Working in teams

The terms ‘groups’ and ‘teams’ are generally used interchangeably. However, there are differences, and a team can be regarded as a group of people who come together for a defined task. It may mean that they then split up once the task is complete. In order for teams to work well, they need to understand how people work in groups.

A team is a group of people who share a common objective and need to work together in order to achieve it. For example, a group of drama students putting on a play, a group of physicists working on a group research project, or a group of music students putting on a concert share the same common objective. However, they cannot achieve this unless they pool their talents and expertise in a team effort.

Teams can help to approach problems in new ways. They can also help people to learn, as fellow team members may raise ideas which a person would never have thought of if he/she was working on his/her own. When they are successful, teams are often said to achieve something which is greater than the sum of their individual parts.

Working as a team can be very frustrating. People have to compromise, negotiate and to trust that others will do a task to the high standard . Teams can take a while to form as you get to know each other and find out how each other works.

Group is a number of individuals or things considered together because of similarities e.g. a small group of supporters across the country. Groups are also people who work together, make equal decisions and share tasks between them.

Groups exist in all organisations. They can be formal or informal.

I will be looking at formal and informal groups in more detail.

Informal groups- In most organisations informal groups are formed because they meet the needs of one or more individuals in those groups. They may include, for example, the need:

For social interaction
To discuss grievance about the management
To exchange ideas on a common interest or career progression.

People in informal groups are likely to be from mix of departments and even across the line of hierarchy. While, informal groups will not have been set up by management, they can form a useful purpose. They may meet social needs, which increases motivation, or management may use them to gain or disseminate information “through the grapevine. (path along which information spreads: the path of communication along which news, or gossip passes unofficially from person to person within a group or organisation)

Formal groups- In most organisations there will also be formal groups. These have been formed to meet organisation’s short-term and log-term objectives.

It is important to choose individuals with the same characteristics and skills when forming a team or a group otherwise the group or the team is unlikely to be successful and will not be effective.

Teams generally go through 4 stages:

Forming (orientation)

Individual is all enthusiastic and has positive expectations, yet they are a bit anxious about what is happening and wonder if they can fulfil their role and get on with the others. This should be an energetic period, focusing on what the individual have to do.

Storming (dissatisfaction/conflict)

Team members become dissatisfied as they adjust to how the team operates. An individual may find a discrepancy between his/her expectations and the reality. This is coupled with the fact that an individual is probably having to learn new things and feel unsure of his/her ability. This might become worse if they think others are settling in better than them. At this stage individual might see arguments and sub-groups forming. This stage needs to be carefully managed.

Norming (resolution/cooperation)

Individual and others are beginning to settle down and the team should have resolved some of its differences and made adjustments. At this point individual might feel more valued, there will be a clearer and more methodical way of working that individual has all agreed to. Respect, harmony and trust are developing, giving an individual all a sense of self esteem.

Performing (productivity)

An individual and his/her team members feel confident, work well together, can openly say what an individual think, he/she likes being a member of the team and can see the task ...

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Norming (resolution/cooperation)

Performing (productivity)

An individual and his/her team members feel confident, work well together, can openly say what an individual think, he/she likes being a member of the team and can see the task being achieved by joint effort.

In order for an individual and his/her team to develop through these stages an individual needs to put ground rules in place at the ‘forming’ stage. This will give individual a mechanism to deal with some of the difficulties he/she will face in the ‘storming’ phase. As a team an individual may find him/herself circling the ‘storming’- ‘norming’ phases a few times but an individual should try to move on.

How do individuals become team players is also another very vital aspect of team work. When people come together as individuals to form a team they either come not knowing anyone and feeling rather anxious, or they know some, but come with a baggage of information about them from previous encounters that could affect team performance. So, as each new team is formed in order to complete a task, all individuals within the team need to be conscious of how teams generally develops, and how individuals become less defensive or reserved and begin to move through a series of stages towards a well functioning team.

Benefits of well structured team

Working in well structured teams can have a lot of benefits and challenges for the individual and the organisation.

Some of the benefits include:

Boosts morale
Mutual support
Personal development
Team accountability
Collective decision making
Appreciation of conflicts/ differences
Balance of participation
Reduced supervision
Focus
Open communication
Team sprit

Boost Morale-The social interaction of any type of team has the potential to make individuals feel part of a close knit circle. Membership of well structured team, in particular where it is likely that individuals have been selected because of particular skills or characteristics necessary for team’s effectiveness, will make workers feel that they are playing an integral part of the whole process and have the confidence that they can influence decision making.

Collective decision making- In well structured teams, decisions are discussed and agreed by all. In less effective teams, one person strongly asserts a position and others do not verbally object even though their opinions differ.

Collaboration- In well structured teams, members do whatever is needed to get the job done. They are not afraid to tackle unfamiliar tasks in areas outside their expertise. In less effective teams, members work independently.

Appreciation of conflicts/ differences: Well Structured teams expect conflict and disagreement. They openly discuss their differences and see them as a means to improved decision making. Less productive teams work to avoid conflict preferring instead a superficial kind of agreement that results when issues have not been tackled substantively.

Balance of participation- Well Structured teams recognise that people have other demands on their time and as a group they are willing to help a member who may, for a time, need to decrease the amount of effort devoted to the team. This is different from an ineffective or not so well structured team where one or two members do more than their fair share of work, resent it, but never confront members who do not contribute what they should do to the team.

Focus- Well Structured teams keep their ultimate goals and objectives in mind. Teams run into trouble when they do not allocate their time well. In such teams everyone notices the error but no one is willing to offer helpful solutions.

Open communication- Members of effective teams keep each other informed. They discuss individual work and let others know when they will be late or missing. Lack of communication results in individuals working alone too much unaware of how their work fits with that of others.

Team spirit- Well Structured teams develop pride & loyalty in their group. They stand up for the group and speak positively about it. They are committed to the group and do not view it as an impediment to the accomplishment of individual goals.

Mutual support- Members in well structured teams support one another and vocalise that support. They compliment and publicise each other's contributions and successes. Conversely, poor teams will comprise those who have little awareness of individual input. The members in well structured team will also be aware of each others strength and weakness and will help to minimise those weakness.

Personal development - Mutual support could also lead to personal development so for example if the team members think that an individual in the team lacks experience in certain area of the job or project then the individual could be given an opportunity for personal development . This could be either on-the-job training from within the team itself or it could be delivered by some one else. This will be good for the organisation, the team itself and the individual who is been given an opportunity for personal development.

Team accountability- The aims and objectives will be set by the team it self and they will not be set by some one else. This way members in the team will feel ownership of the goals and targets. The team members will see failure to meet those as a team failure, even if it was an individual‘s fault. In creative industry such as advertising or design , this security will foster an environment of innovation and creativity (introducing new ideas.) This will benefit individuals, their career development and the organisation to robust product development and productivity . This sense of accountability felt by individuals will also make the use of resources and costs more effective as the individuals will feel part of the team as well as part of the organisation.

Reduced supervision- The setting of goals by the team itself will mean that they will feel part of them and will work to their best level to achieve them. This is also because, as they have set the targets themselves they obviously understand what they are, their importance and how they can be achieved. They will also understand the importance of their part in the team and in the organisation. Members in a well-structured team will also be self motivated, enthusiastic, hardworking and minimal support will be needed. This is an advantage to the organisation whilst at the same time raising self-esteem amongst the employees. Another advantage is that organisations have to pay wages to get some one to supervise a team and this could raise costs for an organisation so, it is a real advantage for the organisation as no supervision will be needed for well structured team.

For the individual, working in well structured teams can:

Make individuals more marketable - employers want team players
Help individuals develop communication, negotiation and problem solving skills
Enable individuals to share ideas
Expose individuals to different ideas and ways of working
Be more enjoyable - we all like to "belong"

However, people often find it difficult to work in teams if they are naturally introverted, and it is the job of the Team Leader to ensure that all team members feel able to contribute.

For the organisation, working in well structured teams can:

Release creativity and energy
Combines a range of specialist skills and knowledge
Improve communication
Improve efficiency

However, teams need to meet regularly and unless they are well managed these can take up too much time.

Conflict and personality clashes can also arise, or equally negative "groupthink" can set in and lead to lack of new ideas and new ideas often only come from good use of conflict.

Limitations of team working

Setting up effective team requires time and commitment for the management. If enough time is not spent planning carefully then there can be problems later on.

Planning the team- One of the greatest limitations take place when there is not well planned structuring doe. This is done if the members in the team don’t have similar or equal skills and characteristics as the other members in the team and this is where conflicts start to take place. It does not make sense to pick members randomly and assume they will work in a team, this is sometimes very difficult as all of the members will have different skills and characteristics from the rest of the group and therefore this can lead to interest of conflict later on. The setting up of an effective team requires time, thought and planning form the management.

Size of the team- If the size of the team is not appropriate then problem start to occur and this is where conflict starts to take place. Sometimes it has been said that teams should be between 5 and 9 people. Below this they lack resources, are unstable or spilt into factions. Above this team members don’t get enough individual attention due to lack of time available for grooming to maintain relationships. This is made even more difficult if they are virtual teams. Teams start to work again when they reach around 25 as it becomes possible to spilt them up into distinct sub-teams of 5 to 9. It is also effective to have for example small sub-groups within a big group. However, it is very vital to have members within those sub-groups which have same skills and characteristics as the other members in the group or otherwise there will be interest of conflicts.

Communication- There are certain elements to effective team member communication and an individual who finds him or her self in a poorly structured team is likely to experience poor communication. The team will lack focus and fail to understand the need of its members. Members in well structured team will be willing to talk and share information and effectively presenting their point of views. This involves several factors: personal styles (extraversion and introversion), trust that the information will not be used in a negative way, lack of politics or belief that information is power that would inhibit sharing information, and effort on the part of the speaker to de-personalize issues that would otherwise create defensiveness. Extraverted and introverted people need to recognize their style differences and how it will affect communications. Introverted people will need to have their viewpoints drawn out as the other member sneed to know what they think, their ideas and so on.

Group dynamics- Team Dynamics are the unseen forces that operate in a team between different people or groups. Team Dynamics can strongly influence how a team reacts, behaves or performs, and the effects of team dynamics are often very complex. I will considers what team dynamics are and the impact they have on the team.

Team dynamics can be recognised by looking for the forces that influence team behaviour. These forces might include:

Personality styles (e.g.: including or excluding people)
Team Roles (e.g.: who does what)
Office layout (e.g.: cupboards dividing teams into two)
Tools and technology (e.g.: email, bulletin board, information pool enabling hidden communication).
Organisational culture (e.g.: company cars acting as status symbols to separate groups of employees)
Processes/methodologies/procedures(e.g.: problem-solving methodology)

Suppose in a small team of six people working in one office there are two people who have a particularly strong friendship. This friendship is a "natural force" that may have an influence on the rest of the team, and can be manifest in various ways, either positively or negatively.

Other factors can also play an influence. For example, if a wall of cupboards were to be placed across the middle of the office, this would also form a 'natural force' that influences the communication flow and may separate the group into two further sub-groups.

Leadership problems- Often it is assumed that the senior person in the team should be the team leader but that is not the right way to choose the leader just by assuming that if they are senior then they will have all the correct skills and characteristics to become a good leader. A lot of planning should also be done when choosing a leader. Members opinions should be taken in account and most importantly skills and characteristics of a member should be considered very carefully according to the task when choosing him/her to become the leader.

Conflicts of interest- When there are no clear goals, the team is poorly managed or the team is appearing to fail, personal goals will predominate. Individuals will be seeking to dissociate themselves form group responsibility and will fail to give support to other members or accept group accountability.

Working in teams

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