4-MAT Assignment 1
Running head: Five Dysfunctions
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team 4-MAT Assignment
William Jacobs
Liberty University
4-MAT Assignment 2
Summary
Working as a team in the workplace is the most important factor that contributes to a
good working environment. It is important for employees to become familiar with each other to
form a stronger team. Teamwork is vital for the success of an organization and for the
development of strong teams. It is important for an organization to understand the main pitfalls
that destroy teams and how to avoid these issues. It is also important for an organization to
understand the factors that make up a strong team, and how to foster and develop an environment
in which teams are encouraged to work efficiently and effectively. It is also important for an
organization to understand that there will be conflict among teams and among team members,
but they should focus on dealing with the issues before they become major. Patrick Lencioni
discusses the many pitfalls that a team will face during their time working together, and the ways
that organizations fail to address the issues.
The first major dysfunction in a company is a lack of trust. A team cannot function
without trust at all levels. If a team lacks trust it can lead to dishonesty among team members,
lying about work, hiding mistakes, and keeping secrets from the other team members. All these
actions can be detrimental to the function of a successful team. A team that lacks trust will have
issues asking each other for feedback or ideas and will have issues with other team members
criticizing their work. Trust is possibly the most important factor in a functional team, and it is
important to establish a trusting team before work is done. This can be done through a variety of
ways, such as getting to know team members, sharing stories, talking about hobbies, and more. It
is important to foster a trusting environment within teams so that they can function better
together.
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The second dysfunction of a team is a fear of conflict. While conflict looks scare from the
outside, it is necessary for growth among employees. It is important for teams to have healthy
conflict to foster growth among employees. A team that is afraid of conflict suffers during
meetings and creative events because everyone is afraid to challenge an idea and bring their own
to the table. A fear of conflict can also lead to gossip among employees, which destroys trust and
relationships. Ways to work on a fear of conflict is to constantly remind team members that
conflict is necessary. While it can still be a scary topic, they are encouraged, and everyone
understands that it is required to come up with new ideas. A team should be able to overcome
conflict on their own in a healthy way.
The third dysfunction of a team is a lack of commitment. A team that does not have
members that are fully invested in the project, or the work being done is dysfunctional. It is
important to understand that wrong decisions will happen, and it is better to come to a decision
that is wrong than no decision at all. Decisions can be scary, but it is important to come to a
consensus and commit to an idea, rather than delay work to do deep research to make sure the
decision is perfect in every way. A team that does not have commitment issues is confident about
their decisions and communicate their decisions well.
The fourth major dysfunction of a team is a lack of accountability. Teams that do not have
accountability are unable to call out members when they do not meet a standard or behave in a
way that is detrimental to the team. Avoiding accountability can lead to people doing more work
to make up for their peers lacking rather than speaking openly to the team. A team that holds
each other accountable will push each other to do their best work and encourage them when they
feel they cannot finish. This will lead to mutual respect among team members, and better work
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produced as a result. A team leader should be the facilitator for accountability and should have
all members be willing to hold each other, along with the leader, accountable.
The final major dysfunction of a team is failure to pay attention to results. When a team is
not focused on their own results, they suffer. They are simply doing work and not expecting the
outcome to mean anything. A team that does not focus on their results can become stuck and
eventually die. A team that focuses on results is constantly progressing, trying their best to reach
a new goal, and attracting members that have similar mentalities. Using rewards as incentives for
achieving goals or doing good work is a way that an organization can push teams to focus on
their results and do their best to achieve the best results for themselves and the company.
Concrete Response
This book was incredibly interesting to read, as it gave some insight to how an executive
approaches the issues that teams face. While I have not been an executive, I have worked as part
of a team on many occasions. I have worked on many group projects through my years in school,
as well as part of a team in a business environment. Working in teams in a school environment is
more difficult than in a business environment to me. I found that I often did not trust my fellow
team members and therefore fell into all the major dysfunctions more often with a group project
than in a business environment. While working everything seemed more fluid, and I was not
afraid to ask people questions or ask for assistance.
In a school environment I feel that I do not trust my fellow classmates to do the work that
is required. This often leads to someone doing the bulk of the work required for a group project. I
remember a project in high school where I had a team member that wouldn’t show up to
meetings and basically hid. This caused trust issues and leads to our team being dysfunctional.
Instead of holding him accountable, I ended up doing his work for him, and letting him go. Even
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during peer evaluation, I had a chance to let the teacher know, but I decided I didn’t want to
cause issues.
I also fall into the other major dysfunctions myself, because while I do not trust the
people to do their part of the work, I also do not hold them accountable. I had another class with
a similar issue, but instead it was a person that I was close with. Instead of asking him to do his
part, I split up his work and the other members and myself had to finish it on our own. I should
have been more willing to hold him accountable, especially because I was close with him, but I
thought that would cause issues outside of the class. I feel that by not holding him accountable, I
removed any possible conflict before it could have begun, so instead of everyone learning and
growing from the experience, nothing changed.
Conflict can be beneficial for the team and individuals, so instead of making excuses for
people, it can be better to discuss the issues. Instead of mulling over the conflict and eliminating
it before it happens, I should embrace it as a growing opportunity. I also often find myself not
willing to make the final decision on an idea or a topic for a school project. In a government
class in school, I had to work with a team to pick a government type for our simulation country.
Our group could not decide for ourselves, nobody wanted to be the one to blame if something
went wrong. This commitment issue was a problem for us because we ran into it weekly during
our strategic meetings. Eventually decisions would be reached, but long after other groups which
caused us to fall behind.
While working in a business setting, I was a member of teams that felt stronger. I did not
fear conflict in these teams, I was willing to express my opinion and work past differences with
coworkers. There was a specific time that I caused an issue in the database that I was working
on. I was in an entry level position and was approached by my manager asking questions about
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the issue. I explained what I had done and was told in an encouraging way that it was incorrect.
It was important to understand that the mistakes I was making were impacting results that our
team produced. I felt that I was really becoming a strong team member as time went on.
Reflection
This book was extremely interesting to read because I can personally relate to the
messages that are being taught. Teamwork is something that is often talked about, but the level
that this book describes teamwork and the issues that teams face was interesting to read. I never
thought about the teams that I was in as functional or dysfunctional, but after reading I was able
to reflect and see what kinds of teams I have been a part of. It was interesting to see that most of
my school project teams were highly dysfunctional. Although there was clearly something wrong
with these teams, I would not have categorized them as dysfunctional before reading this book.
Now I would say that these teams were totally dysfunctional and were basically not even a team
at all. I was also interested to see that the teams that I was a part of in business settings were
more functional.
Looking back the teams I was a part of in school were almost always terrible. There
would always be either someone doing all the work, or a person that refused to be a part of the
team. There were issues with communication, trust, accountability, basically all the major
dysfunctions. I would also play a part in this dysfunction because I was unwilling to approach a
team member and ask them to do their part in the project. I was afraid of the conflict that it
would cause, I was also afraid to commit to an idea because I did not want to be the one to
blame. While these teams had issues, one thing that almost all of them focused on was results.
Even the team members that were absent for the work being done still cared about the final grade
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because it affected them in the end. Although these teams were incredibly dysfunctional, they
taught me a lot.
I was also interested to see that while my school teams were dysfunctional, my business
teams seemed to be much better all around. I felt more comfortable in these teams, not afraid of
conflict, and I was more willing to make decisions without wasting time on them. My coworkers
were also more willing to give me constructive criticism on my work, and approach me when I
was doing work wrong. The feeling of trust among the team that I was a part of was also much
stronger than in my school projects. I was given difficult work to do because they trusted me and
knew that if I had issues, I wouldn’t hesitate to talk to them and ask for help. Reflecting on my
time working in an office, I feel like I learned more there than I have working on group projects
in school.
Overall, I found Patrick Lencioni’s book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership
Fable very informative. I feel like it really helped me to reflect on the teams I have been a part of
and find the issues that they faced but look at other teams and see how well they functioned.
Reflecting on these experiences has been beneficial because I now know what dysfunctions to
look for in a team, and how to avoid them. Instead of letting a person get away with doing little
to no work of quality, I can instead approach them and hold them accountable for their work. I
should not be afraid of conflict in the future because it can be beneficial and be more trusting
with my team members.
Application
This book has many good applications to my life both as a team member, and as a
Christian. I feel that as a leader, I should learn from the common issues that face teams. I should
be on high alert to find them before they become a major issue, and work through them as part of
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a team. I think reading this book has equipped me well to handle both leading a team, and lead
others to Christ. While this book demonstrates the dysfunctions of a team, it also highlights these
as possible strengths, and gives the reader a blueprint for successful team relationships. Overall,
this book has equipped me well to grow as a leader and as a Christian.
I feel that this book clearly outlines the ways to effectively lead a team. It is important to
communicate well, have a common trust, accountability, and more. A team is more than just
these parts, it is much more complicated. Team member attitudes can change, so a team must be
able to adapt, and its leader along with it. Learning from this book, it is important as a leader to
be able to adapt to changing circumstances and keep the team functioning correctly as everything
else changes. I can personally be more confrontational in my communication with people as a
leader and a team member, and be more willing to hold people accountable, rather than pick up
their slack without saying anything. I can also be more trusting of people around me, sharing
more personal information than I am used to. These personal changes can also carry over into my
Christian character.
This book also functions as a guide to Christian values. While it can be difficult to see
these team values as Christian values, they all relate. We are called to be bold in our faith and
share the good news of the gospel with all who will hear. As a Christian I can take these
downfalls and use them as a guide to be a strong spiritual leader. I can be loving and trusting to
those around me and be more willing to hold people accountable for their sins. I can approach
those who may not be believers and share the good news. It is important for spiritual leaders to
know how to lead a team effectively, so understanding these downfalls can help me become a
stronger leader, but also a stronger follower of Christ.
4-MAT Assignment 9
While I am a Christian, I fall short often. By learning these common downfalls, I can
grow stronger in my relationship with Christ. I need to be more willing to take my fears and my
issues to God in prayer. Instead, I commonly hide my feelings and think that they do not matter
enough to God when I should be praying about these issues. I need to remind myself that I can
trust God because he is in control of all things. I also need to ask those around me to hold me
accountable more often. I need to be more willing to share the ways that I have fallen short and
ask those around me for support. Although I have trust in God, I do not put my full trust in him,
instead I need to rely on him fully.
4-MAT Assignment 10
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Lencioni, P. M. (2007). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. John Wiley & Sons.
