Silent Killers

In Part 2, Chapter 1, what are the similarities and differences between Michael Beer’s thesis and the thesis in one of the essays (your choice) in Part 1?

I enjoyed the essay by Haskins for this week's readings. Both led me to think more about my own leadership and where I might land on the bell curve he describes. Would I be an outlier? Hopefully, an outlier on the positive/good leader side and not on the negative/poor leader side of the curve. 

What I found interesting about the essay by Haskins and the chapter on Silent Killers of Team Performance by Beer Is that they have aspects where they describe the futility of team leaders in general of actually making substantial and significant differences for the team.

In Salas et al. (2013) Beer writes in Silent Killers of Team Performance when discussing Hackman, "the solution to team effectiveness problems is not coaching, the replacement of poor leaders with great leaders, or better communications as singular interventions" (p. 39). This is in line with what Haskins writes in his essay about a leader's abilities to positively affect a team. Haskins, writing in Salas et al. (2013) states, "leaders matter less than we think. Most leaders - the evidence is quite clear on this - are pretty average. Replace one and an organization will soon resume its previous course" (p. 7). He even goes on to state that other than in the case of morale, performance will for the most part not change for the team regardless of the leader.

In terms of differences, Beer states in Salas et al. (2013) that "process interventions, such as coaching and team development, training, and even changes in team leadership, will not succeed unless they are accompanied by changes in these six silent barriers" (p. 29). While Beer has a reliance on process improvements via his Strategic Fitness Process (SFP), Haskins seems to see leaders as replaceable parts that can tweak rather than lead through processes.

References

Salas, E., Tannenbaum, S.J., Cohen, D., & Latham, G. (2013). Developing and enhancing teamwork in organizations: Evidence-based practices and recommendations. San Francisco: Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 9781118145890.