Characteristics Of Successful Business Teams And Belbin’s Team Role Theory

About Communication

 Describe the characteristics of successful business teams?

Explain the Theory and practice of Belbin’s team role?

Communication is a two way process of achieving mutual understanding. This way the thoughts are expressed by one person and understood by the other person. The final outcome is acceptance and appropriate action taken after the communication process. Communication therefore proves to be base of all business activities. In an organization the effective communication style results in getting desired outcome.

The Vigor business was facing a downfall because the company need fresh ideas and products to attract customers back to the company. This way a change was required to be made at different levels so that the business could rejuvenate and revive. For this purpose the CEO of the company Mr. Peter Markles who joined four years earlier worked towards the formation of a result oriented team. This team consisted of three team members who worked together to produce a new Ageless Vigor product line that brought the company back to the limelight. The company was now able to stand back in the competition and get the desired outcome. The three team members were going to get the highest recognition by the company but the other day they were all expected to leave the company for some or other reasons.

The aim of the project is to identify the team issues and problem that led to the downfall and breaking of the team. Also the various recommendations can be expressed in recommendations so that the CEO can take appropriate actions to take over the charge and save the team from breaking.

The characteristics of a successful business team include the followings.

The team members should has high faith in all the team members to become a successful business team. They should depend on each other for various business activities considering that the other team member is skilful and efficient enough to achieve company goals. Also the team members have formal and informal relations that enhance faith in each other bringing open communication between the team members. This way a successful team is characterised by lower hesitation and good communication between each other. For example, in the case study the three team members were losing faith in each other due to which they were splitting up soon. However if they would have kept faith in each other than this split could have avoided. The faith mostly declines when the communication between the team members decreases. This results in rise in misunderstandings and misconceptions that result in breaking in the informal relations and bonds between each other.

About Vigor business

A successful tem makes effort to achieve single company targets which are assigned to the whole team. This way the team members do not work towards the achievement of personal goals, rather gives due consideration to the team goals and objectives. The goals for the teams are actually the one which are directed by the higher authorities for achievement purpose within a stipulated time frame. For example the company targets of reviving the company back to new and fresh start was finally achieved by the joint efforts and skills of three team members. But later on the change in the company target which was different for each team member resulted in declining the effectiveness of the team as all the members were no engaged in their personal targets than company targets.

A team consists of various members with varied abilities and skills. Therefore a successful team is one which uses the abilities of different team members towards achievement of various team goals. This way the abilities of different team members are used such that the expertise is applied and the best outcome is achieved. For example, in our case study the team was using their abilities for research and development of new project for bringing in new products and services for the company. However after the achievement of this goal the team was left with no other new goal which could keep them together. Therefore the new goal and target need to be developed at different interval to keep the team members together so that they could make consistent efforts to achieve various organizational goals and objectives.

The theory of Belbin’s team role theory states nine team roles that actually help in achieving success for the organization. This way he defined nine team roles that could support in building a successful team and achieve high potential success from them. These include the followings.

The team members should be creative. They should have the skills and capability to solve the problem. Also they should be committed towards work and come ahead for giving support to the team members.

The team members should be capable enough to identify and explore new opportunities.

The team members should be able to achieve higher outcome through application of group activities which result in achieving synergy effect.

The team member should be able to accept new challenges in work and should drive the team towards success.

Aim of the project

The team worker should be objective in identifying the various opportunities available so that eh could use his abilities to bring in most effective and appropriate selection for the team.

The team workers should be cooperative with other fellow members. He should avoid any friction that may exist and achieve cooperation in daily work.

The team member should follow a minimal level of discipline and efficiency so that the organization objectives can be easily achieved.

The team members should be anxious to search into errors and be cautious about delivering output on time.

The team member should be professional and a dedicated personnel who makes efforts the achievement of team objectives than personal goals.

(council, 2006)

A theoretical model is actually an explanation of the system or process that could be followed in the form of model which is explained in narrative way and shown as a diagram.

There are various models that can be used and applied for the case study that discusses the importance of communication.

1. Blake and mouston’s managerial grid.
2. McGregor’s theory X and theory Y model.
3. Fielder’s contingency model.
4. Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership model.

The similarities and dissimilarities are discussed as under.

Blake and Mouston’s Managerial Grid.	McGregor’s theory X and theory Y model.	Fielder’s contingency model.	Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership model.
It considers leadership ranging between people concern and task concern.	It considers leadership ranging on different motivational theories based on motivating individuals through fulfilling their higher and lower needs.	It considers various leadership style options available .Therefore it suggests the selction of the best leadership style that fits the situation and degree of control that is required.	It suggests the two types of leadership models that includes transaction leadership and transformation leadership that could help in achieving organizational goals and objectives.
It offers various models in one grid as Country Club Manager, Improvished Manager, Authority-Obedience Manager and Team manager..	It offers various motivational factors in one pyramid that could motivate employees.	Various leadership styles and situations are discussed so that the appropriate leadership style can be followed in particular situation.	It offers the range of leadership style that could be adjusted as per the situation.
The theory suggests the middle path for the manager which is called Middle of the road Manager.	The theory suggests the middle path of following both factors accomplishment as discussed in theory X and theory Y.	The theory suggests that the leaders should take a middle path to achieve higher outcome and success for the organization.	The theory suggest that the leader should take the positive aspects of leadership qualities so that the desired outcome is achieved.

(Waldman, 2006)

Blake and Mouston’s Managerial Grid.	McGregor’s theory X and theory Y model.	Fielder’s contingency model.	Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership model.
It gives four types of leadership styles that could be followed which are Country Club Manager, Improvised Manager, Authority-Obedience Manager and Team manager..	It does not give any range of leadership style to follow.	It gives four types of leadership qualities that could be applied for the situation. It includes directive, supportive, participative and achievement oriented.	It suggest two types of leadership styles that could be applied. These are transactional and transformational style.
People concern and task concern are given more priority so that the leadership style selected should fulfil the requirements.	Motivational factors are given more importance.	Contingency plans consisting of leadership styles are given due importance.	Situation is given due importance.
The theory suggests the ideal leadership to be the middle way.	The theory suggests the motivational factors to be considered in the leadership style.	The theory suggests the contingency plans for selecting the most appropriate leadership style.	The theory suggests the situation to be responsible for deciding on the leadership style.

(Laura et al., 2010)

1. These models give a path for understanding of various leadership methods.
2. These methods help in analyzing the present situation and suggest the various options that is available in the form of leadership style.
3. The models bring into notice the various causes that are causing rise of issues and problems in the organization.

The weaknesses of these models are stated as below.

1. These are just models and the reality is sometimes far away from the concepts.
2. The situations may change at times so each model has its limitation over application.
3. The selection of the best leadership style is more important than just having knowledge about them.

The different stages of team development can be stated as follows.

1. Recognizing the talent:
2. Making appropriate mix of talent:
3. Deploying the talent in one team:
4. Helping team achieve open communication:
5. Offering single target to all team members:
6. Offering formal and informal relation to develop:
7. Recognizing the outcome as joint effort of the team members.

(Laura et al., 2010)

The importance of development of teamwork is important as this will develop trust and faith in each other. Each team member will work for the team goals and not personal gains. The joint efforts will therefore bring in synergy effect into action resulting in innovation of new ideas and techniques that could lead to higher profits and gains to the company.

The successful business team in the case study has gone through all the stages of development of team which has resulted in the innovation of new product line for Vigor which brought it back from getting from extinct stage. Hence the team work resulted in bringing new ideas and products for the company which brought it to a more comfortable business development stage.

1. The team should be provided one single target objective to be achieved. For example in the case study the team members are given one target of developing new ideas and products for Vigor so that the sales could be revived.
2. The incentive system introduced should benefit all the team members equally. For example in the monetary benefit to the team members should be distributed equally among all of the members.
3. The recognition in the end should appreciate all the team members appropriately for their joint efforts. For example in the case study all the three team members were appreciated so that their joint efforts can be recognized.
4. The team should be motivated using the application of the theory X and theory Y which will bring in appropriate benefits for the team members. For example each team member should be motivated with the various benefits as they are looking for in the company.

To encourage team members for open communication to support team development, the various ways that can be adopted includes the followings.

1. Keeping informal get together of team members so that meet each other out of office or professional conditions and could spell out their personal experience and stories to achieve informal relations.
2. The team members should be allowed to take discussion sessions at regular intervals so that the ideas can be developed and accepted by all team members.
3. Team members should be allowed to make amiable relations with other team members.
4. Team members should be given new projects that they could work together on for achieving one organization objective.
5. Team members should be moved together in business meetings and other functions so that they could develop open communication system with each other.

(Walumbwa et al., 2005)

1. Arranging for meeting sessions for the team members so that they could spell out the cause of their difference.
2. Involving the third party in the conflict resolution session if required who takes stand of neither party.
3. Team members should be allowed to make open communication during office hours so that they can discuss on the issues directly with other team members.
4. An informal meeting can be arranged out of office where the team members could come together in an informal outlook and discuss the office issues personally.

(Waldman, 2006)

A successful team backs each other at different times. That is if one team member is not able to achieve some target than the other team member participates actively to support the achievement of target for the other team members. Hence the team goal and objectives are given higher priority than personal goals. The backing of each other results in lesser conflict between the team members and increases unity so that they could jointly work towards achievement of team goals. For example, in this case study we see that the team members are looking for new job or new role and hence they are not backing each other even after achieving a successful outcome for the company. The reason can be that the company has not given them due consideration on time which resulted in lack of belongingness developed among the team members .Also the hectic work schedule has affected their ability to work.

In the case study the CEO could measure the performance of the team against the given objectives by applying various methods as follows.

1. The performance of the team and the team members need to be reviewed at regular intervals and compared with the estimated outcome to find out the level and extent of accomplishment achieved till date.
2. The record of team meeting and sessions should be kept so that the number of meeting can be counted and compared to the satisfactory numbers which are required to achieve desired outcomes.
3. The team performance can also be monitored by getting regular inputs from the team members about the work accomplished and schedule followed. This way an estimate can be made that the team is following the guidelines and making sincere efforts towards achievement of various organizational goals and objectives.

The action that could be recommended for this case study is as follows.

1. The CEO should take over the issues and provide with the most suitable leadership style so that the team unity can be brought back.
2. The issues and problems of the team members should be heard wisely and appropriate actions should be taken to resolve them.
3. The team conflict if exist should be removed at the soonest so that the open communication can be applied which could bring back trust and faith in each other(ABC, 2014).

Conclusions

The overall finding of the investigation shows that the leadership style should be selected after carefully going through the situation. This way the best leadership style will be selecting the most appropriate leadership model that helps in achieving organizational goals and maintain team spirit. In the case study also the team unity could have been achieved if the CEO would have taken appropriate actions on time to safeguard the unity and integrity of the team.

(Hamiliton & Cynthia, 2005)

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