Organizational Behaviour and How It Impacts on Team Performance - Essay Example

?Research proposal In order to improve the effectiveness of the organization, people often work in groups or teams. It is also important to understand how the behaviour of people shapes their performance in an organization. As such, this paper has been designed to a very important topic related to organizational behaviour and how it impacts on team performance. The paper will mainly focus on the essence of working in groups and teams. The paper will start by explaining the meaning of group and team in order to gain a full understanding of these interrelated concepts in the study of organizational behaviour. The paper will also focus on reviewing literature pertaining to the above mentioned topic. Literature related to group and teamwork will be reviewed in order to gain full insight of this particular topic and how it impacts on the behaviour of people working in an organization. This topic has been chosen since it is insightful in that it is concerned with illustrating how knowledge gained about groups affect the behaviour of people involved in order to make organizations work more effectively. The paper will also outline a personal reflection about what I have gained from studying this topic as well as areas that need further research to improve the body of knowledge that exists in this particular topic. Text analysis Why do people join groups? A group is defined as “two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives,” (Robbins, 1993, p. 285). On the other hand, a team is a group of people that has been formed to work together in common, coordinate their action towards the achievement of an outcome of the project for the benefit of the group (Schultz, 2005). There is no single reason why people join a group. The most popular reasons for joining a group are related to our needs for security, status, self esteem, affiliation, power and goal achievement (Robbins, 1993). People often believe that there is more strength in joining groups than standing alone (Robbins, 1993). When people work in a group, they have fewer doubts and they are more resistant to threats. For instance, new employees in an organization often vulnerable to a sense of isolation and this is the reason why the turn to the group for guidance and moral support from other seasoned employees. Other people join a group as a way of gaining status (Robbins, 1993). People tend to gain prestige for belonging to a particular group that is seen as important in an organization. It can also be observed that people belonging to a certain group also develop a sense of self esteem. The feeling of self worth is often developed by people who belong to a prestigious group that is envied by many people. The other reason why people join a group is that they need affiliation with other people (Robbins, 1993). Some people may be very reach but they cannot leave their jobs as a result of the need to interact with others. Groups often represent power and this is the reason why people often join them. What often cannot be achieved individually becomes possible if people work in groups. Essence of group or teamwork in an organization The goal of the team or group should be synergy, in other words, the sum of the individual efforts in the team is greater than the sum of the individual inputs (Schultz 2005). In an organization, people who often pull their efforts towards the attainment of the same goals are likely to succeed in their endeavour than people who work as individuals. It may be difficult for a person to achieve the same goal that can be achieved by a group of people. Basically, organizational goals can be achieved if people work in groups. Some tasks require the efforts of many people in order for them to be achieved. The main objectives of the organization have to be shared by all the workers so that they share the same understanding towards the vision of the organization. In an organization that is characterised by teamwork, it can be seen that the employees are also motivated to pull their efforts towards the same direction. This is beneficial to the organization as a whole. Essentially, people working in a group or team often share their ideas and knowledge. It is also easy for team members to create knowledge since they will be working towards the achievement of the same objective. If people share the same vision of the organization, they are likely to be in a position to achieve the desired goals with relative ease compared to individual effort. Each particular organization is mainly concerned with the achievement of certain goals. However, it may be quite challenging to achieve the goals of the organization without proper coordination of the efforts of the employees. Knowledge creation and management is very important since it helps the employees in the company to put optimum effort in their performance. Measures to consider when developing groups or teams The main objective of team building is to improve the efforts of the group members so that they can improve their performance (Kleynhans, 2007). There are different activities that are considered when people are developing groups or teams. According to Kleynhans (2007), goal setting, development of interpersonal relations among the team members as well as analysis of different roles of the concerned people are some of the main activities that ought to be considered when developing a group. However, these activities can be achieved if certain measures are taken into consideration when developing a team. It is widely believed that group development is often comprised of five stages namely: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. The first stage in group development is forming and it is often characterised by uncertainty since people involved are not yet fully aware of each other (Kleynhans, 2007). The storming stage is usually characterised by conflicts especially about assigning tasks and roles as well as choosing the leader of the group. The norming stage is where close relationships begin to develop among the members of the group. People begin to understand each other well and they can freely interact. The performance stage is where the group has been accepted and fully functional. Each person at this stage does what is expected of him or her. Adjourning is the fifth and final stage of group development especially to temporary groups. All the activities are wrapped and they are finally concluded. These stages are very important in as far as understanding of group dynamics is concerned. It is also important to create a conducive environment when forming groups so that each person can meaningfully contribute to the process of group formation. Personal reflection I have benefited a lot from learning the subject related to groups and teams. The knowledge I have gained can be transformed into real practice when I get employment in future. It is my strong belief that as a team or group, it is easy to achieve the desired goals than working as an individual. I have also realised that interpersonal communication skills are very important in order to effectively contribute to group performance. The effectiveness of a group can be achieved if people share their ideas as well as treat each other with respect. Communication is an essential element that can positively contribute to the success of a group. In carrying out this proposal, the major problem I encountered is related to making a distinction between a team and a group. These two terms appear to be synonymous bet upon a closer look, it can be seen that they are different though they are closely related. I think future research need to be carried so as to ascertain the measures that can be taken in order to deal with obstacles that are likely to impact negatively on the functioning of groups. I also think that the concept of group work can be applied to the real learning situation since it encourages the members to share their ideas and knowledge which is the essence of group work. References Kleynhans, R et al 2007, Human Resource Management: fresh perspectives, Prentice Hall, CT. Robbins, SP 1993, Organisational behaviour: Concepts, controversies and application, 6th Edition, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall, NJ. Schultz, H 2003, Organisational behaviour, Van Schaik Publishers, Pretoria. Read More