The concept of team work

The team concept not only makes work more effective and efficient, but stimulates creativity and energy among employees. Team members draw on each other’s knowledge and freely share information as they strive to reach individual and team goals. Moreover, team responds to change more quickly and serves clients more effectively, as compared to the efforts of an individual employee. It has been seen that team concept improves performance of both employee and the company.

Working in teams is a way of life at company’s investment. Functioning in a team requires that all employees communicate effectively so that they can make decision efficiently, solve problems quickly and achieve their respective goals. Working in teams and small groups puts everyone’s communicating skills to test. A team is a unit of two or more people who work together to achieve a goal. Team members share a mission and the responsibility for working to achieve it.

Whether the task is to write reports, give oral presentation, produce a product, solve a problem or investigate an opportunity, team members must communicate effectively among themselves and with people outside their team. As such companies look for people who can interact successfully in teams and make useful contribution while working together. A question often arises as to why teams are important in today’s workplace. One reason is performance.

A recent study reveals that organizations working in teams experience the highest improvement in performance. Creativity is another reason. Teams encourage creativity in workers through participative management, involving employees in company’s decision making. Team members have a shared mission and are collectively responsible for their work. Companies like to hire people who work effectively in teams. Various researches show that teams contribute to an organization’s performance.

The type, structure and composition of individual teams vary within an organization. Companies can create formal teams that become part of the organization’s structure or they can establish informal teams, which are not part of the formal organization but are formed to solve a problem, work on a specific activity or encourage employee participation.

Problem solving teams and task forces are informal teams that assemble to resolve specific issues and then disband once their goal has been accomplished. Team members often include representatives of many departments so that those who have a stake in the outcome are allowed to provide inputs. In contrast to problem solving teams and task forces, a committee usually has a long life span and can become a permanent part of the organizational structure. Committees typically deal with regularly recurring tasks. For example, a Grievance Committee may be formed as a permanent resource for handling employee complaints and concerns.

Virtual teams bring together geographically distant people/employees to interact, share information and accomplish goal. Say for example, microchip engineers at Bangladesh, Texas and Japan can put ideas and design new chips taking advantage of forming virtual team, which operates using advanced communication technology.

Virtual teams can use computer networks, teleconferencing or e-mails. Video conferencing and Web technology to build teams are as effective as those in organization’s functioning under one single roof. Web technology allows companies to develop large scale work spaces on the Internet for online discussion and data sharing. Using Internet facilities employees scattered around globe can work, write, edit and comment on a report. This software allows users to draft various sections of a document while editing other sections of the document and participate in a Web based discussion on all at the same time. Web based collaboration offers benefits like simple to handle, cost effective and offers multiple activities in a seamless fashion.

However, virtual teams are not without certain disadvantages. Virtual teams must function with less direct interaction among members. So team members require excellent project management skills, strong time management skills and heightened interpersonal awareness. In addition, they must be able to use electronic communication and collaboration technologies and they need to work across culture.

While deciding to use teams, authority must weigh both the advantages and disadvantages of doing it. At their best, teams can be an extremely helpful forum for making key decisions. For one thing, the interaction of the participants and the combined intelligence of the group produce better decisions than what would have achieved had the members worked independently. Team decision making can benefit organization by delivering

* Increased information and knowledge

* Increased diversity of views

* Increased acceptance of a solution

* Higher performance levels.

Although team work has many advantages, it has a number of potential disadvantages. At their worst teams are unproductive and frustrating, and they waste everyone’s time. It may be counter- productive because it may arrive at bad decisions. At times some team members may have hidden agenda. For example, private motives that affect the group’s interaction. Further it involves high cost of coordinating group activities.

The interactions and the processes that take place in a team are called ‘Group Dynamics’. Some teams are more effective than others simply because of the dynamics of the group inputs and the resolution of differences. To keep things moving forward productive teams tend to develop rules that are conducive to business. When a team has strong identity, the members observe team rules religiously and are upset by any deviation. The loyalty can be positive, giving members a strong commitment to one another and highly motivating them to see that the team succeeds. However, an overly strong identity could have negative impacts.

Members of a team can play various roles, which fall into three categories. They are Self Oriented roles, Team Maintenance roles, and Task Facilitating roles. In case of Self Oriented roles members are self- motivated to fulfill personal needs. As a result they are less productive. In case of Team Maintenance roles, members help everyone to work well together. Members who assume Task Facilitating roles help solve problems or make decisions. Teams pass through five phases while taking decision. They are:

Orientation: Team members socialize, establish their roles and begin to define their task.

Conflict: Team members begin to discuss their position and become more assertive in establishing their roles. Disagreements are natural part of this phase.

Brainstorming: Team members air all their options and discuss pros and cons fully. At the end they settle on a single solution to the problem.

Emergence: Team members reach a decision. Consensus is reached when the team finds a solution, which is acceptable to all members. This consensus happens only after all members have had an opportunity to communicate their position and feel that they have been listened to.

Reinforcement: Group feeling is rebuilt and solution is summarized. These five phases have always come into play regardless of what task or what type of decision is being considered.

In effective collaborative relationships, all team members recognize that each individual brings valuable assets, knowledge and skill to the team. They willingly exchange information, examine issues and work through conflicts that arise. They trust each other, looking toward the greater good of the team ignoring personal interest. Effective teams have a clear sense of purpose, communicate openly and honestly, reach decisions by consensus, think creatively, remain focused and resolve conflict effectively.

Conflict in team arises for any number of reasons. Team members may disagree about who is responsible for a specific task. Poor communication may lead to misunderstanding. Basic differences in values, attitude and personalities may lead to arguments. Power struggle may surface when one asks for authority of another member. Conflict can be constructive or destructive to a team’s effectiveness. Conflict is constructive when it forces important issues into the open, increases the involvement of team members and generates creative ideas for the solution of a problem. Conflict is destructive if it diverts energy from more important issues, destroys the morale of the teams or individual team members or polarizes or divides the team.

The first step in resolving a conflict is to find out a win-win situation. In such case try to find out what might be acceptable to other party. Search for mutually satisfactory solutions or compromise that will result in joint gain. The undernoted seven steps can help team members to successfully resolve the conflict.

Pro- action: Deal when the issue is minor before it becomes major,

Communication: Get those directly involved in the conflict to participate in resolving it,

Openness: Get feeling out of in the open before dealing with the main issues.

Research: Seek factual reasons for the problem before seeking solution,

Flexibility: Don’t let anyone look into a position before considering other solutions,

Fair play: Don’t let anyone avoid a fair solution by hiding behind the rules,

Alliances: Get parties to fight together against an ‘outside force’ instead of against each other.

Part of dealing with conflict is learning how to persuade other people to accept your point of view. In a business situation reason prevails. However, when you encounter resistance or hostility, try to maintain your composure and address the other person’s emotional needs. You need to avoid destructive confrontation and try to present your position in a convincing manner. Make people aware of their resistance, express understanding, evaluate other’s objections fairly, hold your arguments until the other person is ready for them. The whole purpose of developing a team that’s effective is to get members to collaborate on necessary tasks.

The writer is former Director General of EPB. He can be contacted at hassan.youngconsultants@gmail.com