TEAMWORK

Teamwork



Teamwork

Work groups are the basic building blocks of an organization, and contribute to organizational effectiveness when group goals are aligned with organizational goals, and a team is a specific type of group. In most organizations today formal groups may consist of employees who are responsible for an identifiable work process, a specific project, or a problem that needs solving, and are often referred to as a "team", and has the potential to dramatically affect an organization's performance(Sheard Kakabadse 2002 pp.133-51 )

In recent years, teams have emerged as the most important group phenomenon in organizations. The term "team" is not new to organizations, and teamwork has been stressed throughout the year. Today, teams are becoming increasingly popular, so focusing on how to improve and enhance the performance of the teams in organizations is an important topic to organizations(Hoegl Parboteeah Gemuenden 2003 pp. 281-302)

Teams are groups of people who share a common purpose, who depend on each other to accomplish their purpose, develop relationships with each other and outsiders and eventually develop roles in the team. These teams can be intact work groups working for the same person, or can be from different functions or organizations.

In these times of constant modification within organizations, it is essential for teams and team members to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Effective teamwork can help a company deal with the ongoing changes and can create an environment to find better behaviors to solve problems, resolve conflicts, and set goals, whether they be to provide the best possible service, to be the top sales district, or to plan exciting company events. Teams have an important place in our professional and personal lives. Working in teams is an inevitable life experience, even for people who prefer to work alone. Working on teams can normally prove very challenging with all of the variations in personalities, strengths, and weaknesses(Hoegl Parboteeah Gemuenden 2003 pp. 281-302).

An effective teamwork does not happen overnight; it takes a cooperative group of individuals and a talented leader. To avoid a stiff structure in an organization, management must learn to let people do their creative best and optimize their talent. An ideal organization consists of a team-oriented environment where people are being asked to work beyond their disciplines. Departments learn to work together, helping one another, as well as themselves, instead of behaving like rivals, only out for their personal advancement. Communication in a group is paramount to meeting the objectives of any team. Project Managers use meetings as a way of communicating with the project team and the executive steering committee members of the project at hand. Communication offers positive effects because members feel they are able to express their ideas freely, are kept informed of relevant issues and able to respond without being judged(Sheard Kakabadse 2002 pp.133-51 )

Communication and Teams

Communication is an essential part in the development of a workgroup. The types of communication structure determine leadership, roles and status within the group, group morale and cohesiveness, and it limits or enhanced ...