Work Efficiency in Different Companies in the World - Case Study Example

Student: Course: Lecturer: Date: Executive Summary Team work is extensively associated with various organizations success and work efficiency in different companies in the world. The paper focuses on establishing whether the employment of teamwork is a guarantee to success, or whether more effort needs to be employed to ensure teamwork success. The paper main problem is to establish what need to be done to enhance team success. The paper main goal is to identify frameworks, concepts, and models employed to enhance teamwork success. According to the employed research, it is evident that team working success is highly determined by how a team was developed and the strategies employed to manage the team. The paper gives an eight step framework that can be used to develop and manage a successful team. It also identify Tunckman model that can be used to guide team development. It finally identifies nine roles that need to be employed in team development and training. All this assist in ensuring the development of a workable team, which results to great success, when it is effectively developed and managed using the described strategies. Analytical Report for 2 Articles Introduction Teamwork is highly embraced in different organizations in the world. In this regard, most organizations consider employing team work to solve various issues and to nature creativity in an organization. Although teamwork is highly associated with high organization performance and success, it is not guaranteed that an organization will succeed in its project just by employing a team to handle it. The paper focuses on establishing how a team can be used to enhance successful organization performance. It reviews the team concept that is to be discussed in the entire paper. It then identifies the case problems, goals, concerns and assumptions that initiated this study. The paper then discusses concepts and frameworks employed to resolve the identified problem. It finally gives a conclusion regarding the general finding attained in the discussion. Team Development and Management Team Concept This paper is based on team concept. Team is a term used in different organizations to refer to a group of people working together to meet a common goal or objective. Teamwork is highly associated with higher organization performance or enhanced performance. In this regard different organizations consider developing teams to handle different important tasks. Team involves bringing together different individuals to work on a common problem. The selection of the team members highly depend on the type of the team or its main purpose. According to McGreevy (366), there are three forms of teams which include operational teams, cross-functional teams, and service teams. Operational teams refer to permanent groups of employees with different skills controlled to create a product either for external or internal customers. The team in most cases has an exclusive duty to create finished product from raw material. Service teams are probable to be founded on the requirement to service a certain client, or to offer a certain service or product to an extensive range of consumers. Cross-functional teams consist of representatives from different disciplines and functions. They are normally established to address a certain issue or problem either on a full-time or part-time basis for a fixed time period. The type of team dictates on the kind of the members to be involved in a team, based on qualification or skills, personal abilities, assignment requirements, individual availability, and personal commitment (Trent 52). Case’s Problems, Goals, and Concerns Team work is normally associated with high performance and improved job effectiveness. However, not all team result to this kind of performance. There are also cases of team failure or team inability to attain the anticipated performance. The main issue is establishing how an organization can ensure effective team performance. The paper focuses on establishing the strategies that should be employed to ensure effective team performance in any kind of an organization. It is assumed that team improves the organization performance as long as it is developed and managed using the right techniques. The paper’s main concern is whether the team success is associated with any team development or management strategies, or team work is a guarantee of successful performance, irrespective of strategies employed in its development and management. Based on the case, team success is highly associated with team development technique. The team success is highly determined by the team composition based on the assignment requirements, members’ skills, members’ availability, their commitment towards team’s success, and the ability to provide the team with all the resources required to attain their goals and objectives. Concepts and Frameworks to Address the Problem According to Trent (51), the success of a team is highly determined by the criterion used to develop that team. Team development requires effective planning, which involves the evaluation of an extensive range of topic and issues that needs discipline and time. Team formation starts by identifying suitable assignment for the team. The assignment should be justified for team work, and should have a suitable team model. The use of team for the selected assignment should be supported by the functional and executive management of the organization. This should be followed by the selection of the right team members. Member selection should first be determined by individual’s ability to handle the defined assignment. This implies that team members should include people who can resourcefully contribute in one way or another to successful completion of the assignment. This aspect should focus not just on individual work performance and skills, but also personal characteristics that make it possible for a team to work effectively in a collaboration. Although each member may be required to make unique and personal contribution to the team, the overall contribution should enhance successful completion of an assignment. Selection of the team members should be followed by the identification or the selection of the team leaders. Leaders’ selection is an activity that normally involves the management. However, a successful team normally allows team members to give their views on the leaders they would prefer among the selected, through election endorsement. Team leaders should be selected among the qualified team members, where individuals with leadership quality are identified. However, important attention needs to be given when selecting the team leaders. This is because team leaders impact group cohesion, effort, goal attainment, and goal selection. According to McGreevy (368), a team without skilful and specially trained leader has a high chance of failing. In this regard, right leadership tactics are required to ensure all team members feel important and honoured. In McGreevy views the initial step that should be applied when selecting team leaders involves deciding the kind of leadership that needs to be adopted. There are three primary manners of handling team leadership. The first one involves viewing a team le9der as a supervisor who is not part of the team. The second way is by viewing a leader as a team member working with the team and with the main role being direct connection with the management. The third way involves having a team that works with no a designated outside or inside team leader or what is commonly regarded as self-controlled team. In this case, leadership and cooperation with management is handled by different team members based on the task. Each team should select leaders based on their preference and purpose. However, leaders in all the three cases must play a role of ensuring successful application of the team to enhance general success of an organization. Thus intelligent leadership need to be enhanced in any team irrespective of the leadership strategy selected. This will increase their motivation, and hence their commitment towards the team’s goals (McGreevy 369). Team interaction is the other most essential aspect to be considered after the formation of a team. According to McGreevy (367), team members should be in a position to relate well with each other, to enhance collaboration. The selected team members need to understand their formal duties and roles in the team. This assists in making team management easier and successful. In addition, understanding the preferences of every team member can permit the coordinator to maximize on the respective strengths of individual team member, and allow all to contribute to a shared problem. This also enhances team members’ interaction in an organization. The team coordinator should then note on the team deficiencies and aspects in which may need to be improved to make the team complete and successful. According to McGreevy (367), the team coordinator should not assume that the team has all the skills needed to complete the assignment, or all it takes to operate in a team environment. One ought to be sure that the team has the ability to stand up to the task, by assessing the team skills and ability with regard to the assigned task. The training should be continuous, or one time training based on the situation of the team members. The purpose of the training is to ensure that team members have all the skills and tactics needed to handle the specified responsibilities successfully (Raes et al. 13). The next aspects will involve the establishment of the required resources. For a team to carry all its roles and duties effectively there must be all the required resources. According to Barczak and Wilemon (32), different teams have different resources requirements. Some teams may require more resources than others, while in others some resources may be regarded to be more essential than others based on the team assignment. In this regard, the team coordinator must evaluate resource requirements of the team and the requirement priority to ensure smooth running of the team operations. Resources required in a team can be classified as job-associated information, equipment and tools, supplies and materials, budgetary support or financial resources, time, work environment requirements, external assistance required, and items needed for task preparation. Another team management aspect that needs to be evaluated for a successful team development is the team level of authority. This is a very essential part of a team since when not clearly defined; it may initiate a conflict between the team authority and the organization management. This aspect ensure that there are clear boundaries on what the team can do independently without involving the organization authority and what it must consult on, before making a conclusion. According to McGreevy (369), self-regulation is important if the team potential is to be acknowledged. Teams will usually be subjected to a certain degree of management direction and it is essential to enhance the understanding of their operation boundaries. According to Trent (55), teams normally contains different levels of power across various dimensions that include that include scheduling, internal authority, selection authority, and authority for external decision-making. The scheduling authority evaluates the team members’ ability to organize for their meeting without having to seek approval from the organization’s main authority. Selection authority determines to add new team members or to choose leaders to handle different task without the involvement of the organization’s leadership. Internal authority determines the team ability to manage its internal operations without involving the organization’s leadership. Some of the cited internal activities of a team include material and budget allocation to support activities of the team, establishment of the team performance objectives and goals, making time decisions regarding activities completion, and requesting help from non-team members with regard to particular aspects of the assignment. External decision making power evaluates the team’s ability to make decisions that commit or bit an organization. This authority gives the team to operate independently without the supervision of the organization’s management. Creating a clear definition regarding the team level of power ensures that everything in the team is executed as anticipated without overstepping or under-stepping the relevant authorities. The next management act that would enhance the success of the team according to Trent (56) is the establishment of quantifiable and meaningful goals of a team. Although the executive managers frequently determine the extensive performance goals of a team, teams need to take the role for determining specific milestones, goals, and targets. A team with measurable performance goals normally perform better compared to teams asked to perform better without measurable targets or explicit goals. This is because members normally employ their goals as a benchmark or criterion when measuring performance. Setting of goals also allows feedback as other teams tries to compare their progress of the targets that were pre-established. In addition, goal setting normally assist in understanding what the team cannot or can attain in a given period of time. Thus, team leaders need to focus on establishing measurable goals for various activities carried out in an organization for effective performance in a team. The next major team management move involves establishing how to reward and measure performance and participation of the team members. Efforts recognition and provision of rewards based on performance is one of the strategies that are commonly employed by organization to motivate their employees. The situation is not different in a team environment. The team leaders need to establish the best reward structure to employ while recognizing their team members for their effort and excellent performance. The team leader should consider a clear guideline on how they evaluate team and individual performance and rewarding. This is very important since it help in eliminating frustration and uncertainty experienced by members of different teams with regard to the criterion employed in their performance evaluation and rewarding. The team leaders should know the importance of transparency in their rewarding system and take advantage of it as a way of motivating the members to enhance their performance. In addition to this, leaders should consider establishing a reward system that foster team work and not a system that break it. The system should consider setting expectations or limits that can be easily attained or even exceeded. It should be able to identify individual contribution in the team success and have a strategy of rewarding individual efforts as well as team efforts (Bushman et al. 24). The last effort in the development of team management strategy is the development of team charters. According to Trent (57), executive sponsors have a responsibility of developing and communicating an official charter which communicate responsibilities of a team, stipulate suitable levels of authority, and identify members that will support central team members as required. The charter may also define reporting relationship of a team to clients or management, specify extensive performance of a team, team objectives, and handle any other issue associated with the team. The most important aspect of the charter is that it legitimizes teams, especially when a team has to make decisions which impact others that are not in the team. There are other different models that are used to demonstrate how a team can be developed and managed successfully. Unlike Trent framework that is quite involving, some of these models are quite simplified and easy to employ. One of the simplified models include Tuckman’s model of team development. This is a simplified model that involves four major stages that include forming, performing, norming, and storming. This model is also embraced by McGreevy. According to the Tuckman model, forming stage refers to the stage in which the team is just a collection of people handling procedure problems and surrounded by artificially polite atmosphere. The stage is characterized by high commitment and enthusiasm, but low competence. Storming is the second stage of this model where the team members flex their muscles and start to gain experience. This stage experiences wilder relationships between members, and between other groups and the team. There is a lot of questioning regarding external influence in the team. As the team fight to establish the best strategy to resolve the situation, the team members might face temporary commitment relapse. This stage is followed by norming stage in which the team starts to attain its ability. This is the stage after the team has established its way to handle its issues and with positive outcomes. The last stage is the performing stage which is characterized by full team maturity and a high level of efficiency. The stage involves handling change in a flexible and open manner. The team at this stage takes the challenge of avoiding destructive conflicts. Although Tuckman’s model of team development ends at performance stage, Mcgreevy insists that the attainment of the performance stage does not guarantee success in a team. The success in the performance stage may be short lived and thus, a team must establish its own strategies to reinvent its approaches and add creativity to ensure continuous success (Mcgreev 368). According to Chong (202) teams integrate the effort of personal contributors and offer synergistic results. This distinctive process has made organizations to depend more on teams as basic mover for change and innovation. According to Chong, team success is highly determined by the team role. Belbin established nine team obligations that need to be balanced or spread amongst members of the team to enhance high team performance. These roles are highly employed in different organizations to enhance team development and training. The nine roles identified by Belbin include plant that involves creative, unorthodox, and imaginative role that focuses on solving complex issues. The second role is resource investigator which involves communicative, enthusiastic, and extrovert characteristics. This role enhances development of contacts and exploration of chances. The third role is coordinator which is characterized by a good chair person, confidence and maturity. It enhances goals clarification, promotion of decision making, and effective delegation. The fourth role is shaper which is characterized by challenging, thriving on pressure and dynamics. The role enhances courage and drive to overcome obstacles. Monitor evaluator is the fifth role which is characterized by soberness, discerning and strategic. It enhances extensive views and accurate judgment. Team worker is the sixth role which is characterized by diplomatic, perspective, mild, and cooperative behaviours. It enhances the ability to listen, avoid friction and enhance development. Implementer is the seventh role which is characterized by efficient, conservative, reliable, and discipline. It enhances turning ideas into real actions. The eighth role is completer-finisher which is characterized with anxious, conscientious, and painstaking. It enhances identification of omissions and errors, and timely deliverance. The final role include specialist which is characterized by dedicated, self-starting, and single-minded. It is enhances provision of skills and knowledge in rare supply. All these roles assist in enhancement of team development and training and have been used to enhance team performance across the United Kingdom (Chong 204). Conclusion Team has been highly associated with high and effective work performance. However, this is never achieved without a considerable amount of hard work. Successful team performance is not automatic. It always involves the employment of the right strategies in the team development and management. Team development and management have always been a challenge in various organizations in the world. In this regard, various framework, concepts, and models have been employed to enhance team development and management. Although, these concepts are quite different, most of the documented strategies have demonstrated a considerable level of success in different situations. The paper has given a summary of three strategies that can be employed to enhance high team performance in any organization. Works Cited Barczak, G and Wilemon, D. Factors Influencing Product Development Team Satisfaction. European Journal of Innovation Management 4.1(2001): 32-36. Bushman, Robert M., Dai, Zhonglan and Zhang, Weining. Management Team Incentive: Dispersion and Firm Performance. The Accounting Review 91.1(2016): 21-45. Chong, Eric. Role Balance and Team Development: A Study of Team Role Characteristics Underlying High and Low Performing Teams. Institute of Behavioural and Applied Management (2007): 202-217 McGreevy, Malcom. Team working: part 2 – how are teams chosen and developed? Industrial and Commercial Training 38.7(2006): 365-370. Raes, Elisabeth, Kyndt Eva, Decuyper Stefan, Bossche V. Piet, and Dochy Filip. An Exploratory Study of Group Development and Team Learning. Human Resource Development Quarterly 26.1(2015): 5-30 Trent, Rpobert J. Planning to Use Work Teams Effectively. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 9. 3/4(2003): 50 – 58 Read More