How Does The Team’s Personal Attitude And Feelings Regarding
How Does The Teams Personal Attitude And Feelings Regarding The Profe
How does the team’s personal attitude and feelings regarding the professional change influence change. Describe the techniques an effective change leader would use in working with an effective team and with a dysfunctional team. What specific solutions might the change leader use in working with the dysfunctional team? Does the change leader have to transform the dysfunctional team into a functional team before tackling the organizational change tasks, or can he or she use the organizational change process to transform the dysfunctional team into an effective team? Please support your answer with citation from the literature.
Paper For Above instruction
The success of organizational change initiatives heavily depends on the attitudes and feelings of teams toward change. The collective mindset and emotional responses of team members can either facilitate or hinder the process. When team members possess a positive attitude and are emotionally invested in the change, they tend to adopt a more proactive stance, embrace innovation, and adapt more readily (Armenakis & Bedeian, 1999). Conversely, negative feelings, resistance, or apathy can obstruct progress, leading to delays and potential failure of change efforts. Understanding and managing these attitudinal and emotional dynamics is therefore crucial for change leaders aiming to implement effective organizational transformations.
Effective change leadership involves strategic techniques tailored to both functional and dysfunctional teams. For teams with a positive attitude towards change, leaders should focus on reinforcing motivation, providing clear communication, and involving team members in decision-making processes (Kotter, 1997). Such participative approaches foster ownership and commitment, accelerating the change journey. In contrast, working with dysfunctional teams requires a different set of strategies. Leaders must first diagnose underlying issues—whether rooted in trust, communication failures, or conflicting goals—and then employ techniques such as team-building exercises, conflict resolution, and motivational interviewing to address barriers (Herzberg, 1966; Tuckman, 1965).
Specific solutions for dysfunctional teams might include implementing targeted interventions such as facilitated workshops to rebuild trust, redefining team roles to reduce ambiguity, or establishing clear performance expectations to foster accountability. Leaders might also utilize coaching or mentoring to address individual concerns and promote a positive outlook towards change (Bass, 1985). Importantly, these interventions aim to transform dysfunctional behaviors and attitudes into more collaborative and resilient team dynamics, thereby creating an environment conducive to organizational change (Schein, 2010).
A critical debate in leadership theory concerns whether a dysfunctional team must be transformed into a fully functional team before engaging in broader organizational change efforts. Some scholars argue that a dysfunctional team may lack the cohesion necessary to lead successful change initiatives, thereby requiring a foundational team-building phase first (Lencioni, 2002). However, others contend that change processes themselves can serve as a catalyst for transforming dysfunctional teams into effective ones, especially when the change initiative includes elements of team development and capacity building (Cummings & Worley, 2014). In practice, a pragmatic approach involves leveraging organizational change processes—such as fostering shared vision and collective problem-solving—to gradually improve team dynamics without necessarily waiting for complete team restructuring.
In conclusion, the attitudes and feelings of teams significantly influence the success of organizational change. While effective change leaders adapt their techniques to the team’s current state—whether functional or dysfunctional—they can utilize change processes to facilitate team development. Whether transforming a dysfunctional team first or working concurrently on organizational change depends on contextual factors, including the severity of dysfunction and the scope of change initiatives. Ultimately, a nuanced understanding of team dynamics and strategic leadership interventions are essential to achieving sustainable organizational transformation.
References
- Armenakis, A. A., & Bedeian, A. G. (1999). Organizational change: A review of theory and research in the 1990s. Journal of Management, 25(3), 293–315.
- Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. Free Press.
- Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2014). Organization development and change. Cengage Learning.
- Herzberg, F. (1966). Work, motivation, and personality. World Publishing.
- Kotter, J. P. (1997). Leading change. Harvard Business School Press.
- Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. Jossey-Bass.
- Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership. Jossey-Bass.
- Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384–399.