Team talk : the power of language in team dynamics / [print]
Anne Donnellon.
- Boston, Massachusetts : Harvard Business School Press, (c)1996.
- xi, 299 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
PART I: INTRODUCTION -- A different perspective on teams -- Team talk -- PART II: TEAM REALITIES -- A team task and the right people: The medical products division and the Alpha Team -- Functional hierarchy and individual accountability: The building controls division and the Tech 9 Team -- Leadership and team accountability: The Wayne Division and the Front-end Team -- Personal commitment and organizational accommodation: The Occupational Health and Environmental Safety Division and the Eurous Team -- PART III: TEAM POSSIBILITIES -- The power of language: Advice to teams -- Listening to teams: Advice to managers -- APPENDIX A: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY -- APPENDIX B: THE ACADEMIC CONTEXT OF THIS RESEARCH.
In the tradition of Deborah Tannen, Donnellon analyzes team conversations and their organizational contexts to explain why cross-functional team work is so challenging for professional employees. She introduces tools - including an in-depth Team Talk Audit - that team members can use to make their teams work better, and she provides managers with guidelines for redesigning their organizations to overcome barriers to effective team work. Drawing on interviews and observations of teams in Fortune 200 companies, Donnellon lets us listen in on actual team conversations to explore the inherent paradoxes of team work. She compares how both successful and unsuccessful teams handle conflict, conduct negotiations, achieve alignment, interpret and manage mutual obligation, and maintain commitment to performance. She then shows how team members can diagnose and solve their own problems and reveals specific techniques for using language to exert a positive force on the organization where needed.
9780875846194
95036810
007803628 Uk
Teams in the workplace. Language and languages. Communication. Social groups. Interprofessional relations.