Evaluate Team Effective

Table of Contents


Evaluate Team Effective

Introduction

The demands of the 21st century will require business organizations, to become more customer focused, using employee talent to create, share, and utilize information as part of a broad-based competitive strategy. Another part of this transition will see organizations undergoing significant structural change, developing horizontal networks of task-focused teams leading to "delayered," flatter organizational structures. The horizontal organization will be (1) organized around processes rather than tasks, (2) driven by customer needs and inputs, and (3) dependent on team performance. The organization where I work is “The Soil Association” which is the UK’s leading environmental charity promoting sustainable, organic farming and championing human health. (Mohrman,1995)

The first individual's contributions, therefore, might be more important in a project's initial phase, when the team is conceptualizing. As the assignment unfolds, however, the second person's attention to detail might be more important, especially in the context of implementation. Understanding such complementary skills and how to use them not only creates a foundation for better results, but helps avoid potential friction among team members as well. (Lipnack, 1996)

As an illustration, a cross-functional team at DEC was struggling with trust-related issues between the marketing and finance managers. The marketing manager, who was conceptually oriented, continually focused on what he referred to as the "big picture" and future revenue producing opportunities. The finance manager, in contrast, persistently raised questions about how the projects would be paid for and how they would be implemented. The marketing manager perceived these questions as little more than a "put down" and would become defensive each time they were raised. The finance manager concluded that the marketing manager was "simply not grounded" in his thinking. Going from conclusion to conclusion prevented them from truly working together. As their orientations and strengths were assessed and compared, however, they began to see that they were focusing on different though related issues and that there was no ill will on either side. They gradually realized that the solution to their problem required more of an "and/also" rather than "either/or" type of response and that both their views were important. (John, 1997)

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Discussion

When complementary skills are not fully understood at an early stage, misunderstandings can readily arise leading to wasted time and lower productivity. But if mental models, learning style, and KSAs are shared, our experience suggests that teams are more productive and more effective in drawing on their skill reservoir to create a better solution. (Lake,2004)

Finally, learning teams require extraordinary communication and process skills. Unfortunately, most traditional management-related communication tools -- focus groups, attitude surveys, management by walking around -inhibit rather than enhance the type of communication and knowledge building that is necessary for learning teams. As Chris ...

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