AT&T : Teamwork - Research Paper Example

This means that the organization is involved in multi-billion dollar operations, with over two hundred thousand employees. With such expansive size, the company has been forced to consider organizational structure in many contexts. An investigation of this company reveals that one of the central thorough-puts is the implementation of teams to accomplish its goals. This research examines the kinds of teams this company implements. Analysis With the expansive size of AT&T one of the greatest challenges is human resource management.

While the organization, as one would assume, is broken down into subsidiary branches, there are as many of 5,000 people at these company institutions (Sarbast). In effectively organizing this talent pool the organization implements teamwork in a variety of ways. One of the prominent forms of teams at AT&T can be witnessed in the company information technology department. In this department teams are established in terms of specific projects. Each team then works towards accomplishing the specific project goals.

While collaboration is a major emphasis in the information technology department, the organization also has measures that ensure each team member upholds their portion of the responsibilities. Specifically, each team member is required to submit weekly or daily progress reports to their managers to ensure that adequate progress is being accomplished. There is the recognition then that these managers follow these progress reports to correspondingly ensure the product will be delivered on time.

As such, the general recognition of progress is reported further up the organizational hierarchy. This constitutes both horizontal teamwork operations – within members of the information technology department – as well as vertical teamwork through progress reports and strategic initiatives. Vertical teamwork is not only an element of the job responsibility of individuals in management positions, but extends throughout much of the organization. As AT&T is a communications company, it should be no surprise that one of the primary means by which these teams are established is through AT&T’s innovative internal Instant Messaging tool, as well as traditional email (Sarbast).

In this way lower-tier employees collaborate directly with upper-level managers and designers. Another major area of consideration in terms of the types of teams at AT&T is appointing specific group members and establishing group goals. These considerations are notable as they directly determine the types of teams that are formed at the organization. Senior AT&T manager Ed Williamson noted that the company implements a variety of processes in the establishing the structure and goals of specific teams (Martin, p. 34). He notes that the teambuilding process starts with the planning phase.

During this period managers and executives determines specific tasks that need to be accomplished. Following this stage is the candidate search. While AT&T generally implements teams according to pre-defined organizations, such as information technology, the company will also frequently establish cross-disciplinary teams. This primarily occurs in situations where development, design, and marketing are viewed as an integrated process (Martin, p. 37). The organization then generally follows a number of team building practices after the formation of the group.

In these regards, after the