Creating Effective Teams: A Guide for Members and Leaders

'Creating Effective Teams takes readers by the hand through the four developmental stages of getting from group creation to highly effective teams. It is packed with strategies for building and supporting well-managed, high-performing teams. The author provides ample checklists and case examples to guide members and leaders through their groups' developmental states and to help them work through the times when they inevitably get stuck. She does an amazing job of summarizing a vast literature of empirical research on team functioning and development into a comprehensive yet uncomplicated, straightforward guide.

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"When teams are good, they're very, very good." They are also necessary given the increasing complexity of work. So contends Wheelan (Training and Development Center, Temple U.), who presents a lucid four-stage developmental approach to transforming work groups into high performance teams. Replete with "what you can do" advice, case examples, checklists, humor, and references (14 pages worth). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Susan A. Wheelan, PhD, is president of GDQ Associates, Inc. Until recently, she was professor of Psychological Studies and faculty director of the Training and Development Center at Temple University. Currently she is teaching at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology. She also has worked in a number of school, hospital, and clinical settings. Dr. Wheelan received Temple University's Great Teacher Award in 1992. She is coeditor of The Lewin Legacy: Field Theory in Current Practice and Advances in Field Theory. She coauthored How to Discipline Without Feeling Guilty. Dr. Wheelan is the author of Facilitating Training Groups, Group Processes: A Developmental Perspective, and Creating Effective Teams: A Guide for Members and Leaders. She has written numerous articles for publication as well. Dr. Wheelan has provided consultation to a wide variety of organizations. She has led workshops and training seminars on such topics as Executive Development, The Role of the Internal Consultant, Working in Teams, Management Skills, Communica-tion Skills, Dealing With Difficult Employees, Leadership, Conflict Management, and many more. She has been an invited speaker in England, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, and throughout the United States. Topics included group and organizational develop-ment, diversity, and conflict management.