Leadership and Team Dynamics in Organizational Settings Report

This report synthesizes key concepts from three chapters focusing on team dynamics, conflict resolution, and decision-making processes within management teams. The introduction defines teams as groups with complementary skills and a shared purpose, emphasizing the importance of open communication and disciplined approaches. Chapter 1, "The Discipline of Teams," highlights the need for mutual and individual accountability, common commitment, and a shared purpose for team success. Chapter 2, "When Teams Can't Decide," addresses the challenges of decision-making impasses, advocating for processes that prevent deadlock and promote consensus. Chapter 3, "How Management Teams Can Have a Good Fight," explores the management of conflict, emphasizing the separation of substantive issues from personal conflicts and the use of debate based on facts. The report concludes by summarizing the importance of clear purpose, effective decision-making processes, and the constructive management of conflict to achieve high-performing teams. The report uses resources from HBR articles to provide a comprehensive overview of team management.

Introduction (For all three chapters combined):
Team can be defined as small group of people who have got complementary skills and are
committed to a purpose that is common. Teamwork helps in representing values that can encourage the
aspect of listening along with responding in a constructive manner to the views that are expressed by
other people. A team should have open-ended discussion and hold meetings at regular basis that can
help in building disciple within the team. Options being proposed at an early stage and providing
opportunities to people for tailoring them can help in reducing likelihood in relation to a stalemate.
Teams have a tendency of thinking about options that they can’t undertake owing to corporate policies
but they should delve deeply and think regarding whether such an obstacle can be removed. The teams
that have less number of inter-personal conflict is able to separate the substantive issue from others
that are based on personalities. An effective team should be able to disagree regarding questions that
have strategic significance and still be able to get along with each other.

Discipline of teams (chapter number 1):
The teams are distinct from other working group as they need both mutual along with individual
accountability. The teams will be able to produce discrete work product with the help of joint
contribution of various members. A team should be thought of as a discrete unit pertaining to
performance that can help in developing a disciplined approach in relation to team management.
Common commitment is the main essence of a team. Without the factor of common commitment, the
groups start performing like individuals. For facilitating this, there should be a purpose in which all the
team members believe. The teams can develop direction and commitment by shaping a purpose that is
meaningful (Hbr.org., 2018). It has been found that the successful teams shape the purpose on the basis
of the demand that has been put in their path by those who are in the higher management. The framing
of the performance expectation by an organization can help the team in reaching their goal. It is
important that the management should provide flexibility to the team so that they can develop
commitment. Those teams can be considered to be best who invest a large amount of time in exploring
and shaping. The failed teams do not have a common purpose and they lack the element of leadership.
It has been found that the failed team does not give the proper effort and they do not focus on the
aspect of performance.

When teams can't decide (chapter number 2):
The companies make use of communication exercise that can teach the executive regarding how
to establish the aspect of mutual trust in an organization that can facilitate the process of giving and
receiving of feedback . It has been found that often the team waits for their boss to make the final
decision but the final decision is hardly liked by the members of the team. The executives are blamed for
being indecisive and on the other hand the CEO is resented for acting like that of a dictator. Practical
measures should be implemented in an organization that can help in breaking the impasse within an
organization (Hbr.org., 2018). The CEO along with the team should be able to understand conditions
that give rise to an impasse in the aspect of decision-making in a company. The team members should
be able to view the company in a holistic manner and the executive should be able to divorce them from
the functional responsibilities that can help in reaching consensus within an organization. It has been
found that often the teams gets locked within the voting paradox that proves to be a barrier for taking

an effective decision in an organization. The team should talk about what is the outcome that they are
trying in the beginning that can help in removing the element of confusion in the aspect of decision-
making. The executives can get sense in relation to their standing by taking recourse to nonbinding
votes at an early point of the discussion. The executives in an organization can take recourse to survey
before the meetings that can help them in the identification of the areas that can give rise to a potential
deadlock.

How management teams can have a good fight (chapter
number 3):
The top managers in an organization often find the managing of conflict difficult in an
organization. The healthy conflict can become unproductive and it can result into anger and frustration.
The executives in an organization should be able to manage the irrational dimension of the employees in
an organization. The top teams in an organization have intense animosity and they fail to co-operate
among themselves that often becomes a hindrance in the path of reaching the organizational goal. The
teams having minimal amount of interpersonal conflict can separate the separate the substantive issues
from the others which is on the basis of personalities (Hbr.org., 2018) There are some tactics that can be
adopted that can help the company in managing the inter-personal conflict. The team members should
debate on the basis of facts that can help the teams in getting along effectively with one another. The
team members should be able to develop multiple alternatives that can help in enriching level
pertaining to the debate. The team members injecting humour into the process of decision making can
help in building bonding between the teams.
Summary (For all three chapters combined):

The top management should make use of teams for running things and they should ensure the
fact that the team has succeeded in the identification of purpose along with goals. There should be a
team purpose that is specific to that of a small group that can prove to be helpful for a company in
reaching the broad mission. The teams should deliberate on the outcome at the initial stage that can
remove the element of confusion in an organization. A survey can be conducted that can help the top
management in an organization in identifying the bottlenecks. The team members debating on facts can
help them in reaching at a consensus that can help to remove confusion in an organization. There should
be humour in decision-making that can be instrumental in building bond between the teams in a
company.

References
Hbr.org. (2018). How Management Teams Can Have a Good Fight. Retrieved from
https://hbr.org/1997/07/how-management-teams-can-have-a-good-fight
Hbr.org. (2018). The Discipline of Teams. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2005/07/the-discipline-of-
teams
Hbr.org. (2018). When Teams Can’t Decide. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2008/11/when-teams-cant-
decide