Teams and Team Effectiveness in Health Care Organizations

Objectives:

Describe the characteristics of a group and what factors contribute to or inhibit group cohesiveness.
Explain group roles and their importance.
Clarify the impact of conformity and group think on group performance and group decision making.
Enumerate stages and methods of group decision making.
Compare virtual teams with conventional teams.
Describe approaches and barriers to effective team building.
Instructions:

Using APA formatting, in a 1- to 2-page paper, discuss your solution to the following scenario: You are a member of a hospital project team assigned to develop a new pediatric oncology service line. Your team is expected to develop a business plan for presentation to the senior management team and the hospital board. A specific timetable has been established for producing a set of deliverables. The team leader is a well-known oncologist with a very strong clinical background and reputation. However, his team leadership skills leave something to be desired. Among other problems, meetings are cancelled at the last minute, delegation of tasks is ambiguous, and the focus and direction of the project changes scope at virtually every meeting. You’ve been asked to help the team leader get the project back on track. How would you approach this task? What aspects of the team’s cohesiveness need to be addressed? What would you address regarding team accountability? Would it help to add more team members? Do you think you should meet virtually? What barriers might you encounter and how will you address them?