Chapter 10

Enhancing Group and Team

Performance
Communication Principles

Appropriately Be aware of
adapt your your
message to communication
others

Listen and Effectively use

respond and
thoughtfully to interpret verbal
others messages
Effectively use
and
interpret
nonverbal
messages
 Enhancing Group and Team Performance

 What Effective Group Members Do

 Structuring Group and Team Problem

Solving

 Enhancing Group and Team

Leadership

 Enhancing Group and Team Meetings

 Research Regarding Group and
Team Performance
 Groups and teams come up with more
creative solutions to problems than a
person working alone.

 Working with others in groups improves the

comprehension of the ideas presented.

 Group and team members are more

satisfied with the conclusions and
recommendations if they participated in
the discussion.

 Groups have more available information by

tapping the experiences of group members.
 Effective Group Members
 Functional Approach

 described the kinds of functions that lead

to better quality solutions and decisions

 vigilant thinkers pay attention to the

process of how problems are solved
Chapter 10: Enhancing Group and Team Performance

Effective Group Members

 Identify A Clear, Elevating Goal

 Gather and Use Information Effectively

 identify the data
 effectively communicate information
 draw accurate conclusions

 Develop Options
 Evaluate Ideas
 Develop Sensitivity Toward Others
Chapter 10: Enhancing Group and Team Performance

Effective Group Members

 Prescriptive Approach

 offers a sequence of steps and techniques to help

your group stay on task and remain productive

 a structured problem is one in which there is a

single-best solution

 structure refers to the way a group discussion is

organized

 interaction refers to the give-and-take discussion

Groups Need a Balance of Structure and
Interaction

Structure Interaction

•Manages the task •Manages

relationships and
•Is achieved through
reactions to the task
a well-organized
agenda •There is
considerable give-
•One person may
and-take discussion
dominate
•There is much talk
and participation
from the group
members
 Structuring Problem Solving

 Step 1: Identify and Define the Problem

 Step 2: Analyze the Problem

 develop criteria
 force field analysis technique

 Step 3: Generate Possible Solutions

 brainstorming
 silent brainstorming
 nominal group technique
Chapter 10: Enhancing Group and Team Performance

Structuring Problem Solving

 Step 4: Select the Best Solution

 strategies to reach consensus
 be goal oriented, listen, promote honest
dialogue and discussion

 be cautious of groupthink
 encourage critical thinking
 don’t agree with someone just because she
or he is high status
 consider asking a third party to evaluate the
group
 assign a devil’s advocate

 break into dyads and consider pros and cons

 Structuring Problem Solving

 Step 5: Test and Implement the Solution

RECAP Top Six Reasons Why Groups Make Bad Decisions
No Common Goal: Group does not begin with the end in mind
Analysis Paralysis: Team members over analyze unimportant details
Jumping to Solutions: People propose solutions before facts are known
Groupthink: Group members agree too quickly just to get on with it
Topic Hopping: Lack of agenda and structure
Killer Inch: Group argues over minor points
Chapter 10: Enhancing Group and Team Performance

Enhancing Team Leadership

 Leadership is the ability of a person
to influence others.

 Approaches To Leadership
 trait
 functional
 styles
 situational
 transformational
 Approaches To Leadership

 Trait Approach
 suggests that there are certain traits that
make leaders
• intelligence
• confidence
• social skills
• administrative skill
• physical energy
• enthusiasm
 Approaches To Leadership

 Functional Approach
 categorizes the essential leadership
functions that need to be performed to
enhance the workings of the group

 task functions
 behaviors that help the group get the work
done

 process functions
 help maintain a harmonious group climate by
encouraging amiable relationships
 Approaches To Leadership
 Styles Approach

 authoritarian
• influence by giving orders and controlling
others

 democratic
• consults with the group before issuing edicts

 laissez faire
• takes a hands-off, laid back approach to
influencing
Chapter 10: Enhancing Group and Team Performance

Approaches To Leadership
 Situational Approach
 views leadership as an interactive process
that links a particular style of leadership
with various factors
 Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard’s
Situational Leadership Model
 relationship behavior
 task behavior

 maturity of group members

 Approaches To Leadership
 Transformational Approach

 transformational leader influences by

transforming the group by giving it new vision,
energizing the culture, or giving the group new
structure

 Fundamental Skills of Transformational

Leadership
• build a shared vision
• challenge existing ways of thinking
• be a systems thinker
 Enhancing Group Meetings
 Manage Meeting Structure

 Step 1: Determine Your Meeting Goals

 Step 2: Identify What Needs to be

Discussed to Achieve the Goal

 Step 3: Organize the Agenda

 an agenda is a list of the key issues, ideas,
and information that will be discussed in the
order of discussion
 Enhancing Group Meetings

 Manage Meeting Interaction

 Use gatekeeping skills

 Use metadiscussion

 Monitor time

 Use structure to manage interaction

 Enhancing Group Meetings

 Mosvic and Nelson’s Suggestions for

Meeting Participants

 Organize what you say

 Speak to the point
 Make one point at a time
 Speak clearly and forcefully
 Support your ideas with evidence
 Listen