Practitioners and scholars alike are enamored of teams in the workplace. In an attempt to emulate this winning formula, many companies create teams, only to watch them fail. One reason is that merely bringing together a group of professionals does not ensure that they will function as an effective teamor make appropriate decisions. By providing teams with facilitators, organizations can strengthen teams’ abilities to function and achieve stated goals. Facilitation skills can be learned, and the purpose of this article is to offer a highly interactive simulation and supporting materials and activities that provide an effective means for doing so.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adler, N. J.
(1991). International dimensions of organizational behavior (2nd ed.). Boston: PWS-Kent.
2.
Ancona, D. G.
(1990).Outward bound: Strategies for teamsurvival in an organization. Academy of Management Journal, 33, 334-365.
3.
Ancona, D. G.
, & Caldwell, D. F. (1992).Demography and design: Predictors of new product team performance. Organization Science, 3, 321-341.
4.
Bandura, A.
(1977).Self efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215.
5.
Cohen, S. G.
(1993). New approaches to teams and teamwork. In J. R. Galbraith, E. E. Lawler, III, & Associates (Eds.), Organizing for the future: The new logic for managing complex organizations (pp. 194-226). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
6.
Cooley, E.
(1994).Training an interdisciplinary team in communication and decision-making skills. Small Group Research, 25(1), 5-25.
7.
Cox, T. H.
, Lobel, S. A., & McLeod, P. L. (1991).Effects of ethnic group cultural differences on cooperative and competitive behavior on a group task. Academy of Management Journal, 34, 827-847.
8.
Cummings, T. G.
, & Worley, C. G. (1993). Organization development and change (5th ed.). Los Angeles: West.
9.
Janasz, S., Johnson, L., McQuaid, M., Paulson, A., Roccia, D., Stubblefield, S., Wahl, P., & Wojick, C. (1992). Fundamentals of facilitation. Unpublished training manual created for Hughes Aircraft Company.
10.
Dougherty, D.
(1992).Interpretive barriers to successful product innovation in large firms. Organization Science, 3, 179-202.
11.
Jackson, S. E.
(1991). Team composition in organizational settings: Issues in managing an increasingly diverse workforce. In S. Worchel, W. Wood, & J. Simpson (Eds.), Group process and productivity (pp. 138-173). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
12.
Johnson, D. W.
, & Johnson, F. P. (1997). Joining together: Group theory and group skills (6th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
13.
Johnston, W. B.
, & Packer, A. E. (1987). Workforce 2000: Work and workers for the twenty-first century. Indianapolis, IN: Hudson Institute.
14.
Kolb, D. A.
(1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
15.
Mulvey, P. W.
, Veiga, J. F., & Elsass, P. M. (1996).When teammates raise a white flag. Academy of Management Executive, 10, 40-49.
16.
O’Reilly, C. A., III
, & Flatt, S. (1989). Executive team demography, organizational innovation, and firm performance (Working paper). University of California, Berkeley.
17.
Peoples, D. A.
(1988). Presentations plus: David Peoples’proven techniques. New York: John Wiley.
18.
Pine, J.
, & Tingley, J. C. (1993, February). ROI of soft-skills training. Training, 55-60.
19.
Plumb, S. E.
(1993, September). Aurora team: New day dawning at Oldsmobile. Ward’s Auto World, 77-80.
20.
Schein, E.
(1988). Process consultation. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley.
21.
Schilder, J.
(1992, February). Work teams boost productivity. Personnel Journal, 67-71.
22.
Scholtes, P.
(1988). The team handbook: How to use teams to improve quality. Madison, WI: Joiner Associates.
23.
Sisco, R.
(1993, February). What to train team leaders. Training, 62-63.
24.
Wall, V. D.
, & Nolan, L. L. (1986).Perceptions of inequity, satisfaction, and conflict in task-oriented groups. Human Relations, 39, 1033-1052.
25.
Watson, W. E.
, Kumar, K., & Michaelsen, L. K. (1993).Cultural diversity’s impact on interaction process and performance: Comparing homogeneous and diverse task groups. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 590-602.
26.
Webster’s II new Riverside dictionary. (1984). New York: Berkley.
