Why will individuals prefer to work in teams rather than working on their own? What is so good about teamwork that attracts people? Employment of teams to perform tasks in organizations is one of the trending issues. Teams accomplish most operations. The combined actions of people to perform a given task efficiently and effectively is what is meant by teamwork (Ditullio, 2017). Studies regarding the effectiveness of teamwork have been done by several scholars in the world. From the research, teamwork has several advantages compared to working as an individual (Schein and Dyer, 2013).Teams are influenced by several factors which include the personalities of the team members. An individual’s traits have the ability to influence the decisions made by that particular team. If the decision is right, it benefits the team, and if it is bad, the consequences will also have to face the team. Some advantages of teamwork include:
Despite having several advantages, working in teams also has some disadvantages. For instance, when you are in a team, who makes your decisions? Do you often participate in decision-making? Decision-making process becomes long when a group, especially if the group has several members. Nevertheless, some team members usually want to take on everything; they do not want others to give their opinions. Mostly, in the work environment, groups underperform due to poor selection of members and lack of a leader who is well informed on how to manage a group. Adequate management skills are necessary to manage a team.
When I went my first holiday after joining the University, I got employed at an electronic supply shop where we were assigned to a group project. The groups had to consist of seven members. The primary aim of the team was to collect, analyze and present statistical data on how the functions of management were carried out in one of the electric manufacturing plants in the country which was our main competitor. For sure, the research was demanding; each had to be assigned a role to play in the project. We were not well informed about the models of group formation like Tuckman’s team development model or Belbin’s methods. How did we go about this? We randomly selected and assigned roles to each. According to Bruce Tuckman, a group has some stages which it has to pass through to become active. This stages are forming, storming, norming, and performing (Donald and Sondra, 2015).
In the forming stage, individuals do not understand each other since they are all new to the team. Therefore, the group is characterized by people not committed to their roles, lack of trust, no objectives for the directive purpose, organizational norms are not established, and nevertheless, the mission and vision statements of the team are not well defined. The leader is highly dependent upon to give direction and guidance. At this stage the individual roles are unclear. The selection of a team leader who did not have adequate skills of management contributed to the poor allocation of tasks in our group. And what is the result of poor selection? Poor work. What happens if given an opportunity to work in the area which you are not good at? For me, I take that as an opportunity to learn my weaknesses and try to perfect. Most a times, a group makes people acquire new skills which they never thought they could at one point in their lives.
The norming stage is characterized by trying out new ideas, boundaries set, the roles and responsibilities are articulated, and the competition is high. Decisions are hard to make. Team members fight for different roles. The leader is faced with a difficult situation. Who should be selected for a given position? When giving out roles, we had to vote for positions. Surprisingly four of the team members selected the same kind of task. From the six roles we had, three were left blank. Who was to do those? This was in fact, the hardest part. To come up with a proper solution, we had to draw lots. Six papers containing the different tasks were folded and placed on the table for us to pick, whichever role you chose, that is what you were to do. This solved our crisis. At this stage, the team needs to have well-focussed goals which will aid in avoidance of distractions which might be caused by relationships and emotional problems in the middle of the project.
In the norming stage, the group is much aware of what the team needs from them. Decisions and objectives are already well established. This is the stage where agreements are made and a group culture set (Rousseau, 2013). After selecting our roles in the team. We informed each other, discussed what each person would do and promised to help each other in coming up with quality solutions. At least this stage was well achieved. This is the stage where each person should actively participate it. In fact, it is good if you make it fun by engaging in some social activities. Fun helps individuals to gain confidence in a team. For instance, can a less confident person make any joke in front of an audience? This is the stage where the leader needs the support of every person.
At the performing stage, the team is well developed, and the leader can exercise his/her powers (Williams, 2014). This is the stage where the leader delegates work to the team members. Nevertheless, if some members decide to join or leave the group, the resulting impact is not that great (Nikoi and Boateng, 2014). The new members just get allocated the jobs available. I was able to identify the management skills of our leader at this stage. A strong leader entails, having a firm position. For instance, when you call for a meeting you should never let anybody control the meeting. Be the head at all times. If you let team members monitor the session, they will see you as a weak leader. At some point, I agree with dictatorship. A dictator leader is often feared and given respect. However, you should allow members’ contributions and opinions to come up with strong decisions (Guzzo and Salas, 2015). Strong management decisions are the engine of a team or any organization.
Ethics play a great role in teams. For success, following certain guidelines or rules is vital (Goodwin, 2016). In groups, ethics involves how jobs are distributed equitably, how awards are given based on performance, honesty, responsibility and reasonableness. It is good for team members to be honest towards each other. Keeping secrets leads to the team’s failure. In our team, we shared almost every single aspect of the project, shared responsibilities and above all, every person was responsible for the actions taken (Schein and Schein, 2017). This is one of my best experiences when working in a team at work. Deciding who to reward in a team is the hardest part I think. How do you decide as a leader who your best team member is? Most of the time, others will complain that the leader is doing favors for others. It is ethical to call for meetings and vote who should be awarded (Rose, 2013). Supporting each other during such times proves how loyal, hardworking and appreciate you are on the team. In fact, rewards should serve as a motivational factor for different teams in an organization. Suppose the whole team is given an award to share equally, will it satisfy the group members? This is what we had to do. Everybody felt contented, and I felt that this is the fairest thing to do as a team leader or an organization motivating employees according to their performance in the team.
Regardless of the structure which you might decide to use as a team, there must always be a leader and subjects to answer to him/her. The group structure can be formed based on the nine team roles in the Belbin team roles report (Anika and Jennifer, 2015). The nine roles are:
Creating a team structure based on the nine factors will lead to the formation of a very strong team culture. Assigning individuals roles based on their strong points is important. Having a strong team culture is something of great significance. Through culture, team members are united. Unity is the power of a team. Any united individuals will always prosper if they co-ordinate well (West, 2017).
Culture and ethics contribute to team cohesion. Team cohesion refers to the degree to which group members want to give their contribution to the team. Cohesion is something which is developed over time through interactions. In my group, we got to understand each other after two weeks. We could interact even when we were not in the group discussions. This habit helped in developing unity in our team. In fact at some point, when a team member failed to attend any meeting we scheduled, we had to find out what happened to make him/her miss out the discussion. Cohesiveness is also about helping and being concerned of the team members. When individuals feel loved in a team, the probability of them delivering quality work is very high.
From the advantages a company can benefit from letting employees work as a team, there is need to formulate strategies which can help in improving teamwork development (Sherriton and Stern, 2016). These strategies involve choosing a leader who leads by example, building trust and respect among the team members, encouraging interaction among team members, setting well-defined goals, encourage socialization and nevertheless, appreciate good work (Parker, 2013). Interactions can be improved through creating a common social media platform where members can exchange their ideas and opinions.
References
Ditullio, L. A. (2017). Project team dynamics: enhancing performance, improving results. Vienna, VA, Management Concepts
Schein, E. H., & Dyer, J. H. (2013). Team building: proven strategies for improving team performance. San Francisco, Calif, Jossey-Bass. https://rbdigital.oneclickdigital.com
Parker, G. M. (2013). Team players and teamwork: new strategies for developing successful collaboration. San Francisco, Calif, Jossey-Bass. https://rbdigital.oneclickdigital.com.
Anika, H & Jennifer W. (2015). The Team Roles Model According to Dr. Meredith Belbin. GRIN Verlag.
Guzzo, R. A., & Salas, E. (2015). Team effectiveness and decision making in organizations. San Francisco, Ca, Jossey-Bass.
Nikoi, E., & Boateng, K. (2014). Collaborative communication processes and decision making in organizations. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=647106
Donald E. and Sondra C. (2015). Forming Storming Norming Performing. iUniverse.
Rousseau, M. (2013). Structured Mentoring For Sure Success. Tulsa, Okla, Pennwell Corp
Goodwin, B. (2016). Ethics at Work. Dordrecht, Springer Netherlands. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9331-6
Schein, E. H., & Schein, P. (2017). Organizational Culture and Leadership
Rose, E. (2013). How to Create a Team Culture. Alexandria, Va, Astd
Sherriton, J. C., & Stern, J. L. (2016). Corporate culture, team culture: removing the hidden barriers to team success. New York, American Management Association
West, M. A. (2017). Effective teamwork: practical lessons from organizational research. Chichester, West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons
Williams, J. (2014). Team development for high-tech project managers. Boston, Artech House
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