Leadership and team communication in project management

¶ … Team Dynamics

The objective of this work is to research the subject of team dynamics specifically related to leadership and team communication.

Every project must have a leader, whether that leader is the Ceo, Manager or Project Leader. This person needs to have the respect of his team. That does not always mean friendship of the team members, but their respect for the job the leader does as a whole. And trust that the leader will not lead them astray and will back them if the need arises.

FOUR BASIC STEPS (MOREIRA, 2003)

Paula Moreira gives us four basic steps for starting a team off right in the July 2003 Issue of Certification Magazine: (1) Get to know your team members. (2) Clearly identify everyone's roles and responsibilities; (3) Establish the team's goals; and (4) Learn to operate as a team. (Moreira, 2003) a leader may simply follow the steps of Moreira in order to know the team members and where they fit in with the team as a whole. Letting all members know what their role and responsibilities are will help them achieve better results for the team. Letting all the members know the final goal will keep them headed in the right direction. Learning to operate as a team and letting each member express his greatest abilities and bringing each one together in a way that will benefit the team as a whole. The leader must have leadership abilities that the team can follow. Functioning as a team "requires the integration of many different activities. Jefferies states those activities to include those, which are shown in the following illustration labeled Figure 1

Team Dynamics Jigsaw

Source: Jefferies (nd)

III. FOUR PHASES of TEAM-BUILDING

The work of Moreira states that there are four phases of team building and states those four phases are as follows: (1) Forming: This is period in which team members are becoming oriented and expect to receive implicit instruction; (2) Storming: During this period the team members are more comfortable and challenges to the authority of leadership arises; (3) Norming: During this phase the team has begun to work in collaboration and finds the process the team will use in problem solving and conflict resolution; and (4) Performing: This is when the hard work really pays off and the team has become productive. (Paraphrased; 2003)