CHAPTER 13
TEAM PROBLEMS AND PARTICIPATION:
MANAGING THE OBSTACLES
Typically, students working in groups or teams are grinding their teeth over problems about now.
This chapter explores problems with individual members, new members, leaders, meetings, and
organizations and systems. It provides advice on how to handle some of the typical issues that
afflict teams.
Chapter Outline
Fixing Teamwork Problems
People Who Seem Difficult
Dominating
Distracting
Nonparticipating
Irresponsible
Reprehensible
System versus Personality Difficulties
Members Who Are New or Different
Helping Leaders Help the Team
Bolstering the Leader
Reasons for Inadequacy
Working within the System
Summary
Exercises
Discussion Suggestions For Boxes
Coach or Manager
In addition to rating themselves as more of a coach or manager, ask your students to rate a
current or past boss using the twelve cues. Were there any surprises amongst the students after
using this assessment tool?
“Meeting Doctor” Cures “Sick” Agendas
Ask students if any of them have attended conferences, seminars, large public meetings. Draw
from their experiences and share your own to discuss the information in this excerpt.
1. What makes such large meetings effective?
2. Why would a corporation call in a “meeting doctor”?
Shouldn’t there be people in the organization who could do the same thing? In many
3. How do students think some of the ideas suggested in this excerpt would have improved
some of their previous experiences with meetings?
4. Ask students to think about how some of these ideas might relate to their projects for this
class or others.
Lousy Meetings
As indicated in the Box 13.3, meetings can many times be unproductive. What tips would you or
your students add to the ones already listed in the box?
Suggestions For Guiding Chapter Exercises
Exercise 1: Thoughts of Meetings Past
This is a good journal exercise, but it can be even better if you have groups or teams share their
Exercise 2: Help Inc.—Getting Volunteers and Paid Staff Working Better Together
1. The paid members could set up a regular process for bringing members up to date at each
2. It could be helpful to have occasional goal-review sessions, in which members talk about
the goals and the reasons for them.
Exercise 3
Divide students into groups to discuss the issues that might arise with these members. Then ask
them to report out.
Encourage them to think about the following:
• Ray and Kiri both are “strangers”; they need someone to orient them to the team, its tasks
and goals, its norms and expectations. Because Kiri is also a stranger to this culture, she
may need some continuing support as she gets used to both the outside world and the
inside team.
Additional Exercise
MANAGING PEOPLE WHO SEEM DIFFICULT
Objective
To learn ways of managing problems with members
Time
Two hours
Materials
Paper and pencils; Instructions
Procedure
1. Divide the class into groups of four or five people. Each team will present a skit as well as
coach another team.
3. Present skits.
5. Read instructions for pairs.
7. Represent skits.
8. Debrief.
Preparation of Materials
Prepare the following two sets of instructions:
Instructions for First Skits
In your team, design a skit that represents an imaginary group’s meeting. In the meeting, show it
being thrown off course by at least three of the “people who seem difficult,” described at the
beginning of the chapter.
Instructions for Coaching
Each team in your pair will coach the other. The coaches should diagnose a) why your difficult
people might be difficult, b) why your team (in the skit) might be encouraging the difficult
Debriefing
1. After each team has presented its revised skit, ask the class to comment on how the problem
2. After all teams have presented their revised skits, ask students to think about how having
someone else consider problems and coach them on solving them worked. Even though this was
a simulated situation, they may see that having outside “consultants'” advice can help a team see
and address its problems.
Case Study: The Team That Isn’t a Team
The Vibrant Videogames Corporation is using self-managing product development teams. One
of them includes J. Smith (Marketing), R. Finnegan (Research and Development), L. Roskovitch
(Finance), B. Schuman (Manufacturing), S. Ricci (Customer), and N. Rodriguez (Supplier).
Questions
1. What can the team do to make this transition effective and create a better situation?
2. What can the team do to turn its own problems around?
Debriefing
Question 1. Direct students to the section in this chapter on easing the transition of leaders.
How can they orient Chou to their team? They haven’t been happy with Saunders, but if they
Question 2. Suggest that students consider what the team already could have done, even with
Saunders as the supervisor. Look back at the section on “bolstering the leader.” Members could
have—still could—worked on common goals and developed ways to get feedback from their
Question 3. Refer students to the box Product Development Teams Demand Good Coaching and
to Chapter 12 on leading that empowers teams. Chou could call a special meeting to determine
strategic intent; to get goals clear; to focus on what members have in common. He could work
out ways of rewarding the entire team—rather than single individuals—to reduce
Additional Resources
Print Resources
Blanchard, K. (1987). Meetings that work. Today’s Office, 22, 9-11.
Cox, T. H., Lobel, S. A., & McLeod, P. L. (1991). Effects of ethnic group cultural differences
on cooperative and competitive behavior on a group task. Academy of Management Journal, 34,
827-847.
Media Resources
Coping with difficult people. West Des Moines, IA: American Media Inc. Part I, 20 min.; Part
II,19 min.
Is it always right to be right? Carlsbad, CA: CRM Films. 8 min.