Working in Teams - Research Paper Example

Working Teams Yield Better Results than Individuals Introduction Organizations have come under acute pressure to incorporate innovative ways of value creation, particularly in the face of the ever-increasing global competition, high business uncertainty, and complex business environment (Shabankareh & Shahidi, 2014). Over time, many organizations have come to acknowledge and appreciate the critical importance of their human capital in achieving continuous improvement. The human capital is indeed one of the most critical sources of competitive advantage, which enables organizations to create value for their customers, by supplying adequate high quality goods and services. This in turn leads to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as sustainable growth and development for the organization, which is as a result of high performance. One of the most prevalent strategic approaches applied in Total Quality Management (TQM) contexts is teamwork, which is believed to be essential in tapping the optimum potential of human capital (Parumasur & Govender, 2013). A small group of people with complementary skills, working actively together towards a common goal has been found to be more effective at achieving the desired results than an individual (Manzoor, Ullah, Hussain & Ahmad, 2011). A vast proportion of the innovative ideas and revolutionary changes occurring in many organizations today have been attributed to working teams rather than individuals (Dahlin, 2011). This has prompted a lot of research in the nature of teams and teamwork, with organizations investing many of their resources in team-building approaches to high performance at the workplaces. A great deal of research has been focused on determining whether working teams make better judgements and decisions than individuals at the workplace (Lejarraga, Lejarraga & Gonzalez, 2014). There seems to be a consensus among scholars and critics alike, that groups often perform exceptionally in a vast array of interactive tasks than the average individual. This paper seeks to explore why working in teams has the capacity to yield better results than any single individual at the workplace. Defining teams and teamwork Teamwork has lately become one of the most essential ways in which work is being organized as organizations are increasingly delegating work responsibilities to work groups rather than individuals (Delarue, Van Hootegem, Procter & Burridge, 2008). Teams have been defined in numerous ways but what is evident across the board is that they must be made up of two or more individuals that work together to achieve a common goal, united by the feeling of relatedness to the group. There are three types of teams in every organization, and these are teams that recommend solutions to problems, teams that lead other groups in accomplishing tasks, and teams that perform ongoing tasks. TQM recognizes that both individual and team input is essential for the success of work process that rely on employee skills, talents, capabilities as well as experience, and competencies (Parumasur & Govender, 2013). Given that the total quality environment solely depends of cooperative links, paying increased attention to teams and teamwork breaks down the barriers among individuals, departments, and line/staff functions. Theoretical perspectives Numerous theoretical perspectives have been put forward in an attempt to explain why teams perform better than individuals at the workplace; these include the sociotechnical theory, the work design theory, the self-leadership theory, as well as theories of participative management. The sociotechnical theory suggest that the changes that occur in the structure of an organization and its process could explain the success of working groups at the workplace, as that is the main mechanism through which performance can be enhanced. The work design theories focus on the design of the group task to explain the exceptional success of work teams, arguing that intra-group processes including job design, task variation, as well as interdependence among group members as factors responsible for the group’s performance. The self-leadership theory examines the specific supervisory behaviors that support the success of self-managing teams, particularly the participatory decision-making, individual discretion, as well as teamwork, which lead to increased commitment and effectiveness of the workers. On their part, theories of participative management propose that specific aspects within the organizational context favor the performance of teams rather than individuals. Moreover, the Strategic HRM theory focuses on the efforts and motivation of individual workers in explaining the effectiveness of teams. This theory argues that a HR system that is designed appropriately will inevitably affect positively not only on the levels of job satisfaction, but also on the commitment as well as motivation of employees. Consequently, increased employee job satisfaction, motivation and commitment are more likely to trigger behavioral changes that eventually promote organizational performance. Beyond the hypothetical arguments, numerous methodological approaches including field experiments and intensive case studies have also been used to assess the importance of teams to organizational performance and the effectiveness of work teams (Hertel, 2011). Structural changes at the workplace such as the implementation of teams are more likely to increase efficiency while encouraging workers to work harder and smarter (Rogers & Walker, 2010). Organizing work into teams has significant positive impacts both on the quality of output and efficiency of the organization, because it inevitably reduces the management layers. Teamwork essentially entails breaking down the work into segments and assigning each portion to a group of workers to be accomplished within a given span of time. This clearly establishes the agenda for the group and enforces a sense of purpose, which compels the individual team members to collaborate towards the successful accomplishment of the task. Through routine tasks, teams are also able to establish standardized approaches to task accomplishment, thereby achieving specialization that leads to the production of standardized products and services. Teams perform better than individuals do because they are well equipped to deal with the complex challenges at the emerging workplace environment, which requires a broader scope of knowledge, judgments and opinions (Besedes, Deck, Quintanar, Sarangi, et al., 2014). In the context of the increasing work dynamics and global trends that redefine the manner in which organizations go about creating value for their customers, teamwork is more likely to yield better results than individuals working on their own. Their mix of skills, talents, capabilities as well as experience, and competencies defines working teams, which is necessary in addressing complex challenges in today’s highly complex and dynamic workplace environment. A single individual working alone, particularly at the top of the organization, may not necessarily know everything regarding issues affecting the organization, which limits their capacity to act effectively. Workers of the organization too, may not necessarily know everything, but by working in teams, these workers are able to draw upon their varying skills, talents, capabilities as well as experience, and competencies to come up with solutions to issues, thereby leading to higher performance. Working in teams does yield better results over the efforts of any one individual because when a group of people works together actively, all their skills are harnessed effectively, thereby leading to the achievement of a common purpose (Besedes, Deck, Quintanar, Sarangi, et al. 2014). As noted before, teams comprise of people with different complementary skills and experiences, which enrich the groups’ knowledge base while enforcing a sense of collective responsibility. Individuals in the group are more confident about their abilities and are more willing to contribute their ideas because they will be enriched through the team member’s input. Unlike teams, individuals working on their own are often under pressure to perform that they may end up making simple mistakes that could easily avoided when working in teams. Researchers have proven that team players can tolerate twice as much pressure as individuals working independently in rowing games. This analogy can as well be extended in a general team context, to explain that the pain threshold of individuals working in teams is much higher than that of independent workers, and this enables them to overcome challenges that come with work. In that respect, working in teams increases individuals’ competence to handle tasks as the members often build each other’s capacity with the sole purpose of enhancing the overall group performance. Moreover, teams perform better than individuals do because working in teams does enforce a sense team spirit and cooperation, as well as competition in the organization, which are crucial for organizational performance (Dahlin, 2011). The close working relations between employees in the work teams leads to the establishment of powerful synergies that are essential for the teams’ success in accomplishing given tasks. In the context of competition, every team member strives to do better to contribute to the team’s success, to attract the rewards and benefits that come with high performance. Each of the team members is assigned specific tasks, which they are comfortable with, which further enhances team efficiency and work quality because errors are minimized significantly. In that respect, teams have more capacity to handle situations effectively and promptly than any particular individual does by taking advantage of their common pool of knowledge. Nevertheless, it has also been found that groups have a higher information processing capacity than individuals, thus, are able to collect huge volumes of high quality information within a short span of time. With such huge volumes of data, it would still take an individual forever to analyse all that information and to arrive at inferences regarding the problem at hand. Contrariwise, groups have an incredible capacity to process the data even further, remaining only with the most relevant information that is necessary for addressing the issue at hand. Having gathered the relevant information, groups are also able to make fewer mistakes in processing that information than individuals would, thereby arrive at accurate conclusions (Lejarraga, Lejarraga & Gonzalez, 2014). Moreover, groups, unlike individuals, are also more likely to use the information gathered more consistently in addressing issues for which they hold themselves collectively accountable, thereby achieving better results. Working in teams also leads to high performance because it leads to effective engagement of the workers in tasks that contribute to their professional growth and experience, thereby instilling a high sense of involvement in management of the organization (Gwynne, 2012). In those working teams, each group member in responsible for specific tasks and they are free to express their own opinions regarding issues at hand without suppression. In a large organization with many workers, it is easy for individual workers to feel secluded and insignificant, if the management does not consider their opinions. However, small work teams are effective in creating familiarity among workers, which fosters mutual understanding and healthy working relationships among the workers. Individual team members feel a great sense of pride in belonging to particular teams and are more motivated because their opinions count in the group, and by extension in the organization. Precisely, workers that are engaged feel more appreciated and needed than those that are not and, what an effective way of engaging the workers than assigning them specific tasks that should be accomplished in groups? Eventually, engagement of employees in group tasks leads to increased motivation and commitment of the entire workforce, thereby enhancing the overall performance of the organization. Overall, teams have become an essential approach to the organization of work as many organizations are increasingly delegating work responsibilities to work groups rather than individuals. In the context of TQM, both individual and team effort is essential for the success of work process that rely on employee skills, talents, capabilities as well as experience, and competencies. Numerous theoretical perspectives, including the sociotechnical theory, the work design theory, the self-leadership theory, as well as the Strategic HRM theory and theories of participative management, have explained the link between teamwork and organizational performance. Small groups of people with complementary skills, working actively together towards a common goal yield better results over the efforts of any one individual because of several factors. Principally, teams perform better than individuals because they are well equipped to deal with the complex challenges at the emerging workplace environment, which requires a broader scope of knowledge, judgments and opinions. Furthermore, teams lead to the effective engagement of the workers in tasks that contribute to their professional growth and experience, thereby instilling a high sense of involvement in affairs of the organization. Nevertheless, teams perform better than individuals because working in teams does enforce a sense team spirit and cooperation, as well as competition, which are crucial for organizational performance. Working teams are also more effective than individuals are because individual team members have a vast diversity of skills, talents, capabilities as well as experience, and competencies. References Besedes, T., Deck, C., Quintanar, S., Sarangi, S., et al. (2014). Effort and performance: What distinguishes interacting and non-interacting groups from individuals? Southern Economic Journal, 81(2), 294-322. Dahlin, E. (2011). Theres no "I" in innovation. Contexts, 10, 22-27. Delarue, A., Van Hootegem, G., Procter, S., & Burridge, M. (2008). Team working and organizational performance: A review of survey-based research. International Journal of Management Reviews 10(2): pp. 127–148. Gwynne, P. (2012). Group intelligence, teamwork, and productivity. Research Technology Management, 55(2), 7-8. Hertel, G. (2011). Synergetic effects in working teams. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 26(3), 176-184. Lejarraga, T., Lejarraga, J., & Gonzalez, C. (2014). Decisions from experience: How groups and individuals adapt to change. Memory & Cognition, 42(8), 1384-1397. Manzoor, S.H., Ullah, H., Hussain, M., & Ahmad, Z.M. (2011). International Journal of Learning & Development 1(1): 110-126. Parumasur, S. B., & Govender, P. (2013). The importance of teamwork, continuous top management support and training in bringing about TQM. Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 5(9), 639-651. Rogers, M. J., & Walker, C. M. (2010). Evaluation of leadership teamwork interventions at DTE energy-fermi 2 nuclear power station. Oil & Gas Journal, 108, S6-S8. Shabankareh, N., & Shahidi, M. H. R. T. (2014). Investigating the relationship between the individual level factors of teamwork with human resource performance across head offices of agricultural bank branches in Tehran. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 4(8), 58-68. Read More