Learning Team Leadership Evaluation

Learning Team Leadership

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Learning Team Leadership Evaluation Thomas Hong, Ph.D., Arpad Szurgyi, Ph.D., Dawn Dobson, Ph.D., Stephanie Smith, Ph.D., David Benson, Ph.D., and Tim Halton, Ph.D. University of Phoenix Organizational Diagnosis and Intervention June 16, 2008

Learning Team Leadership Learning Team Leadership Evaluation The global economy, geographically distributed organizations, and increasingly rapid technological changes have added a level of complexity that has changed the nature of business interrelationships. Managerial self-awareness and personal reflection play an important role in the leadership development process (McCarthy & Garavan, 1999). The 360-degree feedback process, multisource assessments, and personality
The taxonomy of the Myers-Briggs test provides 16 combinations of four core characteristics in order to identify strong personality traits, including individual assessments of strengths and weaknesses (Shuit, 2003). Understanding the MBTI four-letter indicator provides revealing insight on how to improve team communications, aid in team building, and resolve personality-based conflicts (Shuit). A particular profile is categorized into eight behavioral preferences “that all people use to some degree” (McCarthy & Garavan, 1999, p. 441). The MBTI four-letter preferences include a view of the world as an extraversion or introversion (E/I), understanding information by sensing or intuition (S/N), decision-making by means of thinking or feeling (T/F), and a distinctive style by judgment or perception (J/P) (Feig, 2005; McCarthy & Garavan, 1999). Other participants found the MBTI tool effective in understanding behaviors and decision-making styles of coworkers as well as advancing individual career development activities (McCarthy & Garavan, 1999). The MBTI test was selected as a tool to identify personality characteristics that influence team member’s individual leadership style as well as the effectiveness of learning teams. Each learning team member places importance on creating a vision to unite, engage, and empower team members for project success. Active
Successful teams are able to compensate for the diversity in character and temperament by taking advantage of the unique capabilities of individual members to respond to the situations with which the team is challenged (Barr & Barr, 1989). An assessment of the team members’ character and temperament would indicate that the team will handle problems in a practical, efficient, attentive fashion seeking clarity of task, identifying innovative solutions, executing results that are responsive yet flexible and adaptable to the changing nature of the challenges presented. The next section will present a set of recommendations. Recommendations The team analysis offered a description of how the team, as a composite of separate type profiles, would most likely function as a whole, unified group. The distinction should be made that this composite profile is not a predictive model for group behavior or attitudes (Hirsh, Hirsh, & Hirsh, 2003). Furthermore, no one ideal team profile has been shown to be more effective than others in all situations; rather, the team’s shared knowledge of one another’s temperament, personality type, communication skills, and relationships provide the foundation for an effective team (Varvel et al., 2004). The findings of the individual profile assessments and subsequent team composite indicate a relatively balanced team with respect to