Larson and lafasto eight characteristics of effective teams

Faulkner University Performance Improvement of an Organizational Team Discussion
Subject
Business Finance

School
Faulkner University

Question Description
Prior to beginning work on this discussion, read Chapter 14 (Northouse, 2018 - attached) and Chapter 2 of Oededekoven (2018). Locate the eight team effectiveness indicators (Northouse, 2018).

Develop a strategy to use two out of eight indicators to improve the performance of an organizational team that you have observed or were part of during your career. In support of your strategy also incorporate at least one of Oededekoven’s (2018) six C’s of teamwork into your discussion. Your discussion post should be 250 words. APA format.14.1 Description Work teams are very prevalent in today’s organizations. The reliance on teams is due partia lly to increasingly complex tasks, moreglobalization, and the flattening of organizational str uctures. A team is a type of organizational group that is composed of members who areinte rdependent, who share common goals, and who must coordinate their activities to accompl ish these goals. Team members must workcollectively to achieve their goals. Examples of or ganizational teams include senior executive teams, project management teams, task forces, work units, standing committees, quality teams, and improvement teams. Teams can be loc ated in the same place meeting face-toface, orthey can be geographically dispersed “virtual” teams meeting across time and distan ce via various forms of communication technology.Teams can also be hybrids of face-toface and virtual teams with some members being colocated and some being dispersed. The exactdefinition of which organizational group is a te am or not is constantly evolving as organizations confront the many new forms ofcontempo rary collaboration (Wageman, Gardner, & Mortensen, 2012). The study of organizational teams has focused on strategies for maintaining a competitive a dvantage. Teambased organizations have fasterresponse capability because of their flatter organizational s tructures, which rely on teams and new technology to enable communicationacross time an d space (Porter & Beyerlein, 2000). These newer organizational structures have been referr ed to as “team-based andtechnologyenabled” (Mankin, Cohen, & Bikson, 1996). A majority of multinational companies are depe nding on virtual teams, or teams thatare geographically dispersed and rely on technology t o interact and collaborate (Muethel, Gehrlein, & Hoegl, 2012). Such teams allowcompanies t o (1) use the best talent across the globe, (2) facilitate collaboration across time and space, and (3) reduce travel costs (Paul,Drake, & Liang, 2016). These virtual teams face more diffi culty with members separated by time, distance, and culture. They often have lesstrust, mo re conflict, and more subgroup formation. In virtual teams, face-toface communication is rare, with decisions and schedulingtaking more time. With the devel opment of social media, new communication technologies, and software applications for m eetingmanagement, virtual teams have richer and more realistic communication environm ents where collaboration is facilitated (Schmidt, 2014;Schouten, van den Hooff, & Feldberg, 2016; Scott, 2013). The organizational teambased structure is an important way for organizations to remain competitive by responding quickly and adaptingto constant, rapid changes. Studies of both face-toface and virtual teams have increasingly become focused on team processes and teamoutco mes (Ilgen, Hollenbeck, Johnson, & Jundt, 2005; Thomas, Martin, & Riggio, 2013). Also, rese archers focused on the problems workteams confront as well as how to make these work te ams more effective (Ilgen, Major, Hollenbeck, & Sego, 1993). Effective organizationalteams l ead to many desirable outcomes, such as • greater productivity, • more effective use of resources, • better decisions and problem solving, • better-quality products and services, and • greater innovation and creativity (Parker, 1990). However, for teams to be successful, the organizational culture needs to support member i nvolvement. The traditional authority structureof many organizations does not support dec ision making at lower levels, and this can lead to the failure of many teams. Teamwork is an example of lateral decision making as opposed to the traditional vertical decision making th at occurs in the organizational hierarchy basedon rank or position in the organization. The dynamic and fluid power shifting in teams has been referred to as heterarchy (Aime, Hump hrey,DeRue, & Paul, 2014). Such power shifting within teams can lead to positive outcomes as long as team members see these shifting sourcesof power as legitimate. Teams will have great difficulty in organizational cultures that are not supportive of such collaborative wor k anddecision making.