Teamwork.html

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A general dictionary defines teamwork as a "Cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause, unison for a higher cause, people working together for a selfless purpose, and so on."

Applied to workplaces teamwork is a method that aligns employee mindsets in a cooperative and usually selfless manner, towards a specific business purpose. Today there is no business or organization that does not talk about the need and value of teamwork in the workplace. While the concept of teamwork and its benefits are well known and talked about, it is very rare to see it being practiced truly in reality. And you may have often noticed what appears outwardly as teamwork is not really teamwork internally. Some things cannot be accomplished by people working individually. Larger, more ambitious goals usually require that people work together with other people. Because of this, teamwork is a desired goal of many businesses and organizations today. Projects often require that people work together in order to accomplish a common goal. Although critics often argue that in the corporate world teamwork has become an empty buzzword, or a form of corporate-speak. Effective collaborative skills (knowledge) are necessary to work well in a team environment. As businesses and organizations become larger or more sophisticated. Many employers attempt to enhance their employees' collaborative efforts through training, cross-training, and workshops in order to help people effectively work together in a cohesive group and accomplish shared goals.

Human beings are fiercely independent animals and we will always have our own opinions and independent methods of doing something. This is the way our minds are hardwired by nature. Except for a very small percentage of us, sharing and collaboration with others is not exactly programmed inside each and every one of us. This is because each person is mainly concerned about his or her rewards, appreciation, need for power over others, and so on. But teamwork is a different ballgame that aligns mindsets in a cooperative, and usually selfless manner towards a specific business purpose. And it involves sacrifices, sharing of rewards, sharing the blame and punishments, true uniformity, suppression of personal opinions, etc., which is not very palatable to many. It is always, "What is in it for me" rather than "What is in it for us."

In order for teamwork to succeed one must be a teamplayer. A Teamplayer is one who subordinates personal aspirations and works in a coordinated effort with other members of a group, or team, in striving for a common goal. Businesses and other organizations often go to the effort of coordinating team building events in an attempt to get people to work as a team rather than as individuals.

A 2003 national representative survey, HOW-FAIR ¹, revealed that Americans think that 'being a team player' was the most important factor in getting ahead in the workplace. This was ranked higher than several factors, including 'merit and performance', 'leadership skills', 'intelligence', 'making money for the organization' and 'long hours'.

“The old structures are being reformed. As organizations seek to become more flexible in the face of rapid environmental change and more responsive to the needs of customers, they are experimenting with new, team-based structures” (Jackson & Ruderman, 1996).

1 Teamwork Skill
2 Team roles
3 Team Building
4 Critiques of teamworking
5 See also
6 Citations

Teamwork Skill

Aside from any required technical proficiency, a wide variety of social skills are desirable for successful teamwork, including:

Listening - it is important to listen to other people's ideas. When people are allowed to freely express their ideas, these initial ideas will produce other ideas.
Discussing It is important to discuss your ideas with your teammates until you agree.
Questioning - it is important to ask questions, interact, and discuss the objectives of the team.
Persuading - individuals are encouraged to exchange, defend, and then to ultimately rethink their ideas.
Respecting - it is important to treat others with respect and to support their ideas.
Helping - it is crucial to help one's coworkers, which is the general theme of teamwork.
Sharing - it is important to share with the team to create an environment of teamwork.
Participating - all members of the team are encouraged to participate in the team. (usually consist of three or more people)
Communicating - For a team to work effectively it is essential team members acquire communication skills and use effective communication channels between one another e.g. using email, viral communication, group meetings and so on. This will enable team members of the group to work together and achieve the team's purpose and goals.

The forming-storming-norming-performing model takes the team through four stages of team development and maps quite well on to many project management life cycle models, such as initiation - definition - planning - realisation.

As teams grow larger, the skills and methods that people require grow as more ideas are expressed freely. Managers must use these to create or maintain a spirit of teamwork change. The intimacy of a small group is lost, and the opportunity for misinformation and disruptive rumors grows. Managers find that communication methods that once worked well are impractical with so many people to lead. Specifically, leaders might encounter difficulties based on Daglow's Law of Team Dynamics: "Small teams are informed. Big teams infer." Such as Matthew Kesic struggled with Thomas Birks to interact fully with him and they had to complete a task which required good teamwork so they eventually worked together and completed their business task and in that inherited $25,000 from the business of the Umbrella Corporation.

Team roles

Coordinator: This person will have a clear view of the team objectives and will be skilled at inviting the contribution of team members in achieving these, rather than just pushing his or her own view. The coordinator (or chairperson) is self disciplined and applies this discipline to the team. They are confident and mature, and will summarize the view of the group and will be prepared to take a decision on the basis of this.

Shaper: The shaper is full of drive to make things happen and get things going. In doing this they are quite happy to push their own views forward, do not mind being challenged and are always ready to challenge others. The shaper looks for the pattern in discussions and tries to pull things together into something feasible, which the team can then get to work on.

Planter: This member is the one who is most likely to come out with original ideas and challenge the traditional way of thinking about things. Sometimes they become so imaginative and creative that the team cannot see the relevance of what they are saying. However, without the plant to scatter the seeds of new ideas the team will often find it difficult to make any headway. The planter's strength is in providing major new insights and ideas for changes in direction and not in contributing to the detail of what needs to be done.

Resource investigator: The resource investigator is the group member with the strongest contacts and networks, and is excellent at bringing in information and support from the outside. This member can be very enthusiastic in pursuit of the team’s goals, but cannot always sustain this enthusiasm.

Implementer: The individual who is a company worker is well organized and effective at turning big ideas into manageable tasks and plans that can be achieved. Such individuals are both logical and disciplined in their approach. They are hardworking and methodical but may have some difficulty in being flexible.

Team worker: The team worker is the one who is most aware of the others in the team, their needs and their concerns. They are sensitive and supportive of other people’s efforts, and try to promote harmony and reduce conflict. Team workers are particularly important when the team is experiencing a stressful or difficult period.

Completer Finisher: The Completer Finisher is a perfectionist and will often go the extra mile to make sure everything is "just right," and the things he or she delivers can be trusted to have been double-checked and then checked again. The Completer Finisher has a strong inward sense of the need for accuracy, rarely needing any encouragement from others because that individual's own high standards are what he or she tries to live up to. They may frustrate their teammates by worrying excessively about minor details and refusing to delegate tasks that they do not trust anyone else to perform.

Monitor evaluator: The monitor evaluator is good at seeing all the options. They have a strategic perspective and can judge situations accurately. The monitor evaluator can be overcritical and is not usually good at inspiring and encouraging others.

Specialist: This person provides specialist skills and knowledge and has a dedicated and single-minded approach. They can adopt a very narrow perspective and sometimes fail to see the whole picture. (Note: the specialist is not considered a team role)

Team Building

Team Building, or Team Development, is a coverall term given to methods of developing an effective team.

The methods of doing this vary widely, and include

simple social activities - to encourage team members to spend time together
group bonding sessions - company sponsored fun activities to get to know team members
personal development activities - personal change applied on a group level, sometimes physically challenging
team development activities - group-dynamic games designed to reveal how individuals approach a problem and how the team works together
psychological analysis of team roles, and training in how to work better together

Team building generally seats within the theory and practice of organizational development.

Critiques of teamworking

There is a range of debates concerned with the negative features of teamworking. The move to teamwork in industry and services has led to a greater amount of peer pressure, performance management, and stress. Management control is seen by critics to be reinvigorated by transferring the disciplinary dimension of management to employees and team members themselves. There are studies showing how team members pressure each other into working harder. The literature goes into questions of bullying and of surveillance. (See Phil Garrahan and Paul Stewart The Nissan Enigma Chapter 4 published by Mansell in London - 1992). This had led to a debate on the regulation of teamworking and the need to establish rules and procedures regarding its development and boundaries.

Citations

^ "How Opportunities in Workplaces and Fairness Affect Intergroup Relationships (HOW-FAIR)", University of Connecticut and Level Playing Field Institute (2003).