ISYS90050 · It Project and Change Management
Teamwork & Ethics
Week 8 teaches what makes a team (complementary skills, common purpose and approach, mutual accountability), Katzenbach & Smith's performance categories, running effective meetings, and a six-step ethical decision process. A team-diagnosis scenario and an applied ethics case are common exam items; note the leadership add-on material is explicitly not examinable.
What this chapter covers
- 01Team = a small group with complementary skills, common purpose/approach and mutual accountability
- 02Katzenbach & Smith performance curve: working group, pseudo-team, potential team, real team, high-performance team
- 03Lencioni's five dysfunctions: absence of trust -> fear of conflict -> lack of commitment -> avoidance of accountability -> inattention to results
- 04Team-member behaviours: positive task, positive group, hindering; Belbin role tendencies
- 05Effective meetings: prepared agenda circulated ahead, minutes, key people, start on time, chaired well ('parking lot')
- 06Chairing actions: plan, prepare & inform, structure & control, summarise & record
- 07Ethics = moral principles/values; ethical dilemma = conflicting personal values
- 08Six-step ethical decision process; leadership section NOT examinable
Work the six-step ethical decision process on a status-report dilemma
- +1Gather the facts and define the ethical issue. Establish the true integration status, who asked for the green rating and why, and the timeline. The ethical issue is misrepresenting project status — a conflict between loyalty to the lead and honesty to the sponsor and client.
- +1Identify affected stakeholders, consequences and obligations. Stakeholders: the sponsor and client (misled), the team (short-term cover, long-term exposure), the analyst (integrity and reputation). Consequences: a false green delays corrective action and worsens the slip; obligations include honest reporting and the duty of care to the project.
- +1Weigh character and take a defensible stand. Reflecting on integrity, the analyst should decline to certify a false status and instead raise the real status with the evidence, propose a recovery action, and escalate through the agreed channel if pressed — a stance defended with facts rather than a personal accusation.
Key terms
- Team
- A small group (usually 2-12) with complementary skills and experience, committed to a common purpose and approach, with mutual accountability. The mutual accountability distinguishes a real team from a mere working group.
- Katzenbach & Smith performance curve
- A ranking of group types by performance: working group, pseudo-team (weakest), potential team, real team, and high-performance team (real-team conditions plus deep member commitment).
- Lencioni's five dysfunctions
- A pyramid of team failure: absence of trust leads to fear of conflict, then lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and finally inattention to results.
- Belbin team role
- A tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate in a particular way (e.g. Shaper, Implementer, Coordinator, Team worker, Resource Investigator, Plant, Monitor-Evaluator, Specialist), each with strengths and an allowable weakness.
- Effective meeting
- A meeting with a collaboratively prepared agenda circulated beforehand, minutes of the last meeting, the key people present, a prompt start, and effective chairing that parks off-topic issues.
- Ethical dilemma
- A situation in which personal values conflict, so there is no clearly right action. The subject's six-step process — gather facts, define the issue, identify stakeholders, consequences and obligations, weigh character — structures a defensible decision.
Teamwork & Ethics FAQ
What is the difference between a working group and a real team?
A working group shares information and best practice but has no shared performance goals, no joint work-products and no mutual accountability. A real team has a small number of members with complementary skills, a common purpose and approach, and holds itself mutually accountable. On Katzenbach & Smith's curve the working group sits well below the real and high-performance team.
How should I answer an ethics case in the exam?
Walk the six-step process explicitly — gather facts, define the ethical issue, identify affected stakeholders, identify consequences, identify obligations, and weigh your character and integrity — then take a clear stand and justify it with facts and obligations. The marks reward the structured reasoning, not a bare opinion. Remember the leadership add-on material is not examinable.
Which teamwork material is not examinable?
The leadership section — emotional intelligence, leadership styles and the leadership-versus-management discussion — is explicitly flagged as not examinable. The examinable teamwork content is the definition of a team, the Katzenbach & Smith performance curve, member behaviours and Belbin roles, effective meetings, and ethics with the six-step decision process.
Can AI help me with teamwork and ethics in ISYS90050?
Yes, as a study aid. Sia can quiz you on the team-performance categories, set team-dysfunction vignettes to diagnose, and rehearse the six-step ethical process on fresh dilemmas. Use it to learn the method; it does not do your graded assessment, and University of Melbourne academic-integrity rules apply — confirm details on Canvas.
Exam move
Learn the Katzenbach & Smith categories and Lencioni's five dysfunctions as ordered lists so you can diagnose a team vignette quickly, and keep the positive-task, positive-group and hindering behaviours ready for a member-behaviour question. Rehearse the six-step ethical process on two or three fresh dilemmas until walking the steps and taking a justified stand is automatic — that is the reliable way to bank the ethics marks. Note firmly that the leadership section is not examinable so you do not waste revision on it. For the closed-book exam, practise producing the frameworks from memory.
Working through Teamwork & Ethics in ISYS90050? Sia is AskSia’s AI IT Project Management tutor — ask any ISYS90050 Teamwork & Ethics question and get a clear, step-by-step explanation grounded in how ISYS90050 is taught and assessed. Read this chapter free, then take your hardest questions to Sia.
