Concepts and boundaries

In the previous chapters, you were familiarized with situations in which a leader acts across networks and organizations.  The current chapter is about leading teams. A substantial number of companies have organized their work processes in teams. Because there is a lot of literature on work teams, and definitions of concepts are often used interchangably, we will specify which concepts we will use throughout this chapter and mark their boundaries.

Definition work team. The definition of an effective work team in this ProfEd is as follows:
“A team consisting of three or more people who collectively work towards a common goal through coordinated efforts. Their complementing skills lead to a team performance that is better than the sum of their individual input.”

Note that a work team is not the same as a work group: work groups do not have a common goal and do not aim for synergy. Workers in a work group are individually accountable for their performance and their goal is to exchange information.

Team activities. Teams can have many activities to reach their goal. They can manufacture, process, operate, deliver, negotiate, coordinate, innovate, decide, advise, solve, create, assemble, and many more. Furthermore, depending on their goal(s), teams can have a variety of shapes and forms.

Team variety: the case of Baptiste Bicycles. An illustration of team variety can be provided by an imaginary company that designs, produces, and sells bicycles: Baptiste Bicycles . The company is run by a team of senior executives. This executive team sets the company’s strategy and is responsible for the daily operations that align with this strategy. The marketing team is responsible for getting the bicycles on the market. They do that through customer relations, data analytics (customer journeys), online and offline communication, public relations, and sales activities. A completely different example is provided by Baptiste’s production teams; teams that assemble the bicycles in the factory. Their members have individual tasks in a production line but are – as a team – responsible for the end product.

Temporary teams. These are all examples of permanent teams, but teams can also be temporary. An example is a cross-functional project team consisting of employees from different divisions who work together on the development of an ICT application to facilitate online sales of bicycles. Once the application is finished, the team disbands. These teams can also be virtual, for instance if part of a project (the development of an application) is outsourced to another company.

Team management. Not all teams are managed in the same manner. Teams can have leaders who are hierarchically from the same level as its members, or who are from higher levels. Hierarchical teams are, for instance, the previously mentioned executive teams – led by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – and the marketing team that is managed by the marketing manager. Production teams can have leaders who are from a hierarchically higher level, but there are also examples of production teams whose leader is from the same level. There are also teams that have no appointed leader – these so-called self-managing teams are increasingly popular in many organizations nowadays.

Many engineers who want to learn about leadership have just been  – or will be soon – appointed as leader of a (temporary) project team. Therefore, we will often refer to this type of team throughout this chapter. Furthermore, because this course is about leadership, we assume that leaders of these teams have (some) management responsibilities for team performance and employee satisfaction.

Hierarchy in teams. This sounds like we will be talking about hierarchical processes in this chapter, and that is true. Doesn’t that contradict with our earlier statements about hierarchy and command and control? Well, it might be the case here and there. However, it is likely that you (will) encounter this type of hierarchy in your working life, and our aim is to provide you with the skills needed. Therefore, we will address hierarchy in this chapter.

Complexity. Leading a work team is not easy. We often hear from engineers, who start leading teams, that they have few difficulties with managing teams content-wise – often with regard to technical tasks. However, they encounter difficulties when it comes to the more “soft” issues. Such as the formation of a project team, motivating team members, providing positive and negative feedback, and solving conflicts. Because soft skills are increasingly relevant for leaders of the future (see for example), we have included this chapter dedicated to these skills.