What insights have you gained about your ability to build viable relationships and effective teams?
It is important to note that every individual has some unique strengths and talents that make them an effective part of a team. It is important to build a proper team to get positive outcome of a project. Hence, individual participation in a team is an essential aspect for the success of a group. In order to seek success in a team activity, it is important to possess leadership skills and excellent communication skills that help to understand the thinking and ability of others (Kwak, 2010). It is important to consider every team member valuable to motivate them to actively participate in the team activity to seek success.
The report has been developed to present own views on team synergy and effective team management. In order to complete this paper, a self reflection has been presented on my role as a team member on different projects. Furthermore, I have presented different theories on team synergy that can be applied in real life scenarios to improve by efficiency and actively participate as a member of a group. This paper helps to judge my capabilities, skills and knowledge as an active team member and develop future actions that are required to improve my performance as a team member.
In order to identify the effective team synergy action, two particular team development models have been selected. First of all, Bruce Tuckman’s Team Development Model and the four specific stages of development have been taken into consideration to illustrate the performance of the team members. The four stages of development are forming, storming, norming and performing that must be experienced by the team members in any operations (Tuckman and Mann, 2008). I have critically followed the team growth model of Tuckman to identify content issues, process problems and feelings issues of the team members at the different stages of development. At the initial team forming stage, I have noticed that there are some uncertainties among the team members to understand their responsibility (Saçkes et al., 2012). Hence, guidance is the key in such cases. In the next stage of storming, the confidence of the team members including me has been grown to a standard level.
In the third stage of Norming, the participants have been somewhat innovative in their standards. I have found that in this particular stage the team members have shown their willingness to participate. At the final stage, the team members have seemed to be concerned as the task has been completed. In different stages, there are some content issues such as resistance from new moves (Sparrow and Heel, 2006). I have worked out some methods and views to eliminate the issues. Apart from that, some of the process issues such as guidelines and directions have been sorted out to solve diversified thoughts. Along with that, I have noticed that there are some feelings issues including anxiousness and ignorance of knowledge resources. In such scenario, the responsibility of the team members will become so much critical to fix the problems through verbal communication (Rupprecht et al., 2009). In this way, each member of a team can significantly contribute to a project given to the team members.
On the other side, Meridith Belbin’s Team Role Theory has been considered to identify the role of the team members and performance of individual members of a team. According to Belbin’s Team Role Theory, the balance of a team is the key to success (Anderson and Sleap, 2014). In terms of bigger picture, a balanced team should have diversified knowledge and resources to form a strong team suitable for every style. By identifying the different behaviours of team members, Belbin’s Team Role Theory can split responsibilities in different ways such as action-oriented roles, thought oriented roles and people oriented roles.
According to Belbin’s Team Role Theory, the specific role of the members can be identified as shown in the above figure. I have followed the theory in the team activities to work out efficient roles for the team members based on their capabilities and behaviours (Gilley et al., 2010).
In order to identify the different situation of dynamic groups, I have compared my previous experience with other teams that I have worked with in the past. Some fundamental resources can contrast the performance level of a team. Previously I have experienced that significant leadership and communication skills can be identified as the core strength of a team. The reflection of the performance of team members has been largely contributed by the combination of personal behaviour and effectiveness of role distribution (Bouton, 2007). My current team members are a lot more responsible and knowledgeable in compared to my previous team members. I have observed that there are certain areas such as group discussion, role distribution and regular feedback from the team members can be highly productive for a successful project completion (Rao, 2016). My previous experience has shown that an active team has identified the purpose so more often than not. The agendas and support system are a very obvious part of a high-performance group.
Meanwhile, if I analyse the difference between my past experiences with my earliest teams with the current one, I would pick my current team as more of a high-performance team. My current team is more confident and proactive in case of solving issues. Furthermore, my previous team has conflicting views and hidden agendas that have always hampered the outcome. My current team members have efficiently identified the complementing roles and responsibility. Moreover, I have found clear values and objective in the group (Friedman and Schoen, 2009). By maintaining a good relationship with each of the team members, open communication of ideas and views can be shared. On this note, the main strength of my current team is constructive conflict such as inspiring constructive ideas, friendly competitiveness and significant objective. Along with that, my previous team has lacked extended support and leadership skills. But, my current team has got strong leadership power and influential expertise that have been acted as a supreme force creating interdependence (Joo et al., 2012). My current team members have understood a certain degree of interpersonal behaviour that has influenced the mindset of each team member to support each other at any stage.
I have worked in different teams working on different projects during my tenure of education. I have played different roles in these teams that have provided m with several learning and knowledge about building an effective team. In order to increase the efficiency of a team, there is a need to consider every member important and allow them to share their views and ideas of the project undertaken by the team (Carlsson, Hantilsson and Nyström, 2014). Though I have never played the role of team leader, but have seek success as a communicator and active member of the team. During my tenure as a communicator, I have faced several challenges that have taught me with lessons important for developing my communication and interpersonal skills.
While working as a co-ordinator and information collector during one of my project in a team of five members, I have faced challenges in managing regular meetings of the team members. I have learned how to give importance to everyone’s views and ideas. Along with that, I have learned to collect information by communicating with the people outside the team (Dorner, Gorman and Calvert, 2015). Working as a part of team helped me to learn cultural diversified among people belonging to different ethnic background. It also taught me the way to share emotions with others and learn new things from others.
By analysing own capabilities and skills, I can see that I am quite comfortable in working with new people. My good communication skills and interacting capability helps me to be friendly with new team members and get match up with them. Another important strength of mine is the flexible attitude that helps me to match up with the situation (Friedman and Schoen, 2009). I have played different roles in different teams and was quite capable of meeting my responsibilities. My learning attitude and critical thinking abilities acts as strength for the entire team. But, the major problem that I face is matching up with emotions of other team members. Hence, here I need to strengthen my capabilities by using motivational theories and psychological understanding to play an effective role in the team (Logan, 2012). Hence, I can say that my communication skills, learning ability, responsible approach, flexible attitude and critical thinking ability are the major factors that help me to work effectively in a team and win the trust of team members.
It is important to note that there must a good coordination between the team members to accomplish the task according to the decided plan. I have faced various situations of conflicts between the thoughts of the team members. This occurs due to difference in believes of the team members and their cultures (McAtavey and Nikolovska, 2010). Culture influences the behaviour of a person. Furthermore, the power of a team member due to his designation also influences their behaviour and thoughts. Hence, it is important for a team member to treat others in equal manner and provide each and every member of the team a chance to prove their capabilities. Here, comes the role of a leader, who must have a motivating attitude to influence every member of the team to work for a common goal.
I have played an effective role of a coordinator to mitigate the conflict among the members. I have communicated with different team members to establish mutual understanding among them. Hence, my critical thinking and analysing capabilities have helped me in understand the thoughts of the team members and motivate them towards a common goal (Stoeberl et al., 2008). It is important to keep every member focused towards a common goal that can be achieved by hearing to the thoughts of all members and discussion them in a meeting where all members are present. Along with that, the members of the team must be treated in equal sense to minimise the occurrence of conflicts.
According to me, I must develop a proper understanding of psychology that controls the emotional feelings of the team members. It helps to understand what they think and how to control them to achieve a common goal. Along with that, there is a need to provide team members chances to actively participate in the decision making by motivating them towards their roles and responsibilities (Arinze, 2014). Furthermore, a regular communication is needed to know the views and thinking of every team members. It helps to strengthen the bonding among the members and establishes mutual understanding. A regular communication and active participation of the members helps to make them feel motivated that further increases the viability and effectiveness of the team or groups.
Conclusion
By understanding the team development model and team role theory has significantly helped me to promote efficient role management among the team members. Sometimes I found that competency of individuals had been a key feature for a successful team. By identifying the behavioural segments of individual team members, I have enhanced my knowledge of maintaining a team in the different work environment. Along with that, the suitable working style of the team members can complement each other’s weakness to form a formidable team. In order to improve the performance and productivity of a team, the individual performance of the team members must be enhanced through training and development programmes. Meanwhile, regular reviews and feedbacks can fill the gaps among the team members. Invariably, I have promoted efficient communication practices within the team members so that each of the team members can identify the strengths and weaknesses of others. In this way, weak areas of a team can be replaced by confidence, skills and compliment. Furthermore, I have noticed that managing goals and probability will be paramount for a successful team. Moreover, if the team members can build trust and reliability with each other, the dimension of efficiency level of the team will be benefited at the highest standard.
References
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Arinze, B. (2014). Selecting appropriate forecasting models using rule induction. Omega, 22(6), pp.647-658.
Batenburg, R., van Walbeek, W. and in der Maur, W. (2013). Belbin role diversity and team performance: is there a relationship?. Journal of Mgmt Development, 32(8), pp.901-913.
Bouton, B. (2007). The Interdisciplinary Bereavement Team. Hospice Journal, The, 11(4), pp.15-24.
Carlsson, G., Hantilsson, U. and Nyström, M. (2014). Reflective team – a clinical intervention for sustainable care improvement. Reflective Practice, 15(3), pp.378-389.
Dorner, D., Gorman, G. and Calvert, P. (2015). Information needs analysis. London: Facet.
Friedman, A. and Schoen, L. (2009). Reflective Practice Interventions: Raising Levels of Reflective Judgment. Action in Teacher Education, 31(2), pp.61-73.
Gilley, A., Gilley, J., McConnell, C. and Veliquette, A. (2010). The Competencies That Effective Managers Use to Build Teams: An Empirical Study. Advances in Developing Human Resources.
Joo, B., Song, J., Lim, D. and Yoon, S. (2012). Team creativity: the effects of perceived learning culture, developmental feedback and team cohesion. International Journal of Training and Development, 16(2), pp.77-91.
Kwak, K. (2010). Self-Development and Relationships through Acculturation. Culture & Psychology, 16(3), pp.365-381.
Logan, A. (2012). Improving personal voice in academic writing: an action inquiry using self-reflective practice. Reflective Practice, 13(6), pp.775-788.
McAtavey, J. and Nikolovska, I. (2010). Team collectivist culture: A remedy for creating team effectiveness. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 21(3), pp.307-316.
Rao, M. (2016). Collaborate to build effective teams to achieve organizational excellence and effectiveness. Industrial and Commercial Training, 48(1), pp.24-28.
Rupprecht, M., Strasser, J., Gruber, H. and Harteis, C. (2009). Expertise of Team Leaders in Analysing Team Conflicts. Vocations and Learning, 3(1), pp.39-54.
Saçkes, M., Trundle, K., Tuckman, B. and Krissek, L. (2012). Development of the Efficacy Beliefs for Conceptual Change Learning Questionnaire. The Journal of Experimental Education, 80(4), pp.338-351.
Sparrow, J. and Heel, D. (2006). Fostering team learning development. Reflective Practice, 7(2), pp.151-162.
Stoeberl, P., Kwon, I., Han, D. and Bae, M. (2008). Leadership and power relationships based on culture and gender. Women in Management Review, 13(6), pp.208-216.
Tuckman, B. and Mann, R. (2008). Interpersonal Styles and Group Development. The American Journal of Psychology, 81(1), p.137.
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