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Team Dynamics and Decision Making
Team dynamics when making decisions
Team Dynamics and Decision Making
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Manger-led teams present a unique influence on the phenomenon of anchoring in both positive and negative ways. Although typically a detrimental situation to effective teamwork, anchoring, as apparent in the eBay situation, carries certain benefits as well.
The composition of the eBay team demonstrated the way in which a leader can influence the team toward quick effective decision making while creating a positive team environment.
Most decisions made by the team were initiated as Tim introduced the concern to the group along with an opinion, anchoring the team. He then would ask an individual team member for an opinion or suggestion. Consistent in every situation observed, the team members suggestion was in direct harmony with Tim's and was accepted immediately. One decision the team made was how long a specific team objective was going to take. Instead of directly asking the team the question, he manipulated it by phrasing it in a strategic way. He asked, "How long do you think this is going to take, two weeks?" By suggesting a specific time period, Tim is able to anchor the entire team and still allow for individual contribution thus creating crucial team ownership and accountability for collective decisions. He is able to create the appearance of a team decision while still maintaining a certain level of control over the group decision.
The anchoring phenomenon in manager-led groups does not exist, however, without negative consequences. While the leader is able to essentially control decisions of the group by anchoring opinions around his/her own, he/she diminishes the fundamental benefit of teamwork itself.
The suggestion of two weeks in the previous eBay example may have influenced the team members to withhold their actual ideas and opinions for two possible reasons. One, Tim is the manager of each team member responsible for their career advancement, bonuses and salary. Members of the team are reluctant to offer opinions contrary to the leaders when there is not an open and comfortable environment for disagreement.
Secondly, there is an increased opportunity for social loafing centered around decision making. As long as the manger of the team is willing to make initial opinions upon which the majority of decisions are made, individual team members will be less and less likely to invest time and effort into developing unique ideas that may be in contradiction.
Comparable to normative influence of group dynamics, a certain fear of exclusion from the group may occur as individual members express contrasting opinions to the team and more specifically the team leader.
To remind people in an organization why they belong takes continued focus on a common goal or common belief. By having one main function, a group is generally more effective than if everyone has different ideas and outlooks on specific topics. However, to keep everyone on the same page, the members of a group need to accurately know where they stand in reference to their goal. One way to do this is through social facilitation. This is the concern of self image through the presence of other people. It's a concept that allows members to know the acceptable opinions of the group. Someone who agrees to the ideas set out from the organization. "Group polarization is the concept of changing personal opinions to extremities after a group discussion.(Johnson 13)" This concept eliminates members who aren't sure what they think of the group's purpose. They decide that either they agree completely or they disagree completely. Either way it means they decide if they are in or out after the group discussion. A common goal is one way to distinguish and separate the devoted members from the questionable individuals in a group.
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 ...
“The team is faced with creating cohesion and unity, differentiating roles, identifying expectations for members, and enhancing commitment. Providing supportive feedback and fostering commitment to a vision are needed from the team leaders (Developing Management Skills).” ... ... middle of paper ... ...
Teamwork defines an effective leader for it shows their concern for their fellow Soldiers or supporters for a standard course (Yoong, 2010). Leaders all subordinate interaction through the generation of ideas in a free environment. Such an environment offer space for engagement and is a central point for harnessing support from all quarters. It gives room for the opposition and minorities to present their criticism and alternative ideas being part of the team. The team feels secure to take risks in such an environment while engaging in transparency and accountable dealings. Such a team presents a platform for all to interact as equals without any feeling as a subordinate due to their position in the organizational
Increasingly businesses are capitalizing on the benefits of teamwork. The adage that two heads are better than one, and four heads are better then two, appears to be a proven fact as more teams are formed and team dynamics are refined through increased management of conflict resolution.
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...
Within the paper, both authors discuss how a leader or team can balance the need for open discussion early in the decision-making process with the need for unity at the end. By using an Inquiry style decision-making process, teams can openly express their own interest and ideas. The teams stay away from trying to persuade others to take any one individuals point of view, but to decide on what is the overall best course of action. This process allows the team to express their ideas without the bickering and fighting that comes with an Advocacy style process. The team stays unified and satisfied that their opinions were heard and put into consideration.
Larson, C. and LaFasto, F. (1989), Teamwork: What Must Go Right/What Can Go Wrong. Newberry Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
According to Toseland and Rivas (2005), group dynamics are “the forces that result from the interactions of group members” (p. 64). These forces refer to either the negative or positive influences towards meeting members’ socioemotional needs as well as goal attainment within a group (Toseland & Rivas, 2005), like within my class work group experience. Some of dynamics that continue to emerge and develop in my group is the effective interaction patterns and strong group cohesion, which has generated positive outcomes and group achievement thus far.
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.
Organizations in today’s society are adopting a team based structure in their approach to tackle company’s challenges, problems and issues. Team based success stories include Hallmark who had a 200% reduction in design time, which allowed for the introduction of 23,000 new card lines in a single year (Janasz, Dowd, Schneider, 2006). But in saying all this there is a factor which causes the positive effect of team work and team cohesiveness to be affected and that is social loafing. Social loafing is more likely to occur in large teams from 3 members onwards, and is where members in the team apply less effort than when working as an individual. Social loafing appears within every team one way or another, even if it’s in a high functioning or dysfunctional environment (Murphy, Wayne Linden, Erdogan, 1992). Research has shown that a combined team performance required less effort by individuals than if they were to work alone, and therefore the social loafer in the team is able to profit from the work of the others without exerting any of their potential. “Loafers and free riders are allowed to benefit because, in each case, the outcome of the group performance…is shared equally by all group members, regardless of their input.” (Weldon and Mustari 1988, p.33)
Group decision making has many benefits for the individuals involved and the organization itself. In order for group decision making to be efficient, it is important for a creative environment to exist. “Creativity is the mental and social process used to generate ideas, concepts and associations that lead to the exploration of new ideas (May, 2011, para.3). This allows each employee to explore ideas and feel comfortable to share them without fear of rejection.
In a team-oriented setting, everyone contributes to how well the group succeeds overall. You work with fellow members of the group to complete the work that needs to be done. Having the right people in the correct roles is an important factor in measuring the success of a team, where you are united with the other members to complete the main goals. Every group is made up of definite strengths and weaknesses. Our team's 3-5 major strengths necessary to work accordingly consist of Informer, Summarizer, Orienter, Piggy-Backer, and Encourager. One of our strengths as a team is that we get input from everyone involved. Every member of our team is a leader in some way. Part of being a good leader is knowing how important it is to receive the best ideas from each member of their team. We attend group meetings where we discuss any challenges, issues, and problems. At these meetings, we often exchange ideas or brainstorm new ones with each other and come up with the best and most creative team solutions as potential answers to those perceived problems.
Teams are a major source of companies in these coming years. Teams are Heroes (Collins, 2009-08-27). Everyone wants to be a hero, therefore we need to build, follow, and be effective team members and effective team leaders.
Several experiments and researches have been conducted that have focused on how people behave in groups. The findings have revealed that groups affect peoples’ attitudes, behavior and perceptions. Groups are essential for personal life, as well as in work life.