Title: Improving Group Dynamics: Creating a Team Charter
Abstract: INTRODUCTION In our institution's graduate business program, incoming students are organized into class cohorts. Through activities at an orientation weekend, including: the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality inventory, completion of a work history, skills inventories, and demographic profiles, students are formed into teams. The overarching goal in creating these teams is to staff each with as many different work functions as possible while also mixing gender, age groups, and other factors. This cross-functional approach is a common feature of teams (Fleming, 2004). The structure of this group organization provides a basis for learning to work in teams. It has been estimated that 50% of Fortune 500 employees are working in teams (Joinson, 1999) and experts predict growth in working in teams both for those in the managerial ranks as well as those in service operations (Thompson, 2000). While the value or functionality of work teams in business is not universally accepted, bringing a team structure to the educational setting does make sense for the many organizations that do utilize a team structure. However, there are potential drawbacks including the free-rider effect. In this context, it strengthens the relevance of the program. It is important for students to view themselves as a team, not just a group working on various tasks or projects. It is also critical, for program purposes, that the team members recognize their complementary skills, their common purpose, common goals, and mutual accountability. It is these factors that make them a team in contrast to a group (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993). This structure also serves as a vehicle to focus on issues that make the team successful. As educators, we want student teams to experience a common commitment so they feel the power of a collective unit (Katzenbach, 1995). The team orientation also provides a basis for developing greater awareness of the processes involved in managing groups of individuals when in a leadership position. Elements of leadership skills are an important part of the educational program, although situational influences contributing to team effectiveness are also recognized as significant. Situational influences have been documented as important for team effectiveness and include variables such as: task flexibility, low task interdependence, and the need for formal performance measures. Helping behavior among team members has been viewed as the most important group norm (Dumering and Robinson, 2007). Consequently, the educational program structure provides conditions that create the potential for members of the team to develop group norms that encourage helping behavior. This helping behavior, which encourages cooperation, is more than individuals agreeing to work together. It surfaces on projects where integration of the content is critical to the team's explanation of the substance of the issues involved in their project. One of the intended goals for the projects assigned to teams in the MBA program is to help students to understand how leadership can influence task integration. Thus, by helping the team experience the relationship of group integration, cooperation is strengthened among team members. It is important for the development of students' leadership skills that they recognize cooperation exists when individual efforts are integrated to achieve common objectives (Simsek, et al., 2005). ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIORS Leadership that emphasizes both business skills and the ability to influence others toward goals lies at the core of our institution's graduate business program. The approach developed at our institution attempts to inculcate attitudes that shape leaders to be motivated to exceed the ordinary expectations of the typical manager in today's work environment. These have been called organizational citizenship behaviors and represent a genuine commitment to people in the organization. …
Publication Year: 2010
Publication Date: 2010-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 14
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