Discussion: Shared Practice: Forming a Team and Selecting the Members

Many organizations rely on the belief that teams automatically add value by being more creative and productive than the aggregated efforts of individuals. However, J. Richard Hackman asserts that leaders cannot always depend on teams to magically come together, work well together, and perform above and beyond the aggregate efforts of individuals. Instead, Hackman argues teams more frequently underperform than excel. This occurs when leadership does not clearly define the team in terms of membership, the team does not have a clear purpose for being together, unstructured in terms of tasks and norms, or reward structure in place does not facilitate teamwork (Coutu, 2009).

Thus, for teams to be successful, managers have to build teams conscientiously and deliberately. For this Shared Practice, place yourself in the role of the manager who has to assemble a team to work on an important project. Managers need to carefully consider the need and types of resources for the team, the characteristics of the team members and the behaviors that lead to productive teams.

Response based on your own experience, observations, and this week's content that addresses the following:

1. Describe three characteristics/behaviors of individual team members that you think are most important for establishing a collaborative team environment. Explain why you selected these characteristics/behaviors, how they contributes to a functioning team, and provide an example of each, based on your experience or your readings this week.

2. Describe three characteristics/behaviors of individual team members that you think are most likely to lead to team dysfunction or lack of collaboration. Explain why you selected these characteristics/behaviors and provide an example of each based on your experience or your readings this week. Include suggestions on how to mitigate or manage the impact of these characteristics/behaviors on the functioning of the team.

3. As a manager, explain what you would do specifically to create an environment in which teams are more likely to be productive and successful. Include steps you would take, as a manager, to monitor how well the team is functioning and how your strategies are impacting the team productivity and success?

Read a selection of your colleagues' posts.

Two or more of your colleagues' postings in one or more of the following ways:

1. Compare what your colleague describes to the teams on which you have served. How would you contrast the characteristics of team members with whom you enjoyed working with those where you struggled to get along and work effectively? What have you observed about what makes teams function and what managers have done to ensure that they do? What actions have you taken when you have had to work with team members that you did not like or that did not fulfill their responsibilities to the team?

2. If you were the manager of the team envisioned by your colleague, how will you monitor the health of the team? What specific things would you do to manage situations where the team is not functioning? How would you structure team evaluations in such a way that individuals have personal accountability for their contributions to a project?