The efficiency of the teamwork has to be profoundly analyzed since it defines the quality of the performance of the organization (West 19). Motivation, leadership, and team dynamics are the key determiners of the efficiency of the team. In this case, the primary goal of the paper is to determine the problems mentioned above and propose the suitable solutions.
Motivation
Motivation is an essential element of work, as it increases the productivity of the workers (Landy and Conte 365). In the case, study Parker paid substantial attention to the quantity of the production. Additionally, he tried to motivate other team members with the assistance of the financial award. It has to be mentioned that he was acting aggressively.
Nonetheless, his aggressive behavior was able to create the competition among the other team members and encourage them to work harder. However, in the end, they were not able to achieve the desired goal since each team player required an individual approach.
In this case, different motivational strategies have to be used for every person. It is evident that every individual has a personal perception of the success and consider various factors as the key motivators (Haivas, Hofmans and Papermans 326). It is apparent that drive, incentive, arousal, and instinct models are actively used as motivators (“Approaches to Motivation” par. 4).
In this case, it is evident that aggressive leadership and cultivation were suitable methods to motivate all the team members expect of Millar. It is clear that Parker should encourage Millar to do his job by praising his efforts and contribution. In this instance, Millar would have worked harder since he would be interested in hearing positive statements about his personality.
Leadership
Leadership is essential and involves various activities, which supervise the teams (Clarke-Epstein 11). It is apparent that in this case, the aggressive leadership style was not appropriate. It is evident that the leader was not considering the opinions and views of the team members. Additionally, he did not try to find the solutions to the conflicts. Using this approach was motivational and practical only for some members of the team.
It is apparent that being more democratic and taking opinions and suggestions of the other team members into account would have been a better solution. In this instance, the most appropriate and efficient approach would have been found, and the work would have been completed on time.
Lastly, being more democratic will involve strong interactions and motivate people more effectively since; in this case, the team members would not feel ashamed to express their dissatisfaction with work and propose potential solutions to enhance the efficiency of the working process.
Team Dynamics
Team dynamics involves the interaction of two or more individuals to reach the business purposes (Eckes 3). It is apparent that there is an intense interdependence between team dynamics, leadership, and motivation. It is evident that the lack of motivation and aggressive leadership style resulted in the creation of misconceptions about the roles of the teams.
Additionally, the lack of communication created the conflicting attitudes towards each other between different team members. It could be said that these are the primary problems, which were revealed while analyzing the group dynamics in the case study.
As for the solutions, it is apparent that implementations of more democratic leadership approach and the introduction of the individual motivational methods will result in the improvement of the positive relationships within the group. Nonetheless, in this instance, the leader has to contribute to the development of communication within the group. It is evident that sufficient flow of information will assist in finding relevant and suitable solutions to the rising problems.
Works Cited
Approaches to Motivation 2014. Web.
Clarke-Epstein, Chris. 78 Important Questions Every Leader Should Ask and Answer. New York: American Management Association, 2002. Print.
Eckes, George. Six Sigma Team Dynamics: The Elusive Key to Project Success. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2003. Print.
Haivas, Simona, Joeri Hofmans and Roland Papermans.” ‘What Motivates You Doesn’t Motivate Me’: Individual Differences in the Needs Satisfaction–Motivation Relationship of Romanian Volunteers.” Applied Psychology 63.2 (2014): 326-343. Print.
Landy, Frank, and Jeffrey Conte. Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2009. Print.
West, Michael. Effective Teamwork: Practical Lessons from Organizational Research. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2012. Print.
Teamwork is essentially the aspect of using a joint effort to accomplish a certain task or even share ideas with other people in the field. Team work can therefore be attributed to the most breakthroughs in the past inventions, it is through sharing and discussing ideas do we get to learn and appreciate the benefits of working as a team. Teamwork is one of the most imperative considerations not only in school but also in the current working environment because of the benefits acquired in the process of mixing and sharing with other people in a given field. There are a lot of benefits of learning to be involved in teamwork, ultimate success can be achieved by ensuring that there is a significant involvement in teamwork.
Benefits of a team
When we join a team work, we give ourselves an opportunity to access information that we cannot get anywhere else especially on our own, it is through teamwork’s or group work do we get to learn and even share ideas with other people. In teamwork, we learn to live and appreciate other people with personalities different from ours. We are able to overcame our weaknesses and strengthen our strong points when we get involved in a teamwork.
Common goals are achievable through teamwork’s, some most loved games in the world are played in a team work, and such games are like football matches and rugby among other famous games. In a team, everyone learns to play their role in ensuring that there is a general success in the team. It is important to note that teamwork is there because we cannot do all useful things on our own but through the help of other people.
Dynamics in a team
There is a great aspect of dynamism in a team, the task that can take an individual days can be easily tackled by a group. Much of the success is attributed to the group involved in solution finding and probably not a single individual. Dynamism can take different perceptions depending on the context. In this context, dynamism means the progress in terms of achievements and positive results from being involved n a team.
In school, one can easily boost their marks by learning from a group and thus discovering their own weaknesses and strengths through group work within the school environment. In the work place, the benefit of dynamism clearly links to the success achieved by the company in both the short term and the long term goals. An overall progress of humanity is in essence attributed to the joint efforts of every aspect of the economy and thus clear evidence on the importance and the need to be involved in a dynamic environment that is essentially goal oriented (Driskell, pp. 261).
Conclusion
As evident from the discussion above, there are several benefits of getting involved in teamwork. These benefits will help in making substantial progress in not only in academic work but also in the future working environment. It is thus essential to ensure that one is good in working in a group with and aim of achieving substantial positive results. Some of the benefits of getting into a team work includes; learning and strengthening one’s weaknesses, learning the skills of sharing with other people, learning to achieve a common goal with other people through group dynamism among other significant benefits of getting involved in a group.
Works Cited
Driskell, James, and Goodwin, Gerald, et al. What Makes a Good Team Player? Personality and Team Effectiveness. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice. Boston: Mc-Graw Hill, 2006. pp. 249-271.
It is not an easy task to create a team and make every member work properly in regard to the roles and duties identified. It is not only necessary to define the roles; it is more important to prove the importance of the identification process and the essence of each role in a team. Levi (2014) states that “roles are one of the basic building blocks of successful team performance” (p. 69). With the help of properly identified roles, team members know what they have to do, what is expected from them, and how they can achieve the best results.
Any kind of work should correspond with a set of standards, and the identification of roles depends on these standards and may be organized in different ways. There are several people, who may identify roles: a person him/herself, who knows what he/she can do and how he/she can be helpful, a team that understands what kind of work should be done, or an organization that makes orders and create the conditions under which the required portion of work should be completed. Sometimes, the identification of roles is organized by means of the methods’ combination. For example, a team and an individual may identify a role, and an organization approves/disproves the choice. That is why it is possible to say that the process of role identification should not be pure collective or individual. It should be definite and reasonable.
Another important aspect of role identification is the fact that as soon as roles are defined, behaviors and conditions can be defined as well. As can be seen in the charter proposal, team members identify roles and provide a description of roles to explain what is expected from each member. The identification of role helps to comprehend whether task behavior that “focuses on the group’s goals and tasks” or social behavior that “focuses on the social and emotional needs of the group members” are required (Levi, 2014, p. 71). As a rule, a team should consider both types of behavior while the identification of roles to function effectively.
In general, the identification of roles in a team should be properly organized. It is necessary to consider personal characteristics and the needs of a team as a whole. A team has one goal, and its members (who are usually different in their skills, knowledge, and styles) should have the roles that they can perform at a high level. Roles’ identification is a crucial step that takes place at the beginning of work. If this process goes wrong, the success of a project can be under threat.
Transformation of an Idea from the Initial Idea
Teamwork is not easy, and team members should be ready to make fast decisions, choose alternatives, and transform different ideas in a short period of time. Developing ideas is a crucial step in a team’s work; however, in spite of the desire to develop something new, team members should consider “critical comments from other members,” who are “not good at supporting one another’s ideas” (Levi, 2014, p. 189).
Team members may like or dislike the ideas of each other; still, some improvements or transformations are necessary indeed. It means that the process of transformation of one idea from the initial idea takes place. To succeed in transforming ideas, team members should learn to develop their cooperative skills. Creativity should be used not only in developing ideas but also in developing the relations and communication between team members, who introduce new ideas. Some teams cannot divide such processes as creativity and transformation because they cannot exist without each other. As soon as transformation is necessary, creativity has to be used. And creativity always leads to some kinds of transformation.
The process of transformation of an idea from the initial idea is complicated. One of the first steps that should be taken is to promote “developing an open climate that encourages participation” (Levi, 2014, p. 189). When the environment is appropriate, team members are able to develop their ideas, transform some of them on the basis of others, etc. One of the goals each team member should want to achieve is to choose the best idea and proves its appropriateness.
The transformation process should pass in several stages: brainstorming (when several ideas are generated in regards to the available conditions), recording (when all offered ideas are written down and evaluated), brainwriting (when team members share their opinions about the ideas in a written form), and the selection of a solution (when the final idea is chosen by all team members). Group creativity is the source of success for a team, and each member should demonstrate his/her best skills to define and analyze several ideas in order to choose the most successful thought.
In general, the process of transformation of an idea from the initial idea is impossible to avoid in a team’s work because almost every member has a number of ideas and improvements to rely on. Teamwork should be based on mutual trust and understanding to realize that all ideas cannot be accepted at once. Still, the transformation of ideas is an appropriate process that can help a team to achieve the required portion of success.
Reference
Levi, D. (2014). Group dynamics for teams. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Web.
Developing a team and being part of a team require first to understand the team dynamics and purpose of the group. A group is one type of small teams. Teams are not only when individuals team up to perform a certain task. “Teams are sets of individual relation developed to attain pre-planned mission” (Tuckman 385). To be more particular, teams involve at least two individuals bearing similar traits. To develop effective groups, vivid team goals, good communication, effective responsible management, efficient decision-making, real crisis management, and affirmative use of authority are all significant. They bring a group to get complex functions accomplished. However, it is hard to develop a group effort.
Effective group performance bears a need of good planning of interaction between group participants. The successful group formation will be more effective compared to team developed competitively. It will in addition end up with more committed group participants, and improved participants’ social abilities. Moreover, through establishing better work group, individual members get team-forming experiences. Team-forming aims on the examination of task procedures and status of continuing functional groups effort to enhance group effectiveness, the improved interactions among participants, the degree of participants’ communication tactics, and the capability of the group to form and adapt to changing demands and situations (Tuckman & Jensen, 420).
Team Development Phase
Tuckman (387) breaks down the process of team building into four stages. The Tuckman’s framework is vital since it appreciates the truth that a team does not start off completely-developed and working. Tuckman proposes that a group succeeds through evidently set phases, from its conception as a group of persons, to unified, purpose-focused team. He illustrates working with teams of social scientists within the Unites states army. The group examined small team performance, from diverse views. In order to achieve his objective, Tuckman studied fifty articles explaining team building and noted the presence of two traits universal to these teams: the individual or team organization, and the role action. From his study, Tuckman noticed that teams emerged into groups through four basic phases.
Firstly a trial stage which frequently resulted to an action described by a level of crisis. This then usually determined itself, resulting to a better socially unified stage. Lastly, a team adopted an action stage, during which it aimed on task-relatedness. Tuckman named the four stages as follows: first phase (forming), second phase (storming), third phase (norming), and fourth phase (performing stage).
This teamwork concept is better described using a graphical representation which indicates the meshing between team relations and role focus. The maximal or functional level is attained after relations have formed within the limits of the team and they have commenced functioning with a defined purpose on the team’s role. However, his concepts vividly show that time is consumed before attaining the team’s performing phase, and it is common for any group to experience downfalls as it develops relations. Especially in the initial phases which is possibly why it is said to be the storming stage of the entire teambuilding phase. Below is a graphical representation of the phases.
Figure 1: Team building phase as explained by Tuckman, 391
Application of Tuckman Theory
This section adopts group work assignments in college to explain what happens during the entire teambuilding phase. In this case we will use a case whereby students were requested to form groups of any size in order to discuss the impact of corporate social responsibility on management. The stages as described by Tuckman are:
Forming
This is the first phase of group building. During this phase people are yet to come together. Each member is busy locating his position in the group, weighing one another, and not sure why one is in the team. Team participants depend on secure, customised traits and rely on team leader for direction. Team participants need to be accepted in the team and there is a general need for security. During this phase serious arguments and emotions should be avoided. The core task is orientation. Participants try to familiarise themselves with the role of the team in addition to one another. To expand and move to the next stage, every participant must renounce the state of unthreatening arguments and risk the likelihood of crisis (Tuckman & Jensen, 422).
Storming
This phase of teambuilding is defined by crisis and/or competition in the individual relationships. As the team participants try to identify the way forward, conflict inescapably sprouts in their individual interactions. A person has to adjust and mould his emotions, concepts, beliefs, and viewpoints to fit that of the team. As a result of anxiety developed during this phase, certain team participants may decide not to share what they know regarding the topic while others may decide to dominate.
Norming
Here interpersonal interactions are defined through solidity. Team participants engage in dynamic appreciation of entire participants’ views, team development, team maintenance, and resolving of team concerns. The core team role in this stage is the information sharing among participants while the core challenge of this phase is that participants may start fearing the foreseeable future disagreement in the team.
Performing
Basically, not all teams reach this stage. But participants have the ability to reach the performing phase. In the performing stage, members can function in isolation, in sub-teams, or may function as a solid team. Participants’ tasks and leadership actively shift to the oscillating needs of the people and that of the team. Performing stage is defined by separation in individual interactions and conflict resolution based on team objectives. However, the general aim is delivery via challenge counteracting and work.
Adjourning
According to Tuchman, this stage marks the end of task requirements and termination of relations. An organized summary mainly entails appreciation for contribution and success and a chance for team participants to quit the team. Closing any team can generate some anxiety and therefore a minor conflict. However, the most efficient intercession during the adjourning phase is one that facilitates task accomplishment and the adjournment procedure Tuckman, 391).
In conclusion, effective group performance bears a need of good planning of interaction between group participants. The successful group formation will be more effective compared to team developed competitively since it fosters commitment among group participants.
Works Cited
Tuckman, B. (1965) Developmental Sequence in Small Groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63, 384-399.
Tuckman, B. & Jensen, M. (1977) Stages of Small Group Development. Group and Organizational Studies, 2, 419-427.
Emotions are an integral part of life. They are as important as logical thinking and a well-weighed approach to the decision-making process. Cognition and emotion have a strong relationship, as emotions are the result of the cognitive process. More complex concepts such as teamwork, decision-making, and organizational power/politics are based on emotions to a certain extent. Deep understanding of the cognition process that causes emotions can offer a better understanding of such concepts like power and approach in terms of organizational management. Considering the peculiarities of the chosen area, the paper aims at exploring such key concepts (and some of their sub-concepts) as cognition and emotion, teamwork, decision-making, and organizational power/politics change management, and trade unions, participation, and representation to evaluate cognition and emotion concepts in detail, and provide reflection regarding their practical use in daily life.
Cognition and Emotion
Cognition and emotion are interconnected. The following processes can be referred to cognition: language use, exploitation of memory, solving of various problems, focusing on something that draws attention, and planning. Emotions are the psychological states that may vary from happiness to depression, including disgust, anger, joy, and many others (de Sousa 2014; Hermans & de Houwer 2010). Heuristics and risk aversion are among the key methods determining the decision-making process.
Heuristics
The human mind tends to simplify problems to solve them to the extent suitable for its level of development. Heuristics are the methods of simplification aimed at achieving immediate results. These methods are often called ‘rules of thumb’. Heuristic methods or heuristics allow the human brain to pass the stage of complex and stressful calculations and come to the necessary conclusions, appropriate for the particular situation (Quartz 2009, p. 209).
In other words, it is the process of determining the minimal necessary basis to make some decisions in the environment of uncertainty. The solutions made may not be optimal or the most effective. However, they allow resolving a situation with acceptable outcomes. People tend to assess situations assuming probabilities via their relation rather to the characteristics of events than to the events themselves (Quartz 2009, p. 210). In this light, heuristics are used to choose one solution from several possible alternatives.
Risk Aversion
Risks seem something unusual for the regular life of typical people. However, risks are an essential part of life, and people face them much more often than expected. Risk aversion is the concept that describes the particular choice of a person when the lower risks are preferred under the pressure of uncertainty. Such a situation is common for cautious gamblers preferring to choose lesser but guaranteed winnings rather than risk again to lose them all (Andersson et al. 2013, p. 10). Most people are risk aversive by nature, which can be a substantial obstacle on the road to success. It is one of the protective mechanisms making the emotion of fear of loss prevail over the emotion of excitement.
Teamwork, Decision Making, and Organizational Power/Politics
A work environment is the source of uncertainty as well as any other environment that includes people’s communication and cooperation. Uncertainty is the source of negative emotions, and usually, it may lead to the emergence of conflicts during teamwork (Neck, Houghton & Murray 2015, p. 119). It can influence the decision-making process very negatively. Therefore, the appropriate organizational power/politics serves as the method of managing teams, reducing uncertainty, and facilitating the decision-making process (Neck, Houghton & Murray 2015, p. 120). The concepts of power and approach are used to organize the management process most efficiently.
Power
The concept of power can be described as the ability to change the state of others by assuring or withholding the necessary resource base and controlling punishments in terms of their application. In any organization, power is the prerogative of the executive management and the managers of the middle level (Fairholm 2009, p. 48). Power can provide the tools and methods of motivating as well as discouraging employees. It can be used to assure resources and freedom, and it would be high power. In the case of resources’ restrictions and implementing numerous constraints, it would be low power.
Approach
High power assures the following approach to managing organizations. It is based on the attention to rewards, as they are important for the effective employees’ motivation. The high power approach also utilizes positive emotions in daily practice to create a positive teamwork environment. Such an approach presupposes automatic cognition as well as the state/trait driven behavior (Fairholm 2009, p. 62). Finally, it is disinhibited, so there are not subjective constraints to motivate personnel.
Change Management
Management of organizations is a complex and multidimensional process. Change management is even more complicated due to the need for changes’ implementation. The process of change is usually not welcomed by all parties involved in the processes within an organization (Clegg Kornberger & Pitsis 2011, p. 117). Change managers have to face numerous challenges and issues that have to be resolved in the form of the compromise to satisfy the needs of all stakeholders in an organization (Fairholm 2009, p. 205). Among the challenges to manage, organizations need to know how to manage the competing institutional logics and consider the factors influencing cultural anomalies.
Competing Institutional Logics
Changes in an organization usually lead to a certain confrontation between the past and the future. In other words, the implementation of changes may create a situation when the competing institutional logics interferes with the process of innovations and positive changes (Fairholm 2009, p. 185). Such changes may lead to the personnel reduction and renewal of the top executive management pool. Certain opposition within an organization is inevitable.
Factors Influencing Cultural Anomalies
The organizational change needs to consider the factors that influence cultural anomalies within an organization. It is important in terms of decreasing turnover and keeping the specialists valuable for the organization going through the change process (Fairholm 2009, p. 187). The globalization of businesses leads to the creation of the particular cultural groups within one organization, so the interests of all groups should be taken into consideration during the process of implementing changes.
Trade Unions, Participation, and Representation
Organizations that represent the interests of the workforce are very important in the modern world. Trade unions were common in the past as the only instrument of influencing employers. Today, their role has changed. Modern trade unions work in a multinational setting as the contemporary business is globalized and diverse. The participation of as many workers as possible is important today to generate awareness about the problems they have. Trade unions are eligible for employees’ representation legally when the situation cannot be settled within a company between an employer and employee (Fairholm 2009, p. 360). However, employees must be ready to be involved in the unions’ activities.
Industrial Relations vs. Human Resources
The concept of industrial relations (IR) refers to the relationships between the actual employer and its workforce. Human resource (HR) management refers to the process of managing all workforce that includes executive managers along with the workforce, customers, and the pool of suppliers (Fairholm 2009, p. 363). In other words, IR is the sub-concept of HR management.
MNC´s and Worker Movements
Multinational corporations or MNCs have always been in the natural opposition to worker movements. The reason is simple: workers always want to improve their work conditions such as workplace environment, paycheck, benefits, rewards, and other factors influencing employee satisfaction while MNCs always try to optimize expenditures, including the approach to do it at the cost of employees’ work conditions (Fairholm 2009, p. 380). The opposition usually has a rather civilized form of negotiations between an MNC’s management and trade unions.
Cognition and Emotion in Detail
Heuristics and risk aversion may seem irrelevant to the concept of management. Their purpose is to simplify and keep somebody from risk acceptance. However, these concepts are essential for any managerial or any other activity. Heuristics can be used for various reasons. For example, decision-makers might not know how to solve some problems in the best possible or optimal way even if there is a solution that will be ideal for everyone (Hermans & de Houwer 2010, p. 23). They may not possess the sources that would allow them to find help or the costs associated with solving this problem might be too high for them. Decision-makers may not be in a position to have the necessary information to solve the problem optimally or they may get it before they have to make a decision. Even having obtained all the necessary information, they may not make all calculations to solve the issue on time. Having appropriate optimization techniques does not mean that they will be suitable to solve some problems.
Some formulas that seem to guarantee success may prompt decision-makers, who usually try to calculate everything, to deviate from the course of actions even for some time. However, they should know the additional risks associated with the successful formulas, and such risks may outweigh all benefits (Hermans & de Houwer 2010, p. 50). If there are problems with implementing the calculations, it would be wise and advisable to use heuristics. With appreciable uncertainty, heuristics may be the approach of choice. Heuristic shortcuts are to be used when there is a need to find approximate results of calculations.
Heuristics can be different. Some can save efforts, and they can be autonomic and reflexive as well as non-cognitive. They belong to Type 1. It is appropriate to use them when there is a necessity in deciding on something very quickly or when there is not much risk involved (Hermans & de Houwer 2010, p. 75). Type 2 heuristics, with their cognitive nature, require more efforts and they should be used in the case of high stakes.
Risk aversion only seems simple and easy. It is the process of deciding on the pressure of numerous uncertainties. The Prospect Theory (PT) was developed to help in modeling the choices that emerge under the influence of uncertainty. It was created and developed by Kahneman and Tversky in 1992 to provide a more precise description of the decision-making process since the existing expected utility theory was not able to provide such an accuracy (Campos-Vazquez & Cuilty 2013, p. 3).
According to PT, the process of the choice is performed in two steps. First, a person determines the potential outcomes that look equivalent and finds the point of reference. Then, less appropriate outcomes are considered as losses while the more appropriate outcomes become gains. The process of the outcomes’ determination is performed using a heuristic approach. Second, a person ‘calculates’ a final value or utility that comes from the loss’ and gain’s potential to occur (Shapiro 2014, p. 56). The final stage is the choice of the alternative that has the greatest utility.
It is possible to exemplify risk aversion as follows. A man wants to sell a couch. It is not new and it needs to be repaired. This man (seller) does not describe the couch as the one that needs to be fixed in his advertisement. The buyer comes to the seller and offers $30-smaller price to take the couch with him right now even not checking its functionality. The seller is under uncertainty: he can sell it right now and get rid of trouble or he can wait until someone else will come and possible notice (or not) the issue and will buy it for the price, which is $30 higher. He calculates the utility and sells it for $30 less. This is risk aversion.
Reflection
Simplification is critical in difficult life situations. For example, there was a situation when the client returned the iPhone he had recently bought and said he would file a lawsuit because the store had caused the breakup with his girlfriend. After half an hour of high tone conversation, he said that she had managed to find some photos of girls in it. The customer claimed that the store had sold him a used phone, and he wanted to get compensation for his financial and non-pecuniary damage. The hard way was to call for the company’s layer who would explain the customer the situation using legal education as the basis for the negotiations.
However, it would lead to the immediate client loss, a negative image of the store, and continuous arguments of the angry client and the lawyer not intending to lose in this case. The situation was resolved by the administrator of the store. The administrator offered the following solution. They called the girlfriend of the client and asked her to come to the store. Both received the latest models of iPhones according to their choice and a 50% discount on the next purchase of any product in the store.
The situation was resolved with the smiles and happy faces of the client and his girlfriend because he wanted to buy her an iPhone soon. She realized that it was not his fault that those photos were there. It was risk aversion but the gains were the happy clients, the image of the store was not influenced anyhow, and the store received the loyal client who would buy something having such a discount. The attitude of the administrator and the simplicity of the solution have helped to avoid numerous problems.
Conclusion
Summing, the paper explored such key concepts (and some of their sub-concepts) as cognition and emotion, teamwork, decision making, and organizational power/politics change management, and trade unions, participation, and representation evaluated cognition and emotion concepts in detail and provided reflection regarding their practical use in daily life.
Literature Review of Feedback and Productivity in Non-Profit Organisations
Despite the common view of the positive impact of feedback on the employees’ and managers’ productivity, the amount of scholarly research to confirm this position is quite limited. Moreover, some of the studies show controversial results, such as Kluger and DeNisi’s 1996 meta-analysis. There is still, however, several significant theoretical works that outline the positive impact of feedback on the organization’s performance, as well as those that hint at the possible uses of feedback measures in non-profit organizations.
One of the first books to provide a structured view of the use of customer feedback to enhance organizational performance is A Complaint is a Gift: Using Customer Feedback as a Strategic Tool by Janelle Barlow and Claus Møller (1996). When viewed in comparison with other works of the time, the book provides a relatively view on the customers’ complaints. For instance, Barlow and Møller (1996) argue that complaining customers are the most loyal ones: they are more likely to repurchase and to promote the organization to their friends and family if their complaint is addressed positively (p. 41). Hence, the authors recommend giving the customers more opportunities to complain, for instance, by creating customer satisfaction forms, noting that it is important to address not just the existing customers, but also those who used to be a regular customer or those who were dissatisfied with their purchase or service (p. 29).
The same year, a rather critical review and analysis article was released by Kluger and DeNisi (1996). The authors of the article introduce the notion of feedback interventions, or FI, as a tool for managing the organizational performance, and provide a historical review and meta-analysis of the evidence for its efficiency and failure. For instance, they write: “A meta-analysis (607 effect sizes; 23,663 observations) suggests that FIs improved performance on average (d =.41) but that over 1/3 of the FIs decreased performance” (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996, p. 254). Through the meta-analysis of previous work on the subject, Kluger and DeNisi provide evidence that the effectiveness of the intervention largely depends on where the attention lies in the hierarchy: thus, the feedback should be directed at the tasks fulfilled rather than at an employee overall. This finding is useful as it could help to create more task-focused feedback forms to ensure their efficiency of the intervention.
Another review by Alvero, Bucklin, and Austin (2001) aimed to identify the applications and characteristics of performance feedback. The authors agree that feedback does not uniformly enhance performance (Alvero et al., 2001, p. 4). However, they also state that the consistency of feedback and hence its usefulness largely depend on the source of feedback, and the feedback obtained from customers proved to be consistent in its effectiveness, especially if it was obtained in the written form and analyzed with the use of graphs (Alvero et al., 2001, p. 18)
A relatively recent work by Wirtz, Tambyah, and Mattila (2010) also addressed the uses for customer feedback and outlined the need for formal channels, such as customer satisfaction surveys, to be put in place to collect it. The authors argued that many employees will refrain from passing negative feedback on to the managers (Wirtz et al., 2010, p. 364), and thus the introduction of customer feedback forms would ensure that more feedback is passed to the management for further analysis.
As for the review on the effectiveness of employee feedback on the performance of the management, most of the studies before 1998 did not differentiate the feedback by its direction, which is why the two sources on the topic that are especially useful are Craig and Gustafson’s 1998 assessment of using employee opinions to evaluate the leader’s integrity, as well as the 2002 study by Collins on the general uses and effects of employee feedback. Craig and Gustafson (1998) argue that the effectiveness of the managers largely depends on their integrity (p. 127-128) and devise an instrument to get a specific evaluation of the leader’s integrity from the employees’ point of view. It aims to assess specific behaviors of the leader and any moral or ethical problems created by their actions or policies that could undermine the work climate (Graig & Gustafson, 1998, p. 129), thus helping the leaders to address the issues and enhance the corporate climate. Collins (2002), on the other hand, estimated the effect of changing the leader’s behavior in accordance with the feedback from employees, stating that there is evidence that information gathered from the survey could be used to effect positive change in operations, manager attitudes, and behaviors, thus creating a more positive corporate climate and increasing employees’ motivation (p. 30).
Lastly, the use of customer feedback collection in non-profit organizations is justified in two separate works. Micheli and Kennerley (2005) argue that, due to the lack of financial measures to evaluate the efficiency of the NGO, it is necessary to address customer satisfaction when evaluating the organization’s performance and areas for improvement (p. 131). Jääskeläinen and Laihonen (2014), on the other hand, argue that the focus on customer and service-orientation have the potential to increase the responsiveness and effectiveness of the service system.
Literature Review of Team Building for Organisational Performance
The influence of team building on the organizational climate and performance has been widely studied, with most of the studies concluding that there is indeed a positive influence of teamwork practices and training on the overall productivity of the company.
For instance, a 1986 study by Buller and Bell was one of the first field experiments to investigate the effect of team building on the workers’ productivity. The researchers conducted an experiment that included 53 miners in an underground metal mine and divided them into groups to compare the effectiveness of team building and goal setting as practices for enhancing the effectiveness. The results of the study were not conclusive, however: despite the study achieved increased productivity in both groups of workers, it was difficult to ensure that the experimental and control groups were equivalent (Buller & Bell, 1986, p. 323). However, the authors explain that the analysis could not capture the long-term effects of the team-building intervention, which could have provided a more solid conclusion on the results.
Further studies, however, contributed to a clearer vision of the effects of team building. For instance, Bakker, Emmerik, and Euwema (2006) conducted a study of over 2000 officers to determine whether teamwork could increase or decrease the engagement of individual employees. The results of the study confirm that there is indeed a crossover of both positive and negative attitudes between the team and individual workers (Bakker et al., 2006, p. 464). In other words, this study proved that effective collaboration practices could increase the engagement of all participating employees, thus improving their work ethics, motivation, and organizational performance.
Another study from 2008 aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of teamwork training specifically. The study by Salas et al. (2008) studied the database of 93 effect sizes representing 2,650 teams in an attempt to determine the relationship between team training and team functioning. The results showed that there was indeed an improvement to the teamwork and organizational performance overall as a result of the interventions (Salas et al., 2008, 926-927).
A more specific study by Klein et al. (2009) aimed to examine the exact benefits brought by team building activities. The authors explained that the understanding of the effects of team building practices is of great importance to many leaders due to their extensive use in organizations all over the world: “Considering the vast sum of money directed toward the development of teams in organizations, it is important that practitioners (and researchers) gain a better understanding of the effectiveness and boundary conditions of team building” (Klein et al., 2009, p. 182). The results of the study showed that team building activities had a strong positive influence on all kinds of team results, particularly cognitive, affective, and process outcomes (Klein et al., 2009, p. 208).
The exploration of the specific methods and practices to promote team building has also been extensive. One of the most notable works in this particular area was the study by Cannon-Bowers, Salas, Blickensderfer, and Bowers (1998). Whereas most of the previous research focused on activities outside the company’s everyday functioning, such as team-building weekend activities, or corporate sports practices, the study by Cannon-Bowers et al. (1998) focused on workplace opportunities for developing teamwork. For instance, they investigate the effect of cross-training on team functioning to outline the theoretical basis for using cross-training and provide methodological improvements on the original method proposed by previous studies (Cannon-Bowers et al., 1998, p. 93). The study was focused on 40 three-person teams performing a simulated radar task. The results of the experiment proved the original hypothesis of the positive impact of cross-training on teamwork, team task outcomes, and all aspects of communication behavior (Cannon-Bowers et al., 1998, p. 99). Furthermore, the researchers found that effective task performance depended heavily on effective communication interaction (Cannon-Bowers et al., 1998, p. 99), thus proving the efficiency of teamwork development for enhancing workplace communication.
A study by Torrente, Salanova, Llorents, and Schaufeli (2012) also aimed to examine the role of teamwork both in maintaining a positive workplace climate by improving social relations and in increasing the organizational performance. The study was focused on 533 employees within 62 teams in 13 organizations, with data on team performance provided by the supervisors. The results allowed the authors to conclude that effective teamwork practices play a mediating role between the team’s social resources and performance (Torrente et al., 2012, p. 110). This means that team building activities can enhance both the employees’ perception of the social life of the company and their engagement.
Overall, one of the most comprehensive summaries of team building practices and theories is contained in Kozlowski and Bell’s 2001 article ‘Work Groups and Teams in Organizations’. In writing the work, the authors aimed to provide readers with a complete overview of the current theoretical and practical knowledge related to teamwork in the organizational setting. The authors examine the factors that affect team performance, such as team composition, size, and diversity, and explain the theories behind team formation and development. They include an evaluation of the various team leadership practices and schemes, thus offering an extensive range of information for all researchers and leaders in the field.
References
Alvero, A. M., Bucklin, B. R., & Austin, J. (2001). An objective review of the effectiveness and essential characteristics of performance feedback in organizational settings (1985-1998). Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 21(1), 3–29.
Bakker, A. B., Emmerik, H. V., & Euwema, M. C. (2006). Crossover of burnout and engagement in work teams. Work and Occupations, 33(4), 464-489.
Barlow, J., & Møller, C. (1996). A complaint is a gift: Using customer feedback as a strategic tool. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Buller, P. F., & Bell, C. H. (1986). Effects of team building and goal setting on productivity: A field experiment. Academy of Management Journal, 29(2), 305-328.
Cannon-Bowers, J. A., Salas, E., Blickensderfer, E., & Bowers, C. A. (1998). The impact of cross-training and workload on team functioning: A replication and extension of initial findings. Human Factors, 40(1), 92-101.
Collins, B. (2002). Meeting employee expectations: Exploring change through employee feedback. Journal of Environmental Health, 64(7), 30-33.
Craig, B. S., & Gustafson, S. B. (1998). Perceived leader integrity scale: An instrument for assessing employee perceptions of leader integrity. Leadership Quarterly, 9(2), 127-145.
Jääskeläinen, A., & Laihonen, H. (2014). Strategy framework for performance measurement in the public sector. Public Money & Management, 34(5), 355-362.
Klein, C., DiazGranados, D., Salas, E., Le, H., Burke, C. S., Lyons, R., & Goodwin, G. F. (2009). Does team building work? Small Group Research, 40(2), 181-222.
Kluger, A. N., & DeNisi, A. (1996). The effects of feedback interventions on performance: A historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory. Psychological Bulletin, 119(2), 254–284.
Kozlowski, S. W. J., & Bell, B. S. (2001). Work groups and teams in organizations. In W. C. Borman, D. R. Ilgen, & R. J. Klimoski (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology (vol. 12, pp. 333–375). London: Wiley.
Micheli, P., & Kennerley, M. (2005). Performance measurement frameworks in public and non-profit sectors. Production Planning & Control, 16(2),125-134.
Salas, E., DiazGranados, D., Klein, C., Burke, C. S., Stagl, K. C., Goodwin, G. F., & Halpin, S. M. (2008). Does team training improve team performance? A meta-analysis. Human Factors, 50(6), 903–933.
Torrente, P., Salanova, M., Llorens, S., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2012). Teams make it work: How team work engagement mediates between social resources and performance in teams. Psicothema, 24(1), 106-112.
Wirtz, J., Tambyah, S. K., & Mattila, A. S. (2010). Organizational learning from customer feedback received by service employees: A social capital perspective. Journal of Service Management, 21(3), 363-387.
Teams are the backbone of business organizations. Business organizations with weak teams are unable to accomplish their respective goals. In order to improve the efficiency of teams, it is important to enhance the effectiveness of teams. The best way to enhance the effectiveness of teams is to change how business leaders understand how teams are supposed to function within a business environment.
The proponent of this study will examine the insights gleaned from three articles on teamwork. In Ruth Wageman, Heidi Garner, and Mark Mortensen’s article entitled Teams Have Changed: Catching Up to the Future, the authors advised business leaders to change their worldview regarding teams and consider the following insights:
self-governing teams instead of empowerment;
the dynamic ecology of technology instead of technology and distance;
the value of dynamic composition (Wageman and Gardner 49).
The authors said that self-governing teams are more effective, because the members are not only empowered, but they also act based on what the organization needs to do (Wageman, Gardner, and Mortensen 50). In addition, teams must acquire greater freedom when it comes to the use of technology. In other words, it is imperative to remove the limitations created by the IT department and reliance on corporate leaders to provide the most cost-effective technology package that answers their communication and collaboration needs. Finally, the authors suggested dynamic composition over fluid composition in order to create appropriate organizational culture and identity (Wageman, Gardner and Mortensen 51).
In the article entitled Why Teamwork Fails, the author shared the view of Wageman and Gardner, especially when it comes to self-directed teams based on the idea of non-traditional work systems (Vallas 223). According to Vallas, a key component is to reduce reliance on first-line supervisors as team members are expected to “assume the responsibilities previously assigned to supervisors (230).
In the article entitled Six Steps to Leading High-Performing X-Teams, the author supports the idea of creating dynamic and self-directed teams. However, the article’s focus is on the creation of teams that are externally oriented. In this framework, team members are supposed to learn the value of understanding “the external environment, build support with key executives, and coordinate with other groups that can contribute to their project (Ancona, Bresman and Caldwell 217).
In addition, the authors pointed out the following objectives when it comes to creating teams from scratch:
choose team members for their networks;
make external outreach the modus operandi from day one;
help the team focus on the external environment; building support from executives, and task coordination;
set milestones and deliverables in the context of exploration, exploitation, and exportation;
use internal process to facilitate external work;
work with top management for commitment, resources, and support (Ancona, Bresman and Caldwell 222).
Conclusion
The proponent of the study attempted to glean insights from three articles that discussed the best way to use teams in order to improve the effectiveness of business organizations. All three articles favor the dissolution of non-traditional work systems in order to replace it with a new system built on the foundation of dynamic and self-directed teams. However, Ancona, Bresman and Caldwell’s article went even further by asserting that self-directed teams increase their efficiency if there is a bias towards an external focus in order to accomplish tasks using external sources.
Works Cited
Ancona, Debora, Henrik Bresman and David Caldwell. “Six Steps to Leading High- Performing X-Teams.” Organizational Dynamics. 38.3 (2009): 217-224. Print.
Vallas, Stevens. “Why Teamwork Fails: Obstacles to Workplace change in Four Manufacturing Plants.” American Sociological Review. 68.2 (2003): 223-250. Print.
Wageman, Mark, Heidi Gardner and Mark Mortensen. “Teams Have Changed: Catching Up to the Future.” Industrial and Organizational Psychology. 5.1 (2012): 48-52. Print.
Leadership is a complex issue that is subject to many discussions and research. Its definition will depend on the situation where it is studied. Leadership is a field of study and a skill crucial for successful managers and other leaders. Leadership is not only the feature of politicians or managers in offices. Leadership skills can be useful in many professions.
Moreover, a person with developed leadership skills can save others in a critical situation. On the contrary, a person in power but with poor leadership skills can bring harm in case of an emergency. History has examples of disastrous situations where men in power could not manage critical situations, which led to people’s deaths (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2009). Thus, a person can be described as one possessing leadership skills when he or she can have an influence on “an organized group toward accomplishing its goals” (Hughes et al., 2009, 88).
Managerial incompetence may have unwanted consequences. The minimum negative impact of incompetence is the failure to achieve goals. However, when an incompetent manager works with people or in a serious industry, the consequences can be much worse. There are two dimensions of managerial incompetence (Hughes et al., 2009). They include the inability to build teams and achieve the wanted results. According to these dimensions, managers can be divided into four categories: Competent Managers, Cheerleaders, In Name Only Managers, and Results Only Managers (Hughes et al., 2009). They differ in their ability to organize efficient teamwork and reach the intended purposes.
I used to know a person who was in charge of the sales department of a small retail trade company. He had five sales managers in the department. They were not making billions of dollars but had a steady income and clear perspectives of growth and development. The person was a typical Cheerleader in his management strategy. The definition of this manager type suited him best of all: “very people-centered and made it a point of getting along with everyone” (Hughes et al., 2009, 91). He tried to make friends with everyone from the company’s staff. He always initiated team-building activities, collective trips on weekends, and all his managers went for dinner together if they were in the office. The sales department looked like a family with warm relations.
On the one hand, it was a pleasure to look at their spending time together. The working process was organized in an atmosphere of fun. On the other hand, the efficiency of the department was decreasing every month. According to Hughes et al., “the problem is Cheerleaders spend so much time making the workplace enjoyable that they forget why they are paid in a leadership position, which is to get results” (2009, 91). It is a precise characteristic of my acquaintance.
His position of an understanding and kind friend could be efficient in case the other managers were responsible and knew what to do. However, three of the five managers he was responsible for were lazy enough to be satisfied with what they had. They did not want bonuses for sales increase and were not conscientious. Taking into consideration his inability to control the work of the staff, the results of the department were predictable. He tried to avoid any conflicts or confrontations. However, his eagerness to follow the orders of superiors and talent to get on well with people led to his promotion as ahead of a company branch in a rural area. At that position, his capacities would be more useful.
I often think about whether the man could become an efficient leader in his previous position. He had a good education, many certificates from various training, and an absolute talent to communicate with people. Nevertheless, it was not enough to make a successful leader. Hughes et al. state three crucial components that make good leaders (2009). These components include the “ability to solve problems and make sound decisions, local/functional know-how, and the ability to get things done through others” (Hughes et al., 2009, 92).
It appears that at present, employees face a problem of hiring efficient managers. I suppose that the man could become more effective in his work if he were more oriented on the result. The image of a friendly and understanding person is good when one looks for a friend, not a manager. When an employer hires a person in a managerial position, the employee is expected to demonstrate the eagerness to achieve goals and fulfill the plans set by a company. If a manager is in charge of a department, he or she should not try to win the false authority by being good. If managerial decisions are fair, no one will object.
Thus, an efficient manager should be able not only to make the team, but to manage it effectively. This effectiveness presupposes the manager’s knowledge of the work details, the orientation on the result, and fair and equal treatment of his colleagues. Consequently, my acquaintance could have been a more fruitful and efficient manager if he had cared more about the result than about his perfect image of a nice person.
Reference
Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2009). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Teamwork can make it easier for employees to deliver positive results. Effective collaboration within the workplace creates the best environment for planning, execution, and realization of objectives. Using the cases of Hewlett Packard (HP) and the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), this discussion examines how an idea of teamwork can be implemented to deliver positive results.
Comparative Analysis: Teamwork
HP is currently one of the most successful companies in the global technology industry. It has been focusing on the concept of project management in an attempt to achieve its goals (“Taking project management,” 2011). This corporation trains employees to ensure that projects are completed successfully. Education programs at the organization are supported by the Learning and Development (L&D) department. Emerging issues are also analyzed to implement superior programs. At HP, teamwork is taken seriously since all efforts are used to support every intended project. Leaders are usually expected to meet the needs of their followers using adequate resources and incentives. Aspects such as motivation, problem-solving, and engagement are pursued to deliver desirable outcomes. These qualities of teamwork have supported most of the intended objectives. However, the concept is yet to be improved in an attempt to enhance performance.
Embracing CMI’s Teamwork Approaches
The CMI is an institution that focuses on superior conditions that have the potential to promote better workplaces and environments. The organization has over 90,000 members. It offers timely advice to support businesses and entrepreneurs. At CMI, the idea of teamwork is taken seriously in an attempt to deliver positive results. One of the outstanding concepts is the use of competent group leaders to achieve intended objectives. As an organization that sets and provides appropriate frameworks for efficient performance, CMI trains individuals and empowers them to become successful and effective (“Using teamwork,” n.d.). The targeted people are guided to embrace ideas such as motivation.
HP can borrow these practices in an attempt to transform its approach to teamwork. CMI outlines various strategies that can be embraced by companies to become effective. Such attributes would be crucial for HP. The first one is the ability to create motivated groups (“Using teamwork,” n.d.). Every team must also be briefed and empowered to pursue specific goals. Leaders should be appointed and authorized to guide their followers. Continuous monitoring can ensure that every group functions optimally (Schmidt-Wilk, 2017). Communication procedures and channels must also be improved (Işık, Timuroğlu, & Aliyev, 2015). These aspects will address emerging obstacles at HP and deliver positive results.
Recommendations
The above insights can also be embraced in my organization to improve teamwork. The first one is ensuring that new teams are formed. The individuals in such groups must also be from diverse backgrounds. Empowerment and provision of resources are powerful strategies for promoting teamwork (Salas, Shuffler, Thayer, Bedwell, & Lazzara, 2014). Leaders should also be appointed and encouraged to meet the needs of different team members (Serinkan & Kızıloğlu, 2015). I can also promote best practices such as efficient communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, and decision-making. The goals of different teams should also be matched with those of the organization. These measures will result in effective teams and make the firm successful.
Conclusion
The above discussion has revealed that teamwork is an approach that can promote organizational performance. HP stands a chance to benefit from the ideas and notions associated with CMI in order to form powerful teams. Firms that want to remain competitive must focus on aspects such as communication, leadership, and empowerment.
References
Işık, M., Timuroğlu, M. K., & Aliyev, Y. (2015). The relationship between teamwork and organizational trust. International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science, 4(1), 133-149.
Salas, E., Shuffler, M. L., Thayer, A. L., Bedwell, W. L., & Lazzara, E. H. (2014). Understanding and improving teamwork in organizations: A scientifically based practical guide. Human Resource Management, 54(4), 599-622. Web.
Schmidt-Wilk, J. (2017). Building leadership, teamwork, and resiliency skills. Management Teaching Review, 2(4), 256-257. Web.
Serinkan, C., & Kızıloğlu, M. (2015). Innovation management and teamwork: An investigation in Turkish banking sector. Journal of Management Policies and Practices, 15(1), 94-102. Web.
Taking project management learning to a higher level. (2011). Web.
Teams in the modern world have taken on a different structure, becoming increasingly diverse and dynamic with the onset of globalisation and digital technology. This makes the management of teams and ensuring effectiveness challenging as compatibility, competitiveness, and information require significant attention. “A compelling direction, a strong structure, and a supportive context—continue to be particularly critical to team success” (Haas & Mortensen 2016, para. 2). Teamwork can be emphasised through the establishment of these specific enabling conditions which contribute to a shared mindset. As a team member and potential leader, I learned the importance of creating a beneficial environment for teamwork to thrive in through my behaviour, expectations, and contributions.
In order for a group of people to effectively collaborate and ensure long-term teamwork on a project, there must be a sense of self-awareness in each member. It is a realistic profile of one’s skills and abilities as well as expectations from co-workers. It may be human nature to have distorted self-awareness and inflated self-worth; however, it is critical for collaboration. It “impacted the quality of decision-making, teamwork, coordinating with other people, effectively managing conflict” (Huppke 2015, para. 11). Self-awareness allows evaluating personal strength and weaknesses which contributes to allowing input from others and serves as a drive for improvement. By taking accountability for one’s behaviour, each worker in the team can take a thoughtful approach to their responsibilities.
However, self-awareness is not a built-in mechanism and requires competent implementation in a team setting. “First, cultivating self-awareness takes time and commitment. Second, many organisations consider team-building from an event-driven perspective and don’t make it a continuous process” (Beier 2016, para. 5). It is rare to see team members completely self-unaware, and most people support the need for growth and improvement. However, a range of subconscious communication behaviours such as defensiveness to feedback can be detrimental to effective collaboration. Self-awareness must be based on proper intentions and requires guidance and time to achieve. Managers can aid this process by emphasising the concept on a continuous basis rather than during periodical team events. In this instance, a team can display appropriate self-awareness and function in critical moments to demonstrate collaboration.
A critical concept which demonstrates teamwork in any environment is emotional intelligence which consists of identity and reputation. It is a matter of perspective which defines the relationships and dynamics within a collective of people. “For most people, there is a disparity between identity and reputation that can cause them to ignore feedback and derail” (Chamorro-Premuzic & Sanger 2017, para.5). Self-awareness and emotional intelligence go hand in hand with improvement, particularly of interpersonal skills. By training or fine-tuning emotional intelligence in a worker, there is a profound effect on collaborative processes. Emotional intelligence helps with an appreciation of contributions and competent distribution of work according to strengths. It is also beneficial in leading discussions as emotional intelligence helps to sense the level of engagement and comfort within specific contexts. As a result, are opportunities for contribution, motivation, and networking which are irreplaceable in interpersonal collaboration within a professional environment.
Interpersonal Skills
Within the context of teamwork, interpersonal skills are based on the ability to establish social communication to fulfil one’s responsibilities. It is a complex and multi-faceted concept which has been found to improve productivity significantly. Cohesive teams show increased support for innovation and frequency of interaction, which leads to a sense of support from colleagues. “When groups achieve high results – and definitely we consider this fact as a positive experience for the group – groups start to develop shared attitudes and interact more intensively” (Ceschi, Dorofeeva & Sartori 2014, p. 222). A closely-bonded and well-communicating group is able to undertake more complex challenges since they exhibit better decision-making which is considerate of all opinions and a quicker group learning process due to overwhelming internal support within a team.
Communicator
The most essential and critical concept of teamwork is communication, without which it would be impossible to work with other people. “On a primary level, communication is all about exchanging information, whether that means brainstorming as a group, delegating responsibilities, setting expectations or alerting others to a problem” (Alton 2016, para. 1). However, communication is more complex than merely relaying a message. It establishes a connection between two individuals, which in its own way forms a relationship. In the process of information exchange, there is an emotional factor involved as well. Therefore, factors such medium of communication, tone, availability, and active listening become essential to executing proper contact while balancing the complex interpersonal dynamics of a group setting.
Managers and leaders must consider this knowledge to their advantage in the process of teamwork on a project. “The universal need for leaders to develop strong, transparent, motivating communications is so prevalent…it remains an issue with expensive ramifications in employee turnover, morale, and corporate potential” (Hedges 2014, para. 1). By establishing one’s role a communicator, a person can guide the group through all stages of a work project from planning to execution and ending with evaluation. However, that does imply a level of accountability since communicators are responsible for an accurate and timely relay of information throughout the teamwork process.
Facilitator
A position of a facilitator is closely intertwined with leadership. This person efficiently manages the team and is responsible for executing the task before them. “The facilitator exerts expert influence (and often positional influence) to direct the team” (Carver n.d., para. 16). There is a myriad of challenges and team-based dysfunctions which a facilitator must address, including any personal lack of leadership ability. Although rank may play a role, in most teamwork activities, it is necessary to support group engagement and focus. There should be an inherent ability to delegate, analyse, and support the team members. In my experience, I learned that a facilitator maintains a critical role of coordinating team resources to achieve a common goal.
Also, a facilitator maintains the role of providing accurate information to the team using competent communication. It ensures an organised team effort and allows to form strategies for problem-solving. It has been shown in studies simulating decision-making that “the ways in which facilitators convey information have the potential to shape the simulation activities and thereby serve different learning goals” (Escher et al. 2017, p. 1). This has implications for training and education which is undertaken in this module. Knowing the importance of a facilitator in teamwork, I can use the values and skills required to undertake this critical role.
The aspect of leadership can be effectively merged with the other skills in order to unify team members. “When people and their different points of view and experiences converge, they create the types of innovations that individuals could not have done or found alone” (Llopis 2014, para. 7). The accountability that comes with the roles of a facilitator and communication places a person in a position to foster commitment of colleagues towards a collaborative effort. Innovation and success arrive when a group can overcome significant challenges of balancing personalities, professional qualities, and communication issues to create a network of ideas which has multiple sources and perspectives.
