Team Leadership Model

“Leadership is a group or team function. The leader’s job is to create the conditions for the team to be
effective”. -Dr. Robert Ginnett

-Team Leadership Model (TLM) shortened from earlier versions that called it the Team Effectiveness
Leadership Model

Stages of the Team Effectiveness Leadership Model (IPO Model)

 Input
 Process
 Output

Input

-the raw materials that are processed into products for sale and what are available for teams as they
go about their work

-consists of the characteristics that make the team successful that contains three different parts:

Process

-measure effectiveness by providing criteria to examine the ways team’s work

-contains the four parts that makes the team effective:

Output

-the results of the team’s work, high performing team

  This model is a mechanism to:
-identify what a team needs to be effective
-point the leader either toward roadblocks or toward ways to make the team even more
effective than it already is.

Leadership Prescriptions of the Model

Creation
-
 A team should be built like a house or automobile:
- Start with a concept
- Create a design
- Engineer it to do what you want it to do
- Manufacture it to meet those specifications
 The three critical functions for team leadership:

Dream
-obviously the team needs to have a clear vision
Design
-the importance of the design function of leadership cannot be overstated
Development
-the ongoing work done with the team at the process level to continue to find ways to improve
an already well-designed team.
Diagnosis and Leverage Points
 -if the leader finds that the team has a clear sense of direction and vision, and the input
variables at the individual, organizational and team levels are contributing positively to team
effectiveness (that is, the design portion of the leader’s job has been taken care of)

IPO MODEL

-an analysis of performance and processing systems that assumes raw materials (inputs) are
transformed by internal system processes to generate results (output). Applied to
human information processing, for example, an IPO model assumes that perceptual
mechanisms encode information, which then is transformed by cognitive processes to result in
psychological and behavioral responses. Similarly, IPO models of group productivity assume
that group-level processes mediate the relationship between individual, group, and situational
input variables and the resulting performance outcomes.

Ginnett's Team Effectiveness Leadership Model

This topic is perhaps the most complicated in this lesson. There is a lot of information here, so be sure to
read this section slowly. You should pay close attention to the figures, since they will help you tie all of
this information together. The actual model is more complicated than what we will discuss for this class.

The Team Effectiveness Leadership Model  (TELM) is a model designed to help teams perform more
effectively (Ginnett, 1993; 1996). This model can help leaders identify what a team needs to do in order to
be more effective. This model proposes that a leader’s main job is to determine what the team’s needs
are and then take care of these needs.

This model has inputs on the left (i.e., individual, team, and organizational factors), process in the center
(i.e., what one can tell about the team by actually observing team members at work) and outputs on the
right (i.e., how well the team did in accomplishing its objectives).

Inputs
Inputs are what are available for teams as they go about their work. Inputs are often psychological
factors, such as individual motivation. Another example of an input is the ability or IQ of each team
member. Inputs are at three levels: individual, team, and organization. Leaders can improve team
effectiveness by altering the inputs.

Process
Team process includes how the team goes about its work, including group dynamics of communication,
coordination, and conflict. A leader should be concerned with process for a number of reasons. Some
teams have only one chance to create a product and thus the leader cannot afford to wait until the
product is done to assess its effectiveness. For example, if your entire class grade was based on one
paper, you would not want to wait until you handed the paper in to see what your grade would be. You
would want to meet with the instructor throughout the semester to discuss your paper.

Another reason that process is important relates to teams that work together over a long period of time. If
the team does not work well together on the first project, it may not work well on other projects either. It is
important that team members do not have too much conflict and that they are communicating well, so that
they will continue to work well together in the future.

Outputs
Outputs are the result of the team’s work and represent the end products of the team, including goods
and services produced as well as individual satisfaction and the team’s ability to get along in the future.
For example, a baseball team scores 5 runs; a car manufacturing plant produces 24 cars in one day; a
student writes one paper in a week. Leaders should be concerned with outputs because if a team does
not produce (output) then it cannot be considered effective.

How The Model Works

As we just discussed, this model is divided into “inputs,” “process,” and “outputs.” According to the TELM,
team leadership is exercised through three functions: dream, design, and development. In
the dream function, the team needs to have a dream or sense of direction. In highly effective work teams,
the leader ensures that the team has a clear vision of where it is going. The design function is extremely
important. Designing the team is critical. Far too often, little time or attention is focused on the design
function. Development is the ongoing work done with the team at the process level to continue to find
ways to improve an already well-designed team.

Okay, let’s review what we just talked about. Leader’s dream, design, and develop teams. They do this
through keeping an eye on the input, process, and outcome functions of teams, and making changes to
these functions when necessary.

Based on the TELM model, leaders can influence team effectiveness by doing three things:

1. Ensuring the team has a clear sense of purpose and performance expectations
2. Designing or redesigning input stage variables at the individual, organizational, and team design
levels
3. Improving team performance through ongoing coaching at various stages, but particularly while
the team is actually performing its task.