|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization (Collins Business Essentials)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sales rank 12,392
Customers rating (based on 23 reviews)
|
|
|
|
|
Teams -- the key to top performance Motorola relied heavily on teams to surpass its competition in building the lightest, smallest, and highest-quality cell phones. At 3M, teams are critical to meeting the company's goal of producing half of each year's revenues from the previous five years' innovations. Kodak's Zebra Team proved the worth of black-and-white film manufacturing in a world where color is king. But many companies overtook the potential of teams in turning around tagging profits, entering new markets, and making exciting innovations happen -- because they don't know how to utilize teams successfully. Authors Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith talked with hundreds of people in more than thirty companies to find out where and how teams work best and how to enhance their effectiveness. They reveal: - The most important element in team success
- Who excels at team leadership ... and why they are rarely the most senior people
- Why companywide change depends on teams ... and more
Comprehensive and proven effective, The Wisdom of Teams is the classic primer on making teams a powerful too[ for success in today's global marketplace.
|
|
|
| Publisher | Harper Paperbacks | | Release date | 03/2003 | | Availability | Usually ships in 24 hours | | Edition | Paperback |
| | List price | $17.99 | | Our price | $12.59 (you save 30.02%) | | Used price | from $3.4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 expanding results with focused efforts
In this challenging period of trying to do more with less, expanding results can be achieved with focused efforts on using the thoughts and talents of your team.
 Exactly what I ordered
This book came in on time, exactly as I needed it, and wonderfully priced. Loved this seller
 Ripoff - Amazon is Just As Much To Blame
I trust Amazon to have reputable sellers. I'm extremely disappointed. This seller sold me an item in new packaging with a price of $12.00 US / $18.50 Canada on the package with a bar code of 978155994965 ISBN: 1-55994-967-8. The package is shrink wrapped from the manufacturer.
The price this seller charged me is a total over $50.00 plus shipping. I don't have the exact amount in front of me, but with tax it cost approximately $55.00.
It's an abridged edition too and it's on cassette tape. This isn't the first Amazon disappointment I've had. I trust that Amazon has sellers that sell at fair prices. I'm all for capitalism and free markets, but this is just a plain ripoff. I trusted Amazon. I needed this for a class at Cal State Fullerton. If I had any knowledge what the real price for this tape was, I would not have bought this, but I didn't because normally school supplies are expensive. Shame on me for not being more informed, but SHAME ON AMAZON FOR ALLOWING THIS SITUATION TO HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE. AMAZON NEEDS TO HAVE RATINGS IN THE MINUS STAR RATING - bummer, I had to rate this purchase just to send this review.
Poor research from poor researchers
Not to discount the insight, wisdom, and professional observations from these astute consultants, I am left wondering overall if they have not done a greater job of distorting truths rather than publishing them?? It appears that they discounted communication and cohesion under the pretense that these are "softer" components which do not accurately reflect important processes within teams? However, consulting several meta-analyses and research publications will reveal that these conclusions are far form the truth. Cohesion, which is the individual members attraction to the team, is meaningfully related to team performance, especially when the demands of the task necessitate greater levels of coordination, communication, and mutual performance monitoring among group members (Gulley, Devine,& Whitney, 1995). This concept is believed to be important because it aids in group formation, maintenance, and communication. Further, cohesion is though to facilitate group productivity because it permits less inhibited interactions, allows greater enforcement of working norms, and increases individual commitment to the group.
Communication is also an absolutely critical process to team functioning, and any book that discounts this notion clearly has no authority to discuss high-performing teams. For instance, according to Kozlowski & Bell (2003): "From our perspective, the central issue in team processes concern the synergistic combination of individual contributions to team effectiveness. Communication is a lens. Thus, research on communication type and frequency can be revealing of what team members are trying to coordinate, how much information they need, or how difficult it is to coordinate their activity" (pg. 354). That is, communication is a means for enabling the primary processes of coordination and cooperation. It allows team members to exchange task-related information (e.g., what stage are we at, what additional information do I need to accomplish my specific task, what is the best way to accomplish this sub-goal) and developing team solutions to problems (e.g., how can we better arrive at team decisions, how will conflict be managed and dealt with, how can we involve every team members unique background, how frequently will we collect information from external sources).
Furthermore, several of the recommendations from the authors have been available from the research domain for decades. For instance, to avoid the issue of social loafing (i.e., tendency for individuals to contribute less in a group setting), individual roles should be clearly defined and they should be held accountable for their individual performance by clearly linking their performance to team rewards and punishments. This principal has been well defined within the realms of social psychology, organizational behavior, and simple behaviorism for probably 40 years. A simple examination of work from Eduardo Salas, Steve Kozlowski, Donelson Forsyth, Daniel Devine, or Bradford Bell will reveal several more precise, practical, and evidence-based practices that provide more realistic complexities of generating high performing teams.
Unless you want to have some good case studies for storytelling and persuasive selling, save yourself some money and invest in writings from real experts who actually study teams and groups.
 The Wisdom of Teams
As a professional consultant, time is well spent with the author is states clearly what he means, and justifies his stand. Good relevant information, and easy reading.
Dr. Evelyn J. Johnson
|
|
| | |
|
