Week 7: Teams and shared leadership

Summary : Leadership Theories

• Great Man Theory

• Trait Theories

• Behavioural Theories: Task / People Orientation

• Contingency Theories (Fiedler)

• Three Styles: Denocratic / Aurocratic / Laissez Faire

• Transformational / Transactional Leadership

Module Contents
Week 1: Introduction to leadership and organisations in new
era
Week 2: Leadership and organisational effectiveness
Week 3: Leadership and organisational change
Week 4: Strategic leadership and shaping organisational
culture Week 5: Leadership, organisational design and agile
working Week 6: Leadership styles and theories
Week 7: Teams and shared leadership
Week 8: Men and women in leadership
roles Week 9: Leading, coaching and
motivating
Week 10: Leadership, power and decision
making
Week 11: Assessment
Learning objectives

1. Contrast groups and teams.

2. Understand leadership and team development.
3. Familiarise with the concept and type of shared leadership.
4. Critically reflect on the benefits and pitfalls of shared leadership.
5. Identify the best practices for team and shared leadership.
Quick overview

1. Differentiate groups and teams

2. Leadership and Team Development
3. What is shared leadership and different types
4. Benefits of shared leadership
5. Best practices for team and shared leadership
Knowledgecast
1. Differences Between Groups and Teams

 Group: two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have

come together to achieve particular objectives.

 Team: individuals who work collaboratively and cooperatively to achieve

commonly-help goals or vision

1. Differences Between Groups and Teams
Comparing Workgroups and Work Teams from
 Team Roles: The Belbin model

The Belbin model is an instrument used by many organisations to measure

the influence of team member diversity regarding the different roles played
in a team at work.

The model shows:

The different stages of development of the team: identifying needs, finding ideas,
formulating plans, executing ideas, establishing team organisation, following through.

The different team roles which should each dominate in a particular stage of development.
Team roles

Table 16.1 An overview of team roles

Source: Belbin, 1993: 22.
Team processes

Adler with Gundersen (2008, 2002) noted differences between task-oriented cultures and
relationship-oriented cultures when international team members
first meet:

Those from task-oriented cultures spent little time getting to know each other before
getting down to business

Those from relationship-oriented cultures spent much more time establishing a personal
relationship

It may be more difficult for such teams to build strong relations than single-culture teams.
Tuckman Model of Group Development

1. Forming
Members feel much uncertainty
2. Storming
Lots of conflict between members of the group
3. Norming Stage
Members have developed close relationships and cohesiveness
4. Performing Stage
The group is finally fully functional
5. Adjourning Stage
In temporary groups, characterized by concern with wrapping up activities
rather than performance

(Tuckman, 1965)
Tuckman’s Meeting/Group Development Stages
T
2. Leadership and Team Development

 Additional stage: adjournment

 Goal of team leader: reach 4th stage as

expediently
 Potential effect of leadership on various

stages
Dynamics of Groups and Teams

Strengths of group decision making:

 More complete information and knowledge
 Increased diversity of views
 Increased acceptance of solutions

Problems with group decision-making

 Lower status members may have less influence
 Group decision is not always “correct”
 Group discussion makes people more confident of their consensus decision
 Social loafing (as size increases)
 Groupthink - conformity pressures
Dynamics of Groups and Teams (cont.)
Team Value

 Process gain is getting more from the team than you would expect according to the
capabilities of its individual members.
 Synonymous with synergy.

 Results in useful resources and capabilities that did not exist before the team
created them.

 Process loss is getting less from the team than you would expect based on the
capabilities of its individual members.
2. Leadership and Team Development

 Team Context: What factors determine whether teams are successful?

 Adequate Resources

 Leadership and Structure

 Climate of Trust

 Performance Evaluations and Rewards

2. Leadership and Team Development
Situational Determinants of Teamwork
Group EXERCISE – Leadership
Teams of 3-5. NO REFERRING TO INTERNET
You are a middle manager (without extensive leadership experience) of a high performing
organization (they expect a lot from their managers and teams)

They need a team to analyse a number of organizational issues quickly!

You have been appointed team Leader

• No-one knows each other well or currently work in the same team
• Or has any idea of why they have been selected
• All employees are in the same office location

How would rapidly get this team collaborating and working together effectively on solving a
problem for the organization?

What are the steps you would take to get this team operational and effective?

What types of leadership style will be important to ensure this team is successful?
3. What is shared leadership?

What comes to mind when you hear this

term?

William Hewlett David Packard

3. What is shared leadership?

Goal of team leader: develop team members to share in the leadership role.
Shared leadership: ”An emergent team phenomenon whereby leadership roles
and influence are distributed among team members”.

three key commonalities:

(a) Lateral influence among peers
(b) Emergent team phenomenon
(c) Leadership roles and influence are dispersed across team members

! It is not a new phenomenon (e.g., Caesars, the meritocratic Mandarin class of

leaders in
imperial China)
3. Types of shared leadership

How can leadership be shared?

- At the same time & place: “co-perform the same leadership activity”

- Over time: “emerge as leaders serially or take turns to serve in the leadership role”
- Across functional roles: ”team members with different skills (e.g., technology vs

people), personality bent (e.g., strategy vs implementation) or interests (e.g., innovation

vs. operations), may selectively perform leadership functions in an interdependent way.”
In-class activity

Multiple choice: how was leadership shared in hp based on what we explained

before?

- Co-perform (at the same time & place)

- Emerge as leaders serially (over time)
- Across functional roles

William Hewlett David Packard

4. Benefits of shared leadership

Proximal outcomes (process)

 Cognitive & motivational processes (e.g., team trust, cohesion, etc.)

 Affective processes (e.g., emotional regulation)

 Behavioural processes (e.g., team proactivity, conflict management, learning, etc.)

Distal outcomes (product)

 Satisfaction (task and team)

 Performance (company and team)

 Creativity and innovation

4. Benefits of shared leadership

 Shared leadership is not always better than one leader (see Table 1)
 “Shared leadership is beneficial when the challenges faced are so complex that

they require a set of skills too broad to be possessed by any one individual.”
5. Team effectiveness

Implication for managers

• Effective teams have adequate resources, effective leadership, a climate of trust, and
a performance evaluation and reward system that reflects team contributions.
• Effective teams tend to be small. They have members who fill role demands and who
prefer to be part of a group.
• Effective teams have members who believe in the team’s capabilities, are
committed to a common plan and purpose, and have an accurate shared mental
model of what is to be accomplished.
• Select individuals who have the interpersonal skills to be effective team
players,
provide training to develop teamwork skills, and reward individuals for
cooperative
efforts.
• Do not assume that teams are always needed. When tasks will not benefit from
interdependency, individuals may be the better choice.
5. Shared leadership at the top: Best Practises

Selecting co-leaders
 Based on combination of talent and chemistry (not only talent!)
 Start up business together (chemistry is already there)

 Involve the current leader (knows what works in the

team/organisation)
Working together
 Ability to share credit and blame
 Coordination and alignment is key
 Clear communication

Working with others

 Solicit input from affected others (e.g., team members, subordinates)

 Coordinate between themselves and the team (no role ambiguity)

5. Shared leadership at the top: Best Practises

Benefits of effective co-leaders for all levels

 employees acted more like owners and entrepreneurs

 employees took initiative to solve problems and to act, in general, with a sense of urgency
 employees willingly accepted accountability for meeting commitments and for living the

values of the organization

 employees created, maintained, and adhered to systems and procedures designed to

measure and reward the above behaviours.

Suggested steps for Group Exercise to quickly develop an effective team:

1) Define team and its charter – to set purpose and explain context
2) Explain why they have been selected
3) Establish and define roles – including yours! (as coach)
4) Outline process & timelines (direction)
5) Reinforce team “culture”
6) Establish measurement steps
7) Look for “quick wins”!
8) Summarize progress & next steps
9) Use 1-2-1 if necessary
10)Put team recognition before yours!

Establishing the connection between leadership and

teamwork?
Any questions?