CMA Company’s Team-Building and Communication

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Table of Contents

Team-building Stages
Team Typologies
Conclusion
References

Team-building is an essential element of any HRM practice (Rees & Porter, 2015). In the CMA environment, it is especially important to come up with a framework that could help introduce a certain amount of cooperation into the workplace. The focus on improving communication and promoting teamwork is crucial because of the lack of trust by which the relationships between the company members can be characterized. It is assumed that a well-thought-out team-building strategy will help improve the communication process, thus, addressing the mistrust and promoting a better focus on the staff’s unique needs.

Team-building Stages

Before designing an appropriate team-building strategy, one should consider the stages that the process involves. As a rule, four following levels are mentioned when describing the process of building a team: forming (exploration), storming (conflict management), norming (group dynamics improvement), and performing (supervising the cooperation between the participants) (Pyzdek & Keller, 2014). Thus, the team-building strategy must help introduce standards and values, determine the conflict management strategies, improve the cooperation process, and introduce control tools. Three essential frameworks that can help achieve the said outcomes will be considered.

Team Typologies

Duration

Different taxonomies exist to describe the teams that appear in the workplace environment. The time-based typology is, perhaps, the most common one; it suggests that work teams can be split into the following two categories: temporary and permanent ones (Chae, Seo, & Lee, 2015). By definition, the former is dissolved after the project is completed, whereas the latter continue working afterward.

Distance

Virtual teams are juxtaposed to regular teams based on the location of the participants. Virtual teams exist in the realm of virtual reality, whereas regular ones are formed in the physical environment of an organization. Therefore, the connection between the members of a virtual team may be rather loose (Iverson, 2014).

Focus

The taxonomy based on the scope of the participants’ work and the area in which they operate is also very common in the business environment. As a rule, problem-solving teams, departments, and cross-functional ones are mentioned when applying the focus-based approach. The title of a problem-solving team is self-explanatory; created to address specific issues, they may be temporary (i.e., built to handle a specific issue) and permanent (i.e., created to address the emergent problems and conflicts regularly).

Departmental teams are, perhaps, the most common ones in the business realm since they have been in existence since the creation of the concept of entrepreneurship. Departmental teams are designed to gather people with the same skill or set of skills to work in a specific department and manage the operations in the designated area. Departmental teams are crucial to the successful performance of the organization since they contribute to collaboration between its members and the accurate exchange of the relevant information. Thus, the quality of the company’s products and services rises (Ferri-Reed, 2014).

Even though it is important to make sure that the staff members are split into teams based on their skills and abilities, a leader must also promote cooperation between the representatives of different departments. Thus, different corporate processes (e.g., financial and logistics-related ones) can be coordinated successfully. For this purpose, cross-functional teams are created (Aime, Humphrey, Derue, & Paul, 2014).

Suggested Framework

As seen from the description of the models provided above, different types of classification may coexist in the company environment. Therefore, several approaches toward team-building can be recommended. At present, CMA needs an approach that would keep its members together and allow them to develop mutual trust. Therefore, it will be reasonable to focus on the use of both permanent and temporary teams. Being a part of the former will help the staff members develop the necessary qualities, i.e., the ability to cooperate, exchange essential information, etc. The introduction of temporary teams into the organization’s design will help the employees develop the flexibility required to work in tandem.

Regular teams instead of virtual ones will have to be formed. Thus, the employees will develop the required skills within a shorter amount of time. Furthermore, the use of nonverbal elements of communication, which virtual environment does not involve, will contribute to an enhanced communication process.

Finally, problem-solving teams, departments, and cross-functional teams will need to be created. The focus on problem-solving will help make the employees immune to conflicts and workplace tension. Department teams will contribute to rapid quality improvement, whereas cross-functional ones will help address information management issues and make the staff coordinate their actions with each other.

Conclusion

At present, the tools for team-building aimed at promoting trust among the target population should be viewed as a necessity. Put differently, forming and norming should be viewed as the stages of the highest priority at present. By exploring the specifics of relationships between the employees and understanding why there is a consistent culture clash, as well as perpetual mistrust, one will be able to design an efficient management approach. The strategy based on enhancing communication should be considered first. Currently, the employees must be provided with an opportunity to voice their opinions. As soon as the basis for successful communication is established, one will have to consider the approach aimed at promoting trust, creating rapport, and using emotional intelligence actively. Seeing that the lack of trust and cooperation is the primary issue at CMA sat present, it will be necessary to focus on shaping the corporate values so that mutual trust should become an essential element of the relationships between the employees.

References

Aime, F., Humphrey, S., Derue, D. S., & Paul, J. B. (2014). The riddle of heterarchy: Power transitions in cross-functional teams. Academy of Management Journal, 57(2), 327-352.

Chae, S., Seo, Y., & Lee, K. C. (2015). Effects of task complexity on individual creativity through knowledge interaction: A comparison of temporary and permanent teams. Computers in Human Behavior, 42, 138-148. Web.

Ferri-Reed, J. (2014). Building innovative multi-generational teams. The Journal for Quality & Participation, 1(1), 20-22.

Iverson, S. (2014). Book review: The handbook of high-performance virtual teams: A toolkit for collaborating across boundaries. [Review of the book The handbook of high-performance virtual teams: A toolkit for collaborating across boundaries by J. Nemiro, M. M. Beyerlein, L. Bradley, & S. Beyerlein]. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, 26(2), 63-66.

Pyzdek, T., & Keller, P. (2014). Six Sigma handbook (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Professional.

Rees, W. D., & Porter, C. (2015). Skills of management and leadership: Managing people in organisations. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

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