Chapter 6

Enhancing Teamwork
within the Group
PRINCIPLES OF LEADERSHIP
Andrew J. DuBrin, 7th Edition

Learning Objectives
Understand the leaders role in a
team-based organization.
Describe leader actions that foster
teamwork.
Explain the potential contribution of
outdoor training to the development
of team leadership.
Describe how the leader-member
exchange model contributes to an
understanding of leadership.

Teams and Teamwork

Team
Work group that must rely on collaboration of
each member to experience optimum success
and achievement.

Teamwork
Work down with an understanding and
commitment to group goals on the part of all
team members.
Developing teamwork is such an important
leadership role that team building is said to

Distinguishing Between Teams

and Groups
Teams

Groups

Characterized by a common
commitment
Shared leadership roles
Accomplishes many collective
work products
Includes individual & mutual
accountability
Produce collective work product
Team leader encourages openended discussions and active
problem-solving
Team members discuss, decide,
and do real work together

May not have a strong

commitment
Members tend to work slightly
more independently
Members have a strong leader
Emphasizes individual
accountability
Sometimes produce individual
work products
Group leader runs an efficient
meeting
More likely to discuss, divide,
and delegate

The Leaders Role in the TeamBased Organization

Team-based organizations need leaders who are knowledgeable in the
team process and can help with the interpersonal demands of teams.
Key roles of a team-based leader:
Building trust and inspiring teamwork
Coaching team members and group members toward higher levels
of performance
Facilitating and supporting the teams decisions
Expanding the teams capabilities
Creating a team identity
Anticipating and influencing change
Inspiring the team toward higher levels of performance
Enabling and empowering group members to accomplish their work
Encouraging team members to eliminate low-value work

Fostering Teamwork
Leaders Personality
Inspiring, Charm, Charisma, Personal
Magnetism
Informal Techniques
Using the Leaders Resources
Formal Techniques
Requires Organizational Structures and Policies

Teamwork Actions Leaders Can

Take Using Their Own Resources
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Defining team mission

Establishing a climate of trust
Develop a norm of teamwork, including emotional intelligence
Emphasize pride in being outstanding
Serve as a model of teamwork, including power sharing
Use a consensus leadership style
Establish urgency, demand performance standards, and
provide direction
8. Encourage cooperation with another group
9. Encourage use of jargon
10.Minimize micro managing
11.Practice e-leadership for virtual teams

1. Defining the Teams

Mission.
A starting point in developing teamwork
is to specify the teams mission.
The mission should contain a specific
goal, purpose, and philosophical tone.
An example: To plan and implement
new manufacturing approaches to
enhance our performance image and
bolster our competitive edge.

 To help implement the mission, it is

helpful for the leader to define the
team tasks, or to work with the
group in defining these tasks.
Team members can then identify the
subtask for which each member has
responsibility.

2. Establishing a Climate
of Trust.
Without team members trusting
each other, and trusting the leader,
working together cooperatively is
unlikely.

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3. Developing a Norm of Teamwork

and Emotional Intelligence.

promote the attitude among group

members that working together is
an expected standard of conduct.
The leader can also communicate
the norm of teamwork by frequently
using words and phrases that
support teamwork.

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 a. Cooperation Theory. A belief in

cooperation and collaboration rather
than competitiveness as a strategy
for building teamwork is called
cooperation theory.
Individuals who are accustomed to
competing with one another for
recognition, salary increase, and
resources must now collaborat
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 Group Emotional Intelligence. The leaders

role in developing a norm of teamwork can
also be framed as the leader helping the
group develop emotional intelligence.
The leader creates norms that establish
mutual trust among members.
A group identity and group efficacy (feelings
of competence) also help build emotional
intelligence.
Bringing emotions to the surface also helps.

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4. Emphasizing Pride in Being

Outstanding.
A standard way of building team
spirit, if not teamwork, is to help the
group realize why it should be proud
of its accomplishments.
Most groups are particularly good at
some task.

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5. Serving as a Model of Teamwork

Including Power Sharing.

A powerful method of fostering

teamwork is for the leader to be a
positive model of team play.
One way of exemplifying teamwork
is for the leader to reveal important
information
about
ideas
and
attitudes relevant to the groups
work.
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 Frequent interaction with the team

also helps.
Sharing power improves teamwork
because a good team player avoids
hogging power and making all the
decisions.
Exerting power gives team members
a feeling of being a major
contributor to the team effort.
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6. Using a Consensus
Leadership Style.
Consensus decision making enhances
teamwork.
Contributing input to important decisions
helps foster the feeling among group
members that they are valuable team
members.
The consensus leadership style reflects a
belief in shared governance and partnership
instead of patriarchal caretaking.

17

 Generation X managers are likely to

practice consensus leadership
because they are good at
collaboration and consensus
building.

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7. Establishing Urgency, Demanding Performance

Standards, and Providing Direction.

Team members need to believe that the

team has urgent, constructive purposes.
The more urgent and relevant the
rationale for the teams purpose, the
more likely it is that the team will achieve
its potential.
To help establish urgency, it is helpful for
the leader to challenge the group
regularly.
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8. Encouraging Competition with

Another Group.
One of the best-known methods of
en-couraging teamwork is to rally
the group against a real or imagined
threat from the outside.
The leader should encourage rivalry,
not intense competition that might
lead to unethical business practices.

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9. Encouraging the Use

of Jargon.
The
symbolic
and
ritualistic
framework of a group contributes
heavily to teamwork.
An important part of this framework
is a specialized language that fosters
cohesion and commitment.

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10.Minimizing
Micromanagement.
A
strategic
perspective
on
encouraging teamwork is for the
leader
to
minimize
micromanagement,
the
close
monitoring of most aspects of group
members activities.
Avoiding
micromanagement
facilitates empowerment.
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 The contingency leader recognizes

the fine line between avoiding
micromanagement and not providing
the guidance and accountability that
team members may need to
function well as a unit.

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11. Practicing E-Leadership for

Virtual Teams.
E-leadership is a form of leadership
practiced in a context where work is
mediated by information technology.
The focus of leadership shifts from
individuals
to
networks
of
relationships because the Internet
facilitates connecting so many
people.
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 An example of e-leadership to
facilitate
teamwork
would
be
establishing chat rooms to solicit
opinions from members of a crossborder virtual team before reaching
a final decision.

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Teamwork Actions Generally

Requiring Organization Structure
or Policy
Designing physical structures that facilitate communication
Emphasizing group recognition and rewards
Initiating ritual and ceremony
Practicing open-book management
Selecting team-oriented members
Using technology that facilitates teamwork including social media
Blending representatives from the domestic company and foreign
nationals on the team

1. Designing Physical Structures

That Facilitate Communication.
Group cohesiveness, and therefore
teamwork, is enhanced when team
members are located close together
and can interact frequently and
easily.
A shared physical facility also helps.

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2. Emphasizing Group
Recognition and Rewards.
Giving
rewards
for
group
accomplishment
reinforces
teamwork because people receive
rewards
for
what
they
have
accomplished collaboratively.
Methods of team recognition include
celebrations of milestones, painting
equipment in team colors, and a
Team-of-the-Month award.
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3. Initiating Ritual and

Ceremony.
Ritual
and
ceremony
afford
opportunities for reinforcing values,
revitalizing spirit, and bonding
workers to one another and the
teams.
An example is holding a team dinner
whenever the group achieves a
major milestone, such as winning bid
on a contract.
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4. Practicing Open-Book
Management.
In open-book management every
employee is trained, empowered,
and motivated to understand and
pursue the companys business
goals.
In this way the employees become
business partners, and they perceive
themselves to be members of the
same team.
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5. Selecting Team-Oriented
Members.
A heavy-impact method of building
teamwork
is
to
select
team
members who are interested in and
capable of teamwork.
A starting point is self-selection.
Many
managers
believe
that
individuals who participate in team
sports, now, or in the past, are likely
to be good team players on the job.
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6. Using Technology That

Enhances Teamwork.
Workers can collaborate better when they use
information
technology
that
fosters
collaboration, often referred to as groupware.
Social networking might be regarded as the
most far-reaching technology for enhancing
teamwork because so many workers can
exchange information with each other, and
thereby collaborate more extensively.
The social media are good for knowledge
transfer which enhances collaboration.

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7. Blend Representatives from the Domestic

Company and Foreign Nationals On the Team.

The fact or working with people from

your own country, as well as a
representative from the country of
company
headquarters
often
enhances teamwork.

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Offsite Training & Team

DevelopmentOutdoor Training
Participation in experiential activities
aimed at building teamwork and
leadership skills
Participants acquire leadership and
teamwork skills by confronting
physical challenges and exceeding
their self-imposed limitations.
Emphasis is typically on building not
only teamwork but also selfconfidence for leadership.

Offsite Training & Team

DevelopmentOutdoor Training
Pros:
Perception that trust, cooperation,
communication, self-confidence, and
teamwork
improve
with
outdoor
training.
Cons:
Perception that team members revert to
old behaviors over time, team members
come and go, thereby diluting the
experience for their group, and team
members are sometimes exposed to

The Leader-Member Exchange

Model & Teamwork (LMX)
Proposes that leaders develop unique
working relationships with group
members.

The Leader-Member Exchange

Model & Teamwork (LMX)
In-Group

Out-Group

Given additional rewards,

responsibility, and trust in
exchange for their loyalty and
performance.
Leader has a good relationship with
in-group members.
Becomes part of a smoothly
functioning team headed by the
formal leader.
Group members tend to have a higher
level of performance and
commitment.
Group members are asked to
participate.

Treated in accordance with

a more formal
understanding of leadergroup member relations.
Less likely to experience
good teamwork.
Group members are
treated like hired hands.
Group members receive
little warmth or
encouragement.

Summary
Teamwork is an understanding of and commitment
to group goals on the part of all group members.
Leaders must occupy many roles and employ many
strategies (actions) to be an effective team builder.
Leaders can foster and improve teamwork through
actions using their own resources and through
actions relying on organizational structures and
policy.
Outdoor training is a popular experiential approach
to enhance teamwork; however, opinions about its
effectiveness are mixed.

 According to the Leader-Member

Exchange Model, leaders develop
unique relationships with group
members that result in an in-group
and and out-group.
The leaders first impression of a
group members competency plays
an important role in placing that
person into the in-group or the outgroup.
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The End

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