Teams - General Framework
Teams are mainly formed to complete the common goals. As individuals differ in their behavior, culture, religion and attitude so teams provide an advantage to know each other and this will aids in enhancing the cooperation and coordination among the individuals that have formed the teams or groups together. Teams also refer to the group of individuals who tend to perform interdependent tasks so that the specific objectives and goals could be accomplished easily. There are majorly four types of teams namely - functional teams, cross functional teams, self directed teams and virtual teams. The roles of a team are very effective such as - it helps in organizing and planning, solving the complex problems, effective communication and leadership. Let us discuss more about the teams in detail.
Introduction:- A team could be defined as the small number of persons that have the complementary skills and are committed to a common purpose or goals and objectives. The individuals that form a team have the various set of skills such as - problem solving, decision making, interpersonal skills and technical skills. There are several features of a team like - they tend to set their own goals check their own task, create their own schedules and then review their performance, the teams tend to be self managing & are autonomous, accepted leaderships, solid relationships, common purpose, clear goals and effective process. Further it will be discussed about the tuckman's stage of team development, decision making in the teams, physical structures that have been designed to facilitate the teamwork, mangers contribution in promoting the teamwork.
Tuckman's Stages In Team Development
There are mainly 5 stages of developing the teams and these are as follows - forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Let us discuss all of these in more detail.
Forming:- It is the first stage for developing the team. In this the members of the team is having a chance to know each other and getting comfortable with each other. In this stage member of the team try to define the task, basically the foundations are laid down for the group, members are cautious with their behavior, the controversy, conflicts and personal opinions should not arise in this stage. Following characteristics that could be considered in this stage are - individualistic, roles and responsibilities are not defined properly, dependent upon the leaders for the appropriate direction, processes often tend to be ignored and individuals start testing the tolerance level of the leader. The main aim of the individuals in this stage is to become familiar with each other ( Katzenbach and Smith, 2015, 20(2)) . The various outcomes of this stage is that it assists in determining that how the team will be going to organized, what are the responsibilities of various members and understanding the main purpose of the team.
Storming :- This stage comes after the first stage that is forming. It mainly deals with the tensions & defining the task of the group or team. In this stage the main part is conflict and competition. As the team members are now having an understanding about the task & they all have became familiar with each other. This stage also consists of the various characteristics such as - rushing towards taking the actions, there are varied differences, leader coaches and conflicts tend to occur in this stage. All of the members in the group tend to feel confident and now started establishing the cordial relations with each other. The main issue in this stage is that the persons who are less confident tend to remain in the comfort zone. The main purpose in this stage is that each and every individual should take part in the process of making the decisions and share the opinions regarding the change that is to be done so that the objectives could be accomplished conveniently.
Norming :- It is the stage all the members of the team becomes a cohesive unit. The individual in the groups or teams is having a very high morale. The members of the teams should be talented, skilled, should have the experience and support each other in solving the problems (Betts and Healy, 2015, 25(1)) A sense of community tends to establish among the various members of the teams. The roles and responsibilities of each member or individuals must be clearly defined, unity & community is very strong and individuals tend to develop very strong commitment to accomplish the goals and objectives of the team. This stage consists of the following characteristics - creativity, flexibility, common vision, trust, tracking and reviewing the performance and engaging the members of the team in the social activities.
Performing :- It is the stage where the groups will be going to become the high performing teams. It is very clear to the members of the teams that why it is doing and what it is doing. The main focus of the team members is to complete the task & achievement. Performing stage majorly comprise of the components such as - productivity, results, actions, focusing on completing the goals and objectives and along with that unifying and identifying the teams. Developing the members of the team is the major aim and delegation of the work and the roles and responsibilities. If any individual tends to leave the teams then the performance will not get affected and no disruption will be there on accomplishing the goals and objectives (Jones, 2019, 12(3)). This stage consists of several characteristics such as - high degree of autonomy, resolving the disagreements positively, establishing the new goals, collaboration and focus.
Adjourning :- It is the final stage in the development of the team in which the breakup of the team takes place once the work or task is accomplished completely. This stage is all about disengagement and completion, individuals start to get separate from each other after completing the work that is being allocated to them by the leader. This stage is also known as the mourning or deforming. Once the member of the team has been completed their task they must focus on the other goals and objectives set by the leaders. At this stage it is very essential to recognize the growth, progress & achievements of goals and objectives together.
Decision making in the teams : - Making the decisions is very significant and it must be ensured by the manager that each and every employee working in the organization must be involved at the time of making the decisions. There are various techniques which could be required by each organization for making the effective decisions such as - brainstorming ideas and activities, nominal group technique, Delphi techniques and ranking the possibilities. Activities must be conducted by the manager within the organization that would contribute in enhancing the level of performance and developing the individuals significantly (Uitdewilligen and Waller, 2018, 15(2)). These all techniques should be adopted by each and every organization or firm whether big or small. Managers must take the significant and appropriate decisions that would help in enhancing the skills and overall knowledge that would assist them in increasing the productivity of both the employees as well as the organization.
It is significant to keep the group small so that it will be easy for the manager to pay attention individually on the members of the group, appointing the appropriate leader, opinions must be collected individually from the members of the teams or the groups, involving each and every employee in the process of making the decisions and sharing the responsibility collectively. Supporting each and every member in the group will tend to boost their morale and also helps in enhancing the motivation among the individuals belonging to the same group in the organization or the firm.
Physical structures that have been designed to facilitate the teamwork
Communication : - It is one of the significant elements that could be used to enhance the teamwork. Every individual who is the part of the team should have the skills and capability to communicate with all the other members in the team. Communication is one of the crucial components and is very important for each individual to establish the cordial relation with the members of the team (Lower, Newman and Anderson-Butcher, 2017, 10(1)). Members of the team must support each other in resolving the various kinds of problems. Communication is a very effective way by which the marketer could easily establish the goodwill and make the customer completely satisfied.
Delegation :- The members of the team will work together effectively and efficiently only when they will tend to support each other and have the capability in recognizing the strengths and weakness of the team. Each individual must understand the roles and responsibility and fulfill it on time thereby accomplishing the goals and objectives of the organization. The duties in the organization could be delegated from superior to subordinate. Each individual must adhere to the responsibility and duties that is being assigned to them.
Efficiency :- It is very essential for every employee to do the work with the effectiveness and efficiency as it would assists in enhancing the productivity of the organization and it would aids in earning the significant amount of profits and will also achieve the growth. The way in which the individual tends to perform work plays a very crucial role therefore manager must ensure that each and every employee in the organization is utilizing its capability and working to its full potential & is contributing in enhancing the goodwill of the organization.
Ideas :- Individuals working in the organization must provide the creative and innovative ideas to the manager that will be beneficial for enhancing the reputation of the firm or the organization. Every individual should be involved at the time of making the decisions and must give any idea that could be helpful for enhancing both the productivity and efficiency of the employee as well as the organization ( Anvuur and Kumaraswamy, 2016, 34(1)). The ideas should be innovative and creative and that could help in enhancing the productivity and efficiency of the employees and the organization.
Support:- Providing support to each other in the team or group is very essential. This will also helps in boosting the morale and motivation among the employees. Each and every employee must ensure that if any of the members in the group or team is having any problem then they must provide the appropriate solution to the employee. All the members must be able to establish the cordial relations among each other and if they tend to face any kind of issue or problem then they can take help from the manager of the organization. The employees must be efficient enough to develop the skills and should complete the work or accomplish the goals and objectives. It is one of the significant elements that will assist each and every organization to build the effective and enhancing the skills as well as their working ability.
Managers contribution in promoting the teamwork
Rewarding the employees of the organization
Every employee must be rewarded as per the performance in the organization as it will help in enhancing the morale and they tend to feel motivated. It is one of the significant methods which could be used by the managers to promote teamwork in the workplace among the members of the teams. Rewards could be given to the employee in the form of increasing the salary, giving them bonus and also being appreciated by the manager as well their superior and subordinates. Rewards could be given to the team or to the individual member of the group. The manager must take care that rewarding the employees on time will boost their morale due to which they will be contributing in enhancing the productivity of the overall organization.
Managers must help in setting up team building activities
Efforts must be made to set the activities which must be required to build the effective team. Activities must be conducted in such a way that it will assist the members of the teams to accomplish the different tasks and goals. Each and every employee in the team must be involved at the time of making the decisions (Lindsjørn, et, al, 2016, 24(1)). The activities in the organization must be conducted or organized timely that is weekly and monthly basis and the managers must ensure that each and every individual of the organization must participate in those activities and due to this it will help the organization to improve the working efficiency and performance of the employee.
Assigning roles and responsibilities to the team members
Managers must assign the proper role and responsibility to each and every employee working within the organization. All the individuals in the team must be supportive and tend to help each other in resolving the various kinds of problems. Manager must assign the duty and responsibilities as per the capability of the particular member in the team. roles and responsibilities must be fulfilled within the time that is without having any much delay so that it will help the organization and the employee working in the firm or an organization to increase the productivity and working efficiency of the individuals. Managers must assign the roles and responsibility as per the capability of the employee.
Objectives must be simple and clear
Objectives set by the organization should be simple and clear. Objectives should be simple enough that they could understand by the various employees working within the organization. The objectives of the organization must be achieved very easily that must be ensured by the managers in the organization. The organization must know its vision and mission along with the complete objectives. Manager must also ensure that it will also aid in enhancing the performance and productivity of both the employee and the organization. The policies and strategies of the organization must be designed in such a way that it could be understood by the employees working within the organization and therefore will not tend to face any kind of difficulty in accomplishing the task. If is is essential than the manager could work as a helping hand and guide the employees so that further mistake would not be done again.
Dealing with the problems as they rise
Every organization tends to have conflicts among the employees working within the organization. The main motive of both the employee and the managers should be to resolve the problem as and when they arrive otherwise it will tend to create dissatisfaction among the various employees and they will leave the organization and due to which the productivity and efficiency of the employees will get affected. The manager should be able to give appropriate and innovative solution to the employee so that the problem could be solved and will not become a massive problem in the organization.
Organizing games which will help in building the teams
The games in the organization must be conducted in such a way that it will tend to be beneficial for developing the skills of the employees working within the organization. Managers must ensure that each and every employee working in the organization must participate in such kind of games as it would help in enhancing the skills, knowledge. Individuals in the teams must be innovative and should be able to provide the appropriate solution to the manager that could help in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization or the firm. The games must be organized in such a way that could help in the overall development of the individuals and will also assists in improving the skills of the employee.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the cooperation and coordination among the various members of the team is very essential then only it is possible to accomplish the desired goals and objectives. Teams could be defined as the group of two or more persons working together and are mainly focusing on accomplishing the common goals. Whereas, the teamwork could be defined as when two or more people work collectively, to achieve a common goal, creating a healthy environment and supporting each other to enhance motivation and performance of the team members working within the organization so that they will not tend to get dissatisfied. Effective teamwork is essential as it will enable in enhancing the productivity and overall efficiency of the organization or the firm. For teams to function effectively the individuals must act ethically towards each other and provide support at all the levels. When the members in the group or team tend to work collectively then it will help them in resolving the problems very quickly and efficiently.