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competent team players who fit together socially.
Not surprisingly, teams perform better when individual
members are intelligent and hardworking. The inclusion of a single
team member who is disagreeable or highly emotional has also been
shown to harm teams. This has pushed many organizations to hire
employees who will be good team players. However, when pushed to
define what it means to be a team player, organizational leaders
often respond that they want outgoing, social people. But do they
really want an entire team of extraverts? Probably not.
The potential benefits of a team member's personality traits often
depend on the traits of other team members. A team of all extraverts
experiences internal battles for leadership and control. A team
of no extraverts often lacks initiative and internal leadership.
Research suggests that teams perform best when they consist of about
half extraverts and half introverts. Team members should be chosen
not only for their technical competence but also for their fit among
other team members.
Develop
healthy conflict within teams.
Should you argue with your spouse? This question
draws some interesting responses. Some people say that conflict
is inevitable, and people are harmed if they don't express it. Others
respond that expressing conflict creates more conflict, which results
in a dangerous, downward spiral. The real answer often lies in the
type of conflict. Affective conflict, which is feeling or emotion
based, is almost always detrimental. Cognitive conflict, which is
idea or viewpoint based, is usually beneficial.
Affective conflict arises when members experience personality clashes
and become angry. This type of conflict is always harmful, because
it limits the sharing of information and opinions. Affective conflict
also wastes time and energy. Teams perform best when they develop
norms that do not allow team members to express this kind of conflict.
Cognitive conflict occurs when team members have different opinions
about how work should be accomplished. This type of conflict can
be beneficial, particularly for teams performing creative work.
Task conflict helps teams explore various options and see issues
from multiple perspectives. Teams with at least moderate levels
of task conflict tend to evaluate more information and make better
decisions.
A problem most teams face, however, is making sure that cognitive
conflict does not turn into affective conflict. Difficulties arise
when team members perceive issue-based conflict as personal attack.
Trust among team players is the key to making sure this doesn't
happen. Team members who trust one another are able to engage in
cognitive conflict without wrongly assuming each other's motives.
Trust is built by respecting competence, keeping commitments, and
speaking truthfully. Effective discussion techniques such as keeping
voices civil in tone and volume, avoiding value-laden statements,
and eliminating emotional content help assure that cognitive conflict
doesn't digress to affective conflict.
Make
leadership matter.
Leadership approaches vary along two dimensions:
autocratic–democratic and active–passive. Autocratic leaders are
controlling and seek to impose their will on the team. Democratic
leaders allow teams to make critical decisions and determine their
own courses of action. Active leaders are highly engaged in the
day-to-day activities of teams. Passive leaders serve more as resources
and tend to be somewhat removed from the everyday activities of
the team.
 Autocratic
leadership is generally not beneficial for the long-term success
of teams. However, because democratic and passive leadership are
sometimes confused as being identical, many organizations assume
that active forms of leadership should also be discouraged. The
key to team leadership success is to assure democratic influence
and then move along the active–passive continuum as the environment
and skills of the team change.
Active, democratic leadership is essential in the early phases of
team development. Through the actions and example of a leader, team
members learn how to lead themselves. They learn such skills as
goal setting, communication, and problem solving. As team players
master these skills, the leader's role becomes more passive. Leadership
in day-to-day activities is no longer necessary, but the leader
still plays an essential role in serving as a role model and linking
the team to other parts of the organization.
Adopting teams does not mean a decreased emphasis on leadership.
In fact, leadership becomes even more important. In most cases,
the nature of appropriate influence becomes more democratic. Nevertheless,
teams often fail when organizations move directly to passive forms
of influence without first utilizing active leadership to build
skills. The end goal may be to help the team lead itself, but the
process of getting there requires the active involvement of a leader.
Winning
Results
All teams should not be created equal. These five
strategies for team success rely on the understanding that winning
teams often take on different characteristics depending on their
environment and objectives. Teams should be strategically designed
to fit their surroundings and tasks. Once formed, teams should be
encouraged to develop positive norms for conflict management and
should have democratic leadership that will teach the skills necessary
for team players to manage and lead themselves. Implementing these
tactics will give teams the competitive advantage they need to beat
the odds and succeed.
Greg L. Stewart, associate professor of organizational
behavior, joined the Marriott School faculty in 1999 after having
taught at Vanderbilt University for six years. His areas of expertise
include team management, facilitation and group process, human resource
management, organizational behavior, and worker empowerment. He
earned his BS in business administration from BYU in 1989 and his
PhD in human resource management at Arizona State University in
1993. For more information about his research on work team structure
and performance, email greg_stewart@byu.edu.
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