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Prepared by

Name of Team

Reflection on Teamwork Experiences in Organizations

Thompson Rivers University

Introduction

The assignment aims to write a team experience paper based on the coursework material;

on Patrick Lencioni's book "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” (2002). The critical focus of

reflection is to provide individual and team experiences and gain insight into other teams'

contrasting teamwork experiences in an organizational framework and a classroom context. The

paper will categorize our team's understanding and knowledge of the course material to its

relation to teamwork using three highlighted areas. First, the paper will examine the five

dysfunctions of a team and make a connection to the concept based on our team experiences as

well as other team experiences. Second, the reflection will highlight the phases of team

development by using our group experiences levels to provide insight into our understanding of

the significant inputs on team development phases. The last part of this reflection analyzes the

dysfunctionality of a team by looking at our group's personal experiences and others' group

experiences on how they can learn from teamwork failure and implement effective solutions to

become a high-functioning team.

Course and Material Overview

The coursework emphasizes the importance of teamwork in organizations, and the

interactive course activities and material play a supplementary role in equipping learners with

information on creating highly functional teams. This is pragmatic in academics and real-life

activities such as organizations and personal interaction. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

(2002) is an essential coursework material that equips learners with the necessary information on

teamwork functionality, the dynamics of team performances, provision of a comprehensive

analysis of theories that define teamwork, dissects the phases involved in creating teamwork and
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also a study of dysfunctional teams by framework and solution in creating an environment that

will enable teamwork.

Lencioni's (2002) book is instrumental in supplementing information teamwork divided

into two vital parts: the fable and the model. The fable narrates the experiences of a technology

company known as DecisionTech. Lencioni provides an overview of the company, the internal

system personality, and a resolving mechanism in which the new CEO solves the company's

problems. The second part looks at the application model used in the company and how it

transformed the company's internal systems inducing functional teamwork and organizational

processes. The book is instrumental in analyzing five aspects that influence dysfunctional teams:

absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, and lack of accountability and destruction

from results. The course analysis would underline the importance of understanding the meaning

of teamwork and group work. Based on Lencioni's (2002) interpretation, teamwork is a sizable

arrangement of people with a shared goal, with every member having a shared responsibility and

reward mechanism. On the other hand, a group is a composition of individuals that relate to each

other, with each acting individually to achieve a defined goal or resolve a set problem.

The Absence of trust

Trust is critical in an organizational context because it creates reliability and support

among team members. According to Lencioni (2002), trust relates to developing team confidence

in each other. The objective of enabling a trusting environment is to foster a positive

environment and good interactions among team members (Lencioni, 195). Trust is fundamental

by allowing team members to share their weaknesses, deficiencies in skills, and incompatibility

aspects without being vulnerable to their shortcomings, considering team efforts are unified.

Griffith & Dunham's "Working in teams" (2014) reinforces the importance of trust and points to

it as a critical component in teamwork that enables team success in teams. The material further

identifies that members of the groups are considered trustworthy when they display

characteristics that create trusts, such as integrity, competence, and goodwill. The lack of

confidence creates a void among team members and results in dysfunctional teams that rarely

rely on each other. This creates a delicate interdependence among team members amounting to

dysfunctional team processes that can paralyze team activities. In relation to my interaction with

groups, trust has a definitive aspect of attaining the group's success. The diversity of

personalities in groups creates a relationship problem whereby group members have to achieve

comparable characteristics to minimize any personality conflicts affecting trust among group

individuals. In every team, each work on specific interests that may benefit them; therefore, the

priorities in teams may vary based on the importance of the agenda. This may create

discrepancies among team members as individuals may have varying contributions based on

personality, goal importance, and relationships in the group. Therefore, teams and groups should

work being guided by trust to improve success in cooperation.

Avoidance of Conflict

In modern competitive social and organizational environments, constructive conflicts are

essential to team or group functionality. The traditional concept of conflict was deemed

unfavorable and chaotic, which is invalid considering that understanding conflict was

misconstrued with personal conflict. In competitive organizational setups, they encourage their

workforce to be competitive. Lencioni (2002) uses Kathryn's example in installing trust among

its employees as a recommendable process for fostering employee relationships. The method

enables constructive criticism where employees can share their opinions on sensitive agendas.

This improves the decision-making processes among its team members, enhancing team

efficiency and accountability. This is supported by Griffith & Dunham's (2014) statement that

purports that conflict may not only seem sinister, and infusing the right kind of conflict may be

instrumental in developing high-performance teams resulting in solid group connection and

success. In my experiences with groups, it was quite usual to encounter conflicts among the

group members, and when expressing contrasting opinions on specific agendas or issues, this

enabled group members to argue in a broader scope thinking outside the box and improving

group outcomes at the end of the day. Avoiding conflict may slow the progress and performances
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in groups by defining a limited set of thinking limits any ideological enhancements and progress

among team members.

The Lack of Commitment

Another cause of dysfunctionality in teams is

the lack of a common purpose and objectivity in

a group. Lencioni (2002) confirms that the level

of coherency in teamwork objectivity lies in the

ability of teams to make decisions without being

ruled by consensus but in the ultimate need to achieve specified goals. If the team members lack

a unity of purpose and discipline may amount to ambiguity in the aspect of priorities and

direction. The value of commitment in groups and teams activates individual efforts in

prioritizing a common goal. The lack of team commitment is a leading cause of dysfunctionality

because members may lack the drive to push on individual steps toward a shared purpose. Basing

the factor of personal experiences in working with groups is the lack of commitment among the

team members. In a specific scenario, I encountered a problem whereby in a group of seven

individuals, only a few members were committed to the group's purpose, while a majority of the

members frustrated efforts in working on the group project in a timely and efficient manner. The

same team members were hesitant to give control, which stalled the group's progress. The social

loafing characteristics influence the performance of groups and teams in that it delays group or

team work schedules.

Accountability Avoidance

Teamwork performance relies on accountability levels; this factors into the responsibility

status of persons or a group. The accountability level is defined by the purpose of an individual
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or a group's capacity to limit any form of distraction or pressure, increasing their likelihood of

attaining or achieving specified goals. Accountability falls as a personality issue in which team

members who are not accountable for their actions may stall the performances in groups and

teams. The connection has been vital in understanding my relationship with teams or groups

because team engagements that hold each other accountable can streamline their groups or

teams’ activities to ensure they achieve a stated goal or target. In my experiences, I once related

to a group where the members held each other accountable to the extent that they would call any

poor performance or laxity among the team members.

. The members would actively engage each other on the best approach to tackle an issue

and develop standards to increase team performance.

Failure to focus on Results

The course reflection substantiated the

preference for collective goals compared

to personal goals in teamwork. In

teamwork, an individual should forego

their interests or goals to achieve a shared

target, considering seeking individual

interests puts the members as competitors

and may focus their efforts on outshining each other. This set to point the goals as unfeasible.

Using an illustration from Lencioni (2002), where Kathryn's husband dropped the team's most

valuable player based on his self-centric characteristics and failed to look at the broader picture.

A team or group should not focus on individual abilities or level competition with each other but

instead focus on collective goals to make the targets achievable. It is, therefore, essential to
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compose teams based on shared personalities, beliefs, and interests to enable team members to

pursue and align their synergies toward a primary objective. When joining any group, I point at

the forming stage that we have a defined set of rules and goals that align efforts towards a

common focus. The need for timelines and deadlines enables commitment and increases

efficiency among the team members.

Teamwork and Groupwork performances

Team effort is practical in the social context, such as schools, organizations, or other

exterior engagements. Teamwork is essential in achieving specified shared goals using minimum

effort. Evaluating team performances generally examine a team's success attainment or

milestones. This assesses the intrinsic measurable components that determine the success of a

group. In most cases, teams need to structure a framework that enables a team or group to work

sufficiently or address their intended issues. In Lencioni's "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team"

(2002), the authors address the highlighted questions to answer how to create effective teams and

come up with interventions to overcome team dysfunctionality. This brings us back to

Tuckman's model of group development (1965). It states that teams go through five phases of

development, and the interaction in each stage is vital in forming target-oriented teams. The
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model recognizes the development of groups in cohesive and defined stages, from the formation

to the actualization and dissolvement of the group. That enables us to learn how progress allows

for forming mature teams that can handle delegated tasks. Interpreting the phases described in

Griffith & Dunham (2014) helped my team member adopt Tuckman’s model to develop a solid

and cohesive team.

Tuckman’s Model

The stages comprise; forming- which involves the structuring of teams and forging the

necessary framework to guide the teams, storming- this is where team members display conflict

and push against established boundaries, norming- is interpreted as an intervention to regain

stability in the group after experiencing conflict or tension during the storming phase.

Performing stage- this is where the actual work is performed, strategized mechanisms that guide

member relationships and cohesion, and the team structuring is enhanced to tackle any

challenges. The adjourning phase is the disbandment stage, where members achieving their

targets can finally dissolve a team or group. In our team's interaction with Tuckman's model, we

highlighted the various stages and how our group interacts. The model reflected key processes

teams experienced when working on the course project. An example is in the forming stage; the

group members were tasked with familiarizing themselves with each other. This enabled my

group to create a bond and forge the framework to guide my team in handling a prescribed task.
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However, in this phase, we needed help harmonizing our schedules to have a working timeline

for the task. Such required extensive consultation through zoom calling that enabled the

members to sacrifice some free time to work on the assignment. Our team failed to experience

any storming; however, we faced slight hitches in tasking responsibilities among the team

members. In the performing phase- our tasked team maximized its productivity by efficiently

delegating roles that minimized workload among the team members through setting up targeted

objectives. That enhanced member commitments and responsibility towards the intended task

and allowed team members to coordinate effectively in the team activities.

Interventions in Addressing Dysfunctionality in Teams

Lencioni's book "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" (2002) addresses challenges

resulting from dysfunctionality in teams. The book information is decidedly objective by using

Lencioni’s expertise in working with executive teams to diagnose some shared team experience

issues. While also using a critical approach, the resources provided for the course, activities, and

assignments influenced the students to better articulate and resolve organizational issues.

Lencioni’s (2002) material is practical in the real world by enabling student cohesion of the

underlying connection between the dysfunctionality team and poor corporate performance. He

further states that investment in money and time is a practical waste of time when organization

members fail to create sustainable frameworks such as trust, commitment, and nature-compatible

internal systems.

In addressing trust issues, Lencioni (2002) suggests techniques such as personality and

behavioral preference profiles, practical team exercises, and personal histories exercises as

mechanisms to increase trust among a group and organization. The 360- degree feedback system

is instrumental in sharing performance feedback with relevant internal contacts such as superiors
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and colleagues or even with customers. This provides 360-degree feedback on individual

perceptions and others' perceptions.

Moreover, addressing the fear of conflict can relate from a personal organization

standpoint. This can cause tension among team members or even create unpleasant experiences

for interacting parties. Such occurs due to conflicting ideas or disagreements in structured team

or organization processes. The intervening options include personality style and behavior or real-

time permission that may allow a member to interrelate cordially.

According to Lencioni (2002), consensus is the root cause of group members' lacking

commitment. Fewer commitments also create severe disagreements that are unresolvable among

group members. Lencioni's responses to this issue include cascade messages and establishing

Deadlines, contingencies, and low-risk exposure counseling are all important considerations.

Adopting these strategies may influence a group member's disposition to enhance the efficiency

of the team presentation.

We can learn from the accountability dysfunctionality that it contributes to increased

inefficiency and project delays and places additional pressure on the team manager.

Accountability defines setting norms and objectives by implementing regular and simple review

procedures. Creating a warning system where the team leader is rewarded will increase

commitment and accountability among team members.

Another element that reduces the efficacy of the team's success is the lack of

concentration on results. Lencioni (2002) emphasizes that group and personal statuses represent

family dynamics and the root cause of inattention. The resolving approach to counter

inattentiveness to effects is to increase team members' involvement by publicizing their team's

performance and setting up a reward system to recognize members that focus on team results and

are committed to achieving team or organization objectives.

Conclusion

Patrick Lencioni’s book “The Five Dysfunction of a Team” (2002) analyzes teamwork

functionality. In a highly competitive social environment in organizations or school setup, the

performance in objectivity lies in groups and teamwork. Lencioni (2002) uses a pragmatic

approach to resolving dysfunctionality in teams using a candid and logical analysis. It provides a

discourse amongst learners and entrepreneurs on practical strategies to counter human dynamics,

particularly teamwork inconsistencies. By using Kathryn's purview, the CEO could turn around

her organization's dysfunctionality. Therefore, based on her organization model approaches, we

learn how to use them in creating high-performing teams that are successful in their targeted

objective. Moreover, supporting material such as Griffith & Dunham (2014) provides learners

with a broader scope of team dynamics. In particular reference Tuckman's model in team

development, whereby I gained insight into team development processes and how each stage was

instrumental to underlining the performance and interaction in our academic groups. The

complementary role provided by the course material is essential in understanding and managing

group and team dynamics in the current age.

References

Griffith, B. A., & Dunham, E. B. (2014). Working in teams: Moving from high potential to high

performance. Sage Publications.

Lencioni, P. M. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team. Jossey-Bass.