TEAM MANAGEMENT AND TEAM LEADERSHIP IN A UNIVERSITY
TEAM MANAGEMENT AND TEAM LEADERSHIP IN A UNIVERSITY
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Executive SummaryThe broad comprehension of teamwork, team management, and team leadership in educational institutions has not been aided by the deficiency of scholarly research that might offer proof to inform application in scholastic practice. Most discourses about these concepts have occurred outside learning contexts and have majorly focused on business contexts. Yet, they have been used inappropriately to influence debate inside educational settings. Considering this issue, this essay comprehensively discusses what teamwork management and team leadership in educational settings entail. Specifically, comprehensive multidisciplinary literature summaries inside and outside education help in unveiling the effects of team management on a university, along with effective methods of appropriate team management development in such an institution of higher learning . The essay has three main sections the first of which addresses fundamental skills in team management. The second explores the benefits that effective teamwork management brings to a university. The last section discusses some recommended ways of enhancing team management and developing team leadership appropriately.
Table of Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901291” Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc41901291 h 2
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901292” 1.0 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc41901292 h 6
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901293” 2.0 Team and Teamwork Management in a University PAGEREF _Toc41901293 h 7
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901294” 2.1 Essential Skills of Good Team and Teamwork Management in a University PAGEREF _Toc41901294 h 7
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901295” 2.1.1 Organizing and Planning Skills PAGEREF _Toc41901295 h 7
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901296” 2.1.2 Problem-Solving Skills PAGEREF _Toc41901296 h 8
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901297” 2.1.3 Decision-Making Skills PAGEREF _Toc41901297 h 8
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901298” 2.1.4 Communication Skills PAGEREF _Toc41901298 h 9
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901299” 2.1.5 Conflict Management and Resolution PAGEREF _Toc41901299 h 10
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901300” 2.1.6 Relationships Building Aptitudes PAGEREF _Toc41901300 h 10
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901301” 2.1.7 Adaptability PAGEREF _Toc41901301 h 11
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901302” 2.1.8 Team Orientation PAGEREF _Toc41901302 h 11
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901303” 2.2 Relationship between Teamwork Management & Teams in a University PAGEREF _Toc41901303 h 12
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901304” 3.0 Benefits of Team Management to a University PAGEREF _Toc41901304 h 13
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901305” 3.1 Increased Performance PAGEREF _Toc41901305 h 13
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901306” 3.2 Enhanced Critical Thinking PAGEREF _Toc41901306 h 13
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901307” 3.3 Synergy PAGEREF _Toc41901307 h 14
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901308” 3.4 Conflict Resolution PAGEREF _Toc41901308 h 15
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901309” 3.5 Productivity Boosting PAGEREF _Toc41901309 h 15
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901310” 3.6 Diversity of Ideas PAGEREF _Toc41901310 h 16
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901311” 3.7 Motivation of Unity PAGEREF _Toc41901311 h 16
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901312” 3.8 Increased Learning Opportunities PAGEREF _Toc41901312 h 17
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901313” 4.0 Ways to Develop University Team Management and Team Leadership PAGEREF _Toc41901313 h 17
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901314” 4.1 Training PAGEREF _Toc41901314 h 18
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901315” 4.2 Induction Programs PAGEREF _Toc41901315 h 20
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901316” 4.3 Application of Moorcroft’s Ten New Principles PAGEREF _Toc41901316 h 20
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901317” 4.3.1 Information Management through People PAGEREF _Toc41901317 h 21
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901318” 4.3.2 Change Is Constant and Managing It Is Crucial PAGEREF _Toc41901318 h 21
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901319” 4.3.3 Technology Is the Future PAGEREF _Toc41901319 h 22
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901320” 4.3.4 Relationships Matter PAGEREF _Toc41901320 h 22
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901321” 4.3.5 Investment in Training and Development Is Imperative PAGEREF _Toc41901321 h 22
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901322” 4.3.6 Measure Only against the Best PAGEREF _Toc41901322 h 23
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901323” 4.3.7 The Market Is Global PAGEREF _Toc41901323 h 23
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901324” 4.3.8 Unity of Direction Is Vital PAGEREF _Toc41901324 h 23
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901325” 4.3.9 Equity Is Required PAGEREF _Toc41901325 h 24
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901326” 4.3.10 Initiative Is Momentous PAGEREF _Toc41901326 h 24
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901327” 4.4 Human Relations Model PAGEREF _Toc41901327 h 24
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901328” 4.5 Encourage or Nurture Team Management Values PAGEREF _Toc41901328 h 25
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901329” 4.5.1 Transparency Creation PAGEREF _Toc41901329 h 25
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901330” 4.5.2 Collaboration Enablement PAGEREF _Toc41901330 h 25
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901331” 4.5.3 Communication Enrichment PAGEREF _Toc41901331 h 26
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901332” 4.5.4 Trust-Building PAGEREF _Toc41901332 h 26
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901333” 4.5.5 Equality Enhancement PAGEREF _Toc41901333 h 26
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901334” 4.6 Instill Effective Team Management Skills PAGEREF _Toc41901334 h 27
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901335” 4.6.1 Realistic Expectations PAGEREF _Toc41901335 h 27
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901336” 4.6.2 Talent and Strength Recognition PAGEREF _Toc41901336 h 27
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901337” 4.6.3 Cooperation and Coordination PAGEREF _Toc41901337 h 27
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901338” 4.6.4 Team Culture PAGEREF _Toc41901338 h 28
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901339” 4.6.5 Independent Individuals PAGEREF _Toc41901339 h 28
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901340” 4.6.6 Team Activities Awareness PAGEREF _Toc41901340 h 28
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901341” 5.0 Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc41901341 h 28
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901342” Reference List PAGEREF _Toc41901342 h 30
HYPERLINK l “_Toc41901343” Appendices PAGEREF _Toc41901343 h 36
1.0 IntroductionThe interconnection, interactions, and interdependence of teams, teamwork, and team management in contemporary education settings are imperative. In recent years, the significance of leadership in education, the management of educational establishments, and the essence of teamwork among scholastic professionals have augmented in scope, complexity, and sophistication. This is because more and more team management and leadership activities are developed and customized to individual learning institutions (Robertson and Du Plessis 2015; Schley and Schratz 2011). In such a climate of multiple, dynamic changes, leadership, team management, and team working have become imperative and influential constructs of the educational human resource management function. These aspects have also become integral to the process by which successful learning and teaching occur in scholastic contexts (Bennett, Crawford, and Cartwright 2003; Day and Sammons 2016; Megan, Leslie, and Colin 2005).
Some scholars have appreciated the importance of team management and team leadership in education. Kozlowski and Bell (2003) sustain that the concepts’ prime importance is the creation and maintenance of effective schools and colleges where task delegation, collaboration, cooperative functioning of teams, and other effective and desirable leader-follower exchange patterns are encouraged. Also, team management and team leadership are essential requisites of the processes of developing policies and practices in educational systems, decentralizing delivery systems, and centralizing decisions for effective education (Bennett, Crawford, and Cartwright 2003; OECD 2009). Leithwood and Hallinger (2012) further contend that irrespective of the form they take, team leadership and team management provide the initiative for augmenting commitment, positive perceptions of leadership, decision prowess, and group effectiveness among educational professionals as they accomplish their roles, tasks, and responsibilities. So, team management, team leadership, and teamwork are critical success factors of any contemporary educational institution as Hall (2002) submits.
Towards expanding knowledge and understanding of the importance of team working in education, this essay presents a deeper account of team management and its effects on a university. Along with this, it focuses on the approaches to building and enhancing the university’s team management and leadership. Precisely, the paper delves into essential skills in teamwork management, the benefits of effective teamwork management to a university, and ways of team management enhancement. As it unravels these concepts, the primary premise of this essay is that teamwork enhances performance, conflict resolution, critical thinking, and diversity of ideas in a university context. Even so, the benefits are only possible with effective team management that can be developed through several ways that include the use of the human relations model and Moorcroft’s ten new principles.
2.0 Team and Teamwork Management in a UniversityThis section focuses on what constitutes effective skills for team and teamwork management and the relationship between teamwork management and teams in a university.
2.1 Essential Skills of Good Team and Teamwork Management in a UniversityEducational administrators, instructional professionals, faculty heads, and educators at all university levels should possess the following skills to ensure that they exercise sound teamwork management:
2.1.1 Organizing and Planning SkillsEffective team management in education requires university leaders demonstrating the capability to organize, establish, and execute desired courses of action for their teams towards accomplishing specific outcomes and producing specific accomplishment levels (Kozlowski and Bell 2003). These leaders should also maintain order among team members, align their project roles and goals with their proficiencies, show the ability to deal with chaotic team situations, prepare long-term and short-term goals, and stimulate team effectiveness towards reaching these goals through strategic planning (Agarwal and Adjirackor 2016; Russell, Pferdehirt, and Nelson 2018). So, organizing and planning skills top the skill requirements of educational team managers in a university. These skills are also important in team management because they reflect the ability to oversee team operations and progress, manage team workloads effectively, and express attention to detail to reflect a dedication to influence the attainment of the best possible outcomes in a university setting.
2.1.2 Problem-Solving SkillsIn a university context, teams encounter numerous problems such as groupthink, team identity issues, decision-making stalemates, poor participation, and communication and creativity deficiencies, among others (Kozlowski and Bell 2003; Nguyen 2010; White et al. 2018). Effective team management requires the possession of problem-solving skills, which are instrumental in addressing such problems. Problem-solving skills entail the ability to identify and define problems adequately, develop practicable solutions, and plan and act accordingly in executing, implementing, and evaluating these solutions (Hall 2002; Kozlowski and Bell 2003). University administrators and leaders responsible for team management should know the approaches to adopt to turn these problems around to ensure team cohesion and efficiency while inspiring trust, team-spirit building, and retention.
2.1.3 Decision-Making SkillsIn a university, team management involves making critical decisions with confidence, adhering to these decisions shrewdly, and demonstrating a commitment to implementing these decisions (Ejimabo 2015a). Examples of these include decisions on team composition, team processes, team dynamics, and team tasks and role assignments. Making appropriate and right decisions culminates in team success while poor and wrong decisions lead to poor team performance and eventual team failures. When managing teams and teamwork, decisions are often made under resource constraints and uncertainties, implying that decisions do not always produce the anticipated or projected outcomes (Yu et al. 2017). This indicates why team managers should be skillful, ethical, and subtle in making decisions and adopting strategies that ensure that decision implementation is as effective as possible. Also, team managers should be decisive concerning what should be accomplished, and they should not change their mind as this would detrimentally influence their integrity and ethics while damaging team members’ commitment and trust (Ejimabo 2015b).
2.1.4 Communication SkillsIn university teams, effective communication is an important aspect of team management. This is because it provides the channel of explaining team goals, sharing information and ideas, conveying decisions made, clarifying team roles, and motivating team members (Kozlowski and Bell 2003).What this means is that team managers in a university must possess healthy and exceptional communication skills as Ejimabo (2015b) and Luthra and Dahiya (2015) advocate. Team managers who are good communicators understand how to convey their points, get team members to accomplish their daily tasks, describe team vision and goals comprehensively, and facilitate all team processes, discourses, and conversations excellently (Berger 2008). Also, effective communication among team managers in education encourages collaboration between them and teams while supporting trust-building. Besides, effective communication by team managers regulates conflict probabilities, fosters sound leader-follower relationships in team functioning, and ensures that any crises and issues arising are resolved as they arise (Berger 2008; Luthra and Dahiya 2015). This leads to the attainment of high team performance and desirable team outcomes.
2.1.5 Conflict Management and ResolutionA perfect team does not exist because where diversity of ideas exists, conflicts naturally exist. This claim implies that teams in a university context and other settings are not immune to conflicts. What this means is that in teams, arguments, divergence, divisiveness, and disagreements are inevitable (Kozlowski and Bell 2003). Accordingly, when working with teams of diverse people, educational administrators and professionals responsible for team management in a university must learn how to appreciate, balance, and blend their opinions, handle ensuing disputes, and manage and resolve conflicts effectively (Overton and Lowry 2013). This is imperative to keeping team morale high, ensuring sustained mutual respect among the members, and encouraging change adaptability in the university (Bennett, Crawford, and Cartwright 2003). To be effective in conflict management and resolution in team management initiatives, team managers in a university should practice patience, emotional intelligence, positivity, active listening, and impartiality.
2.1.6 Relationships Building AptitudesThe management of teams in a university also requires leaders possessing relationships-building aptitudes. Relationships-building skills entail creating and maintaining great and congenial working relationships for teams in these institutions (Rieg and Marcoline 2008; Schaefer 2015). Humans are social beings that crave positive interactions, friendships, and a sense of belonging and identity, which are essential components of good working relationships. So, university-based team managers must possess the aptitude to establish such relationships by embracing and upholding honestly, autonomy, mutual respect, and trust (Day and Sammons 2016; Zafer-Gunes 2016). The ability and skills to build strong relationships for teams also involve refraining from misguiding the team members, maintaining excellent and sound team communication, welcoming intercultural diversity, and upholding politeness, mindfulness, and professional courtesy.
2.1.7 AdaptabilityTeam managers in education should be agile, meaning that they need to show high levels of adaptability. Kozlowski and Bell (2003) suggest that adaptability is the ability to change to fit new circumstances and the competence to adjust one’s strategies and priorities by using reallocation of team resources and compensatory behavior to adapt to change. Essentially, adaptability is not only an imperative team manager’s skill but also a vital competency in the manager’s emotional intelligence. Adaptability reflects team managers’ ability to be flexible, their willingness to learn, and their capacity to be persistent, resilient, resourceful, and open-minded (Awbery 2014).
2.1.8 Team Orientation
Another essential skill in team management is team orientation. This skill involves taking the team as the first priority, developing a mindset of keeping one’s preferences and interests aside when managing the team, and demonstrating a level of thinking that transcends the team’s thinking levels. Team orientation also entails refraining from making impressions of superiority over the team while working as part of the team when managing it. Kozlowski and Bell (2003) suggest that team orientation encompasses factors that have motivational effects such as creating positive affect, promoting shared goal commitment, shaping team climate perceptions, and stimulating higher team coherence levels.
2.2 Relationship between Teamwork Management & Teams in a UniversityIn a university, teams serve the same purpose as in other non-educational institutions: working collaboratively to attain better outcomes and performance (Hassanzadeh Khansari 2018). Teams in non-educational establishments are managed in a way that ensures organizational success and profitability. Conversely, teams in a university are managed in a way oriented towards ameliorating collaborative academic functioning, collective performance enhancement, and competency outcomes. So, the relationship between team management and teams in a university reflects the concepts of capability development, unity of professional learning, collective efficacy enrichment, autonomous collaboration, improvement of collective performance, and shared leadership (Hassanzadeh Khansari 2018).
Also, team management and team working in a university are related in the sense that they place a significant emphasis on two important concepts: enterprise citizenship behavior and team psychological capital. Organizational citizenship behavior in higher education institutions is discretionally individual behavior among team members that enables adaptability, innovativeness, and resource transformation that eventually augments organizational efficiency while promoting the effective functioning of these organizations (Adewale, Ghavifekr, and Daud 2018). On its part, team psychological capital influence the behaviors, personalities, and attitudes of university team members positively, thereby mediating their development of shared mental models. These models that enable them to attain collective performance through relationship identification, behavior prediction, and expectation formation (Burhanuddin et al. 2019; Heled, Somech, and Waters 2016). This means that team psychological capital is a positive team resource that creates an atmosphere in which team members exhibit high levels of organizational citizenship behavior in a university (Bogler and Somech 2019). So, both of these concepts help in measuring team outcomes and performance.
3.0 Benefits of Team Management to a UniversityWhen team working and team management are conducted appropriately and effectively, they bring about several benefits to a university that are essential for success. Maintaining a solid team management strategy within higher education institutions generate these benefits:
3.1 Increased PerformanceThe augmentation of organizational performance is one primary benefit of team management for a university. Effective and sound team management facilitates joint action, group motivation, engagement, and team working (Burhanuddin et al. 2019; Hassanzadeh Khansari 2018), which are core drivers of amplified performance among staff members who are part of higher education institutions’ teams. With proper team management, these teams meet their targets and performance expectations on time, arrive at coordinated decisions faster, improve their self-efficacy and motivation, and thrive in their proficiency areas (Kozlowski and Bell 2003; Shuffler et al. 2018). All these lead to higher levels of fulfillment and optimal performance. Also, proper team management ensures the building of team trust, identity, recognition, and a feeling of mutual loyalty and pride (esprit de corps), which are essential catalysts of increased performance of teams in a university (Agarwal and Adjirackor 2016). Lastly, proper team management encourages healthy competition during team working, which propels team members to better their individual and collective performance over time.
3.2 Enhanced Critical ThinkingEffective team management involves creating room and opportunities for joint creativity and innovation, insight sharing, tapping into team members’ psychological capital, and unrestrained information dissemination (Kozlowski and Bell 2003; Mainemelis, Kark, and Epitropaki 2015). Also, proper team management entails creating forums for enhancing the team’s creative skills such as inspiring, empowering, envisioning, and alignment (Day and Sammons 2016). Such forums help in enhancing the team’s critical thinking abilities as team members have to engage in intellectual reasoning, abstract judgment, and higher-order thinking, all needed to generate creative and innovative ideas. Effective team management in a university setting also allows team members to assess complex issues and brainstorm and formulate more solution options, strategies, and plans, which enhances their critical thinking capabilities (Gabelica 2014).
3.3 SynergyThe proper management of teams in a university encompasses appreciating and upholding team diversity. Diversity in these organizations provides a substantially effective and productive ethical basis for enhancing managerial development, upholding cultural intelligence, and encouraging positive organizational behavior. Eventually, these aspects allow for the derivation of high levels of synergy (Karma and Vedina 2009). The diagrams of intercultural-competence and cultural intelligence capabilities (See Appendix A and B) delineate how cultural intelligence and cultural knowledge can be leveraged to create synergy in teams. In other words, team management in a university that emphasizes the strategic value of cultural diversity while reflecting high team heterogeneity levels leads to greater capacity to attain synergistic factors that have been found to augment organizational creativity and innovation (Güver and Motschnig 2017).
3.4 Conflict ResolutionTeam management also brings about the benefit of proper conflict management and resolution in a university. Good team management focuses on lessening unnecessary conflicts among members. Day and Sammons (2016) and Overton and Lowry (2013) agree with this statement by suggesting that teams that are effectively managed are characterized by the appreciation for each member’s views, quick identification and resolution of conflicts, and strategic and dependable dispute handling and management. Effective team management underscores the provision of the right support, communication, and training to equip team members with the skills essential in dealing with conflicts emanating from the diversity of ideas. When team conflicts are resolved effectively and quickly, team cohesion prevails. With this, team morale remains high, mutual respect among team members is maintained, and employee relations and trust are improved (Bennett, Crawford, and Cartwright 2003). The benefits for a university accruing from these aspects of conflict resolution are enhanced team members’ performance and achievement.
3.5 Productivity BoostingEffective team management in a university enriches team members’ performance, morale, job satisfaction, and commitment to team goals, which boost individual and organizational productivity (Agarwal and Adjirackor 2016; Ejimabo 2015a). Within well-structured teams, many brains are brought together in team working, which ensures that better quality is attained, work-system problems are eliminated, deadlines are met, and errors and waste are minimized. Also, well-managed teams know their responsibilities, deliverables, and delivery expectations, besides portraying high levels of collaboration and cooperative functioning and low levels of absenteeism and turnover. All these culminate in boosted productivity. Efficient team management amplifies team cohesion. Essentially, research has shown that team productivity and satisfaction increase with an increase in the degree of team cohesion (Hassanzadeh Khansari 2018; Kozlowski and Bell 2003).
3.6 Diversity of IdeasThe sixth benefit of efficient team management to higher education institutions is the diversity of ideas. Effective team management is reflected in the maintenance of heterogonous teams of multicultural diversity rather than homogenous teams. Research evinces that heterogeneous team structures perform better than their homogenous counterparts because they bring together different values, skills, personality traits, and attitudes (Güver and Motschnig 2017). This blend of characteristics and dispositions brings about the diversity of ideas, knowledge, and generic demographic attributes, which, when properly articulated, are fundamental to realizing team member’s true potential and attaining greater creativity and innovation, vibrancy, problem-solving exposure, and efficacy among team members as Karma and Vedina (2009) and Kozlowski and Bell (2003) submit. However, it should be noted that if improperly managed, diversity of ideas can ditch teams in a university into problems such as unhealthy competition.
3.7 Motivation of UnityTeam management is all about encouraging a sense of togetherness among culturally diverse individuals who form the teams. In university contexts, such togetherness is driven by the motivation of unity, team bonding, and the spirit of mutual complementarity supplemented by a commitment to team-building. The motivation of unity in teams is an imperative benefit to a university because it stimulates empathic sensitivity, a robust sense of care for each other, and harmony among team members. According to Heikura (2017) and Phori (2016), these attributes enhance members’ self-actualization and self-confidence, which have a direct bearing on team morale, productivity, coordinated innovation, and overall performance.
3.8 Increased Learning OpportunitiesThe last benefit of effective team management in universities is the increase in learning opportunities. When teams are managed adequately and effectively, every team member finds the opportunity to explore and gain new knowledge, learn new skills, explore new perspectives, and acquire vital insights from teammates and more experienced team members (Hassanzadeh Khansari 2018; Kozlowski and Bell 2003). Team members with different talents continue to cooperate in exchanging ideas, hence augmenting their competency capitals. The creation of a viable learning climate or environment for teams through feasible and realistic team management policies enhances their psychological capital and a culture of continuous knowledge acquirement (Adewale, Ghavifekr, and Daud 2018; Heled, Somech, and Waters 2016). Effective team management also encourages psychological safety, which is a shared faith that teams are safe to take interpersonal risks. Psychological safety facilitates team learning behaviors and predispositions that include information sharing, assistance seeking, experimenting, feedback searching, and error examination (Kozlowski and Bell 2003). This way, teams continue learning and gaining insights while exchanging skills, deliberating on new challenges, and using acquired knowledge to test their old ideas, creating a sense of increased learning in a university.
4.0 Ways to Develop University Team Management and Team LeadershipManaging a team successfully necessitates one to be an effective leader and taking ownership of the team tasks to ensure maximum effectiveness. So, the tasks of team management and team leadership are not that simple as they are neither an event nor a product but rather a complex and critical process that requires continuous improvement. The followings are ways in which team management and team leadership can be advanced in universities:
4.1 TrainingProper upfront training is the primary approach to developing and enhancing team management abilities and team leadership capacities of team managers in a university. Training provides the groundwork for daily skill betterment and learning towards realizing one’s best performance in team management practices and enhancing organizations’ competitive advantage. Good training allows team managers to undergo ongoing professional development aimed at maximizing their potential, developing their intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, and ameliorating their decision-making tactfulness (Day and Sammons 2016; Güver and Motschnig 2017; Hassanzadeh Khansari 2018). It also guides them towards improving their emotional intelligence, diversity management practices, and enhance their affective, behavioral, cognitive, and contributive profiles while addressing their team management weaknesses (Cajander, Daniels, and McDermott 2012; OECD, 2009).
Training for improving team management skills helps in developing six major qualities relating to portraying one’s best performance (See Appendix C). The first quality is a clear goal focus, which reflects team managers’ commitment and willingness to set clear and specific goals that articulate team purpose, along with a dedication to achieving the goals (Heikura 2017). Team managers cannot achieve goals they never set. The second characteristic for effective team managers developed through training is clear collaborative intra-team communication with the team. Once team managers set clear goals, they need to communicate the goals to the team. Developing the ability to exercise clear communication ensures that team tasks and roles are unambiguously conveyed, information is accurately communicated to team members, and feedback transfer occurs smoothly (Kozlowski and Bell 2003; Rieg and Marcoline 2008). The third team management quality developed via training is rational planning. Team managers should be rational planners to facilitate goal attainment. Team goals supported by detailed planning are a powerful driver for constructive change in universities. Rational planning entails the meticulous training on how to apply the constructs of preparation, prioritization, prediction, prevention, and practice for effective team processes (Menon, Karl, and Wignaraja 2009; Terwindt, Rajan, and Soucat 2016). The fourth team managers’ quality for development through training is rational conflict handling and management. Since conflicts are inevitable and new forms of conflict keep emerging by the day, team managers need ongoing training to enhance their ability and skills needed in professional conflict management and confident dispute neutralization.
The fifth quality is self-management fo