The third characteristics are relationships and communication. The aspects of relationships and communication in a team deal with the way people communicate with one another. Both words and nonverbal clues can reflect how they feel about working with one another and can build or reduce the team’s effectiveness. Good communication gives clear messages, which are conducive to people working productively and harmoniously, without misunderstanding and misinterpretation. As people on the team learn to take other members at face value, they build trust and credibility. To build and maintain a team, its members must be willing and able to communicate with one another in ways that reflects openness, trust, and respect. Generally, sharing information, providing feedback, and encouraging participation among all team members are the three key communication practices used by successful teams.
Successful teams insist that team members willingly share timely information about developments occurring throughout the organization, except what is labeled confidential. It is considered bad form to withhold or ration information that could be useful to team members. Information is seen as empowering the group, not any one member.
Feedback is serious business. Team members must provide each other with feedback about whether their performance enhances the team’s performance or impedes it. Feedback should be given immediately and should be confined to behavior. When people give feedback to others about their emotions or opinions, it should be prefaced with “It’s my perception that…” or “You impress me as feeling…” Team members should never assume or label without checking to make sure their perceptions and analyses are correct. No one on a team is immune from receiving feedback. In fact, most people welcome feedback, even when it is critical, because they know it helps them develop more effective behavior. Feedback should not be delivered as a joke, which can contain hidden messages that make fun of someone. Team members should be encouraged to express their emotions when it is healthy and normal to do so, especially if it will illuminate their perception or perspective on an issue. Aggressiveness and non-assertiveness are not acceptable behaviors in teams. People who dissent or are unhappy with the way the group is working should be supported in what they say, even if other team members do not agree. No one gets “punished” for speaking out. When conflicts between members are prolonged or intense, other team members should step in to help resolve them.
The fourth characteristic is flexibility. Group members are flexible, and they perform different task. The responsibility for team development and leadership is shared. The strengths of each member are identified and used and individual efforts are coordinated when necessary. The team is fluid and open to both opinions and feelings. Members recognize the inevitability and desirability of change and adapt to changing conditions. Organization practices are responsive to changes, demands, and team needs.
The fifth characteristic is optimal productivity. Teams produce significant results. Critical success factors for the organization are clear. There is a commitment to high standards and quality results. They get the job done, meet deadlines, and achieve goals. The team has developed effective decision-making and problem solving methods that result in achieving optimum results and encourage participation and creativity. Members have developed strong skills in group process as well as task accomplishment.
Recognition and appreciation is the next attribute. When team members have accomplished what you have asked them to, reward them. An organization should recognize both the individual and team contributions simultaneously. For example, when a team’s project is finished, the members can be publicly praised as a group for their work and additional individual praise can be given to top performance. Members feels highly regarded within the team and experience a sense of personal accomplishment in relation to their team and task contributions. How you reward team members depend in part on what you are rewarding any why. Your rewards should focus team members’ attention on the importance of both building and maintaining team success. There is a range of possibilities, rewards of days off, salary increases, coaching for career opportunities, or certificates.
The last, and most important characteristic is morale. Members are enthusiastic about the work of the team and each person feels pride in being a member of a team. Confident and committed, members are optimistic about the future. There is a sense of excitement about individual and team accomplishments as well as the way team members work together. Team spirit is high. To be a successful team, the group must have a strong ability to produce results and a high degree of satisfaction in working with one another.
All members should share the responsibility for initiating behaviors that give direction and support to the group. With practice and improvement, the group can assume the other characteristics needed to PERFORM and will be well on its way to becoming a high performing team. As organizations continue to flatten their hierarchies and empower front line workers with more responsibility and authority, the use of teams will continue to rise. Developing new ways to recognize teams will be essential for their continued success.
TEAM BUILDING EXERCISES
One way to improve or start your team in an effective manner is to use team building exercises, or team builders. These types of exercises will give your group a chance to deal with issues in a safe environment. Team builders are effective for many reasons. Two main reasons are, to improve how the group as a whole performs. As explained by William G. Dyer, “The overall goal of any team-development program is to improve the effectiveness of a group that must work together to achieve results”. The second reason is to improve employee development and growth. This improvement will not only assist the team’s development, but assist the individual as well. Individuals will develop a check and balance system to aid in their own development. “...team-building program…. its purpose is to help the work unit engage in a continual process of self-examination to gain awareness of those conditions that keep the unit from functioning effectively” (Dyer). The check and balance system gathers information and compares it to the group or individual to help them grow.
A team builder can be used in many circumstances. One circumstance is when a group is first created. In newly formed groups, there is a need to learn about each other. Another is when a group is having problems and requires intervention (normally in a safe environment) to resolve the problems. In the process of leading a team builder, four steps occur. These steps are: developing the purpose of the team builder; performing the team builder; analyzing the team builder; and concluding the team builder. The first step, developing the purpose. The main purpose of a team builder is to make sure that the group feels comfortable to talk and deal with issues, problems, or concerns that they might have. An effective recommendation for a team builder exercise is to conduct them outside of the work environment. Many companies will schedule two or three day trips away from the company to give them the proper environment. In developing the purpose, the team should create goals or outline issues that must be address. Also, determine what the team wants to accomplish during the allotted time period. During this time, it is advisable to write down these goals and post them in areas where everyone can see them. The facilitator of the team builder should read the list aloud to the group and request any additions or deletions to the goal list at that time. This will allow the group to offer personal goals, thereby creating individual attachment to the team builder.
Next is conducting the team builder with the group. The group will be given a task or problem to solve as a group. The team builder is purposely designed so that the group must work together to solve the task or problem. The team builder facilitator must keep careful watch over the group during the problem solving session. This will enable the facilitator to later analyze the outcome of the team builder session with the group. More data can be derived from the team builder when the group is handicapped from performing certain tasks. If the team builder was designed to address a particular group problem area, a handicap can be used in the team builder to assure this particular problem area is dealt with by the group. For example, one issue that a group might have is their dependency on their leader. The desired result would be to have the group, as a whole, resolving problems. During the team builder, you could prevent the leader from talking (handicap him/her) and see how the group deals with the problem. Not only will this teach the group to work without their leader, but also it will teach the leader to trust the group to solve problems without taking charge. The desired results will be made clear to the group when the group goes through the analyzing process of the team builder.
During the analyzing process the facilitator will ask certain questions that will draw out what the team learned from the exercise. Before starting, the facilitator should assure that the group feels comfortable or safe to open up and voice their opinions. The facilitator should question the group on how they felt about the experience. Also on what roles each person felt they played or others played in the exercise. Inquire as to whether any buttons were pushed during the experience and attempt to draw out what they were. Also, the facilitator should access the group’s feelings of any strengths and weakness of themselves or others that they derived from the exercise. This question and answer session should help the group realize their problem areas and work through them. With all the personal issues resolved, the group can now be shown how the lessons from the exercise relate to the work environment. Simply questioning the group on how they would relate the exercise to their work environment could do this.
The last step of the process, the conclusion, wraps up what the group has learned as a whole. The facilitator should ask questions to determine if the group completed their individual goals, the group goals and/or resolve all issues that might have arises during the exercise. At this point, it is acceptable for the group to agree to disagree as long as the group can work together without worrying about personal issues. The facilitator should also assess other issues that may have arisen and how they relate to the work environment. When all the feedback is done and everyone in the group has resolved their issues, the facilitator should add closures to the exercise. This is done by going over what the group accomplished, what they learned and what they need to work on in the future. Most important is for the facilitator to reinforce what the group learned and strengthen the bond that was created during the team builder so that this may be taken back to the work environment.
CONCLUSION
Team building is directed toward improving group effectiveness and the ways in which members of teams work together. These teams may be permanent or temporary, but their members have either common organizational aims or work activities. The general process of team building attempts to equip a group to handle its own ongoing problem solving. Team building incorporates a conglomerate of skills and behaviors used to develop effective teams. Skills such as team development, communication, training and exercises, and feedback. Teams, in other words, are tools. As such, each team design has its own uses, its own characteristics, its own requirements, and its own limitations. Teamwork is neither “good” nor “desirable”; it is a fact in today’s environment. Wherever people work together or play together they do so as a team. Which team to use for what purpose is a crucial, difficult, and risky decision that is even harder to unmake. Managers must learn how to make this decision and afford each team participant the skills and resources necessary to be effective in the team.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cummings, T.G., & Worley, C.G. (1997). Organization Development and Change, (6th ed.): South-Western College Publishing.
Drucker, Peter F. (1995). Managing in a time of great change, Truman Talley Books/Dutton, New York, NY.
Dyer, William G. (1995). Team Building: Current Issues and New Alternatives, Brigham Young University, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
Kormanski, C.L., & Mozenter, A. (1987). A model of team building: A technology for today and tomorrow. In J.W. Pfieffer (Ed.), The 1987 annual: Developing human resources. San Diego, CA: University Associates.
Quick, Thomas L. (1992). Successful Team Building, Library of Congress cataloging – in – Publication Data (The Work Smart Series), AMACOM
Reilly, A.J., & Jones, J.E. (1974). Team-building. In J.W. Pfeiffer (Eds.), The 1974 annual handbook for group facilitators. San Diego, CA: University Associates.
Solomon, L.N. (1977). Team development: A training approach. In J.E. Jones & J.W. Pfeiffer (Eds.), The 1977 annual handbook for group facilitators. San Diego, CA: University Associates
Whetten, D.A., & Cameron, K.S. (1995). Developing Management Skills, (3rd ed.) Harper Collins College Publishers.
Woodcock, M. (1979). Team Development Manual. New York: John Wiley.
Woodcock, M., & Francis, D. (1981). Organization Development through Team Building: Planning a cost-effective strategy. New York: John Wiley.
Working together
iI. Introduction
An historic example of team effort gone away. In that legendary story, a few key events transformed Camelot from a utopian kingdom into a wasteland. This isn’t just idle meandering. There are corporate Camelots, too, suggests Steven Rayner (6) -- those companies that started with such promise and fell victim to problems in their teamwork concepts. It is clear to see that team-based systems simply don’t work; better control equals better management. An emphasis on separating workers into specifically defined jobs, having centralized management control, and maintaining a structured chain of command contributes to a much better and more effective workplace situation (Rayner 15). There are, writes Steven Rayner in Team Traps, "literally hundreds of traps" that can "open a gateway to team disaster" (15). It makes more sense, therefore, to stick to the traditional structures in the workplace.term papers and term papers, did I tell about term papers on, term papers in , term papers about , term papers
II. Problem With A Group Approach term papers on and also term papers in and term papers about
ebfefOne of the major problems presented in the team work approach is that people are not accustomed to "group problem-solving" (Harrington-Mackin 137). It is a practice that not only hasn’t been learned, but is a difficult one to institute. In school, children are taught to rely on their own resources; to develop their individual capabilities. Deborah Harrington-Mackin cites the example of a fourth grader, who wouldn’t be allowed to say, "Hey, Joe, you’re good at word problems and I’m good at multiplication tables, so let’s get together for this test" (137), yet the adult equivalent of this is seen in the workplace when teams are expected to come up with a group solution to a problem. This is an odd practice for most people, as well as the fact that trying to reach a consensus in a group of adults can frequently result in heated arguments, and no solution. Team decision-making can be frustrating. The team members have to take the time to listen to everyone’s opinions -- a time-consuming process where the inclination is frequently to jump on the first answer given rather than go through the lengthy and frequently tedious process of hearing from everyone (Harrington-Mackin 138). term papers
qwrgIt seems that teams are being formed for every imaginable reason -- quality improvement teams, project teams, management teams, task force teams -- companies are quick to assume that increased employee involvement leads to improved productivity (Rees 7). But the problems that occur in trying to increase employee involvement outweigh the benefits. Many organizations that began traditionally are not accustomed to involving non-managerial employees in the procedures of planning, decision-making, and goal setting. These organizations have leaders who pass out information and answer questions, usually without requiring further involvement from subordinates.term papers
vqrgOrganizations have been "structured historically to reinforce authoritarian management styles" (Mosvick-Nelson 109). There is no easy way to facilitate a team-oriented decision making policy. The authoritarian organizational structure is still the type of management style most used in business (Mosvick-Nelson 109), and for a good reason. Many leaders don’t know how to manage the participation of employees in these processes, even when a team is set up, and they frequently discourage participation (whether or not it’s done intentionally) by their actions -- they may allow for minimal time for participation, interrupt people, or simply ignore what they hear. This is a good case for leaving the decision-making to the top leadership (Rees 10).term papers
III. "What are we supposed to do?"
vevevMany problems with teams result because there is no clear understanding about what is supposed to be accomplished. Team members and team leaders typically have problems defining their own roles, making it difficult to work toward results rather than busying themselves with the activities of the team (Fisher-Rayner-Belgard 6). It’s far too easy to get caught up in day-to-day activities, in being a team, and forget the reason the team was formed in the first place. This lack of focus is a good reason to keep employees working on their own, in specific, well-defined jobs. Teams tend to become too inwardly-focused -- a sure sign they won’t survive. term papers
Sometimes the manager of the team will discount not what his own team is trying to accomplish, but the efforts of others. A manager may insist that the success of other teams was nothing more than a "fluke" (Rayner 9), or they suggest any success was due to highly unique circumstances. This naturally leads to a lack of credibility, and suggests that employee involvement is irrelevant, yet it is an occurrence that’s all too common. term papers
rfrgThe relationship between team leader and team members is often adversarial. When the team is first formed, it relies on the manager to transfer decision-making and problem-solving authority to the team members. But eventually, the team members rebel against the authority figure, which often results in a confusion over responsibilities and the roles each member is to take. It’s not unusual for the team members to try to take on all managerial responsibilities and even question the value of the manager’s role -- the team is ostensibly working effectively; why does it need a manager? The tendency for team members to rebel or resist the influence of the designated team leader is a situation that seems to occur in every newly-formed team operation (Rayner 133).term papers
IV. Working Together Isn’t So Easy
veqgIn his book, Style of Management and Leadership, Manfred Davidmann reminds us that business experts have to work together to achieve their goals, and discord in one area can inconvenience many people (1). It is essential, therefore, that people cooperate with each other -- but this doesn’t necessarily imply working on a team. Experience has shown that the larger the organization is the more difficult it is to achieve the necessary degree of cooperation. Larger organizations are usually much less effective using a ream approach, as people tend to work against each other rather than with each other (Davidmann 1). term papers
vqrvCooperation is essential to any team effort, and it’s not something that can be easily achieved. Frustration with management, or the workplace itself, causes internal conflict and struggle, which in turn means there is considerable lack of identification with the organization and its objectives. Davidmann relates the analogy of coming up against a brick wall. Team members may be trying to achieve something which is difficult, and it seems they don’t get anywhere because they "keep on knocking ... against this brick wall which stops us" (1). It may be the system or the organization; it may be the team leader or the way the team members relate to each other. In that kind of situation, one finds the "wall" is very solid, very high, extends almost indefinitely on either side and its foundations are deep and strong. In other words, the team can’t get through it; can’t find any way to get around the problem, and can’t seem to stop "knocking their heads against the wall" (Davidmann 1). This type of situation, one which occurs all too frequently, is also one which destroys teamwork. term papers
Gerard M Blair says that there are certain frameworks within which teams attempt to work. It’s the inability to function within these ‘frames’ that is another disadvantage to teamwork. The "Forming stage" (1) is when the team first comes together. Everyone is considerate and civil, and allows for everyone to participate. Discussion is slow and guarded since no one wishes to be seen as foolish by saying something on which the other may not agree. And underneath all this, there may be conflict. Even though it is not verbalized, it’s always destructive. term papers
rvrgNext comes the "Storming stage" (Blair 1)-- people take up sides, and views and ideas are "entrenched" (1). The effectiveness of the team takes a nose dive, and the productiveness of the team is far less than the individuals could have achieved had they not been brought together. This report was written by The Paper Store, Inc. term papers
rgerThe "Norming stage" (Blair 1) is next, in which the team works out methods of compromise, although this often is a moot point. Teams are not always willing to move beyond the first two stages. Once again, human nature is a strong deterrent in the ability of teams to function effectively. There are simply too many people with too many different ideas, and it’s not to be assumed that they will be able to resolve their differences. term papers
VI. Barriers for Management Teams
vergrManagement teams are not immune to problems. Not everyone feels that team-based management is the solution for ailing organizations. A team leader from American President Cos. says, "A team is like having a baby tiger given to you at Christmas. It does a wonderful job of keeping the mice away for about 12 months, and then it starts to eat your kids" (Labich 1). term papers
qergOne of the major reasons why management teams don’t work comes down to human nature. Harshman and Philips write of "motivational barriers" (148), where people in the organization fear loss of power, and "leadership barriers" (151), where a resistance to leadership leads the all the employees to believe that the team approach is unnecessary. Kenneth Labich suggests that team leaders "revert to form and claim the sandbox for themselves, refusing to share authority with the other kids" (1). Everyone else on the team tends to argue among themselves, bickering about such things as who gets credit for what the team produces. The team falls apart under the pressure and strain -- the tiger eats the kids. This is one of the major disadvantages to effective team work.term papers
rgfwLeadership barriers can stop the entire team process, which ultimately gives the entire workplace the message that the issues the team was trying to resolve were not to be taken seriously. Many top level managers are goal-driven, results-oriented, and have little patience with any long-term process that needs to be effected by a team. The combination of leaders’ impatience and their possibly different perspectives on the objectives of the organization and the team make it very difficult for a team to function effectively (Harshman-Philips 151).term papers
It’s also difficult, suggests Harshman and Philips, for middle management to work in a team. They typically are caught between the top management who controls the organization, and the employees who actually get the work done. Their "power" in the day-to-day workings of an organization is somewhat shaky, and they don’t generally adapt well to any suggestion of rechanneling that power. This is a major disadvantage to setting up a team (152).term papers
VII. Team Barriers
Team members themselves are faced with certain barriers, even if the leaders can resolve their own problems. Teams tend to avoid responsibility for a variety of reasons and in different ways. Deborah Harrington-Mackin (11) lists the barriers that typically affect the team members:
Lack of skill or competency to perform the task at handterm papers
Lack of self-confidence term papers
Fear of failure, ridicule and criticismterm papers
Fear of being singled out and exposed as incompetentterm papers
Fear of losing approval term papers
Lack of self-control term papers
Fear of being put in charge term papers
Fear of taking responsibility for success or failure term papers
Fear of change; of the unknown term papers
Lack of organizational skills term papers
Fear of being held accountable for mistakes term papers
Fear of the change that success causes in work relationships term papers
In addition, there are external barriers which are disadvantageous to the team, which may include:
Having too many tasks to do within a certain time frame term papers
Experiencing too many changes at the same time term papers
Having too few people to do the jobs term papers
Coping with untrustworthy management term papers
Coping with inconsistencies in management term papers
Lacking the necessary resources or information to do the job term papers
rwrgIt would seem that there are too many negative aspects to functioning as a team. Teams tend to make excuses to avoid responsibility -- anything from "We don’t have the right equipment" to "It’s too late to start now" to "We have other problems we need to tackle first" (Deborah Harrington-Mackin 12). If a team doesn’t want to cooperate and work together, no amount of suggested solutions can force the members to come up with results. Harrington-Mackin relates that the best excuse she has heard for a team’s failure to perform was that the team was initially "too large to accomplish anything" (12). To accommodate this team in an attempt to help it work together effectively, it was divided into smaller subgroups, which then, predictably, declared they were too small to be of any use. term papers
VIII. Team Myopia
grjjSteven Rayner recognizes that some teams can become very near-sighted; that is, they can’t see past their own noses. There is a natural tendency for teams to become inclusive of their own members, and "somewhat paranoid" of the intentions of "outsiders" (Rayner 46). In their initial enthusiasm over making a difference for the organization, some team leaders tend to grab strength through defiance. They challenge anything that was formerly established protocol and this can have a seriously detrimental result. Rayner relates the following anecdote: term papers
fwefwefwefweefThe leader of a usually successful team became known as a ‘corporate outlaw’
fwfwrfrfrfrfrfrf(a troublemaker), because he didn’t follow accepted procedures. But this wasn’t
wkflhjwflkjrkjthe critical point that led to his failure as an effective team leader. He had a singular
ergerergerger lack of grace and acceptance of others. His overblown ego led him to give ultimatums
fwwrfrwrrrrfrfthat if a team member wasn’t ‘for’ him, he must be ‘against’ him. He believed he could
wrfwrfrfrfrfrfignore procedures and practices that had worked previously as long as he got the
frfrfrfrfrfrfrfrdesired results from his team. However, thefteam fell apart due to his arrogance --
efwfwefwefwhis successes were overshadowed by his lack of humility. Team members are not going to
fwfqwfwfffwfwork for effective solutions to problems if they receive no credit for doing so, or if they feel
wfwrfrfrfrfrfrthey are being dictated to as opposed to being part of the team they’ve formed.
frqfrfrqwfrwThis particular leader’s myopic vision of what constituted a good team never took that into
w fwerfweconsideration (Rayner 49)." term papers term papers
fwefwRayner also attacks existing methods as a means to gain motivation of his team members -- a ‘we can do it better than they did’ idea (Rayner 59). Even teams that have proven success records tend to fall apart when they have poor interaction with other groups. term papers
IX. Plain and Simple -- Poor Management term papers
wfrkTeams forming to accomplish a basic goal often fail due to being poorly managed. Gerard Blair’s facetious description of this process says that: term papers
frfrfqrfqrfrqfIn the beginning, God made an individual - and then he made a pair.
fwefwewefefThe pair formed a group, together they begat others and thus the group grew.
wfwfweffwffUnfortunately, working in a group led to friction, the group disintegrated in
rqegrgrrgrg conflict and Caian settled in the land of Nod - there has been trouble with groups ever since wfwfwefwef (Blair-Groups 1). term papers
rfrfWhen people work in groups, there are usually two separate issues involved. The first issue is the task and the problems that are involved in getting the job done. Frequently this is the only issue which the group considers. The second issue is the process of the group work itself -- the procedures by which the group acts as a team. But the disadvantage here is that without proper attention to this process, the value of the group can be diminished or even destroyed. All too often, teams can’t manage to see group work as attractive, and there are too many problems inherent to group formation (Blair-Groups 1). term papers
fwrfWhat many teams fail to recognize is that a group of people working in the same room, or even on a common project, does not necessarily invoke the group process. If the group is managed by a leader who relates to them in a totally autocratic manner, there may be little opportunity for interaction. If the group can’t interact, the team eventually dissolves, or -- in some instances -- becomes a group of people all working separately instead of together.
ffrffThe group process should lead to a spirit of cooperation, coordination and commonly understood procedures -- that’s generally why a team was established in the first place. But this isn’t always the case. All too often there is one person, perhaps not even the leader, who wants to run the show. This paper is for research assistance only. Blair asks us to consider the effect that a "self-opinionated, cantankerous loud-mouth" would have on performance efforts, as contrasted to working with a "friendly, open, helpful associate" (Groups 1). One person can destroy the team just as effectively as if the entire team was unable to function together. term papers
wrfrPoor management of teams also extends to the leaders not recognizing the team members as individuals. Being expected to conform to group standards and set aside individual needs or preferences is one of the main reason teams don’t work (Rees 42). Of course, some people are more comfortable being part of a group, but more independent workers tend to feel ill-at-ease when working in a team. Others may feel they don’t have much in common with their team members -- an essential factor to a team’s running smoothly -- whether it’s due to sex, religion, age or culture. If team members feel ‘left out’ at the beginning due to societal differences, there is little reason to expect the team will be able to function as a cohesive group (Rees 42). term papers
X. Too Many Qualifications; Too Little Time term papers
wfwfThe role of the team leader is a critical one, not only in his view of each team member as an individual, but also in his personal philosophy of what makes a team work -- as well as the qualifications for a good leader. Too often, the leader is unprepared for the multitude of expectations that is put on him as the leader of the group. Rees suggests that, in part, an effective leader needs to:term papers
term papers and think term papers
Listen actively term papers
Ask questions and listen to the entire answer term papers
Reserve judgment and keep an open mind term papers
Actively seek the opinions of the team members term papers
Encourages different viewpoints term papers
Models the behavior he wishes to see in his team members term papers
Knows how to bring the right people together for a task
Is aware of his own limitations term papers
Doesn’t take personal credit for group success term papers
Understands that people’s individual needs affect team effort (26) term papers
fwefIt seems unlikely that there will be a team leader who will stand up to these, as well as several other, criteria, which of course implies that the team can’t function effectively. Managers simply face too many challenges as they become team leaders. More than ever they need to be able to count on the workers in a team, moving away from "the typical hierarchical conception of ‘us’ and ‘them’" (Sayles 9), and towards a more unified effort. But this is easier said than done. The problem inherent in a manager’s relinquishing his ‘power’ (or what he perceives as relinquishing it) is just one more reason why teams don’t work. term papers
XI. Team Quality term papers
wfwefAs has been discussed, the fate of a team generally rests with the Team Leader. The Team Leader has the authority and the power to define the work team, but too often there is a lack of focus. The quality of the team is diluted and the solutions are ineffective. Gerard Blair suggests that by applying what he calls the "principles of Quality" (1), the Team Leader can gain for the team the same benefits which work beneficially for the corporation. His first suggestion for attaining this is to become "enthusiastic about one aspect at a time" (1). This is often a difficult concept, as the whole idea of working on a team is to toss out as many different ideas as possible. One problem is that by focusing on any one particular issue may cause the team members to lose enthusiasm. term papers
fwekAnother trap to poor team work is that the team may focus upon the wrong type of problem. Team leaders need to make it clear any problem which they tackle should be: term papers
term papers, term-papers, termpapers, term papers
* related to their own work or environment, and term papers
* something which they can change. term papers
vwvwUnfortunately, problem solving in teams can turn into "gripe sessions about wages and holidays" (Blair-Quality 1).
fwffFor some team leaders, the ability to enable failure is not a comfortable or familiar concept. If the team is unable to try out ideas without rebuke for errors, then the scope of their solutions will be severely limited. Too often, the failures aren’t recognized as they should be -- as an opportunity to gain knowledge. The quality of the team necessarily suffers because of this, and eventually, one can expect that the team itself will lack the enthusiasm or drive necessary to continue as an effective group (Blair-Quality 1). term papers
XII. The Face is Familiar term papers
fwefwAnother of the disadvantages to team work is that the teams themselves begin to ‘fade’ as they spend the necessary time together. The same people saying the same things in an extended team situation, day-after-day, becomes tedious and stale. Of course, the obvious solution to this would be to bring in new people, either as new team members or as liaisons to other teams. The problem with this is that teams often resist letting ‘outside’ new members on their team. If the team has functioned as a group for any appreciable length of time, they often feel they know each other’s quirks and have no desire to alter the dynamics of the group, even when it is apparent what they have isn’t working (Harrington-Macklin 74). term papers
ddedIf not new members, then another solution to the ‘same old, same old’ situation is often to attempt job-sharing -- the team members may be encouraged to switch jobs and responsibilities. This, too, is rarely easy to bring about. Team members are generally very resistant to job sharing because each member becomes territorial about the task to which he was first assigned (Harrington-Macklin 76). term papers
XIII. Team Meetings term papers
eeefProductive team work is almost always the result of successful team meeting (Kinlaw v). Unfortunately, team leaders as well as members don’t receive adequate instruction on how to carry this out, or demonstrate the strategies for organizational development that are necessary. Team meetings, rather than being a productive and efficient means to solve an organization’s problems, can deteriorate due to lack of proper facilitation. Teams that have a tendency to repeatedly set aside difficult decisions find their options are increasingly limited. Without the adequate instruction on how to effect solutions, the teams will eventually either dissolve, or worse -- make decisions by "default rather than informed choice" (Rayner 167). term papers
efefDisruptive team members are another pitfall in team meetings. The reluctance of team members to provide honest and direct feedback to an objectionable member only leads to frustration and poor performance, yet many team members are uncomfortable with the inevitable confrontation (Rayner 169). term papers
wfffTeam managers have the responsibility to guide the team, but often they perceive this as a need to abdicate their authority in favor of letting the team members become more "self-directed" (Rayner 167). Many teams simply can’t handle this type of responsibility. term papersterm papers
Conclusion / Why Not Teams?
fefefIt seems clear that working in teams is not always the most effective way to ensure quality solutions for organizations. The problems and pitfalls that are inherent to any team process don’t, in my opinion, outweigh the limited advantages of having people work in a group. There are too many variables that can cause the team to fail -- personalities, misunderstandings, ineffective leaders -- and it seems to make more sense, as well as the fact that the organization can simply run more smoothly, if the standard and traditional procedures of having everyone assigned to a given job, working on his own, is the method used. People still can feel part of the organization by their own contributions, but they don’t have the problems involved with several different people working on one team. term papers
WORKS CITED term papers
Blair, Gerard M. Groups That Work. term papers
dqedeqhttp://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/art0.html (1997). term papers
term papers
Blair, Gerard M. "How to Build Quality into your Team" IEE Engineering Management Journal.
fwfwfffhttp://spindle-ee- net2.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/ (1996). term papers
term papers
Blair, Gerard M. Laying the Foundations for Effective Teamwork. term papers
fefefe http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Teaching/art0.html (1996).
Davidmann, Manfred .Style of Management and Leadership. term papers
ewfwefhttp://www.demon.co.uk/solbaram/articles/clm2.html (1982).
term papers on, term papers about, term papers in, term papers and
Fisher, Kimball-Rayner, Steven-Belgard, William. Tips for Teams. term papers
fwfwffrf(New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, Inc.,1995).
term papers on, term papers about, term papers in, term papers and
Harshman, Carl L.-Philips, Steven L. Teaming Up. term papers
dqdqdd(San Diego, CA: Pfeiffer & Co., 1994).
term papers on, term papers about, term papers in, term papers and
Kinlaw, Dennis. Team-Managed Facilitation. term papers
vrrfrfrrf(San Diego, CA: Pfeiffer & Co.,1993).
term papers on, term papers about, term papers in, term papers and
Harrington-Mackin, Deborah. Keeping the Team Going. term papers
frfrfrffrff(New York, NY: Amacom, 1996).
term papers on, term papers about, term papers in, term papers and
Mosvick, Roger-Nelson, Robert B. We’ve Got to Start Meeting Like This. term papers
wefefef(Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman, 1987).
term papers on, term papers about, term papers in, term papers and
Rayner, Steven R. Team Traps. (New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996).term papers
term papers on, term papers about, term papers in, term papers and
Rees, Fran How to Lead Work Teams. (San Diego, CA: Pfeiffer & Co., 1991). term papers
term papers on, term papers about, term papers in, term papers and
Sayles, L.R. "Leadership for the Nineties." Issues and Observations. term papers
wewec(1990): Spring, pp. 8-11.
Participative management is a new approach in the work force today. Job enrichment, quality circles, and self-managing work teams are just some of the approaches. Companies share a common goal of increasing employee involvement. They want to raise the quality, performance, and productivity of their workers.
The questions that follow will be answered in this paper. What is participative management? What are the advantages of participative management? How does it raise quality, productivity, and performance? How can it be successfully started, implemented, and sustained? What are the results of experiments done in the work force?
Participative management is a process by which a company attempts to increase the potential of its employees by involving them in decisions affecting their work lives. A distinguishing characteristic of the process is that its goals are not simply acquired, they focus on the improvement of productivity and efficiency, but they are also fulfilling and self-enhancing in themselves. The key goals of employee involvement programs is to enhance the quality of the employees’ working life, management must be responsive to the requests of the employees. The best way to ascertain those requests is to ask employees.
If workers can be motivated and given the opportunity to participate in the search for improved methods of job performance, and if this motivation and participation can be maintained over time, job performance should improve.
Productivity is higher in companies with an organized program of worker participation. Employee participation can and does raise productivity. The most appropriate form will vary from company to company but participation works only when both parties want it to work. The solution to America’s pathetic productivity growth isn’t necessarily more capital spending (Lewis & Renn, 1992). People tend to accomplish what they decide they want to accomplish. Ideas, changes, suggestions and recommendations that are generated by the people who implement them stand a much greater chance of being successfully implemented. In theory, people who have a hand in making a decision are better motivated to execute it. Participation can improve the quality of decision making.
Participative management appears to offer tremendous advantages. It can create organizations where people at all levels think for themselves and manage their own work, then far fewer employees will be needed and those who remain will have more rewarding and satisfying jobs. This in turn could help make the higher labor costs in the United States competitive because lower-level employees would be contributing more by using both their hands and their minds. It could lead to higher-quality products that are internationally competitive. If our companies were able to effectively utilize participative management, the advantages could be tremendous. We could be a more productive society in which work contributes to the quality of people’s lives. We could again be competitive in international markets, be admired for our management skills, and be a society whose workplaces are a source of pride and power. We might also come much closer to matching the reality of how people are treated: with respect; dignity; democratic rights; individual rights; and the right to share in the fruits of their labor (Lawler, 1990). These values have made our society for over two centuries but they have not provided much power for our work environment.
There are ten steps stated by Jerre Lewis and Leslie Renn to implementing a successful participative management program.
Step one: Support of top management and union leadership.
Top management must sanction and be supportive of any participative management and employee involvement program. It is very important that once top management has made the decision in favor of participative management, all supervisory personnel be properly trained on how to change their management style from the old traditional hard line approach to the participatory style. Union leadership must also be prepared for embarking on a participative management program. Many union leaders have feared that participative management and employee involvement programs would undermine the role of the local union and the collective bargaining agreements. Without the support of the union leadership, the program will fail.
Step two: Employees must be ready to accept a participative management program.
In order for employees to be receptive to such a program, a culture change must occur. Implementing a participative management program in an adversarial work climate will not work and be successful. Employees must be willing to change and desire to start working together as a team. This culture change does not happen overnight. Everyone in the organization must have the same equal opportunity to become involved in decision making relative to his or her own job.
Step three: Establish trust amongst all employees. Trust is the glue that binds employees together in an organization.
An employee involvement program will not be successful without trust. Management must initiate trust among its employees. In order for trust to occur, honesty and integrity must prevail. Management should not make any promises to its employees that it can not deliver on and back up. Trust is an extremely important element in any participative management program and must be established as such or the program will not be a success.
Step four: Any participative management program should be initiated on a voluntary basis.
Employees should not be forced to participate in decision making against their own will. Once an employee decides not to become involved in such a program, he or she should not be singled out as refusing to be a team player and viewed in a negative manner. It is very important that the attitudes of these employees continue to be respected.
Step five: A participative management program should not be implemented across the entire organization all at once.
It should start in small departmental groups where there is a consensus that the employees are willing to get together to discuss mutual problems and come up with some solutions. It is very important that once ideas come forward from the groups, management should be ready to follow up and implement these ideas whenever possible. It is advisable to start with the easier problems first and then go to the more difficult problems later.
Step six: Management should not initiate a participative management program to try to save an organization from destruction as a last chance effort.
An employee involvement program should not be used as an alternative when other more serious changes need to be made first in the organization. These programs have been used in organizations for the above reasons and have failed because of their intent and because they were implemented too late.
Step seven: Participative management programs must be results oriented.
If management is going to ask employees for their input and suggestions relative to their job, it is very important that they follow up and provide the necessary resources to make the program work. Goals and objectives must be set and employees must know what is expected of them. There must be adequate control measures in place at all times. It is also important that the program be continually evaluated for its effectiveness.
Step eight: Employees must be given the proper training in problem solving, planning, financial analysis, and communication techniques in order to participate effectively in an employee involvement program.
Management must be willing to open the books of the organization to employees and communicate financial information to them to assist them on their projects.
Step nine: Any participative management program involves risk taking on the part of management.
Employee involvement means management must share decision making but not responsibility. Managers must manage the business and deep control of the organization. Management is the risk taker. Risk taking is absolutely essential in any employee involvement program.
Step ten: Employees can become involved in many different stages of the decision making process meaning that they are not necessarily always required to make only final decisions.
What is important is that the employees are clear about what is expected of them in their involvement in the participative management program. Employees must develop a sense of ownership in the business.
A manager would want to implement a participative management program for many reasons. One reason may be due to the lack of profitability of the business. Management may have decided to finally turn to its employees and involve them in decision making to help the company turn around profitability. Management may have decided that their present style of managing did not work and they needed to change and involve their employees to get the business proceeding in the proper direction. Another reason for managers to turn to participative management may be as a last chance effort to save the business from failure and bankruptcy. The business will not survive unless a management change is implemented. Involving the employees in decision-making to save the business may be the manager’s goal. A manager may turn to participative management to create better relationships between the union and management and between the employees and management.
Implementation of a participative management program takes anywhere from two to ten years depending on the work climate of the organization (Lewis & Renn, 1992). In a hostile environment the first step in an employee involvement program is to have off-site meetings. Management members and union officials sit down with each other, have an opportunity to communicate together, and realize that they are not really enemies but that they are all employees of the same organization. Getting to know each other on a more personal basis is definitely important as an icebreaker. The important thing here is that both sides begin to share their thoughts on the state of the business. Establishing trust and initiating the necessary culture change in preparation for a participative management program takes time, usually years. It is certainly not advisable to start a program of this nature when employees do not trust each other. It will not work. The employees must be ready to accept such a program even after top management and the union officials are supportive of such a program. As management and the employees begin communicating and establishing trust among themselves, and adequate training is being provided on the participative style, management then needs to start asking employees for their opinions relative to their own jobs. As the process of employee involvement evolves, usually the next step is to start employee participation groups which usually center around a particular departmental group. Initially, employees will normally get together once a week for an hour to get to know one another, discuss common problems, and attempt to arrive at some conclusions through group decision-making. In the early stages of group formation, employees start establishing trust with each other and look to the supervisor of the department as a coach and facilitator (Lewis & Renn, 1992). It is very important that the group decisions involve all members of the group, and that the group appoints a group leader. Employees join the group strictly on a voluntary basis. The group members should have received training in group dynamics, problem solving and decision-making.
There are six gradual phases to working a participative management program into the organization. The first is to implement the off-site meetings. Next is to establish trust and get use to the culture change. Third is to create employee participation groups. Then have the participation groups evolve into shared management groups where employees start sharing departmental management responsibilities with the supervisor. The fifth phase is the evolution of self-managed groups where employees manage the department and the supervisor functions as a coach and facilitator to the group. The last phase is to maintain the participative management program (Lewis & Renn, 1992).
The key to sustaining a successful participative management program is in the relations between unions and management. It lies in the philosophy of, and the commitment to, cooperation. A cooperative labor/management stance will lead to improved quality and increased productivity; an adversarial stance will lead only to discord (Lewis & Renn, 1992). If participation in workplace problem solving dispersed across a sufficiently large portion of the workforce, then organizational effectiveness should also improve. High levels of trust, commitment, and participation can be maintained over time and across large numbers of workers, however, only if they are reinforced by higher level business and collective bargaining strategies.
There have been many successful implementations of the participative management program. One company that tried was General Motors. They have an old plant in Fremont, California that began producing cars again. The plant was completely renovated and the only things left was the shell of the old main building and some of the old employees. Just about everything else was new such as corporate sponsorship, operating philosophy, and the manufacturing system. The new United Motor Manufacturing Inc. is a joint venture of General Motors and Toyota. It was set up as a means through which General Motors could learn the Japanese Manufacturing system, and the Japanese could learn how to operate in an American context. An open environment was established at Nummi in which joint problem solving by labor and management, seeking options for mutual gain while developing good faith and trust, prevailed. The quality of life at work in turn resulted in better performance and higher productivity on the job (Lewis & Renn, 1992). Motorola is another success. Their participative management program is operating for more than ninety-five percent of their manufacturing employees and has been dramatically successful (Lawler, 1986). Honeywell, Proctor & Gamble, and dozens of other companies have built new-design plants that minimize the distance between workers and managers. The plants involve employees in many decisions and are structured on the basis of work teams. In some plants employees make pay, hiring, scheduling, and quality decisions. Honeywell, Xerox, Motorola, Ford, General Motors (GM), and Westinghouse have all publicly committed themselves to using a more participative approach to organizing and managing people. Their change programs are even more significant than the increased use of such practices as quality circles, gainsharing, and self-managing teams because they are trying to change the entire organization, not just a few plants or a few practices (Lawler, 1986).
The work place of the future will require greater emphasis on such key human resource factors as participative management, training programs, and teamwork. Employee involvement and participative initiatives are likely to expand considerably over the next several years in United States businesses. If they are to remain competitive in the marketplace and survive with the intense overseas challenges awaiting them, worker involvement and these initiatives must be present.
Bibliography
Lawler III, E. (1986). High-Involvement Management.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers.
Lewis, J. & Renn, L. (1992). How To Start A Participative Management Program: Ten Easy Steps.
Interlochen: Lewis & Renn Associates, Inc.
Schuller, T. (1985). Democracy at Work.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sirianni, C. (1987). Worker Participation and the Politics of Reform.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Warner, M. (1984). Organizations and Experiments: Designing New Ways of Managing Work.
New York: John Wiley & Sons. This paper is the property of NetEssays.Net Copyright © 1999-2003
How to built a successful
team building
Abstract
To be a successful team leader and built a successful team building is not easy, throwing a group of workers together is not enough to built a team. Therefore I want to talk about ¡§How to built a successful team building¡¨, to let everyone know about how to be a good leader in a team and how to have good relationship with them.
For a leader
To be a leader in a team, people cannot be like a boss. Because everyone has to be like a fellow team member, that would let the team members feel you are one of their members, and that would make all the team members feel less pressure, and can do things better.
You also have to trust the team members and support them, and that will help the team member more creatively and can express them ideas or thoughts. Everyone has different experience and if they can talk about their ideas, and then they can discuss and get a better answer or method to deal with the problems.
To be a leader in a team is not like a manager, this is also the reason why we have to study about leadership, because leadership and management are different. Management can tend to be control, supervision, and authority, but leadership, however, is based on warmth, honesty, and developing a sense of working together with the team members. Management is something that comes in the job description, but leadership is something that other people bestow on you. Everyone in the team might trust and respect the leader then they may successful in their work. So leaders don not have to be managers, and they often are not, but managers need to be leaders, the reason is they also have teams to lead rather than manage. An effective team leader and his team members have to depend on trust, honesty, openness, and respect, in both directions.
A team should have
An effective team leader is part of the team and not someone who stands outside, laying down rules or acting as an autocrat.
There are teams everywhere in the world of sports and each team has a captain. We can see the captain does not just stand around shouting at the other players, he always plays a full part in what the team does and shared equally in success or failure. He always listens properly to other team members and gives them support and feedback. The captain is not the only one to congratulate, castigate, or commiserate with other players, and the differences between the leader and the rest just are not always that obvious to the outsider. We can see that this is a kind of good teamwork. Team are always needed in the company, school, sport or other place.
To be an excellent team has to be clear, shared goals and objectives. All our team members have to know our purpose in the team, and also have to know what they are cooperating for.
An excellent team has all the skills it needs to achieve its purpose and this means having people with different styles, different approaches, and different strengths. When we want to reach our target.
An excellent team need everyone in the team have the ability to say what they think or feel, without putting other people down or being put down themselves. All the team members need to operate in a climate of mutual support and trust, so that even if two team members hold different views, they don¡¦t allow the disagreement to become personal. In the same way, if one member feels upset or disappointed about something a team member has done, he needs to be able to say what he thinks or feels and expect to be heard. No one else may agree with him, but the open exchange of views, opinions, values, and ideas is healthy and helpfully.
When I had a part time job in Far Eastern International Hotel two years before, each individual often worked in coordination just like a team, because our duties were in charge of many formal banquets. Four people would take care of three tables¡¦ customers and it¡¦s about thirty to thirty-six people. What we have to do is to serve the customers with their meal. One attendant has to get all the food from kitchen to the banquet, and another one has to show the food (In Taiwan, we give each plate a wonderful name) to the customers, and explain all the customers the meaning of each name. Others would help to divide the food into twelve portions from one plate. That means three tables would get three plates of the same kind of food once, and divided into thirty-six portions. The other two people would help to serve the food to the three tables of customers, and also refill the juice or beer. We have to serve ten plates of food in two hours. Therefore we have to serve quickly and correctly. We always change the dishes and bowls after each plate. If we have ten plates of food that means we have to change ten times of dishes and bowls, and after ten plates we have to clean all the dishes, bowls, sauce, chopsticks, and the residue from tables, and serve the tea, fruits, desserts, forks, knifes, and sweet soups. It is very busy during the formal banquet, therefore four of us have to cooperate very well, to give our customers the best services. We have to communicate to each other and allot the work to everyone.
Teams have an important place in our professional and personal lives. Working in teams is probably an inevitable life experience, even for people who prefer to work alone. Teams are everywhere. There are always student teams, task forces, and neighborhood associations in addition to all of the workplace demands for working in a team. A team generates positive synergy through coordinated effort. The individual efforts result in a level of performance that is greater than the sum of those individual inputs (Developing teamwork, textbook). By simply examining the results of teams built for problem solving during the lecture of Prof. Ronald Burke, it is easy to find that teams are not always effective. But ¡° Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world; in deed, it¡¯s the only thing that ever has¡± (Marget Mead, The Wagon and the star). In most cases, teams lead organizations to engage in higher productivity. However, the effectiveness of a team is influenced by both internal and external factors. Internal factors include clear purpose, informality, participation, listening, open communication, shared leadership, consensus decisions, and clear role and task assignments.
The firstly internal factor related to team effectiveness is clear purpose. High performance teams have both a clear understanding of the goal to be achieved and a belief that the goal embodies a worthwhile or important result. ¡°Help create jobs for our fellow New Brunswickers¡± and ¡°doing things well or not at all¡±.(Creating effective teams, textbook). It was a clear and common purpose that empowered the employees of the New Brunswick government¡¯s Economic development department to develop strategies to attract telemarketing firms to New Brunswick. As team members, they defined and accepted the vision, mission, goal, or task of the team. They knew why a team existed and what it should be doing. They translated their common purpose into specific, measurable, and realistic performance goals. These specific goals facilitated clear communication and also helped teams maintained their focus on achieving results. Another example, Motorola China divided her sales division into many sales teams. By creating a clear sense of purpose which was to further expand her market share, she stimulated her employees to act as important roles in make teams higher performances. Simultaneously the team members were clear about their daily tasks and about agenda for essential meetings. In Motorola China, every meeting must have a detailed agenda, and members should be prepared with the information necessary to discuss all agenda items. As team members, they insisted that the team have a vision of the future, develop a mission, prepare goals and objectives, and then periodically revisit them. It was team members that created milestone charts and task assignments. The empowered team was able to make a difference in the attainment of individual, team and organizational goals, because it had clear direction and the knowledge, skills, information, and resources to do its job. In addition, it had power to make decisions with its scope and to influence decisions that are of a larger scope. Finally, team members experience positive outcomes when they perform effectively. However, a clear purpose will empower team members to achieve their objectives and allow teams to focus on their goals and evaluate progress toward the goals.
Shared leadership is an essential factor to influence the team effectiveness. Although a variety of titles are used to designate a position: manager, supervisor, director or simply the boss, all teams have a formal leader. A team will not be successful if the leader carries the sole responsibility for ensuring that the team reaches its goals. As a team leader, Texas instrument¡¯s Bryant said: ¡° I¡¯m supposed to teach the teams everything I know and then let them make their own decisions¡± (What team leaders need to know, handout). Leadership of a team must be shared among team members. Everyone must feel and take responsibility for meeting the task and process needs of the team. Today Companies expect middle managers into star team leaders ready to coach, motivate, and empower. Anderson, who worked at Hewlet-Packard, one of the world¡¯s best managed corporations, said: ¡°we took things away: no supervisors, no hierarchy, no titles on our business cards, no job descriptions, no plans, no step-by-step milestones of progress¡ The idea was to create a sense of personal ownership.¡±( Secrets of HP¡¯s ¡®muddled¡¯ team, handout). Shared leadership is one of most important factor to affect team effective. In Motorola China, her sales teams have matured. Team members know who is to do what, and ensure that all members contribute equally in sharing the workload. Additionally, the team members determine how schedule will be set, what skills need to be developed, how the group will resolve conflicts, and how the group will make and modify decisions. Although the team leader has certain administrative, and bureaucratic responsibilities, leadership functions shift from time to time among team members, depending upon the needs of the group and the skills of the members. On one hand, they help the team reach its goal, accomplish an immediate task, makes a decision, or solves a problem. On the other hand, they make the team focus on how to accomplish tasks. It is the interpersonal glue that helps maintain or exploit all our team¡¯s resources. The establishment of shared leadership ensures the team effectiveness.
Clear role and work assignments is a catalyst to stimulate the team effective. Every team member has a formal job with a series of functions often defined in a job description or specification. The concept of role goes beyond a listing of tasks to the expectations a specific team member has about his or her job and to the expectations that other team members have about that job. The work of the team will not be optimized if team members do not know what others expect of them or if there is a conflict in expectations. Awareness of the importance of roles is essential to the success of a team. Each member¡¯s relationship to the team must be defined in terms of the role to be assumed and the results the role is to produce. Eventually, any team effort boils down to the assumption of individual responsibilities and accountabilities. In short, each member of any successful team must understand at the outlet what he will be held accountable for and measured against in terms of performance. In Motorola China, team members take responsibility for work assignments critical to the achievement of the team¡¯s mission. They volunteer for jobs such as data collection, drafting reports, preparing presentations, and setting up meetings. Sometimes team members realize that one of their colleagues has an especially difficult or time-consuming assignment, they offer to pitch in and help. Due to clear role and work assignments, each member knows what he/she should focus on. Simultaneously, due to the connection of the common objective, he/she does utmost to help each other to achieve the team goal.
Trust is the avenue to open communication, one of key factors to affect team effectiveness. Trust not only allows people to stay problem-focused, it promotes a more efficient use of the time and energy devoted to the problem. Members must have confidence that they can reveal aspects of themselves and their work without fear of reprisals or embarrassment. The higher the level of trust, the more risks team members are willing to take. In the precious example of a team built during the lecture, as the team I was in formed temporarily, the level of trust among all members was relatively low. We were somewhat defensive and worried about embarrassment which maybe caused by different viewpoints. During the discussions of group decision making and problems solving, actually we did not open communication and give every member equal opportunity to reach agreement. Nobody tried to change this situation. As a result, individual accuracy took precedence over group accuracy. Due to the decisions based on some personal preferences, we failed to represent the team effectiveness. Later all of our team members realized that trust increases with a corresponding increase in openness, in confrontation of issues, and in the use of influence skills. As they are able to level with each other, the team adopts a problem-solving mode in which members are open to learning from each other. The leader¡¯s behavior is also crucial in building trust and opening communication. First, the leader must encourage discussion of problems and key issues and then model a response that is nonjudgmental. Second, the leader should support the concept of subgroups of team members working together. This decontrolling is crucial for group growth. The goal is shared leadership whereby all members take responsibility for ensuring the success of the team by performing leadership functions. This process relieves the formal leader of the burden of doing it all and empowers the team. However, mutual trust improves opening communication which, in turn, enhances the team effective.
The following factor related to team effectiveness is informality. In order to make a team effective, it is very important to create the atmosphere tends to be informal, comfortable, and relaxed. In such an environment, team members get a certain feeling when they are part of a solid team. They enjoy being around the people, they look forward to all meetings, they learn new things, they find themselves putting the team¡¯s assignments ahead of other work, and they feel a real sense of progress and accomplishment. A team with a positive climate bypasses the formal trappings such as rigid voting rules and raising hands before speaking. Rather, an obvious ease of interaction and communication relaxes team members and enhances their contribution. Members feel comfortable speaking with each other regardless of position, age, sex, or race. In the precious example of Motorola China, their sales team members employed humor and discussions of subjects other than work to relieve tension and smooth over awkward moments. They helped each other to get to know and feel comfortable with each other, they are willing to share the limelight with other members when the team is successful, and they provide the team with the necessary resources without waiting for a formal request. All of these activities help create an informal climate, which makes the team effective.
The ability of team members to listen to each other is one of most important factors distinguish effective from ineffective teams. It is a skill that serves as an underpinning for all the other determinants of effectiveness. While everyone agrees that listening skills are important, little is done to develop that capacity in team members. The principal listening skill is the ability to sit back, be attentive, and take in what is said while reserving judgment. The ability to listen and reserve judgment is critical if all ideas are to be given adequate consideration. This skill is especially important for team problem solving and decision making. Another important listening skill is the capacity for active listening. The techniques of active listening are strong tools for helping all team members find the right words to express their thoughts or feelings and to maximize their contributions to the team effort. In another sense, active listening helps team players develop self-understanding. In the process of examining their thoughts, the team members often come to a better understanding of the issue. In short, they are provided with a chance to alter their thoughts and feelings.
Not only can the above-mentioned internal factors impact the team effectiveness, other internal factors such as participation and consensus decisions can impact the team effectiveness. For example, in most team-based organizations, team membership based on the demands of the group¡¯s task will result in extensive member involvement in the group¡¯s discussions and activities. The objective of effective participation is to encourage all team members to participate. Effective teams provide all members with an opportunity to participate. Participation should be relevant to the goal or task of the team. Dealing with nonrelevant participation can be tricky. We want an informal, relaxed climate, but it must be combined with a focus on goals and tasks at hand. Interviews, surveys, or guided group discussions are simple but effective techniques for collecting data about participation and its relationship to team effectiveness. The use of the consensus method for making key decisions is a centerpiece of the effective team. A consensus requires unity but not unanimity and concurrence but not consistency. ¡° a consensus is reached when all members can say they either agree with the decision or have had their ¡° day in court¡± and were unable to convince the others of their viewpoint. In the final analysis, everyone agrees to support the outcome¡± (Building group cohesiveness, textbook). Consensus does not require unanimity since members may still disagree with the final result but are willing to work toward its success. The problem-solving approach to conflict resolution implies differences among team members, and consensus is the technique to reach agreement about the problem statement and recommended solution.
In conclusion, teams are not always effective because they are affected by both external and internal factors. But in most cases, teams lead to higher performance. It seems apparent that internal factors such as clear purpose, informality, participation, listening, open communication, shared leadership, consensus decisions, and clear role and task assignments are significant influences on the team effectiveness.