Communication systems are another factor to consider when employers are looking to encourage team competencies. Communication systems are important in any workplace because it supports work coordination, employee well-being, knowledge management, and decision making. The communication process involves developing, educating, and broadcasting the intended message to a receiver; who then makes sense of the message and provides a response to the sender. Effective communication occurs when the sender's thoughts are passed onto and understood by the intended receiver. Face-to-face communication delivers the highest quantity and intensity of information and offers the timeliest feedback, while email, telephone, and other information technologies fail to deliver the same level of results. For that reason, organizations must develop and identify an efficient communication system best suited for them, because a poorly designed communication system can affect how much or how little information and feedback is being taken in by its members. A well executed communication system will play a role in the team’s achievements.
By controlling the physical work place, the organization can have a direct effect on teams by shaping their perceptions about being together as a group and directly influencing their ability to accomplish tasks. The effectiveness of the physical work place for knowledge work is dependent on what is delivered through architecture, construction and facilities management. This organizational control of where the group works affects its performance because groups can be possessive of their physical space, so by creating an area and protecting it against outsiders the team can protect valuable resources, improve its own living and working conditions, gain a sense of privacy, control social interactions, become more unified, and express its social identity. For instance, the presence of many walls in a workplace might have an effect on how often and how well employees interact with each other considering how their work setting is set up, opposed to a workplace with an open concept design where employees are crossing paths more frequently causing them to socialize more which consequently contributes to how efficiently they are able to carry out tasks.
Fourthly, the organizational environment is a factor when it comes to how effective a group can be. The demand for their work has an impact on the team’s performance because group members will feel a sense of belonging, achievement, and triumph, therefore increasing the level of motivation which in turn influencing the work. Greater external demands will mean that a group will need to be more externally focused and it can also mean that groups are encourage to work together more closely because they will want to successfully reach their goals. High environmental instability will need to be matched by flexible and adaptable groups which again could stimulate team effectiveness, given that group members are motivated by such challenges.
Organizational structure is an important aspect to team effectiveness because without it, groups are generally dissatisfied. Organizations need to implement work procedures because it encourages its employees to work together to carry out tasks and goals. This strengthens the communication between team members and as a result affects how effective the team will be. A key structural factor of a group is its size. Productivity in larger groups weakens because the number of relationships possible in a group escalates as size increases, making it harder to know everyone in the group. For that reason, in the presence of a few layers of management where teams are given independence and responsibility for their work the team will be able to work together more effectively rather than always having to check in with the boss.
To finish, organization leadership is an element of the organizational and team environment that influences team effectiveness. Groups in organizations need training, consultation, and coaching to help them improve their group processes. Group members need to learn both technical job requirements and how to work with others. People cannot simply be put into a group and expected to perform well. Working in a group presents its own challenges and opportunities. Training is required to help group members to accept the challenges and seek opportunities; therefore requiring ongoing support from management is needed to achieve team effectiveness.
In summary, the six elements in the organizational and team environment that influence team effectiveness have a great impact on the overall performance of any group. These six factors influence, shape, encourage, promote, and support interaction between members of the group. If any of these factors are absent in any organizational or team environment, the organizational will witness the success of team work decrease simply because all these elements, in one way or another, contribute to how effective group members work and interact with each other.
