TEAM LEADER SELECTION – DOES IT MATTER? Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 31, 2004 TEAM LEADER SELECTION – DOES IT MATTER? Peter M. Markulis SUNY Geneseo Markulis@Geneseo.edu Barbara Howard SUNY Geneseo HowardB@Geneseo.edu Daniel R. Strang SUNY Geneseo Strang@Geneseo.edu John Butler John Butler Associates Butlerj24@aol.com Time: The workshop will take approximately 1 hour to 1.5 hours. ABSTRACT Number of Participants: A minimum of 8 participants would be needed with a maximum of 24. There is substantial research on teams, from composition and performance issues to managing team projects and dealing with team feuds. There is also copious research on team leaders; their characteristics, styles, and behavior, and inventories for leader selection. However, the literature is quiet regarding the selection process of the team leader, ipso facto. This interactive session will focus on the selection process for the team leader. The session participants will gain ‘hands-on’ experience (in the form of experiential exercises) in working under different leadership selection options. The exercise will be debriefed and the session leaders will review the literature germane to the subject. Finally, the session will invite the participants to assist in the design and implementation of a quasi-experimental model which they will then be asked to take back to their own universities for testing. THEORETICAL GROUNDING There is a plethora of research on various aspects of team building and team leadership (we will use the term team throughout this paper to refer to 2 or more people working cooperatively toward a common goal). Some of the early research involved cooperative learning techniques (Johnson & Johnson, 1975), which described individualistic, competitive, and cooperative learning situations. These studies showed clearly the benefits of teams in terms of performance and effectiveness. In fact, based on this and several studies that followed, teams have become the norm in both corporate and classroom settings. Subsequent research looked at numerous team issues including; team structure or composition (Johnson & Johnson, 1984), how to manage team projects (Verderber & Serey, 1996), how to cope with team problems (Jalajas & Sutton, 1984), the importance of leader trust on team satisfaction (Butler, et.al., 1999) and even the use of reflective journals to improve team performance (Loo & Thorpe, 2002). BASIC INFORMATION Objective: The primary objective of this interactive session is to explore the issue of the leader selection process for teams. This workshop will provide participants with the opportunity to experience different selection processes and to assist in the development of a model or framework that can be used in their classrooms. There is also considerable research on team leaders. For example Wheatley, Armstrong, and Maddox (1989) looked at how leadership styles, team cohesiveness, and the locus of control impacted team performance. Team leader behavior, as perceived by subordinate team members, was explored by Miles and Mangold (2002). Kovacj (2002) used two inventory instruments to see if star leaders could be predicted and Thacker and Yost (2002) compared student leaders to workplace leaders. Empowered teams and their performance were studied by Jones (1996) and Perry et al. (1999). The development of autonomous Target Audience: This session would be of interest to anyone who uses teams. It should be particularly interesting to those who have been nettled by the issue of whether to choose the student leader for the group or let the leader emerge through the group process. Further, if the instructor appoints the leader, should that leader be “trained” and/or should he or she receive extra credit for serving in that role? 110 mailto:Markulis@Geneseo.edu mailto:HowardB@Geneseo.edu mailto:Strang@Geneseo.edu mailto:Butlerj24@aol.com Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 31, 2004 or self-managed teams led to research on the characteristics and personalities of the emergent leader (Taggar, et. al., 1999 and Wolff, et. al., 2002). However, very little seems to be known about the process of selecting the team leader. Alpin and Cosier (1978) speak about the need for students to have a true managerial experience. They propose a structured system that allows all team members to serve as leaders. They recommend the rotation of the leadership role among all team members. While their study suggests that the rotation system was beneficial to the students they did not attempt to determine if it improved team performance. Nor did they investigate whether student leaders should be “trained” or given extra credit for their services. The important question of leadership ‘emergence’ was not dealt with in this study. Another longitudinal study by Boss (2000) looked at the impact of leaderless versus leader-led teams on team building. Although this study did find that the leader-led team showed improvement in team functioning; only 7 teams participated in the study and it did not measure performance. The dearth of literature on the topic of leader selection has led the authors to develop a workshop to explore this issue. It is the intention of the authors that the participants leave with a better understanding of the leader selection process and that the workshop will help spawn some solid research in this important area. PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS AND OUTCOMES Participants can expect to leave the session with a better understanding and appreciation for the importance of the team leader selection process. The session will have the participants working in teams under different leadership selection processes. A selection process model for use in the classroom will be the end result of the session. Methodology: Participants will be divided into two teams. Each team can have from 4-9 participants. The first team will serve as the appointed leader team (A-team) and the second team will serve as the rotating leader team (R-team). Any additional participants will either act as observers or compose additional teams depending on the number. Each group will be given the same objective and identical materials to accomplish their goal. The only difference will be the selection of the team leader. Upon completion of the task, a debriefing session will look at the different methods and hopefully define a process that can be used in future research. Debriefing: After the exercise is completed (approximately 20-25 minutes), the workshop facilitators will conduct a debriefing session. Part of the debriefing will include a review of the literature and the construction of a model or framework where salient independent, moderating, mediating and dependent variables are outlined and specified. The workshop facilitators hope to gain a workable framework from the session which they, as well as volunteer participants, can use to test various aspects of the model in their own pedagogical settings. Results of such experiments will be presented at future ABSEL conferences. REFERENCES Aplin, John C. and Cosier, Richard A. (1978). Creating a Responsible Managerial Experience. Exploring Experimental Learning: Simulations and Experiential Exercises, 5, 121-126. Boss, R. Wayne. (2000). Is the Leader really Necessary? The Longitudinal Results of Leader Absence in Team Building. Public Administration Quarterly, 23, 471-487. Butler, John K., Cantrell, Stephen, and Flick, Randall. (1999). Transformation Leadership Behaviors, Upward Trust, and Satisfaction in Self-Managed Work Teams. Organization Development Journal, 17, 13-29. Jalajas, David S. and Sutton, Robert I. Feuds in Student Groups: Coping with whiners, martyrs, saboteurs, bullies, and deadbeats. The Organizational Behavior Teaching Review, 9, 217-227. Johnson, David W. and Roger T. (1984). Structuring Groups for Cooperative Learning. The Organizational Behavior Teaching Review, 9, 187-198. Jones, Douglas W. (1996). Empowered teams in the classroom can work. The Journal for Quality and Participation, 19, 80-87. Kovach, Barbara E. (2002). Predicting leaders and team leaders in times of great change. Journal of American Academy of Business, 1, 256-261. Loo, Robert and Thorpe, Karran. (2002). Using reflective learning journals to improve individual and team performance. Team Performance Management, 8, 134-139. Miles, Sandy J. and Mangold, Glynn. (2002). The impact of team leader performance on team member satisfaction: the subordinate’s perspective. Team Performance Management, 8, 113-121. Murrell, Kenneth L. and Christian, Martin. (1992). Beyond O.D., Q.C., P.M., STS, TQM, TQI, et.al: Empowering organizations to redesign and transform themselves. Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, 19, 249. O’Brien, Charlene D. and Buono, Anthony F. (1996). Creating a networked, learning organization in the classroom. Journal of Management Education, 20, 369-382. Perry, Monica L., Pearce, Craig L. and Sims, Harry P. (1999). Empowered selling teams: How shared leadership can contribute to selling team outcomes. The Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 19, 35-52. Roberto, Michael A. (2001). Group Decision Simulation: Examining Procedural Justice in Group Decision-Making Processes. Developments in Business Simulation and Experimental Learning, 28, 207-209. Taggar, Simon, Hackett, Rick, and Saha, Sudhir. (1999). Leadership Emergence in Autonomous Work Teams: Antecedents and Outcomes. Personal Psychology, 52, 899. Thacker, Rebecca A. and Yost, Christine (2002). Training students to become effective workplace team leaders. Team Performance Management, 8, 89-95. Verderber, Kathleen S. and Serey, Timothy T. (1996). Managing in-class projects: Setting them up to succeed. Journal of Management Education, 20, 23-29. 111 Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 31, 2004 112 Weinkauf, Katharina and Hoegl, Martin. (2002). Team leadership activities in different project phases. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 8, 171-182. Wheatley, Walter J., Armstrong, Terry R., and Maddox, Nick E. (1989). The impact of leader and team member characteristic upon simulation performance: A start-up study. Developments in Business Simulation & Experimental Exercises, 16, 13-16. Wolff, Steven B., Pescosolido, Anthony T., and Druskat, Vanessa U. (2002). Emotional Intelligence as the basis of leadership emergence in self-managing teams. The Leadership Quarterly, 13, 505-522. Table of Contents Volume 31, 2004 Controlling the Complexity and Orenting Target Groups by a Modular, Server-Based Business Game System Learning Network Demonstration: Delivering Business Education in a Distance Learning Environment Economic Evolution, Human Capital Investment, and Adult Distributed Electronic Learning: A Literature Review Designing a Globalization Simulation to Teach Corporate Social Responsibility Developing and Teaching an Online / In-Class Hybrid: A Demonstration A Model for Evaluating Online Instruction An Evaluation of a Distributed Learning Course: A Students'-Eye Perspective Blended Learning Strategy Improved Business Writing Skills How to Receive and Process Attachemnts while Greatly Reducing the Risk of Viruses and Trojans Introducing Online Components to a Class: How to Increase teh Likelihood of Success Teaching Strategic Communications Online: Using Learning Outcomes to Develop a Case-Based Course Implementing Distance Approaches to Education: A Panel Discussion for ABSEL: Las Vegas, 2004 MANDI: Learning Management Through Field Sales Experience An International Capital budgeting Experiential Exercise A Primer To Combating Terrorism: Playing It Safe While On Overseas Assignment (An Experiential Exercise) Integrating The Business Curriculum With A Comprehensive Case Study: A Prototype The Case Brief: A Model For Case Analysis, Writing And Discussion Technology Infused Pedagogy And Delivery – A Sure Bet? A Proposal For Panel Discussion Absel Conference 2004 Research Strategy And The Bkl: Getting The Most From The Absel Archives Simple But Effective: Rediscovering The Class Discussion Needle And Thread: An Activity For Examining Various Management Behaviors A Customized Excel Data Analysis System For Use In Undergraduate Marketing Research Team Leader Selection - Does It Matter? The Power Of Perspective: Reframing Your Framing Skills For Innovative Instruction In Leadership And Influence Exercise: How Should Merit Raises Be Allocated? An Online Situation For Problem-Based Learning In A Junior-Level Management Course The Eden Alternative As A Roadway For Change: A Service Learning Quality Improvement Project Avoiding Catastrophe: The Role Of Individual Accountability In Team Effectiveness Omega Systems: A Change Management Exercise The Risks And Rewards Of Providing Students A Structured Cheating Opportunity Experimentation With Assessment Techniques: A Proposal For Panel Discussion Using A 2 - Page Case To Introduce Concepts Of Business Strategy Interactive Session The Integration Of Appreciative Inquiry And Experiential Learning For Peak Performance Appreciative Inquiry Case Story: New York City Leadership Challenge Individual Achievement Versus Team Performance: An Empirical Study With Business Games Some Strategists Don't Learn Or Can't Learn Computer Simulation: A Design Architectonic On The Value Of Bugs In Simulation Environments Online Sales Forecasting With The Multiple Regression Analysis Data Matrices Package Simulation Exercises And Problem Based Learning: Is There A Fit? A Study Of Business Game Stock Price Algorithms Assessing Individual Performance In A Total Enterprise Simulation Information Use In A Business Game Determining The Value Of A Firm Unsorting Algorithms For An Ordered List And Its Application To Business Simulations Teaching Public Finance Management Through Simulation Antecedents Of Game Performance Student Expectations Of Classroom Teaching Practices In Developing And Presenting Course Information In Hong Kong Implementation And Impacts Of The Balanced Scorecard: An Experiment With Business Games Impact: Shocking The Legacy Mindset Implementation Of The Eepad Framework Of Business Processes In An Accounting Information Systems Course Are Business Games Really Delivering What Students Are Led To Believe?? Reporting Lessons Learned: What Gets Reported; Who Gains Value Teacher Expectations Of Classroom Teaching Practices In Developing And Presenting Course Information In Hong Kong Student Reactions To The Use Of A Computer-Based Simulation As An Integrating Mechanism For A Mba Curriculum A Cognitive Investigation Of The Internal Validity Of A Management Strategy Simulation Game The Casino Challenge: Making Simulation Delivery A Safe Bet! Accounting For Company Reputation: Variations On The Gold Standard Foreign Currency Hedging: A Simulation The Influence Of Variables Easily Controlled By The Instructor/Administrator On Simulation Outcomes: In Particular, The Variable, Reflection. Absel Awareness Among Business School Faculty Validating Business Simulations: Does High Market Share Lead To High Profitability? Simulation Debriefing Procedures Coaching And Business Simulations: A Formula For Success? A Seminal Inventory Of Basic Research Using Business Simulation Games The Influence Of Scorecard Evaluation On Decisions And Outcomes