The goal of self-directed work teams is to improve performance by giving the team members the authority to take full responsibility for their assigned tasks. The empowerment of the team’s authority is intended to motivate the individual team members. The key determent is a team’s success is their ability to communicate productively (Aldag, & Kuzuhara, 2015). There are two main theories that guide team performance Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Maxwell’s 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork. The two models describing the factors of team productivity complement each other and give guidance to teams looking to address their efficiency. This paper will begin by identifying the key difficulties of dysfunctional teams and the characteristics of successful teams then present recommendations for increasing team productivity and leveraging conflict.
Identification of the Difficulties
The primary reason teams encounter difficulties is a lack of communication and poor planning. In self-directed teams the need for planning and communication is amplified as the team as a whole takes on full responsibility for their own achievement. Since self-directed teams are without official leaders the team members are required to communicate and come to an understanding about how the team is going to achieve their goals. The team is also responsible for the planning and organizing of the tasks required of the team.
Patrick Lencioni wrote the book on team dysfunction. His book titled the Five Dysfunctions of a Team uses a pyramid model to describe the main factors that hinder team performance. The pyramid lists trust issues as the primary reason teams fail to thrive (Lencioni, 2002). When the team members lack trust in their teammates it creates a multitude of secondary dysfunctions. Maxwell’s Law of Countability furthers this principle stating ‘teammates need to be able to rely on each other’ (Maxwell, 2001 p. 105). The second underlying cause of team dysfunction as described in Lencioni’s pyramid is conflict avoidance (Lencioni, 2002). Teams who lack the ability to productively embrace conflict will suffer from the effects of group thinking. Group thinking is where team members simply agree rather than seeking out the best solutions through productive conflict (Kretchmar, 2015).The third primary cause of team dysfunction is a lack of commitment (Lencioni, 2002).When group member doesn't want to achieve the team goals their chances for success are minimal. As described by Maxwell ‘one bad apple ruins the bunch’ (2001, p.92). The fourth cause of team dysfunction is described as an avoiding accountability (Lencioni, 2002). When team members avoid responsibility there are less likely to hold their teammates accountable for achieving their responsibilities. The last detriment to team success is described as inattention to results (Lencioni, 2002). Often teams who are apathetic to the quality of their results suffer from one of the other primary causes of team dysfunction.
Successful Characteristics
What makes self-directed work teams perform best? Communication, trust, clearly defined goals/roles, structured decisions and procedures are some of the key characteristics of highly performing self-directed teams (Aldag, & Kuzuhara, 2015). In every aspect of the team’s operation communication, respect and trust become the foundation for success. Communication, respect, and trust are the three pillars of efficient teamwork, without those three characteristics the team can’t function let alone reach the efficiency standards that define high-performance teams.
Clear and transparent communication is key to the success of any team. In self-directed teams, the required level of communication and trust is amplified. Team members need to trust their teammate’s abilities. While every aspect of the team’s performance is based upon communication, the team must communicate and collaborate as they manage their own activities. The team needs to be working towards the same specific goals and each team member needs to clear about their roles. To become a high-performance team the team members all need to be working towards the same common goals. Each team member needs to be clear about the scope of their assigned expectations. The role of each team member needs to highlight their skills; as described by Maxwell ‘each tea member has a place where they contribute the most value’ (2001, p. 26). Finally, the self-directed team needs to set out their own procedures for decision-making and operational procedures. Since the self-directed team is internally managed with no set leader the team needs to create their own procedures in order to effectively self-manage (Aldag, & Kuzuhara, 2015).
Recommendations for Success
In order to improve their performance team’s need to build upon their foundation for success communication, respect and trust. In order to do so, there is a wide range of options available for teams looking to improve their internal management. In order to improve the team’s performance the team must first determine which of the underlying causes of the team's dysfunction is limiting their performance.
Teams looking to increase their performance need to address their underlying issues causing their dysfunction. Communication skills will often go hand in hand with team issues. Trust amongst team members is seen as the most likely underlying cause limiting the team’s performance. Team members need to work on their ability to trust their teammates. The second most predominant underlying issue that teams need to address is their ability to leverage conflict. Productive conflict resolution is such a key area of team productivity it requires its own comprehensive guide in the section following. The third factor that needs to be addressed is the team’s commitment towards the goals of the team and the organization. The team is only as strong as their weakest team member but if one team member is not motivated to achieve the team’s goals the team’s performance will suffer. The final aspect the team needs to address is their accountability. Team members need to take full responsibility for their performance and hold their teammates accountable for their commitments. This final recommendation brings the circle together when team members take responsibility for their own actions their team members will begin to trust in their ability to successfully manage their responsibilities. It is recommended that all four key areas of team productivity be address in order to increase the quality of the team performance. In order for the team to thrive the main factors the team needs to improve upon are trust, product conflict, commitment and accountability.
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
Conflict and negotiation skills are critical aspects of team performance. Too often conflict is seen as a problem rather than an opportunity. Highly productive teams embrace conflict and leverage the opportunity to find the best solution through productive conflict skills. Meanwhile, many organizations lack the creative organizational environment to embrace productive conflict and face the risk of groupthink and conflict avoidance that leads to hostile conflict situations.
Unhealthy conflict can create tension in the workplace and act as a roadblock towards performance. Meanwhile creating a culture that embraces productive conflict will encourage people to speak up, voice their opinions and work towards creating the best environment for all. There are rules to guide the way towards healthy conflict (Kudonoo, Schroeder, & Boysen-Rotelli, 2012).
There are three areas of productive conflict that managers can use to embrace positive conflict and build a collaborative environment: building individual negotiation skills developing team conflict skills and embracing a transparent environment for conflict. Productive conflict begins with negotiation skills. Individuals need to learn to balance being assertive while being respectful. Respectful negotiations seek out solutions to the conflict rather than disrespecting others. While team conflict skills can be built using productive conflict exercises. Managers can use brainstorming and problem-solving sessions to train employees to embrace productive conflict. During these exercises, managers can encourage people to actively become involved in productive conflict and seek out the best solution to address a problem. By actively encouraging individuals to contribute their opinions and ideas managers can begin to encourage their teams to work together and collaborate towards discovering the best solution through negotiation and reason. Once managers have implemented their productive conflict training exercises they can begin to encourage their team members to foster transparent conflict. Embracing transparent conflict occurs when conflict is brought out to the team to collaborate upon (Kudonoo, Schroeder, & Boysen-Rotelli, 2012). The best conflict management plan for managers struggling with conflict and negation issues is to embrace conflict as a means to discover the best solution.
References
Aldag, R. J., & Kuzuhara, L. W. (2015). Creating High Performance Teams: Applied Strategies and Tools for Managers and Team Members. New York, NY: Routledge.
Kretchmar, J. (2015). Groupthink. Research Starters: Sociology (Online Edition),
Kudonoo, E., Schroeder, K., & Boysen-Rotelli, S. (2012). An Olympic Transformation: Creating an Organizational Culture that Promotes Healthy Conflict. Organization Development Journal, 30(2), 51-66.
Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Maxwell, J. (2001). The 17 indisputable laws of teamwork. Nashville: T. Nelson.
