When Teams Work Best: 6,000 Team Members and Leaders Tell What it Takes to Succeed / Edition 1

by Frank M. J. LaFasto, Carl Larson

Overview

What makes some teams achieve extraordinary outcomes, while other fall disappointingly short of the mark?

Frank La Fasto and Carl Larson have systematically explored that question for more than 20 years. In 1989, they published the best-selling book Team Work; What Must Go Right/What Can Go Wrong, which reported the results of an in-depth study of some of the most successful teams in recent history and identified the eight characteristics of high performance teams.

When Teams Work Best advances this groundbreaking research by probing more deeply inside the workings of hundred of teams—some effective and some faltering. For over a decade, the authors collected and analyzed responses from more than 6,000 team members and leaders across a variety of industries, in both public and private sectors, to find out exactly what conditions help or hinder teams in achieving their goals. The voices of these team members—often eloquent, always enlightening—are heard through the quotations that appear throughout the book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761923664
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	08/21/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.54(w) x 9.74(h) x 0.98(d)

About the Author

Frank La Fasto, Ph.D., recently retired as Senior Vice President of Organization Effectiveness after 30 years with Cardinal Health, Inc., a multinational health care company. An internationally recognized author and lecturer on management issues, Frank has more than 35 years’ experience helping organizations build and sustain successful teams.  Frank has written two best-sellers on the subject: Teamwork and How Teams Work Best, co-authored by Carl Larson.  He currently consults with private and public sector organizations to help them build effective teams, lead critical change initiatives, and develop executive talent. Frank resides in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Carl Larson, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of Human Communication and past dean of Social Sciences at the University of Denver. His most recent work includes When Teams Work Best (Sage 2001), Successful Communication and Negotiation, and Collaborative Leadership: How Citizens and Civic Leaders Can Make a Difference. Larson consults in both the public and private sector. He received the Driscoll Master Educator Award given by the students at the University of Denver to the university’s outstanding professor. 

Table of Contents

Prologue
A Brief Perspective on Teamwork and Collaboration
What Makes a Good Team Member?
The Abilities and Behaviors That Matter
Team Relationships
Simple and Easy versus Complicated and Hard
Team Problem-Solving
Raising and Resolving the Real Issues
The Team Leader
What Works/What Gets in the Way
The Organization Environment
Promoting Clarity, Confidence, and Commitment
A Final Word
Notes
Appendix
Reliability of the Collaborative Team Leader Instrument

Editorial Reviews

"Frank La Fasto and Carl Larson have done it again! After building a useful framework for team performance in Team Work they have gone on to collect and analyze exhaustive data that enriches and extends their original work. When Teams Work Best is a gem of a book…. you can’t help but find it useful in today’s organizational world. "

LEONARD A. SCHLESINGER

"La Fasto and Larson offer a tour de force on what makes teams successful. Building on sound theory and relying on extensive research, they offer specific, practical tools that will deliver team value. Team members, business leaders, and organization consultants should not only read, but use this work."

DAVE ULRICH

"When Teams Work Best provides solid practical advice and tools for improving the effectiveness of all teams…. CEO’s take note, this one’s blunt, useful, and refreshing."

RANDY HARWARD

"This book makes collaboration a vivid and workable concept."

ALLAN R. COHEN

The authors have produced an eminently practical guide to success in collaborative teamwork.

Academic Library Review

"Too often, books on teamwork emphasize either applications over theory or theory over application; La Fasto and Larson have effectively combined a fine balance of the two that effectively details both the ‘why’ and the ‘how to’…. An excellent resource for graduate and advanced undergraduate coursework in team development."

ANTHONY M. TOWNSEND

When Teams Work Best: 6000 Team Members and Leaders Tell What it Takes to Succeed by Frank La Fasto and Carl Larson is a practical, ‘user friendly’ guide to the harnessing power of cooperation and teamwork for increased productivity and effectiveness. Individual chapters address what makes a good team member, what makes a good leader, problem solving methodologies, and how to best promote confidence and trust. When Teams Work Best is very highly recommended for anyone charged with the corporate responsibility for cultivating business group work skills!

Midwest Book Review

"Duke Hospital has benefited from the ideas La Fasto and Larson present in this book and is a better organization because of it."

MICHAEL D. ISRAEL

"highly readable. . .convincing. . .a must for academic collections and required reading for professionals seeking to maximize human performance and team productivity."

J.B. Kashner

"Duke Hospital has benefited from the ideas La Fasto and Larson present in this book and is a better organization because of it."

Michael D. Israel

"Too often, books on teamwork emphasize either applications over theory or theory over application; La Fasto and Larson have effectively combined a fine balance of the two that effectively details both the ‘why’ and the ‘how to’…. An excellent resource for graduate and advanced undergraduate coursework in team development."

Anthony M. Townsend

"This book makes collaboration a vivid and workable concept."

Allan R. Cohen

"When Teams Work Best provides solid practical advice and tools for improving the effectiveness of all teams…. CEO’s take note, this one’s blunt, useful, and refreshing."

Randy Harward

"La Fasto and Larson offer a tour de force on what makes teams successful. Building on sound theory and relying on extensive research, they offer specific, practical tools that will deliver team value. Team members, business leaders, and organization consultants should not only read, but use this work."

Dave Ulrich

"Frank La Fasto and Carl Larson have done it again! After building a useful framework for team performance in Team Work they have gone on to collect and analyze exhaustive data that enriches and extends their original work. When Teams Work Best is a gem of a book…. you can’t help but find it useful in today’s organizational world. "

Leonard A. Schlesinger