making-sense-of-change-management

The underpinning theoryHOW TO IMPROVE TEAM EFFECTIVENESSRollin and Christine Glaser (1992) have identified five elements thatcontribute to the level of a team’s effectiveness or ineffectiveness overtime. They are:• team mission, planning and goal setting;• team roles;• team operating processes;• team interpersonal relationships; and• inter-team relations.If you can assess where a team is in terms of its ability to address thesefive elements, you will discover what the team needs to do to developinto a fully functioning team.Team mission planning and goal settingA number of studies have found that the most effective teams have astrong sense of their purpose, organize their work around that purpose,and plan and set goals in line with that purpose. Larson and LaFasto(1989) report, ‘in every case, without exception, when an effectively functioningteam was identified, it was described by the respondent as havinga clear understanding of its objective’.Clarity of objectives together with a common understanding and agreementof these was seen to be key. In addition Locke and Latham (1984)report that the very act of goal setting was a prime motivator for the team;the more your team sets clear goals the more likely it is to succeed. Theyalso reported a 16 per cent average improvement in effectiveness for teamsthat use goal setting as an integral part of team activities.Clear goals are even more important when teams are involved inchange, partly because unless they know where they are going they areunlikely to get there, and partly because a strong sense of purpose canmitigate some of the more harmful effects of change. The downsideoccurs when a team rigidly adheres to its purpose when in fact the worldhas moved on and other objectives are more appropriate.74