The Application of Team Building

Abstract

This paper reviews the literature on the organization development strategy known as team building. Included are a definition and conceptualization of team building, a comparison of team building with laboratory training, a series of assumptions underlying the strategy, the major purposes of team building, and a description of several models of team building. In addition, the process of team building is presented; the steps in the team building process are outlined, a variety of techniques for problem diagnosis and solution generation are listed, and the roles played by the team building consultant are reviewed. Further, several important prerequisites to enhance the probability of success of team building interventions are considered. Finally, the utility of team building is discussed.

Body Percussion and Team Building through the BAPNE Method

“…Despite there is no agreement about the true definition of TB, following a model of problem-solving action, conceptualizes as it follows: Liebowitz and De Meuse [12], meanwhile, define TB as an intervention of work teams to show them how to learn through experience, by examining their structure, aims, rules, values and interpersonal dynamics, as well as to develop their skills for an effective team work. This definition highlights the ability of groups to be more efficient while identifying, diagnosing and solving their own problems, supervised by a specialized consultant in Behavioral Science.…”

“…Their key aspects consist of data collection, problem diagnosis, team feedback provision, data discussion opening work teams, establishing an action plan, and finally, the action properly speaking, [12]. Changing occurs at all of the organization's levels: the individuals, the team leader or supervisor, the group (agreed values, beliefs, aims, aspirations...), and the whole organization (ideas, philosophy...).Though there are several TB models, there is a common process in most of the programs described in literature, [1,3,9 and 11].…”

Economic Validation for Performance Improvement Initiative Based on a Strategic Team Development Campaign

“…Various authors (Ammeter & Dukerich, 2002;De Meuse & Liebowitz, 1981;Liebowitz & De Meuse, 1982) have debated the value of team building as an economically beneficial training tool. Bottom and Baloff (1994) reviewed literature in search of evidence supporting team building and productivity, finding weak support for team building as a productivity enhancement tool.…”

“…(p. 149) Liebowitz and De Meuse (1982) and Buller (1986) all agreed that no conclusive definition of team building exists. Buller (1986) emphasized team building from a problem-solving perspective, noting that this perspective includes "(1) a planned intervention, (2) facilitated by a third-party consultant, (3) with an intact work group, (4) that develops the problem solving capacity of the team, and (5) solves major problems" (p. 149).…”

Principals of Design for High Performing Organizations: A Suggested Research Program. Appendixes

“…The concept of teamwork has yet to become clearly established in the literature of leadership and motivation, but the contributions of several lines of research offer bases for the establishment of teamwork as a useful construct. Key ideas upon which our approach rests include the concepts of team building (Dyer, 1987: Liebowitz & DeMeuse, 1982, task group effectiveness (Goodman, Ravlin, & Schminke, 1987;Hackman, 1987;Shea & Guzzo, 1987), group efficacy (Bandura, 1982;Gist, 1987;Woodruff, Spiller, & Seers, 1992d), working relationship development (Gabarro, 1987), and exchange relationships between employees and other members of the peer work group (Seers, 1989).…”