For example when recruiting a chef, a manager may look for high culinary skills due to their core role, cooking food and organisational and communication skills as the chef has to take control in the kitchen and manage the other workers. If the manager was recruiting a bartender, he may look for similar transferable skills e.g. communication and organisational skills, but he wouldn’t expect the prospected bartender to have the culinary skills as a top chef.
A manager may look at other things as well as having the specific skills particularly when forming a team. Some teams will need a large amount of interdependence thus a manager may also look for the ability to get on well with others. An enthusiasm to share ideas and to make a contribution to the decision making process.
There are two main approaches to training:
- Experiential learning: this is where the learning is carried out by simulating
tasks e.g. role play, exercises or analysing case studies
- Counselling approach: this is where the trainer acting as a consultant advises
team members
a good manager should be able to recruit as I feel, a manager should be able to evaluate the business and find what is needed to create a stronger work force.
Mentoring is done with an individual for example, an experienced employee at a bank may mentor a new employee however coaching is done with several people at a time e.g. football coach or teacher. Coaching is more concerned with the longer term.
Robert Belbin was a theorist in the 1980’s who identified eight roles required for a well functioning team, these are as follows:
- The chairperson: who co-ordinates the efforts of the team to make sure
that it makes best use of its resources in achieving its goals.
- The shaper: who sets objectives and priorities and drives the team
towards successful completion of the task.
- The plant: who comes up with new ideas and strategies.
- The monitor evaluator: who is able to analyse problems and evaluate progress.
- The resource investigator: who is outgoing and will explore and report on ideas and
developments from outside the group
- The company worker: who is an administrator rather than a leader, and good
at carrying out agreed plans
- The teamworker: who supports the team, helps to keep it together and
tries to improve communication between members
- The finisher: who maintains momentum in the team and plays and
important part in getting the task finished.
Belbin suggested that, although team members may tend towards one of these roles, most people would also be able to undertake a second role.
I feel I typically take the plant role in team situations, I think it is important to have some of the roles because the roles should be shared as It can cause conflict, e.g. in our event unit 18, when too many people tried to take the chairperson role their was a conflict on who would make the final decision however it could be an advantage as more team members taking on the plant role could mean an increase in ideas.
Belbin didn’t mention the other team members, those who tend to threaten team cohesion:
- The clueless: who has no idea about team goals and confuses
everyone by identifying irrelevant issues which bear no relation to team goals.
- The idler: who promises to do all sorts of things by given deadlines,
but the work never materialises so the rest of the team becomes disenchanted and demotivated.
- The critic: who knocks down everyone else’s ideas but comes up
with nothing practical or realistic to replace them.
- The rude: who offends and intimidates other members of the
team, so that they are discourages from contributing
- The apathetic: who doesn’t join in and looks disenchanted
- The doesn’t turn up: who isn’t there, doesn’t want to get involved and hasn’t
done the required work in any case
I think all the above are equally destructive as each other, a team could survive with these team members but the chances of being successful would be slim.
In simple terms, a group is a collection of individuals without a shared goal or commitment to eachother. On the other side a high performance team is deeply commited to the team and the goals set.
Before it becomes effective a team passes through a few stages:
- Stage 1 – Forming: a few individuals come together, and that is what they
simply are, a loose collection of people with no clear sense of purpose. The group begins to develop some form of agreement about the issues that need addressing.
- Stage 2 – Storming: The group begins to exchange ideas, but there is as yet
little structure or anything like a real team, and there are no clear plans to take the team forward. However, internal conflicts start to be managed constructively.
- Stage 3 – Norming: The group begins to share ideas, and is beginning to take
on the characteristics of a team. Perhaps a leadership pattern begins to emerge, and the members start to conform to a given set of ideas. Decisions begin to be formulated.
- Stage 4 – Peforming: A clear, organised pattern is established, based on
mutual respect, the sharing of ideas and the drawing out of plans and proposals from all members of the team. Every member is therefore able to make the best possible contribution to the team process. The implementation of action plans starts to take place.
- Stage 5 – Review & Evaluate: the team reviews and evaluates what it has achieved,
and the team may then break up because the task has been successfully completed or may go on to identify new ways of working together and tackle new problems.
A number of issues are worth considering in relation to the cycle outlined above.
When there is no appointed leader, the early stages of group formation may be dominated by individuals or small cliques of individuals, who are determined to pull the group towards their way of thinking. Quieter members of the group may not be heard at this stage.
Activities are carried out more quickly in the short term when the group is focused specificly on the task but lack of concern for needs and development of the group will stunt team formation. No clear team spirit is created.
Focusing on process could lead to a stronger social relationship, however if the task is not carried out these relationships may quickly erode in the fact of frustrations. If they are to achieve the reward of a job well done, people will want to see tasks completed.
Future development may not be easy, if a team is at the performing stage, but changes will continue to occur. The team may start to break up. When established bonds are made, team members may not be ready to incorporate new members. This team may also be hesitant to accept new managers - especially those with new ideas.
In our event unit 18 I think we are between the norming and performing stage in the development of the team.
Planned staff development is the process of identifying development opportunities that meet the needs of individuals in a team – which new skills they can learn that will help them with their work. For example, in our event unit 18 we encourage design staff to find out what IT packages such as presentation software and photoshop packages might be useful for them. This is useful because it means that weaknesses of team members can be reduced therefore providing stronger teams in the future.
Team leaders and supervisors have the responsibility for motivating team members by being aware of their strengths, weaknesses and sensitivities and building team morale. This method can help retain staff thus enabling the organisation to be more effective and decrease costs. Good team leaders also know when to delegate.
Performance appraisal works on the following basis:
Desired performance - Actual performance = Need for Action
Many large organisations use a performance cycle approach in measuring the performance of teams, e.g. once every month, every quarter or every year.
Performance Management is the process involved in getting the best performance from:
- The Organisation as a whole
Sharing with team members and understanding of what is required to be achieved and them managing and developing people in a way that allows these shared objectives to be achieved is all involved in effective performance management.
Individual team members are involved in individual performance reviews. The individual and team leader discuss and agree on meaningful task objectives for the specific employee and for the team which the member operates in. Individual needs and aspirations are identified. Performance could be measured against agreed standards. Salaries and bonus payments can reflect the success of each individual’s performance based on a rating system.
Individual team members who are performing below the expected targets can be identified through the process of performance review. Extra support and training e.g. mentoring, coaching can be given to the individual to enhance and improve work performance. This is similar to the system in the sports industry, where footballers spend individual time with a professional coach to help on skills they lack or need improving on. Revising team responsibilities in the light of experience is another approach to under performance. For example, a team member could be moved to another area of responsibility or a task area that is more suitable to their particular skills.
Maybe the team working process should be altered. For example, some individuals could feel intimidated because of the dynamics of the group, so they are not giving the best input they could be giving. A team mentor can be hired to change the way in which the team works together - maybe by highlighting to some members of the team that they need to either listen or speak up more. A variation of corrective measures can therefore by employed to seek to improve team performance.
There are four main ways to measure performance in an organisation
- The individual’s contribution to the team – this might mean issues such as how often they attend meeting, how much extra time they put into work
- Individuals results – this is how much the individual has given to the organisation, for exmaple how many sales figures they have generated or how customers evaluate their service.
- Team performance – the same way we measure how effective the team might be in working together. this could mean how effective the meetings are and how well a team can make agreements and it could also measure team conflict.
- Team results – this is how well the team has done against set targets. These are frequently smart objctives, e.g. sales targets, average length of dealing with a customer.
In reality it is usually a mixture of the above which is used to measure performance.
I am going to measure performance in my unit 18 by reviewing and keeping track of tasks I have and have not done, and see if i have completed all tasks by the set deadlines. These are the individual targets I have set for myself. Once I have completed all my tasks for that day, I will either complete other tasks or ask other team members in my department if they need help.
Performance indicators
PI’s – this helps measure the extent to which an individual or team meets targets
Team performance Indicators
These are often associated with process e.g. 95% of staff to attend meeting daily or that a group majority decision is made 80% of the time. Output is generally the easiest performance indicator e.g. how many unit/sales the team has generated.
Target setting
this is done by measuring teamwork activity for example has every member been given an opportunity to participate, has everyone had a chance to do minutes or chair the meeting.
Work based activity
this is when a target is set for the whole team to achieve, e.g. a specific number of in-store cards to be sold or amount of profits generated.
We know if these targets have been met in our unit event 18, as we do regular check ups with the finance department, and they give us financial reports that include reviewing budget schemes; which we are meeting.
If someone is not achieving their targets, we find out why, this can include, the team member being disinterested or disenchanted by the role, so we shift them to another area or it could be because of social conflict with another member so we could try to sort that out as well.
My role in my event unit 18 is event sponsorship, i am able to do my role and i do it very well. I don't have any problems carrying out my role however sometimes i don't think that other team members were working to the same standard as me. I am not relying on anyone else within my department however I do lightly rely on the manager to inform us of anything else that needs doing from time to time if we have finished all our tasks, we didn't have time for a performance review as our manager would do daily regular check ups on each department anyway but we can organise a meeting time with our managing director if we feel it is necessary.
Team members requiring help
If team members need help we may have to look to providing TDNA (Training and Development Needs Analysis). This system allows us to measure an individual's performance, find any weaknesses or areas that need improvement, provide training programmes that could help and measure the individuals performance again.
Improvement cycle
An improvement cycle can be used for either individuals or for teams.
Team Cohesion
Cohesive means sticking together. In cohesive teams some team members tend to concentrate on task functions while others focus on process maintenance roles.
Task Functions help the team to get the task done. They include:
- Seeking information and opinions
- Keeping the group on track
Process Maintenance Roles include:
- Supporting other group members
- Ensuring all members of the group are included
- Reconciling disagreement s and reducing tension
- Making suggestions for compromise
From all of the functions above, the most important functions in the short term will vary from time to time and the most important functions in the long term is all of them.
The following have been identified as the qualities of a successful team leader:
- Has good listening skills
- Has good persuasive communication skills
- Able to express technical ideas lucidly to persuade other people
- Not afraid to look foolish by airing new or unconventional ideas
- Understands and is committed to the team’s objectives
- Can give and take constructive criticism.
- Trusts and is trusted by fellow team members
- Expresses feelings honestly and openly
- Does not claim personal credit for a team success.
I feel all of the elements above are equally important in their own right.
Lack of cohesion
Lack of cohesions can take place in team because of the following:
Team Goals are Poorly Defined:
If you don’t know what the goal is, how do you expect to achieve it? How can people pull in the same direction, if they don’t know what that direction is?
High Turnover of Team Members: There is no continuity or stability: What the team previously agreed on may be disputed by new members. High turnover is typically a sign of poor motivation.
Little Opportunity for Career Progression: Commitment to the team will be limited because most people want opportunities for personal development and career progression
Contributions are not Recognised or Rewarded: People will be less inclined to contribute next time. They don’t like being taken for granted or having the credit for their work taken by someone else. They feel cheated.
Weak or Authoritarian Team Leadership: Under weak leadership a team quickly loses direction. Under an authoritarian leader team members are frightened to voice their ideas and innovation is stifled.
Internal Challenges to Team Leadership: This can lead to disputes, disagreements and lock of focus on team goals. Both the process and the task performance begin to lack clarity. This is also the case when actual or potential conflict between members exists. In these situations individuals concentrate on individual differences rather than team goals.
The Team is Unable to Self-Manage: In the absence of the team leader or supervisor the ongoing effectiveness of the team suffers.
Particular Members are not suited to the Nature of the Work: For example, a team leader in a situation requiring democratic discussion may be too used to operating in an autocratic way.
Personal Problems: Members’ personal problems may prevent them from concentrating on their work.
Frequent Resort to Crisis Management: Rather than planning ahead and deciding on priorities and ways of tackling problems when they arise, teams may be faced by problem after problem, all of which need to be resolved immediately, and have no clear framework for dealing with them.
I feel the entire above are equally destructive in their own right and I have never been in the situations above.
In the event of team under-achievement, corrective measures will need to be applied. Many of these will relate to the process, and some will relate to both the task and process.
Incase of under achievement, corrective measures will need to be applied. Most of these will relate to the process and some will relate to the task and process.
For example, in situations where the team leader may be away on important business, the team needs to have enough power to operate as a self managing team, making decisions for itself with suitable structures for working independently without supervision.
I feel it is likely to challenge a team to help correct itself but of course it will vary on how big the problem is.
Key points in having a cohesive team
1 Definition of team goals
It is vital that all team members recognize what the team goal is. If not how can they anticipate to achieve them. A team goal might be able to attain sales with a high level of customer service, this is different from either of the goals of maximise sales or supply maximum customer service and a manager must explain exactly what he or she wants.
2 Management of group conflict
A fine team leader will know where areas of conflict may happen. E.g. a person great at making ideas may not be so well at task completion and this problem could be solved by not giving that person dependability for finishing the task. However it may not always be easy to circumvent conflict. Certain individuals may not get along try and avoid having them working directly together. If there is disagreement try and sort it out as quickly as possible
3 Management of group turnover
People will certainly move on, to lessen damage a manager might teach more than one person to deal with the role, reducing impact if someone leaves. Provide incentives, such as progression (e.g. promotion) this will persuade people to stay. Make sure that the individual’s contributions are accredited.
4 Team leadership
It is vital to have the right style of leadership. For example some teams might need an authoritarian leader, others a consultative manager and others a democratic leader.
Target setting
Target setting is of course essential to any organisation.
Cadbury-Schweppes has set itself the goal of being the leading global confectioners and giving good returns to its shareholders
Deliver superior
shareowner
returns
1 Deliver financial scorecard
Relentless focus on cost and efficiency
Be the biggest
and best global
confectionery
company
2 Deliver fewer, faster, bigger, better innovations
Expand our platforms via bolt-on acquisitions
Taken from the Cadbury Schweppes Annual report 2006
These targets are segmented into 3 areas, American Market, European and Middle East market, and Far East markets
Each of these is segmented into several departments, for example finance, marketing, sales, production. These will all have an overall target.
Each of these departments can be segmented further.
Each time there will be a target
Targets are continually reviewed
Review diagram: