Managing in the New Team Environment: Skills, Tools, and Methods

This book is essential reading for all managers in contemporary business organizations who are attempting to work productively in today's challenging economic environment. As the organizational model based on hierarchy and conformity has increasingly revealed its inability to meet competitive challenges, a new team environment has evolved. Larry Hirschhorn's "Managing in the New Team Environment" presents an overview of the skills and techniques required to manage successfully in this new environment and focuses in particular on the ways in which the manager's role should change in response to changes in the nature of the team.

The book, which includes extensive case studies, is designed to help managers understand the social and psychological realities that shape their choices and behaviors. The manager in the new team environment is at once a member of the team and the leader of the team. Hirschhorn presents guidelines to help the manager adapt to this dual role, to become a "learner" as well as a "controller, " and thereby ensure that the team functions at optimal effectiveness. Divided into five chapters and a summary, the book introduces the manager to the nature of the new team.

The following key concepts are addressed in the book: managing the triangle formed by the individual, the manager, and the team balancing empowerment and collaboration in the team process defining the team's environment measuring and rewarding performance facilitating group problem solving promoting a sense of fairness