Building team

Building Team “ The three stages of the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory correlate with the four phases of teambuilding: forming, storming, norming, and performing” (Putko, 2006, p. 3). Selection of a leader forms the team, assignment of roles and responsibilities to team members is storming, development of ethical principles and rules is norming, and supervision of their performance and dealing with the challenges encountered along the way is performing.
Every team needs a leader since “ Team Building is the process of enabling that group of people to reach their goal” (Team Technology, 2012). Probably, the unsuccessful managers are leaving it up to the team members to select the leader amongst themselves. When this happens, the process of selection of the team leader may become complicated as there is just one post and contenders are many. In other cases, everybody is reluctant to be a leader since more authority comes with more responsibility. When the benefits of having more authority are not much, there is not much attraction in becoming a leader. To avoid these complications, it is a good practice for the manager to select the leader from among the team members himself/herself. In addition to simplifying the process, this would add to the credibility and reliability of the leader in the view of the followers since the manager placed his/her confidence in the individual selected as the leader.
Selection of the team members is a technical process, and requires knowledge of the individual talents of members by the selector to form the right team. The managers should select diverse team members having different kinds of skills and talents to avoid repetition of skills and fights over roles (National Institute for Urban School Improvement, 2005, p. 3).
Conflict management in teamwork is of prime importance. A team comprises people with conflicting views and opinions, so they may frequently erupt into dysfunctional conflicts, thus, affecting their own, as well as the team’s, performance as a whole in a negative way. Goof practices in conflict management are full-time monitoring, and establishment of a formal or informal code of ethics from day one. It is primarily the leader’s responsibility to explain the followers which behaviors are intolerable or unacceptable and might incur the executor’s liabilities and/or penalties and what behaviors are good enough to make the executor entitled to reward and appreciation. In addition, it is useful to document a procedure of arriving at a solution in times of conflict of views. “ The procedure might specify that decisions are made, first by aiming for consensus within a certain time frame and if consensus is not achieved, then the group resorts to a majority vote” (managementhelp. org, n. d.).
Motivation of the team members plays a key role in their productivity and efficiency as a team. To keep the team members motivated, it is imperative that they are provided with the right environment with the right principles to work. Leaders can increase the motivation of team members by increasing their involvement and engagement in the decision-making process, respecting the followers and taking care of them, and rewarding them upon the display of good conduct and/or achievement of the goals assigned to them. “ The leader alone should not set the goal, suggestions should be invited from one and all and issues must be discussed on an open forum” (managementstudyguide. com, 2012).
To conclude, teamwork starts with the selection of the team-leader because there has to be someone to take the responsibility of keeping the team on the right track. The unsuccessful managers can enhance the teams’ performance by self-selecting the team-leaders, formulating the code of ethics for the teams, assigning team members roles, resolving conflicts, and motivating the team members.
References
managementhelp. org. (n. d.). All About Team Building. Retrieved from
http://managementhelp. org/groups/team-building. htm
managementstudyguide. com. (2012). Role of Team Leader in Team Building. Retrieved
from http://www. managementstudyguide. com/role-of-team-leader. htm
National Institute for Urban School Improvement. (2005). The Building Leadership
Team. University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. Retrieved from http://www. urbanschools. org/pdf/onPOINTS. building. leadership. team. pdf
Putko, C. C. J. (2006). Teambuilding: A Strategic Leader Imperative. Retrieved
from http://www. strategicstudiesinstitute. army. mil/pdffiles/ksil469. pdf
Team Technology. (2012). Team Building – A Complete Guide. Retrieved from
http://www. teamtechnology. co. uk/tt/h-articl/tb-basic. htm