Creating Effective Teams: A Guide for Members and Leaders

A practical guide for building and sustaining top-performing teams  

Based on the authors′ many years of consulting experience with teams in the public and private sectors, Creating Effective Teams: A Guide for Members and Leaders describes why teams are important, how they function, and what makes them successful. The texts covers the four stages of team development ―forming, storming, norming, and performing― to help readers effectively navigate these different phases. Separate chapters are devoted to the responsibilities of team leaders and team members. Susan A. Wheelan, Maria Akerlund, and Christian Jacobsson highlight common problems that occur frequently in groups as well as provide practical tips, real-life examples, and questionnaires to help address those problems.

Susan Wheelan was president of GDQ Associates, Inc. Until 2001, she was a professor

of psychological studies and faculty director of the Training and Development Center

at Temple University. Dr. Wheelan received Temple University’s Great Teacher Award

in 1992. She also worked as a psychologist in a number of hospital and clinical settings.

Dr. Wheelan was the author of Facilitating Training Groups; Group Processes: A

Developmental Perspective; Creating Effective Teams: A Guide for Members and Leaders;

and Faculty Groups: From Frustration to Collaboration. She was editor of the Handbook

of Group Research and Practice and coeditor of The Lewin Legacy: Field Theory in Current

Practice and Advances in Field Theory. She wrote 66 research articles for publication.

 

Maria Åkerlund is CEO of GDQ Associates AB, the current owner of the Group

Development Questionnaire created by Susan Wheelan. She is a licensed psychologist

and has worked as an industrial and organizational psychologist for 30 years, consulting

with leaders, managers, employees, and teams in private companies as well as

organizations in the public sector in Sweden. She is one of the authors of the books

Teamutveckling  i Teori  och Praktik (Team Development  in Theory  and Practice) and

Teams in the Spotlight.

Christian Jacobsson is head of research at GDQ Associates AB and associate professor

in the Department of Psychology at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. He is a

licensed psychologist and has worked as an industrial and organizational psychologist

for about 35 years and been involved in many large-scale team development projects as

a project leader. Christian mainly conducts research on leadership and team development

and has published about 60 articles, conference proceedings, or books on these

topics. He is one of the authors of the books Teamutveckling i Teori och Praktik (Team

Development in Theory and Practice) and Teams in the Spotlight.