Groups and teams: structure, dynamics, and effectiveness

Leadership Teams

Some of the same travails that face a corporation when creating or using a team management approach to any particular situation are oftentimes the same type of travails that face a virtual team attempting to address the same problem. In the case of ComCorp, the virtual team was widely dispersed throughout the globe and very little, if any, personal or face-to-face contact would be available. This is true of many virtual teams, which is why developing team cohesiveness can be so difficult, and it is certainly true that developing a team's cohesiveness is one factor that will often time determine the amount of success, or lack thereof, that a team experiences. Success is often driven by how a leadership team works together.

As an example; one recent study showed that the Fermi 2 nuclear plant was beginning to experience a decline in plant safety record and performance indicators. Since management of the nuclear facility affected more than just the employees that worked there. The plant's management had formed a leadership team to address the issues concerning the decline. However, there seemed to be little action being taken to address the situation. In order to discover why the inaction existed an assessment was completed that "revealed a number of underlying issues that contributed to the gaps in team performance" (Rogers & Walker, 2010, p. 6). What the study showed was that "senior managers were not aligned on expectations and did not respond consistently to performance problems" (Rogers, p. 6).

Comparing the performance of the nuclear plant's leadership team team's performance to the team at ComCorp is similar to comparing night to day. The nuclear plant's team was not cohesive.

The team also did not seem to be on the same wave length and "they were reluctant to jump in and help one another and did not drive improvements across the station in a coordinated manner" (Rogers p. 7). Most importantly, the study showed that the team had problems with timely sharing of information, helping other departments and getting consistent and effective feedback.

The virtual team at ComCorp seemed to have no such difficulties. Instead, the members of the ComCorp team "really worked well as a team, particularly when (the team leader) had us continually focus on our major priorities and strategies" (Kerber, Buono, 2004). The difference between the two teams seems to be a leader who extolled the priorities of the team and focused the team on those priorities vs. A leader who may have been more interested in establishing his superiority.

The team that was on-site at the nuclear power plant actually had more opportunities to establish a cohesiveness and a focused purpose than did the ComCorp team due to the locale of each, yet it seems as if the leader of the virtual group established initial guidelines and procedures that allowed the group to flourish, while the leader of the on-site team failed to do so. Additionally, the leader of the virtual team communicated in a far more effective manner than did the leader of the team at the nuclear site. Perhaps the leader of the virtual team realized that the only way to achieve the team's objective was through a consistent, regular and ongoing communication style that would enhance the team's effectiveness. Therefore, the leader diligently addressed the issue in an ongoing manner.

The nuclear site team's leader, knowing that a face-to-face meeting could take place within a matter of mere moments was most likely much less diligent in communicating the needs, goals and objectives of the group.

The ComCorp study states that "a number of disintegrating forces continually pull teams apart, including time zone differences, local pressures, cultural differences, and a general lack of face-to-face contact and interaction" (Kerber). No such circumstances exist for the nuclear plant or other local leadership teams.

Kerber's study concludes that a virtual team leader is faced with unique challenges but that the leader can overcome those challenges by using advanced communication technology while remembering that not only is it important to communicate via technology, but it also matters as to what, why and how the information is communicated. Finally, the ComCorp study finds that "while there are formidable barriers and problems to overcome, our experience suggests that managers can successfully harness the talents and capabilities of their virtual teams, facilitating the ability of their organization to achieve its business objectives, and matching, perhaps even exceeding, the effectiveness of collocated teams" (Kerber).