronaut team with such pioneers as Edwin Aldrin, Jr. and Neil Armstrong as members. You might even think of the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, or Marines as teams. In fact they all are, and they have a great deal in common as teams. However, for the purposes of this paper I will examine the characteristics of work teams, as they apply to organizations and I will supply answers to the following questions: What is a team? Where did the team concept come from? What are the types of teams? What are the advantages and disadvantages of having teams in organizations? What does it take to make a team effective?
Mortensen, M., & Hinds, P. (2001). CONFLICT AND SHARED IDENTITY IN GEOGRAPHICALLY DISTRIBUTED TEAMS. International Journal of Conflict Management (1997-2002), 12(3), 212-238. doi:10.1108/eb022856
West, M.A. (2004) Effective Teamwork: practical lessons from organization research. 2nd ed., Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Limited.
Team leader tend to participate more at this stage than in the early stages. Team members can be expected to assume greater responsibility for decision-making and their professional behaviour.
In conclusion, I believe despite the fact that virtual team member and leaders face unique challenges, they revolutionizing the global workforce. If done correctly and with strong leadership, virtual teams can increase productivity, lower costs and save precious time for organizations and businesses and their clients.
In order to enhance a virtual team during a project you must know to effectively communicate. Being a leader of a virtual team the communication skill is extremely different, in a way its less influential. In a non-traditional workplace leaders speak volumes through their voice and body while present while virtual leaders are normally just sitting behind a computer monitor and the interpersonal or edge in a way is now lost. The skill of being able to enhance that skill is impertinent to have established.
I am used to being part of a team. Throughout my life, I have participated in collaborative activities including volunteer organizations, school projects, and theater productions. I have always enjoyed being in these groups no matter what position I was in. Working with several people to accomplish a common goal is one of life’s most rewarding experiences. Up until a certain point, however, I had never been the leader of a team.
Getting the most out of teamwork Day, The Daily Telegraph, 11, p.004. Carte, T., et al. (2006) Emergent Leadership in Self-managed Virtual Teams: A Longitudinal Concentrated and Shared Leadership Behaviour, Group Decision and Negotiation, 15(4), p.323-343. Nedelko, Z. (2007)
Team leadership requires different communication and leadership roles. According to Hackman and Johnson, there are many contrasts between a working group and a team. The important differences include shared leadership roles, discussing, deciding, and doing the actual work together rather than separate, having a specific team purpose, and encouraging open-ended discussion (p.217). This is opposed to group work, which emphasizes a clear, focused leader, delegation, running meetings, individual accountability, and having more of a general purpose (p.217). A leader must be aware of the group versus team situation in order to effectively communicate and achieve the overall