Chapter 6 : Team Building & Team Interactions ( pt. 1)

Chapter 6: Team Building & Team Interactions (pt. 1) ISE 443 / ETM 543 Fall 2013

A number of activities are carried out by the team ...

“Strong and well-considered communication is at the heart of building a productive team.” • Exhibit 6.1: Essentials of an Effective Communicator • Listen. • Adopt a management by walking around (MBWA) way of being. • Assure participation by all team members. • Synthesize and integrate. • Meet with all key project personnel every week. • Insist on information “ﬂow-down.” • Hold short “information” meetings. • Communicate with boss and other project support people. • Talk to customer at least once a week. • Maintain a positive and supportive attitude. • Offer training for poor communicators. • Assure that communications is part of personnel evaluation.

Your turn ... • INDIVIDUALLY, grade yourself as a communicator • Assign a numeric grade (A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, F = 0) to each of the essentials on the previous slide. • Sum the results to get a composite score. • Do the same for another member of the group • Again, this is an INDIVIDUAL effort • It may be useful to agree within the group which member will be evaluating whom. • When you are finished with your individual rating, REMAIN QUIET • Turn your paper over and put down your pen/pencil to indicate that you are done.

Once the class is finished ... • One at a time, each team member will share his/her evaluation, as follows: • Start by sharing your self-evaluation, as follows: • “I gave myself an overall score of ___” • “I believe my strengths as a communicator are ___” (choose 2 or 3 of your highest scoring points) • “I believe my challenges as a communicator are ___” (choose 2 or 3 of your lowest scoring points) • THEN, move to your evaluation of your team mate, as follows: • “I gave you an overall score of ____” • “Based on my experience on this team, the strengths you have demonstrated as a communicator are ___” • “Based on my experience on this team, the challenges you have demonstrated as a communicator are ___” • Keep in mind • keep your comments constructive • your impressions may be based on very limited interaction

“Team building and being part of a team are critical issues in project & systems engineering management.” • Develop and maintain a personal plan for team building and operation. • Hold both periodic and special team meetings. • Clarify missions, goals, and roles. • Run the team in a participative, possibly consensual, manner. • Involve the team in situation analysis and problem solving. • Give credit to active, positive team members and contributions. • Assure team efﬁciency and productivity. • Obtain feedback from team members. • Integrate, coordinate, facilitate, and assure information ﬂow. • Maintain effective communication.

Your turn ... • INDIVIDUALLY, evaluate how your team has been functioning • Which of the activities listed on the previous slide have you participated in? • How helpful was it? • When you are finished with your individual evaluation, REMAIN QUIET • Turn your paper over and put down your pen/pencil to indicate that you are done. • When the class is finished, the entire team will discuss your evaluation.

Let’s talk for a moment about “team busters” • “a person, nominally a member of the project team, who works hard, either consciously or otherwise, in destroying the team that the PM and CSE are trying to build.” • Usually exhibits one or more of the following behaviors ... • Questions the authority of the PM and CSE at every turn. • Challenges the management and technical approach of the PM and CSE. • Does not follow the agreed-on decisions. • Consistently “goes over the head” of his or her boss. • Tries to monopolize meeting agendas. • Attempts to embarrass or challenge the boss in front of others.

If a manager is a “team buster” ... • In addition to the previously listed behaviors, a “team busting” manager will exhibit the following behaviors • If you are not part of his or her team, by deﬁnition you are doing a poor and misguided job. • Forces his or her people to clear all actions, and even conversations, strictly through the “chain of command.” • Tries to create a “we” and “they” mentality, whereby everyone who reports to the team buster is a “we” and everyone else is in the “they” group.

Team busters represent a real threat to the project (and the organization) • Often have a valuable skill or skill set (e.g., expertise in an area crucial to the project or organization) • The threat to the team outweighs the benefit of the expertise • Specific steps are required to handle the team buster • 1st “strike” - Private conversation explaining that the behavior will not be tolerated • 2nd “strike” - Communicate with upper management and a second private conversation indicating that the next step is removal from the project or even (with support of management) from the organization • 3rd “strike” – Removal from the project ... with support from management and HR.

Conflict is to be expected (even welcomed?) in a project • The seven most common areas of conflict have changed in ranking over the years • “Schedules” and “Priorities” have remained consistently in the top • conﬂicts and conﬂict management should be considered part of the job

A person’s conflict resolution style is an indicator of how he/she will respond • Competing (forcing) • power is used to resolve the conflict • a short-term solution, seldom long-term resolution • Compromising (sharing) • negotiate a position acceptable to all parties • not always best for the project • Avoiding (withdrawal) • refuse to acknowledge the conflict • Accommodating (smoothing) • temporarily suppress the problem until it can be fully addressed • Collaborating (problem solving) • allow all parties to express viewpoints, determine why, seek long-term resolution

Your turn ... • INDIVIDUALLY, identify your “preferred” conflict resolution style • Do you believe this to be an effective way to address conflicts? • Is there a style that would be more effective? • Do the same for another member of the group • When you are finished with your individual rating, REMAIN QUIET • When the class is finished, the entire team will discuss your evaluation.

Chapter 6 : Team Building & Team Interactions ( pt. 1)