The institutional affiliation
1. Patric Lancioni, a famous writer and founder of the management consulting group, explores in his bestseller how and why team dysfunctions appear, using an example of one Technology Company (Lencioni, 2002). Beside the business organizations, this book can be also applied for any kind of a team in churches, schools, hospitals, corporations, sport teams, etc. The work by Wrench, Punyanunt-Carter and Ward (2015) gives in turn more diverse view of the team organization and contrasts it to the group. The main idea here is that not every group is considered to be a team for a number of reasons. The authors give various kinds of team concepts, and I would call Lancioni's conceptualization of a team to be a basic one and most profound. Thus, Lancioni points out the following dysfunctions: absence of trust; as a consequence, fear of conflict and lack of communication; lack of commitment in the team; avoidance of accountability; as well as inattention to results and indifference to team work. To my mind, to avoid the above mentioned dysfunctions, the management of any corporation is responsible for recruiting the team members.
2. I think it is hard to emphasize only one of the dysfunctions the teams commonly fall into. As a rule, it depends on the team members, their ability and willing to work in a team, as well as their personal and professional experience. Moreover, Lancioni presents the dysfunctions as a pyramid, so its elements are interconnected and follow one another (YouTube.com, 2016). Nevertheless, I can state some reasons of dysfunctions in a team. For instance, the individual needs are more important than the company’s ones or ignoring the opinion of others, co-workers do not want to look weak and vulnerable, etc. On the whole, I consider, in the teamwork much depends on the leader and his/her team organization.
3. As a team member, I think it is important to be self-critical and be able to analyze personal and other people’s behavior in some conflict situations to avoid them in future. I am convinced that a successful team happens when all peers have common aims not only in business, but also in the inter-personal communication. Additionally, every team member should follow the advice Patric Lancioni gives in his book. Thus, I would strongly recommend it as it is written by a real expert in the team management.
References
Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
YouTube.com. (2016). Patrick Lencioni - The 5 dysfunctions of a team. Retrieved 02 June 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inftqUOLFaM
Wrench, J. S., Punyanunt-Carter, N., & Ward, M., Sr. (2015). Organizational communication: Theory, research, and practice (version 1.0). Washington, DC: Flat World Knowledge.
