Northouse: Leadership
Chapter 12: Team Leadership
- one of the most popular and rapidly growing areas of leadership theory and practice.
- history of study of groups
1920s/30s- focus of human relations movement on collaborative efforts at work
1940s- focus on study of group dynamics, development of social science theory
1950s- focus on sensitivity training and T-groups, role of leadership in groups
1960s/70s- organizational development, focus on developing team and leadership effectiveness
1980s- global competition, focus on quality teams, benchmarking, continuous improvement
1990s- focus on org teams, global perspective, org strategies for competitive advantage
"new organization" -team-based, technology-enabled (288)
now- focus more on leader-team interactions rather than leader-subordinate interactions
"a focus on team leadership necessitates attention to the process by which teams develop critical capabilities" (289)
ineffective leadership often is seen as the primary reason teams fail (289)
team leadership capacity- all members of the team share leadership influence
Team Leadership Model
Hill's model- leadership is central to team effectiveness. (figure 12.1, p.291)
leader's job is to monitor the team and take necessary action to ensure team effectiveness
model prescribes actions that leaders can perform to improve team effectiveness
requisite variety- set of behaviors necessary to meet the group's needs
effective leaders have ability to determine what leadership interventions are needed to solve team problems
Leadership Decisions
- determine whether to observe and monitor team or take action
- choose whether task or relational intervention is needed
- determine internal and external problems
Leadership Actions
-to be an effective leader, one needs to respond with the action that is required of the situation.
- job of the leader to analyze and mediate the situation to make the best decisions for the good of the team
internal task leadership actions
- goal focusing
- structuring for results
- facilitating decision making
- training team members in task skills
- maintaining standards of excellence
internal relational leadership actions
- coaching team members in interpersonal skills
- collaborating
- managing conflict
- building commitment
- satisfying individual member needs
- modeling ethical practices
external environmental leadership actions
- networking, forming alliances
- advocating and representing team
- negotiating upward
- buffering team members from environmental distractions
- assessing environmental indicators or team's effectiveness
- sharing relevant environmental information with team
Team Effectiveness
performance (task accomplishment)- outcomes of teamwork
team development -cohesiveness of the team, group members satisfying own needs
effecitve groups have clear, engaging direction; enabling performance situation that contains structure, support, coaching; adequate resources (299).
characteristics of team excellence:
- clear, elevating goal
- results-driven structure
- competent team members
- unified commitment
- collaborative climate
- standards of excellence
- external support and recognition
- principled leadership
How it works:
Leaders can use model to make decisions about current state of their team and specific actions they need to take.
provides a map for identifying group needs, suggests routes to take
Strengths / Criticisms- places team in real-life context
- cognitive guide for leaders to design and maintain effective teams
- accounts for changing role of leaders and followers in organizations
- can help in selecting team leaders
- only lists some of the many skills leaders need to employ in making decisions
- does not provide on-the-spot answers to specific problems
- roles of leaders and followers can change over time