Group Dynamics for Teams Daniel J.

Levi
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/group-dynamics-for-teams-daniel-j-levi/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Group Dynamics, 7th Edition Donelson R. Forsyth

https://textbookfull.com/product/group-dynamics-7th-edition-
donelson-r-forsyth/

Photoinduced Molecular Dynamics in Solution Multiscale

Modelling and the Link to Ultrafast Experiments
Gianluca Levi

https://textbookfull.com/product/photoinduced-molecular-dynamics-
in-solution-multiscale-modelling-and-the-link-to-ultrafast-
experiments-gianluca-levi/

C for Financial Markets 1st Edition Daniel J. Duffy

https://textbookfull.com/product/c-for-financial-markets-1st-
edition-daniel-j-duffy/

Group processes : dynamics within and between groups

Third Edition Brown

https://textbookfull.com/product/group-processes-dynamics-within-
and-between-groups-third-edition-brown/
Radical Therapy for Software Development Teams:
Improving Software Development Practices and Team
Dynamics 1st Edition Gregory Lind

https://textbookfull.com/product/radical-therapy-for-software-
development-teams-improving-software-development-practices-and-
team-dynamics-1st-edition-gregory-lind/

Levi 1st Edition Ali Parker

https://textbookfull.com/product/levi-1st-edition-ali-parker/

System Dynamics 4th Edition William J. Palm

https://textbookfull.com/product/system-dynamics-4th-edition-
william-j-palm/

Looking for Group Alexis Hall

https://textbookfull.com/product/looking-for-group-alexis-hall/

Data Teams: A Unified Management Model for Successful

Data-Focused Teams 1st Edition Jesse Anderson

https://textbookfull.com/product/data-teams-a-unified-management-
model-for-successful-data-focused-teams-1st-edition-jesse-
anderson/
Group Dynamics for Teams
5th Edition

2
SAGE was founded in 1965 by Sara Miller McCune to support the dissemination of usable knowledge by
publishing innovative and high-quality research and teaching content. Today, we publish more than 850
journals, including those of more than 300 learned societies, more than 800 new books per year, and a
growing range of library products including archives, data, case studies, reports, and video. SAGE remains
majority-owned by our founder, and after Sara’s lifetime will become owned by a charitable trust that secures
our continued independence.

Los Angeles | London | New Delhi | Singapore | Washington DC

3
Group Dynamics for Teams
5th Edition

Daniel Levi
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Los Angeles
London
New Delhi
Singapore
Washington DC

4
 Copyright © 2017 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

FOR INFORMATION:

SAGE Publications, Inc.

2455 Teller Road

Thousand Oaks, California 91320

E-mail: order@sagepub.com

SAGE Publications Ltd.

1 Oliver’s Yard

55 City Road

London, EC1Y 1SP

United Kingdom

SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd.

B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area

Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044

India

SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd.

3 Church Street

#10–04 Samsung Hub

Singapore 049483

Acquisitions Editor: Lara Parra

Development Editor: Nathan Davidson

Editorial Assistant: Morgan McCardell

Production Editor: Veronica Stapleton Hooper

Copy Editor: Janet Ford

Typesetter: Hurix Systems Pvt. Ltd.

Proofreader: Dennis W. Webb

Indexer: Sheila Bodell

Cover Designer: Rose Storey

Marketing Manager: Shari Countryman

Leading Virtual Teams icon from iStock 16635106.

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 978-1-4833-7834-3

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

15 16 17 18 19 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

5
6
Brief Contents
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
PART I: CHARACTERISTICS OF TEAMS
Chapter 1. Understanding Teams
Chapter 2. Defining Team Success
PART II: PROCESSES OF TEAMWORK
Chapter 3. Team Beginnings
Chapter 4. Understanding the Basic Team Processes
Chapter 5. Cooperation and Competition
Chapter 6. Communication
PART III: ISSUES TEAMS FACE
Chapter 7. Managing Conflict
Chapter 8. Power and Social Influence
Chapter 9. Decision Making
Chapter 10. Leadership
Chapter 11. Problem Solving
Chapter 12. Creativity
Chapter 13. Diversity
PART IV: ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT OF TEAMS
Chapter 14. Team, Organizational, and International Culture
Chapter 15. Virtual Teamwork
Chapter 16. Evaluating and Rewarding Teams
Chapter 17. Team Building and Team Training
Appendix: Guide to Student Team Projects
References
Index

7
Detailed Contents
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
PART I: CHARACTERISTICS OF TEAMS
Chapter 1. Understanding Teams
Learning Objectives
1.1 Defining Groups and Teams
1.2 Purposes and Types of Teams
How Teams Are Used by Organizations
Classifying Teams
1.3 Why Organizations Use Teams
Job Characteristics
Organizational Characteristics
1.4 History of Teams and Group Dynamics
Foundations of Teamwork
Foundations of Group Dynamics
Leading Virtual Teams: Virtual Meetings and Virtual Collaboration—Selecting
Technologies to Use for Your Team
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 1
Survey: Attitudes Toward Teamwork
Activity: Working in Teams
Chapter 2. Defining Team Success
Learning Objectives
2.1 Nature of Team Success
Completing the Task
Developing Social Relations
Benefiting the Individual
2.2 Conditions for Team Success
Team Composition
Characteristics of the Task
Group Process
Organizational Context
2.3 Characteristics of Successful Teams
2.4 Positive Psychology View of Team Success
2.5 Using Teams in the Workplace
Benefits of Teamwork

8
 Problems of Teamwork
When the Use of Teams Becomes a Fad
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 2
Activity: Understanding Team Success
PART II: PROCESSES OF TEAMWORK
Chapter 3. Team Beginnings
Learning Objectives
3.1 Stages of Teamwork
Group Development Perspective
Project Development Perspective
Cyclical Perspective
Implications of Team Development Stages
3.2 Group Socialization
3.3 Team Goals
Value and Characteristics of Goals
Hidden Agendas
3.4 Team Norms
How Norms Are Formed
Impact of Team Norms
3.5 Application: Jump-Starting Project Teams
Team Warm-Ups
Project Definitions and Planning
Team Contract
Leading Virtual Teams: Starting a Virtual Team
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 3
Activity: Observing Team Norms
Activity: Developing a Team Contract
Chapter 4. Understanding the Basic Team Processes
Learning Objectives
4.1 Motivation
Social Loafing
Increasing Team Motivation
4.2 Group Cohesion
How Cohesion Affects the Team’s Performance
Building Group Cohesion
4.3 Team Roles
Role Problems
Types of Team Meeting Roles

9
 4.4 Task and Social Behaviors
Value of Social Behaviors
4.5 Team Adaptation and Learning
Reflexivity
Using Feedback
Group Process Observations
Leading Virtual Teams: Motivating Participation in Virtual Meetings
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 4
Activity: Observing Task and Social Behaviors
Chapter 5. Cooperation and Competition
Learning Objectives
5.1 Teamwork as a Mixed-Motive Situation
5.2 Why Are People in Teams Competitive?
Culture
Personality
Organizational Rewards
5.3 Problems With Competition
Communication and Goal Confusion
Intergroup Competition
When Is Competition Appropriate?
5.4 Benefits of and Problems With Cooperation
Benefits of Cooperation
Problems With Cooperation
Competitive Versus Cooperative Rewards
5.5 Application: Encouraging Cooperation
Common Goals
Rebuilding Trust and Communication
Encouraging Altruistic Norms
Negotiating Cooperation
Leading Virtual Teams: Building Trust and Social Relationships
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 5
Survey: Cooperative, Competitive, or Individualistic Orientation
Activity: Understanding Competitive Versus Cooperative Goals
Chapter 6. Communication
Learning Objectives
6.1 Communication Process
Verbal Communication
Nonverbal Communication

10
 Communication Within Teams
6.2 Flow of a Team’s Communications
Dysfunctional Information Processing Within the Team
Gender and Communication
Building Trust
Psychological Safety
Communication Climates
6.3 Emotional Intelligence
6.4 Facilitating Team Meetings
6.5 Communication Skills for Team Meetings
Leading Virtual Teams: Running Virtual Meetings to Ensure Everyone Is Following the
Agenda and People Arrive at the Same Understanding
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 6
Survey: Team Emotional Intelligence
Activity: Observing Communication Patterns in a Team
PART III: ISSUES TEAMS FACE
Chapter 7. Managing Conflict
Learning Objectives
7.1 Conflict Is Normal
7.2 Sources of Conflict
7.3 Impact of Conflict
Benefits of and Problems With Conflict
Conflict in Work Teams
Conflict Management
7.4 Conflict Resolution Approaches
Two Dimensions of Conflict
Comparing Different Approaches to Conflict Resolution
7.5 Managing Team Conflicts
Preparing for Conflicts
Facilitating Conflicts
Virtual Team Conflicts
Negotiating Conflicts
Leading Virtual Teams: Reducing Conflict and Developing Collaboration
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 7
Survey: Conflict Resolution Styles
Activity: Observing Conflict Resolution Styles
Chapter 8. Power and Social Influence
Learning Objectives

11
 8.1 Definitions of Power and Social Influence
Conformity
Obedience
8.2 Types of Power
Bases of Power
Influence Tactics
8.3 Power Dynamics
Status and the Corrupting Effect of Power
Unequal Power in a Team
Minority Influence
Impact of Interdependence
8.4 Empowerment
Degrees of Empowerment Programs
Successful Empowerment Programs
8.5 Application: Acting Assertively
Power Styles
Use of Power Styles
Encouraging Assertiveness
Leading Virtual Teams: Ensuring Dissenting Voices Are Heard and Empowering the Team
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 8
Activity: Using Power Styles—Passive, Aggressive, and Assertive
Chapter 9. Decision Making
Learning Objectives
9.1 Value of Group Decision Making
Advantages and Disadvantages of Group Decision Making
When Are Group Decisions Superior to Individual Decisions?
9.2 Approaches to Group Decision Making
Evaluating Group Decision-Making Approaches
Normative Decision-Making Theory
9.3 Decision-Making Problems
Causes of Group Decision-Making Problems
Group Polarization
Groupthink
9.4 Decision-Making Techniques
Nominal Group Technique
Delphi Technique
Ringi Technique
Evaluation of Decision-Making Techniques
9.5 Application: Consensus Decision Making

12
 Leading Virtual Teams: Encouraging Agreement on a Decision
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 9
Activity: Making Consensus Decisions
Activity: Group Versus Individual Decision Making
Chapter 10. Leadership
Learning Objectives
10.1 Alternative Designs of Leadership for Teams
Characteristics of Team Leadership
Shared Leadership
Leader Emergence
10.2 Approaches to Leadership
Trait or Personality Approach
Behavioral Approach
Situational Approach
Contingency Approach
10.3 Situational Leadership Theory
10.4 Self-Managing Teams
Leading Self-Managing Teams
Motivating Self-Managing Teams
Success of Self-Managing Teams
10.5 Application: The Functional Approach to Leading Teams
Providing a Context for Teams
Facilitating Internal Operations
Team Coaching
Leading Virtual Teams: New Approaches to Leadership in Virtual Teams
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 10
Survey: Leadership Styles
Activity: Observing the Leader’s Behavior
Chapter 11. Problem Solving
Learning Objectives
11.1 Approaches to Problem Solving
11.2 Descriptive Approach: How Teams Solve Problems
11.3 Functional Approach: Advice on Improving Team Problem Solving
Factors That Improve Team Problem Solving
Factors That Hurt Team Problem Solving
11.4 Prescriptive Approach: Rational Problem-Solving Model
Problem Recognition, Definition, and Analysis
Generating Alternatives and Selecting a Solution

13
 Implementation and Evaluation
11.5 Problem-Solving Teams
11.6 Application: Problem-Solving Techniques for Teams
Problem Analysis
Criteria Matrix
Action Plans
Force Field Analysis
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 11
Activity: Using Problem-Solving Techniques
Chapter 12. Creativity
Learning Objectives
12.1 Creativity and Its Characteristics
12.2 Individual Creativity
12.3 Group Creativity
Problems With Group Creativity
Brainstorming
Strengths of Team Creativity
Creativity as an Ongoing Team Process
12.4 Organizational Environment and Creativity
12.5 Application: Team Creativity Techniques
Brainstorming
Nominal Group Technique and Brainwriting
Selecting a Solution
Multiple-Stage Creativity Approaches
Leading Virtual Teams: Virtual Creativity
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 12
Activity: Comparing Different Creativity Techniques
Chapter 13. Diversity
Learning Objectives
13.1 The Nature of Diversity
Why Diversity Is Important Now
Types of Diversity
How Diversity Affects a Team
13.2 Problems of Diversity
Misperception
Emotional Distrust
Failure to Use Team Resources
13.3 Causes of Diversity Problems

14
 Diversity as a Cognitive Process
Team Leader
Diversity as a Social Process
13.4 Effects of Diversity
Research on the Effects of Diversity on Teams
Cross-Functional Teams
13.5 Application: Creating a Context to Support Diversity
Increasing Awareness
Improving Group Process Skills
Creating a Safe Environment
Improving Organizational Issues
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 13
Survey: Attitudes Toward Diversity
Activity: Understanding Gender and Status Differences in a Team
PART IV: ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT OF TEAMS
Chapter 14. Team, Organizational, and International Culture
Learning Objectives
14.1 Team Culture
14.2 Defining Organizational Culture
14.3 Organizational Culture and Teamwork
14.4 Dimensions of International Culture
Individualism Versus Collectivism
Power and Status
Uncertainty and Risk Avoidance
Comparing the United States and Japan
14.5 International Differences in Teamwork
14.6 Transnational Teams
Characteristics of Transnational Teams
Creating Effective Transnational Teams
Leading Virtual Teams: Dealing With Cultural Issues
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 14
Survey: Individualism–Collectivism
Activity: Evaluating a Team’s Culture and Cultural Context
Activity: Comparing United States and Japanese Teams
Chapter 15. Virtual Teamwork
Learning Objectives
15.1 Use of Communication Technologies
Communication Technologies and Teams

15
 Characteristics of Communication Technologies
15.2 Communication Impacts
Status Differences
Anonymity
Miscommunication
Communication Norms
15.3 Team Impacts
Task Performance in Virtual Teams
Decision Making
Social Relations
15.4 Selecting the Right Technology
Factors to Consider When Selecting Technology
Matching Technology to the Team and Task
15.5 Challenge of Virtual Teams
Team Building in Virtual Teams
Future of Virtual Teams
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 15
Activity: Developing Netiquette for Virtual Teams
Activity: Experiencing Teamwork in a Simulated Virtual Team
Chapter 16. Evaluating and Rewarding Teams
Learning Objectives
16.1 Team Performance Evaluations
Types of Evaluations
Types of Measures
Participation in the Evaluation Process
Problems and Biases With Team Evaluations
16.2 Reward Systems
Types of Approach
Hybrid Approaches
16.3 Rewarding Individual Team Members
Changing Base Pay
Skill-Based Pay
16.4 Team and Organizational Reward Programs
Team Recognition Programs
Organizational Rewards
16.5 Relationship of Rewards to Types of Teams
Types of Teams
Linking Rewards to Types of Team
Summary

16
 Team Leader’s Challenge 16
Survey: Individual Versus Team Rewards
Activity: Evaluating and Rewarding a Project Team
Activity: Team Halo Effect
Chapter 17. Team Building and Team Training
Learning Objectives
17.1 What Is Team Building?
Organizational Context of Team Building
Evaluating Team-Building Programs
17.2 Does Your Team Need Team Building?
17.3 Types of Team-Building Programs
Goal Setting
Role Clarification
Interpersonal Process Skills
Cohesion Building
Problem Solving
17.4 Team Training
Training the Team Together
Planning for the Transfer of Training
17.5 Types of Training
Team Resource Management Training
Cross-Training and Interpositional Training
Action Learning
Summary
Team Leader’s Challenge 17
Activity: Team Building
Activity: Appreciative Inquiry of Teamwork
Appendix: Guide to Student Team Projects
A.1 Starting the Team
Team Warm-Ups
Development of a Team Contract
Leadership and Meeting Roles
Managing Team Technology
A.2 Planning and Developing the Project
Challenge the Assignment
Generation of Project Ideas
Brainwriting Method
Project Planning
Roles and Assignments
Reevaluation of the Project and Approach

17
 A.3 Monitoring the Project and Maintaining Teamwork
Team Meetings: Sharing Information, Making Decisions, and Tracking Assignments
Group Process Evaluations
Managing Problem Behaviors
Milestone: Midpoint Evaluation
A.4 Performing Team Writing
Overall Strategy
Division of Work
A.5 Wrapping Up and Completing the Project
Milestone: Precompletion Planning
Team Evaluations
Celebrating Success and Learning From the Experience
References
Index

18
Acknowledgments

Many people helped shape this book. My understanding of work teams, including both manufacturing and
professional teams, was fostered by the many opportunities I had to study and consult with actual teams in
industry. Andrew Young, Margaret Lawn, and Don Devito created a number of opportunities for me to work
with teams in the United States and abroad. Most of my research and consulting on work teams was
performed with Charles Slem, my partner at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. As a teacher of group dynamics, I
learned by coteaching with Fred Stultz and Robert Christenson. In addition, I had the opportunity to work
with engineering teams at Cal Poly as part of a NASA-supported program to improve engineering education.
Daniel Mittleman, associate professor of Computing and Digital Media at DePaul University, helped me
understand the impacts of virtual teamwork and contributed to the Leading Virtual Teams sections of the
book. David Askay, assistant professor of Communications Studies at Cal Poly, wrote the Communication
chapter (Chapter 6) and contributed ideas and sections on the impacts of diversity and the use of technology
by teams. Finally, the psychology, business, and engineering students in my group dynamics and teamwork
classes have helped teach me what is important about how teams operate.

The support of various editors at SAGE Publications has been invaluable. I have also benefited from the
many anonymous academic reviews of the book and proposed revisions. In addition, Kathy Johnston and Sara
Kocher labored diligently to improve my language and make the text more readable. My wife, Sara, deserves
special credit for her thoughtful reviews and supportive presence throughout this process.

For comprehensive reviews of the manuscript, I would like to thank the following reviewers:

Mark A. Arvisais, Towson University

Kerrie Q. Baker, Cedar Crest College

Anita Leffel, The University of Texas at San Antonio

Russell O. Mays, Georgia Southern University

Kevin L. Nadal, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

C. Kevin Synnott, Eastern Connecticut State University

19
About the Author

Daniel Levi
is a professor in the Psychology and Child Development Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo,
California. He holds an MA and a PhD in environmental psychology from the University of Arizona.
He teaches classes in teamwork and in environmental and organizational psychology. His teamwork
class was designed primarily for engineering and business students at Cal Poly. He has conducted
research and worked as a consultant with factory and engineering teams for companies, such as Nortel
Networks, TRW, Hewlett-Packard, and Philips Electronics. In addition, he has worked on
international team research projects in Europe and Asia.
Dr. Levi’s research and consulting with factory teams primarily focused on the use of teams to support
technological change and the adoption of just-in-time and quality programs. This work examined a
variety of team issues, including job redesign, training, compensation, supervision, and change
management approaches. His work with professional teams primarily was accomplished with
engineering design teams. These projects examined the use of concurrent engineering, self-
management, and the globalization of teams. The topics of this work included the impact of
information technology on teams, facilitation and training needs for professional teams, and the impacts
of organizational culture and leadership.
Early work on the present book was sponsored by an engineering education grant from NASA. This
project focused on the development of teamwork skills in engineering students working on
multidisciplinary projects. This project led to the development of cases and activities for learning
teamwork skills and research on teamwork training, and evaluating and rewarding student teams.
Recent research on student teams examines gender and cross-cultural issues, social support within
teams, and bullying and hijacking in student teams.
David Askay
is an assistant professor in the Communications Studies Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He
earned a PhD in Organizational Science from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (2013) and
teaches in the areas of groups, organizations, and technology.

20
Introduction

There are two sources of information about teamwork. First, there is a large body of research in psychology
and the social sciences called group dynamics that examines how people work in small groups. This research
was collected over the past century and has developed into a broad base of knowledge about the operation of
groups. Second, the use of teams in the workplace has expanded rapidly during the past three decades.
Management researchers and applied social scientists have studied this development to provide advice to
organizations about how to make teams operate more effectively. However, these two areas of research and
knowledge often operate along separate paths.

The purpose of this book is to unite these two important perspectives on how people work together. It
organizes research and theories of group dynamics in order to apply this information to the ways in which
teams operate in organizations. The concepts of group dynamics are presented so they are useful for people
who work in teams and also to enlarge their understandings of how teams operate. It is hoped that this
integration helps readers better understand the internal dynamics of teams so they can become more effective
team leaders and members.

The larger goal of this book is to make teams more successful. Teams are important in our society, and
learning teamwork skills is important for individual career success. This book presents many concepts related
to how teams operate. In addition, the chapters contain application sections with techniques, advice for
leading virtual teams, case studies (called Team Leader’s Challenge), surveys, and activities designed to
develop teamwork skills. The appendix contains tools and advice to help students in project teams. Teamwork
is not just something one reads about and then understands; teamwork develops through guided experience
and feedback. This book provides a framework for teaching about teams and improving how teams function.

21
Overview
The seventeen chapters in this book cover a wide range of topics related to group dynamics and teamwork.
These chapters are organized into four parts: characteristics of teams, processes of teamwork, issues teams
face, and organizational context of teams. An appendix provides advice and tools to support student project
teams.

Part I: Characteristics of Teams

Chapters 1 and 2 provide an introduction to group dynamics and teamwork. Chapter 1 explains the
differences between groups and teams. This chapter also examines the purpose of teams in organizations and
why they are increasing in use. It concludes with a brief history of both the use of teams and the study of
group dynamics.

Chapter 2 explores the characteristics of successful teams. It explains the basic components necessary to create
effective teams and examines the conditions and characteristics of successful work teams. It presents both
traditional perspectives toward team success and a positive psychology perspective. In many ways, this chapter
establishes a goal for team members, whereas the rest of the book explains how to reach that goal.

Part II: Processes of Teamwork

Chapters 3 through 6 present the underlying processes of teamwork. Chapter 3 examines the processes and
stages that relate to forming teams. Team members must be socialized or incorporated into teams. Teams
must establish goals and norms (operating rules) to begin work. These are the first steps in team development.

Chapter 4 presents some of the main processes and concepts from group dynamics that explain how teams
operate. Working together as a team affects the motivation of participants both positively and negatively.
Team members form social relationships with one another that help define their identities as teams. Teams
divide tasks into different roles to coordinate the work. The behaviors and actions of team members can be
viewed as either task oriented or social, both of which are necessary for teams to function smoothly. Teams are
dynamic entities that adapt to changes and learn how to work together more effectively.

One of the underlying concepts that define teamwork is cooperation. Teams are a collection of people who
work cooperatively together to accomplish goals. However, teams often are disrupted by competition. Chapter
5 explains how cooperation and competition affect the dynamics of teams.

Team members interact by communicating with one another. Chapter 6 examines the communication that
occurs within teams. It describes the communication process, how teams develop supportive communication
climates, and the effects of emotional intelligence on communication. The chapter also presents practical
advice on how to facilitate team meetings and develop skills that help improve team communication.

Part III: Issues Teams Face

22
The third part of the book contains seven chapters that focus on a variety of issues that teams face in learning
to operate effectively. Chapter 7 examines conflict and conflict resolution in teams. Although conflict often is
viewed as a negative event, certain types of conflict are both healthy and necessary for teams to succeed. The
chapter explains the dynamics of conflict within teams and discusses various approaches to managing conflict
in teams.

Chapter 8 describes how power and social influence operate in teams. Different types of power and influence
tactics are available to teams and their members; the use of power has wide-ranging applications and effects
on teams. In one important sense, the essence of teams at work is a shift in power. Teams exist because their
organizations are willing to shift power and control to teams.

The central purpose of many types of teams is to make decisions. Chapter 9 examines group decision-making
processes. It illustrates operative conditions when teams are better than individuals at making decisions and
the problems that groups encounter in trying to make effective decisions. The chapter ends with a
presentation of decision-making techniques that are useful for teams.

Chapter 10 presents leadership options for teams from authoritarian control to self-management. The various
approaches to understanding leadership are reviewed, with an emphasis on leadership models that are useful
for understanding team leadership. The chapter examines self-managing teams in detail to illustrate this
important alternative to traditional leadership approaches.

The different methods that teams use to solve problems are examined in Chapter 11. The chapter compares
how teams solve problems with how teams should solve problems. The chapter presents a variety of problem-
solving techniques to help improve how teams analyze and solve problems.

Creativity, which is one aspect of teams that often is criticized, is discussed in Chapter 12. Teams can inhibit
individual creativity, but some problems require teams to develop creative solutions. The chapter examines the
factors that discourage creativity in teams and presents some techniques that foster team creativity.

Chapter 13 examines how diversity affects teams: the problems, causes, and effects. In one sense, if everyone
were alike then there would be no need for teamwork. Teams benefit from the multiple perspectives inherent
in diversity; however, group processes need to be managed effectively in order to realize these benefits.

Part IV: Organizational Context of Teams

The final section of the book presents a set of issues that relate to the use of teams in organizations. Chapter
14 examines the relationship between teams and culture. Culture defines the underlying values and practices
of a team or organization. Teams develop cultures that regulate how they operate. Work teams are more likely
to be successful if their organization’s culture supports them. International culture has many impacts on
teamwork. Transnational teams need to develop a hybrid culture that mediates the cultural differences among
its members.

Although teams often are thought of as people interacting directly with one another, Chapter 15 examines the

23
impacts of teams that interact through technology. Virtual teams comprise members who may be dispersed
around the world and use a variety of technologies to communicate and coordinate their efforts. The selection
and use of these technologies changes some of the dynamics of the teams operations.

Chapter 16 examines approaches to evaluating and rewarding teams. One of the keys to developing effective
teams is creating a mechanism to provide quality feedback to teams so they can improve their own
performance. Performance evaluation systems help provide feedback, while reward programs motivate team
members to act on this information.

Team building and the various approaches for improving how teams operate is the focus of Chapter 17, the
final chapter. Organizations use team-building techniques to help teams get started, overcome obstacles, and
improve performance. Teamwork training helps develop people skills so that everyone can work together more
effectively.

Appendix: Guide to Student Team Projects

One of the reasons students want to learn about group dynamics is to improve the effectiveness of their teams
at work and school. As a teacher of group dynamics and teamwork, I require students to work on a large
project throughout the course. Working on their team project provides the students with an opportunity to try
out the ideas they are learning in the course.

The Guide to Student Team Projects contains some of the tools and advice that students need to successfully
complete a team project. The appendix covers topics, such as how to start a team, plan a team project, monitor
the progress of the team and project, write as a team, and end the team. This is practical advice on techniques
and activities to help improve the team’s performance.

The student project teams in my classes range from five to seven members who are randomly appointed to the
team. They are given a large and poorly structured assignment, requiring them to clarify and negotiate the
specifics. The teams must conduct periodic group process evaluations so that they regularly discuss and try to
improve the teamwork process. Although I grade the quality of the team’s final product, the students grade
the performance of the individual team members. (This is a very important step, and we spend class time
discussing how to do this.)

Although this is a guide for student projects, the tools in the appendix are useful for many types of project
teams.

Learning Approaches
Learning how to work in teams is not a matter of simply reading about group dynamics. Fundamentally,
teamwork is a set of skills that must be developed through practice and feedback. In addition to presenting
information about how teams operate, this book contains four other types of material that are helpful for
developing teamwork skills: application sections, case studies, surveys, and activities.

24
Many chapters in the book incorporate application sections. The purpose of these sections is to provide
practical advice on applying the concepts in the chapters. These sections focus on presenting techniques rather
than theories and concepts. These techniques can be applied to the existing teams or can be used with a team
in a class to practice the skills. In addition, most of the chapters contain an application section called Leading
Virtual Teams, which provides practical advice for dealing with the group dynamics problems created by
working in a virtual team setting.

All chapters end with case studies and teamwork activities. The case studies, called Team Leader’s Challenge,
present a difficult team problem and contain discussion questions for providing advice to the team’s leader.
The cases use a variety of student and work teams. By using the concepts in the chapter, the cases can be
analyzed and options for the team leaders developed.

Eight of the chapters contain brief psychological surveys that examine a personal orientation toward a
teamwork issue presented in the chapter. Survey topics range from attitudes toward teamwork, to
cooperativeness, to preferred conflict styles, to opinions about team rewards. Discussion questions after the
surveys help students and other team members understand the impact of individual differences on teamwork.

The teamwork activities examine a topic in the chapter and then include a set of discussion questions designed
to apply what has been learned to actual teams. Some of the activities are structured discussions or small-
group exercises. However, most of the activities are structured observations of how teams operate. One of the
most important ways to improve both one’s teamwork skills and the operation of teams is to learn how to be a
good observer of group processes. These observation activities are constructed to develop these skills.

There are several options that can be used for the observation activities. If the observers belong to functioning
teams, then they can observe their own teams. For example, a teamwork class might have students working on
project teams. Use the observation activities to study and provide feedback to the project teams, or create
groups in class settings and give group assignments. There are many books on small-group activities to use to
create assignments for the groups. Small-group discussions of the Team Leader’s Challenges provide an
alternative activity to observe how groups interact. A class can use several groups with an observer assigned to
each group or a single group that performs while being surrounded by many group process observers. Finally,
ask students to find a team that they can observe as part of an ongoing class project.

Each of the activities includes objective, activity, analysis, and discussion sections. The structure of the
activities makes them suitable for homework assignments or for entries in group dynamics journals. The basic
structure of the written assignments includes answering the following questions: What did you observe? How
did you analyze this information? How would you apply this knowledge?

By working through the applications, cases, surveys, and activities presented here, team members gain
practical skills and knowledge that can be directly applied to improve the operations of their teams and the
ultimate success of teamwork.

25
26
PART I Characteristics of Teams

27
1 Understanding Teams

A team is a special type of group in which people work interdependently to accomplish a goal. Organizations
use many different types of teams to serve a variety of purposes. The use of teams to perform work has a long
history, but during the past few decades organizational teamwork has changed: It has expanded rapidly
because of changes in the nature of jobs and the structure of organizations. The scientific study of group
dynamics provides useful insights about how teams operate and how they can be improved.

28
Learning Objectives
1. What are the characteristics of a group?
2. How is a team different from a group?
3. How are teams used by organizations?
4. How are work groups different from teams and self-managing teams?
5. Why is the use of teams by organizations increasing?
6. What are the main historical trends in the use of teams?
7. How has the study of group dynamics changed over time?

29
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
He leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head and smiled.
“What is it?” asked Bonnie May anxiously.
“I’m afraid I couldn’t explain to you. I was just thinking about—about
certain forms of reconstruction.”
 CHAPTER XVI
MRS. THORNBURG REVEALS A SECRET

Baron shook his head slowly. He had been thinking about that
advertisement in the Times which Thornburg had answered without
any result.
“Strange,” he mused. “I won’t believe but that somebody is looking
for her—somewhere. Children like that are not dropped down and
deserted like superfluous kittens or puppies. There’s something
wrong somewhere.”
Then he remembered that Mrs. Thornburg wished to see him; that,
according to Thornburg, she had “mentioned Bonnie May.”
Possibly she knew something. At any rate, Baron felt that he ought
to call on her. It was just after the dinner-hour—of the day on which
Mrs. Baron had announced her policy of reconstruction—and the
evening was flinging a challenge to all mankind to get out of doors
and enjoy the spring air.
He took up his stick and hat and left the house.

He found Mrs. Thornburg sadly changed since he had seen her last.
She was unmistakably very ill, though the only symptoms revealed to
Baron’s inexpert eye were a pathetic thinness and pallor and a
profound lassitude.
She was alone, Thornburg having just gone out.
“It was good of you to come,” she said when Baron entered. She
spoke as if she had been expecting him. And without circumlocution
she continued: “I wanted to talk to you about the little girl. You
haven’t let anybody have her, have you?”
“No,” replied Baron. Then he added lightly: “I think we’ve changed
our minds about letting her go. It seems likely now that we’ll keep her
with us indefinitely.”
He was glad that her glance rested upon her thin, clasped hands. He
could note the effect of his statement with a steady scrutiny which
need cause him no compunction.
To his surprise she seemed quite pleased. “It makes me glad to
know that she is to be with nice people,” she said, lifting to him now
a softly grateful glance. She explained: “You see, I’m sure I’m too ill
to have her now, even if....” Her lips trembled and her eyes filled.
“But you’ll be better,” said Baron, reading her thought. Clearly she
had despaired of ever being any better. “When you’re able to have
her, she’ll be so happy to visit you. I mean Bonnie May. She’s a
wonderfully sociable little creature. If she were invited to come to see
you she would be delighted. Attentions like that—such as you would
pay to grown people—have a wonderful effect upon her.”
“Yes.... And of course some day she will be coming here to stay.”
“You mean—” Baron was surprised that his suggestion had been
received with a dully uttered, enigmatic remark, rather than gratitude
or eagerness.
“You don’t know what I mean by that?” There was regret in her tone,
reluctance in her glance—as if she knew he was not dealing
honestly and frankly by her.
“No, truly, I don’t.”
“Ah, well.... But I wanted to tell you why I was so eager to have her
when you called before. You see, I wanted to—to atone....”
She sat listlessly, lost in troubled memories, and Baron waited.
“Mr. Thornburg came to me one time, in the one moment of his
greatest need, and asked me to help him. And I failed him.”
She leaned back and closed her eyes for a moment, and Baron
thought how out of harmony she was: the ailing woman whose whole
being was in a minor key, amid surroundings which suggested only
sturdiness and well-being.
“He was always generous toward me, and patient. He was always
giving, giving, and never asking. I think I got used to that and just
took it for granted. And then one day he came home, excited, as
happy as a child ... and asked me.... It was such a little thing ... and I
refused.
“You know, he had been married when I first met him. An actress. It
didn’t last long. She got tired of the life and wanted to go back to the
stage. I think she appealed to his generosity. It would have been
easy to do that. At any rate, he allowed her to go away and take their
little girl. I can’t understand how he brought himself to let the little
daughter go, too. I have an idea he was so troubled because she
wanted to go that he didn’t realize how much the child meant to him,
or would come to mean. She was only a year old then. I never
blamed him for that episode in his life. I just concluded that the
woman was worthless. And when I married him we didn’t speak of
his other marriage—nothing in connection with it. It was just as if it
hadn’t happened. Then, after a year, or about a year, he—he made
the one request of me. The mother had offered to give him the little
girl. He wanted to bring her to me, to have her in our home.
“And that made me jealous and unhappy. I can’t explain ... or defend
myself. I could scarcely answer him when he spoke about it. And
when I didn’t answer he looked at me, and after a little a strange
expression came into his eyes. He was chilled and bewildered. He
had been so happy. He couldn’t understand. He just gave it up, and
the next day he was trying to pretend that nothing had come
between us; that I hadn’t been ungracious and cruel.
“You see, I was thinking of her child, and he was thinking of his own.
Mine was the woman’s—the narrow—point of view, and his was the
father’s. Maybe you can understand a little of what I felt. I couldn’t
have the child here in the house, while its own mother.... It would
have been like giving her a place in our home—the woman, I mean.
You can’t really separate people by putting their bodies in different
places. You see what I mean?”
“Yes,” assented Baron, “I think I see quite clearly.”
“And I was sure she was a bad woman. And I felt that if her child
were in the house, her—her real self would be here, too. Her
influence, I mean. Bodies are not everything. Sometimes they’re
even the least things of all. I was afraid that other woman’s very
presence would be here among us on the most sacred occasions: at
bedtime, to see if her child were covered up, and in the early hours
of Christmas morning, jealously looking to see what we’d given her,
and jealous of us, because we were fond of her. She would be a real
influence in the house. It couldn’t be helped.”
“But a bad woman.... Surely a bad woman would forget,” suggested
Baron.
“Well, not our kind of a woman, anyway. How could she have
deserted a man who was good to her? And how could she consent
to give up her child afterward? It might be right for her to leave her
husband; but for a mother to give up a little daughter.... No, I couldn’t
think of having here in our home a link to bind us with a woman like
that—a life out in the unknown, on the streets that are strange to us,
that are strange to all faithful, happy people.
“And then when it was too late I began to see his side of it. He was
the father just as much as she was the mother. She was his child as
much as hers—more, if he loved her more. And I began to realize
what it must be to a father to have his little daughter away from him,
perhaps not loved and provided for, possibly facing an evil future.
Oh, the night that thought came to me! And always he was so kind to
me, and patient. He did not speak of his daughter again. And I
waited.... I knew he would speak again some day, and I wanted to
grow strong enough to say to him honestly: ‘Ah, do bring her, and
she shall have love here, here in her own home’....”
She lifted her hands to her cheeks and closed her eyes. It was as if
she must shut out some of the impressions which crowded into her
mind.
Baron waited until a measure of calm came upon her. “And—he
never did?”
She opened her eyes and regarded him inquiringly.
“I mean, he never spoke of her again?”
She regarded him with a smouldering look in her eyes. Then she
leaned forward, her hands gripping the arms of her chair. “I honestly
believe you don’t know!” she whispered.
And in an instant she had taken from a little box on the table near
which she sat an envelope. She drew from it a single sheet and
passed it to Baron.
He turned a little, so that the light from the table fell upon it and read:
“Do be good to the little girl your husband has brought to you. You
ought to be, because he is her father.”
There was no name. Baron handed the sheet back to her. He was
thinking hard. “Who could have written it?” he asked.
“Of course you realize that I don’t know,” she replied. “Do you mean
to ask me what I think?”
“Well, what do you think?”
“I think her mother wrote it. I think she must have lost track of the
child, and concluded that Mr. Thornburg had taken her. I think she
must have known of my—my jealousy on that other occasion. I think
she wrote this note hoping that I would refuse to have the child in the
house if I knew who she was. It seems plain that she wants her
now.”
Baron was examining the date of the postmark on the envelope. She
saw that furrows were gathering on his forehead.
She explained: “It came some time ago. I had it with me here when
you called that first time.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Baron. “And you knew, then——”
“Yes, I knew then.”
“But you haven’t.... Mr. Thornburg....”
“I didn’t show him this. He doesn’t know. Surely you can understand.
He has acted a lie, in trying to get the little girl into the house without
telling me about her. And I can’t blame him for that, after what
happened that other time. But I can’t bear to let him know that—that I
know.”
“But don’t you see, if Bonnie May is really his daughter, and if he
weren’t afraid to tell you so, he could bring her here without any
further hinderance!”
“No, he couldn’t. Not if the mother wants her.”
Baron arose. “After all, it’s largely guesswork—conclusions reached
in the dark,” he said. “You’ve received an anonymous note. That’s all
the foundation you have for what you’ve told me. And people who
write anonymous letters....”
He reflected dubiously, and then he came to a decision.
“I’ve reason to believe,” he said, “that there is good ground for you to
reject what’s in that note.”
She leaned forward, observing him intently.
Baron was remembering the actress who had called on Thornburg;
the woman who, almost certainly, was she who had taken the child
into Thornburg’s theatre. He was recalling his question to the
manager, and the latter’s vehement, prompt response.
“You mean,” questioned Mrs. Thornburg, “that you don’t think Bonnie
May is really ... that you don’t believe it was her mother who wrote
this note?”
“It’s difficult to be quite sure of anything,” said Baron, “but I would
stake a great deal on that one thing being true—that it wasn’t Bonnie
May’s mother who wrote that anonymous note.”
 CHAPTER XVII
“A KIND OF DUEL”

That night in his attic room Baron arrived, by perfectly logical

reasoning, at two conclusions, each of which was precisely the
opposite of the other.
The first of these conclusions was that he had a perfect right to
shape Bonnie May’s future according to his own inclination. The
second was that he had no right at all to do such a thing.
He arrived at the first conclusion in this manner:
He had made an honest effort to locate any person or persons
having a legal and just claim on the child, and he had failed. If the
Thornburgs had any claim upon her, it was not his fault that they had
bungled their affairs until they were unwilling to make their claim
public.
Therefore he had a right to have and to hold Bonnie May, and to
regard her, if not as his own, at least as a permanent member of the
household.
His second and contrary opinion began to shape itself when he
recalled the picture of Mrs. Thornburg, helpless and despairing,
greatly desiring the presence of the child in her own home in order
that she might complete a great moral victory over herself.
A man couldn’t oppose his claims and advantages to a need like
that!
Besides—it was borne in upon Baron more and more strongly—
there was a very serious question as to the child’s best interests.
She was an actress, born and bred, and some day she would surely
hear the call of the theatre. Not in the near future certainly. Baron
couldn’t bear to associate children and the stage. But in a few
years....
And if she were ever to return to the profession which was her
birthright, it was Thornburg she would need, and not the Barons.
Moreover, Thornburg was a wealthy man, and childless. He was now
ready to take the child into his home as his own. There could be only
one outcome to such an arrangement—an outcome wholly in Bonnie
May’s favor.
Therefore, his—Baron’s—right to keep the child was of the shakiest
possible nature.
And having reached these two conclusions, dwelling now upon the
one and now upon the other, Baron extinguished his light and went
to bed.

In the morning at about seven o’clock, while he was standing before

the glass with a military hair-brush in his hand, his problem was
solved for him in a flash. He stood with the brush suspended in air. A
light leaped into his eyes.
“How simple!” he exclaimed. “The very way out of it. The only way.”

At three o’clock that afternoon he entered Thornburg’s private office,

after having taken the precaution of ascertaining (1st) that Thornburg
had returned from luncheon in a fairly good humor, and (2d) that the
manager was alone.
“You know I had a little talk with Mrs. Thornburg about Bonnie May
last night,” he began, when Thornburg had thrust a chair toward him.
He was assuming his most casual manner, primarily because it
suited his present purpose, and also because he had not failed to
note that Thornburg’s face had darkened slightly at sight of him.
“Yes, I know.” The manager glanced at his desk as if he were a very
busy man.
“I felt the least bit—up a tree, as the fellow said, after I had talked to
her,” continued Baron. “You know I want to—to be decent about
things.”
“Of course,” agreed the manager, giving part of his attention to the
papers which were strewn about his desk. “And I suppose the child
is a good deal of a burden——”
He glanced up, and Baron wondered why a man shouldn’t be able to
keep the light of triumph out of his eyes when he really tried to.
“Not at all!” he interrupted blandly.
“——or that you are sure she will be, when the novelty of having her
about wears off.” He squared about sharply, with the air of a man
who means to do something handsome. “I’m still ready to take her, if
you decide that you’d like to give her up. Of course, I don’t know how
soon I might change my mind. In case Mrs. Thornburg loses interest,
I’d be through with the case, naturally.”
He turned to his desk again and examined a letter which came
uppermost, frowning and pursing his lips as if he were giving it deep
consideration.
Baron did not wholly succeed in repressing a smile. “All wrong,” he
said amiably. “The Greeks must have borne gifts to you before now,
Thornburg. No, I’m not tired of her. I’m not likely to be, either. Why,
she’s like a tonic. Sense? You wouldn’t believe it. She’s forever
surprising you by taking some familiar old idea and making you really
see it for the first time. She can stay at our house until the roof falls
in, if she only will—though of course I don’t hope she’d be willing to.
But don’t think there’s any question of our getting tired of her. She’s
not that kind. I might add, neither are we.”
Much to his amazement Thornburg sprang to his feet excitedly.
“I don’t know what you’re getting at!” he exclaimed. “If you’ve got
anything to say, why not say it and be done with it?”
“I don’t know what you’re getting at!” he exclaimed. “If
you’ve got anything to say, why not say it and be done
 with it?”
Baron arose, too. He thought he was justified in feeling offended. “I
think,” he said quietly, “I haven’t got anything to say, after all.” He
managed to keep his voice and eyes under control. These
proclaimed no unfriendliness. But his lips had become somewhat
rigid.
“But you did have,” retorted Thornburg. He sat down again and
produced a handkerchief with which he wiped his face and neck
nervously. “Come, don’t pay any attention to my bad manners. You
know I’ve got a thousand things to worry me.”
“Yes, I know. I’m really trying to help—or I had the thought of helping.
You—you make it a bit difficult.”
“There was something about the little girl,” said Thornburg.
“Yes. As to her—status. Chapter I—the inquiry for her, and our little
flurry—seems to be completed.”
“They probably didn’t care about her very much.”
“Well—possibly. At any rate, we seem to have come to a full stop for
the time being. And I’ve been thinking about the future. I ought to tell
you that after my talk with Mrs. Thornburg, the case didn’t seem
quite so simple as it had seemed.”
Thornburg, clasping his knee in his hands, was bending upon the
floor a gaze darkened by labored thought.
“I’ve begun to feel a kind of moral responsibility. At first I thought only
of my own point of view. My family’s, I mean. Our interests and
pleasures. But you see there’s also something to be said from the
standpoint of our—our guest. I wouldn’t want to lessen her chances
of future happiness. I wouldn’t want to have my way altogether and
then find out after a while that it had been the wrong way. I never
realized before how much the people of the stage are born and not
made. That’s the gist of the matter. There will come a time when
nothing in the world is going to keep Bonnie May off the stage.
That’s my conviction now.”
“They say children do inherit—” interposed Thornburg.
“The question of her future stumps you a bit. It’s not as if she were
like any other little girl I ever heard of. It’s like this: I’d like to have a
skylark in a cage, if it would sing for me. But I’d never be able to
forget that its right place was in the sky. You see what I mean. I don’t
want to be wholly responsible for keeping Bonnie May—out of the
sky.”
“Well?”
“My ideas aren’t exactly definite. But I want her to be free. I want her
to have a part in working things out the way she wants them.”
“That’s good sense. Turn her over to me, then.”
“That’s not the idea at all. I think up to a certain point it may be good
for her to experience the—the gentle tyrannies which are part of her
life with us. On the other hand, if she becomes identified with you (I
don’t know just what other word to use), and you get to be fond of
her, why then in a material sense.... Oh, I don’t like the tone of that at
all. But you’ll get the idea, and take it for granted that what I’m trying
to get at is that I don’t want to stand in Bonnie May’s light.”
Baron tried to join the manager in the latter’s impatient laugh. “You’ll
have to excuse my denseness,” said Thornburg. “I get your meaning
as easy as I can see into a pocket. The way it sounds to me is that
you’re sure you want to keep her, and that you’re just as sure that
you don’t want to keep her.”
“That’s nearly it,” admitted Baron, flushing slightly. “Suppose I say
that I want to keep her a part of the time, and that I’d like you to keep
her the other part. Suppose I offer to share her with you: to
encourage her to visit Mrs. Thornburg a day at a time—days at a
time—a week at a time. Suppose we take her on a kind of
partnership basis. No unfair influence; no special inducements.
Suppose I make it plain to her that you and Mrs. Thornburg are her
real friends, and that you will be glad to have her come as often as
she likes, and stay as long as she likes.”
Thornburg’s eyes were beginning to brighten.
“Would you,” added Baron, “do the same thing by us? I mean, would
you encourage her to come to us when she felt like it, and see that
she had the chance to go as freely as she came?”
Thornburg’s flushed face was all good-nature now. The little barriers
which he had kept between his visitor and himself fell away
completely.
“A kind of duel between us,” he elaborated, “to see which of us has
the best attractions to offer?”
“Well—yes, you might put it that way, I suppose. That’s a theatrical
phrase, I believe. Perhaps it wouldn’t have occurred to me. At any
rate, the plan I’ve outlined would give her a chance to do a little
deciding on her own account. It would give her a chance to give her
affections to those who win them. It would place some of the
responsibility for her future on her own shoulders. And whatever
conclusions she came to I’d be willing to bank on.”
“That,” declared Thornburg with enthusiasm, “is what I call the
proposition of a first-class sport.” He extended his hand to Baron.
“You stick to your part of the bargain and I’ll play fair to the letter.”
He would have shown Baron out of the office, then. He had a taste
for suitable climaxes, too. But Baron lingered, chiefly because he
didn’t like the prospect of an almost mischievous conflict which the
manager seemed to welcome and to anticipate.
“She can be loyal to us all,” he said, “if she’s encouraged in being.”
At the sound of his own words he fell to thinking.
No, she wouldn’t need to be encouraged. She would be loyal without
that. There was nothing to fear on that score at all.
He looked up rather whimsically. “Well, I’ll tell her,” he said.
“You’ll tell her——”
“That she has been invited to visit Mr. and Mrs. Thornburg, and
make herself quite at home.”
 CHAPTER XVIII
MRS. BARON TAKES UP THE GAUNTLET

Having decided upon what he conceived to be an admirable plan of

action, Baron was unwilling to believe that he ought to be in any
hurry to execute his plan.
For the time being Bonnie May was getting along very well indeed. In
fact, Baron made a point of looking into this matter with a good deal
of thoroughness, from a somewhat new angle, and he was greatly
pleased by what he discovered.
Little by little the child had become habituated to the home
atmosphere. This, of course, was due largely to the fact that the
other members of the family had become habituated to having her
about. They no longer felt constrained to utter pleasant nothings, or
to hold their tongues, because of her presence. When they forgot her
“strangeness,” she ceased to be strange.
She obediently and even intelligently attended when Mrs. Baron
gave her her lesson on the piano.
“Though I think,” she confided to Baron on one occasion, “I could get
hold of the high places without going through all the funny business
she seems to regard so highly.”
Baron spoke in defense of the “funny business,” and presently she
agreed with him.
The guest’s wardrobe had been made gloriously complete, and in
this relationship another pleasant development was to be noted.
Bonnie May had been painfully accustomed to the use of trunks.
Now she made the acquaintance of bureau drawers, and her delight
was unbounded. She spent hours in arranging her things. She won
Flora’s genuine applause by her skill and taste in this matter.
Flora bought her a hat.
She looked at it in a queerly detached manner for an instant. “Oh, a
hat,” she commented. She might have been repeating a word
spoken by a travel-lecturer, describing some interesting place which
did not seem to concern her. It appeared that she never had owned
a hat.
She put it on before the glass. “Oh!” she cried. She thrust impulsive
arms about Flora’s neck and hugged her.
Flora enjoyed that experience so much that she bought another hat
which she described as “unmade.” Ribbons of gay colors, and white
lace, and little silk flowers of various hues, came with it, and the child
was given these materials to experiment with as she pleased. Flora
gave advice, and was ready with assistance.
Again the result was interesting. Bonnie May experienced a joy
which was rapt, almost tremulous in quality. A desert-bred bird,
coming upon an oasis, might have regarded its surroundings with the
same incredulous rapture.
Baron’s room became hers permanently, and here she developed a
keen delight in “housekeeping.” Here also she received Mrs. Baron
and Flora as guests, and amazed them by her performance of the
part of hostess.
“I call it nonsense,” declared Mrs. Baron to Flora, after the two had
paid a formal call. But her face was flushed with happiness and her
voice was unwontedly soft.
“Not nonsense,” responded Flora; “it’s just happiness.”
She spent whole afternoons with Mrs. Shepard in the kitchen and
dining-room. She learned how to bake little cakes.
It became her duty—by her own request—to set the table, and upon
this task she expended the most earnest thought.
Baron commented upon this on one occasion. “Ah, you’re not an
artist, after all. You’re a Gretchen,” he said.
“But everything about the table is so pretty and nice,” she
responded. “It’s as elegant as a table in a play, and ever so much
more sensible. You know something always happens when you sit
down to a table on the stage. A servant comes in and says: ‘Beg
pardon, mum, but there’s a gentleman—he says he’s your uncle
from Green Bay’—and then everybody gets up in a hurry, because
the uncle is supposed to believe his niece has a lot of children he’s
been helping to support, when she hasn’t got any at all. Or
something like that.”
In brief, there were a hundred accumulating evidences to prove that
Bonnie May in the Baron household was the right individual in the
right place.
It is true that Mrs. Baron did not forget how Thornburg had called on
a certain night to take the child away, and how she had given him to
understand—she supposed—that she would expect him back on the
same errand some other time. And Baron could not free his mind of
the fact that he had voluntarily entered into a compact by which his
guest must sooner or later be lost to the household at least a part of
the time.
But these were matters which were not discussed in the family.
A week passed—two weeks, and Baron hadn’t seen Thornburg or
communicated with him. One day in June the thermometer shot up in
real midsummer fashion, and the audiences in most of the theatres
were such that all the shrewd managers became listless and absent-
minded. The “regular season” was over.
Thornburg closed his theatre and turned his attention to a summer
resort where there was an opportunity to launch an al fresco
entertainment scheme. “Everybody was leaving town.” There
remained only the uncounted thousands for whom some lighter form
of entertainment must be provided.
The flight of time, the inevitable march of events, brought to Baron a
realization of the fact that there was a promise he must keep. And so
one day, during an hour in the attic, he spoke to Bonnie May.
She didn’t seem to pay any attention at all to his preliminary words. It
slowly dawned upon her that what Baron was saying concerned her
in a special way.
“... people you will be interested in, I am sure,” Baron was saying.
“Thornburg, the name is.” He glanced at her; but the name had
made no impression. “Mrs. Thornburg is not very strong, and a
cheerful visit ought to be just the thing to help her. Mr. Thornburg is a
theatrical man. Why, it was his theatre I met you in. They have a
beautiful home.”
“Oh, that makes me think,” was all the reply he received. “What
became of the man who had a play?”
“Eh—a play?”
“You remember—when I first came. He had the first act and read it to
you in the library, and I had to go to bed.”
“Oh—Baggot. He’s probably forgotten all about it by this time. Or
writing another that he’ll never finish.”
She shook her head, unconvinced. “He was so enthusiastic,” she
objected.
So for the time being there was an end to the discussion of her visit
to the Thornburgs.

Another week passed, and then Baron had an extraordinarily busy

day.
In the forenoon came a letter from one of the dramatic editors for
whom Baron had done special work occasionally.
“They are launching some sort of a dramatic stock enterprise out at
Fairyland to-night,” the letter ran, “and I’m hoping you can do it for
me. Thornburg is managing it. I don’t hope it will be much as a
dramatic proposition, but you might be able to get some readable
impressions. Please let me know.”
A later mail brought a communication from Thornburg.
The sight of the manager’s signature brought Baron up with a jerk—
but he was reassured by the first few lines. Thornburg wasn’t
charging him with bad faith. Instead, he was enclosing an order for
an unlimited number of seats for the Fairyland opening.
“I understand,” ran a pencilled line by way of postscript and
explanation, “that you are to represent the Times to-night.”
Also there was a letter from Baggot. Baggot’s play had reached a
stage where it needed Baron’s inspection. The budding playwright
asked no questions. He merely declared his intention of calling that
night.
Baron went up into the attic to look at the morning paper. He wanted
to know what they were doing out at Fairyland, and who was doing it.
And while he noted one impressive name after another, he was
arrested by an altogether amazing sound down in his mother’s
sitting-room. Mrs. Baron had been giving Bonnie May her music
lesson, and now, the lesson done, she was singing for her pupil.
The thin old voice faltered on some of the notes, but the words came
clear enough:
“... She’s all the world to me,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie....”
Baron smiled and shook his head.
“What was it,” he mused, “about a plan of reconstruction?”
Then he went down-stairs to telephone his acceptance to the man
on the Times.
Baggot he completely forgot.

When Baron entered the dining-room at dinner-time that evening

Flora looked at him with mild surprise.
“All dressed up and nowhere to go,” said she.
“But there is somewhere to go. I’m going to write up the Fairyland
opening. Would you like to go with me?”
“No, thank you.”
It was clearly understood that Baron’s question had been put in a
spirit of jest. It was understood that Flora and her kind did not go to
the Fairylands—and their kind.
But Bonnie May failed to grasp the situation.
“What’s Fairyland?” she inquired.
“A large enclosure occupied entirely by mad people, and with a
theatre in one corner.”
She ignored the reference to mad people. “Oh! a theatre. What are
they playing?”
“A piece called ‘The Second Mrs. Tanqueray,’” said Baron.
She sat up, swiftly erect, and clasped her hands. “How fine!” was her
comment. “Do you think you could take me?”
“I should say not!” Baron responded without thinking. His unthinking
refusal was a result of the habitual Baron attitude. But as he
regarded her thoughtfully, and noted the puzzled inquiry in her
glance, he couldn’t quite understand why he had been so emphatic,
so confident of being right. “It’s not a play a little girl would care for,”
he added, now on the defensive.
She smiled indulgently. “The idea! I mean, anybody would be
interested in it.”
“What’s it about?” challenged Baron.
“A lady who died because they were unkind to her—even the people
who loved her. It’s about a lot of snobs and a—a human being.” She
spoke with feeling. She sensed the fact that again she was being
required to stand alone.
Baron frowned. “How in the world did you find out anything about a
play like that?”