Effectiveness of Teamwork in Organizations - Essay Example

Effectiveness of Teamwork in Organizations and Effectiveness of team work in organizations Introduction Working as a team is more effective than when an individual handles a task alone. Today, the application and use of teamwork in organizations has drastically increased as compared to thirty years ago. The management and leaders have openly embraced the aspect of having tasks to be handled by a team rather than an individual. Conflicts and resistance to change, however, are among the many factors that undermine the effectiveness of teams. It is therefore imperative for team leaders in an organization to lay out plans and actions on how to address them. This work embarks on finding out the various factors and issues that revolve around teamwork in organizations. The size of a team differs in every organization. This is due to the fact that different organizations and departments have dissimilar objectives, different goals and different expectations in terms of success and the final product. For every organization, to determine how many members will make up the team, different variables and factors are considered (Drouin, 2013). One major factor that is considered is the expectations that the leaders and management have on the team. Different expectations determine how big or small a group is. When the expectations are too high, an organization might decide that the best way to achieve them is by forming a large team (Avery, Walker and Murphy, 2001). In addition, it is important to consider the roles that each of the team members is going to play. If each individual in the team will handle different aspects in the task, the team size might be different as compared to when all team members will handle similar aspects in the task as noted by Mountain and Davidson (2011). Another factor that is considered is the amount and extent of cohesiveness and the level of interconnectivity that is found in a team. Cohesion and interconnectivity are pertinent towards ensuring successful teamwork. When the connection and cohesion is high, the number of members in the team can be less and when it is low, the number should be increased (Edger, 2012). It has been hard to determine the optimum team size, but researchers propose that effective memberships are made of between 4 to 11 members (Robbins and Judge, 2013). However, recommendations brought forward by researchers suggest that 7 to 12 members is an optimum number for problems necessitating high quality decisions (Drouin, 2013). Secondly, when it is important to reach a consensus on a conflict, 3 to 5 members is essential and lastly, when quality and consensus is deemed most important, a team of about 5 to 7 members is optimum (Avery, Walker and Murphy, 2001). They also suggest that having a team made up of odd numbers is advisable as this ensures that decisions are made since there is no balance between two sides with differing views. Another aspect that comes out in teamwork is the issue of conflicts. When working with people, conflict remains inevitable. Contrary to the belief that conflict is destructive in an organization, conflict is healthy. It helps people to give their ideas and as a matter of fact, some of the world’s greatest ideas were born out of conflicts and conflicting views (Shetach, 2012). It is therefore imperative that the team leaders find a way to handle conflicts to promote continuity and efficiency. Team synergy is important in every organization and hence, conflicts cannot be disregarded. Conflicts are of different types. Cultural conflicts are a common example of conflicts in a team. This is where different team members conflict due to differences in their beliefs, their attitudes, the code of conduct or even their different philosophies and ideologies (Yukl, 2012). One cannot overrule the value of different cultures in an organization. It is the uniqueness of ideas that leads to innovation and growth. However, team members might be unable to cooperate and work together based on their cultural differences. As a team leader, one addresses this by creating awareness on the need for all team members to value, appreciate and respect the different cultural views. This way, each person is given a chance to express themselves and their views considered (Robbins and Judge, 2013). Another type of conflict is one that emanates from communication problems. The team members might have problems communicating and this might brew up huge conflicts. To address this, the team leader talks and creates awareness on the importance of open and respectful communication. Conflicts may also be based on individualistic or collectivist attitudes. In individualistic attitudes, a team member thinks about themselves above the interests of the team or the organization. This is opposed to the collectivist who considered the team interests before personal ones (Shetach, 2012). This may lead to conflicts among the members. This is addressed by norms and code of conduct being drawn upon the inception of the team. When conflict occurs, the team leader might even have to reconsider the priorities to ensure that the objectives made were sensible and sound. A question that is usually asked is whether it takes longer to complete a task in a team environment. Researchers say that to effectively answer this question, one must consider the task that expected to be performed (Drouin, 2013). There are cases where the teamwork environment facilitates faster performance of work whereas in some cases, it might take longer than when it is being handled by an individual. However, the law of synergism applies the two plus two equals five aspect (Robbins and Judge, 2013). It states that the overall performance, productivity, output and efficiency when people are working as a team is generally greater than when an individual is working alone. This means that when work is being done under a teamwork environment, lesser time should be taken than when a single individual is doing the same work. This, however, also depends on the cohesiveness and personality relationships between the team members. When the cohesion is high, there is more efficiency. It will also be determined on whether the team is comprised of a homogenous or a heterogeneous composition (Edger, 2012). Teams that are homogenous might be effective due to the similarities in their experiences and their mode of thinking whereas the heterogeneous composition might be successful due to their miscellany and differences, and their capability to take on manifold roles. Resistors, unfortunately, are common in organizations. They openly refuse to handle responsibilities but are very quick to claim any success in teamwork. They are usually disconnected from the rest of the team members, do not listen and are always reluctant to consider insight and ideas from their team members, even when the ideas might be imperative in their roles (Mountain and Davidson, 2011). When there is change to be made, this is the point at which resistors are identified. They are quick to oppose the change and some of them argue that the change is being introduced on their disfavor. Managing resistors is not easy as they sometimes are a big influence on the other team members. To manage resistors, the team leader should clearly lay down instructions and improve communication between him or her and the team members. This also involves providing adequate information on what the change is about and how important it is (Robbins and Judge, 2013). Another angle through which resistors can be managed is by ensuring that all team members are involved in making decisions. They voice and air their opinions on some of the imperative components on the task, change or initiative. Sometimes, another angle usually adopted is the team leader having to compromise with the resistor, even though this is usually the last option. Lastly, one can consider the perspective of the resistor. This allows the team leader to evaluate and see if there are any errors in the initiatives made. These approaches usually help the team leaders in managing resistors. Teamwork is almost an assurance and guarantee of quality and success in any tasks in an organization. A team can be taken to be a composition of people whose abilities harmonize each other (Mountain and Davidson, 2011). The main aim of any team that is formed is to fulfill and accomplish a common unilateral purpose and objective that has been identified by a specific source. This therefore means that today, teams are the more efficient way of working. In any organization, more things get done, decisions get made faster, and better ideas are generated faster, only when all this is done through teamwork. However, one should always remember that team members are effective when they learn to listen and respect each other’s different opinions, and when they have great cohesion among them. There are many challenges that face organizational leadership in organizations, a good example of such a challenge being the resistance to change, a challenge that is usually classified under the people category challenges (Robbins and Judge, 2013). Today, competition is very high and all organizations take measures to ensure that they keep running successfully. To achieve this, changes are made frequently in the organization. Sometimes, this is a challenge to the leaders as the other people might not embrace the change. Their first reaction is usually to resist the change, even when they have not fully comprehended the value of the change. To address this, it is important for the leader to promote open communication between the leaders and those being led. This gives them a chance to express their fears, to voice their opinion and to give their ideas. When this happens, it is easier for the people to consider and give a chance to the change and any new initiatives (Yukl, 2012); Avery, Walker and Murphy, 2001). When all people in an organization work in unison, positive synergy is build up and the level of cohesion greatly increases. A change currently happening in organizations is the shift to a paperless office. In my organization, this was introduced late last year. Initially, there was much resistance to change as the employees were afraid of the change as they had not been informed in advance. Change is inevitable and an organization cannot shun away from it when its time has come. It is therefore very important to ensure that all members of the organization adopt the wave of change. In my organization, with the advent of technology and the increasingly numerous roles and demands, it has been necessary that a paperless office be adopted. Shifting from the traditional way of doing things has caused great challenges. Another change that is currently happening is the increased use of team work to have things done faster and more sound decisions and conclusions reached to. The aspect of teamwork is relatively new in this organization and conflict has been emanating so often. People are yet to embrace the importance and need for teamwork in organizations. As a leader, communication and listening are two important aspects applied to address this change. Open communication and listening shows the members that they are also considered, and that their views and opinions are important (Robbins and Judge, 2013). This makes them more open to change and it is easier to introduce new initiatives, especially when they first thought that the change was introduced to their disfavor. Different tasks are aptly handled either by an individual or by a group. Usually, speed and accuracy are the two main desired outcomes of any task that is delegated to a group. Productivity, coordination, accuracy and quality oriented tasks are most suited for group efforts (Avery, Walker and Murphy, 2001). In productivity tasks, all the team members handle the same kind of work. In this, there is a set bat of results that is expected but since all individuals have different efforts, different results will be attained. Coordination tasks see that individuals perform different tasks, but they are all interrelated and aimed towards one common goal. Actions of all members must be coordinated together since a breakdown in one member’s part might compromise the end results. It therefore calls for all the team members to have massive cohesiveness and unity so that the end result set up by an identified source can be achieved. In accuracy oriented tasks, a list of available options is provided and the team members have to debate and choose the most viable option with which the set objectives will be achieved, with speed and accuracy being considered. Different options are also provided in quality oriented tasks (Yukl, 2012). Tasks that are sensitive and require high degree of confidentiality and accuracy are best suited for individual attention. Conclusion When people work as a team, there is more efficiency and the amount of tasks handled is much more as compared to when an individual works alone. Teamwork, though still a relatively new concept, is widely being adopted into many organizations. It has been proven to be an effective way of getting tasks done at a more satisfactory and faster level. The ideal number of people in a team still remains a question being figured out by researchers, bur records and statistics show that an effective team is dependent on the cohesions between the members, the objectives and roles to be achieved and the roles that each individual plays. It is important to ensure that the “right” members are put into the same team (Yukl, 2012). This means that one should carry out an analysis of the members’ attitudes, perceptions and ideas before determining who will be in which team. The whollist theory states that in teamwork, the overall whole is efficient than the sum of its parts (Mountain and Davidson, 2011). Team work, therefore, is a more effective and efficient way of getting tasks done. Team leaders have vital roles to play in ensuring that teams are successful. They have to develop means and ways to manage resistance to change and to mitigate the number and effects of resistors. They must also learn how to effectively address and handle conflicts as they are inevitable. They have to acknowledge when a conflict occurs and also learn how to listen and to communicate. One cannot disregard the importance of solving conflicts in teams as they reduce the effectiveness of the whole team. Team work remains an important element that determines the effectiveness and success of any organization. Working as a team is more efficient than when an individual handles a task alone. References Avery, C., Walker, M., Murphy, E. (2001). Teamwork is an individual skill: Getting your work done when sharing responsibility. London: Berret-Kohler Publishers. Drouin, N. (2013). How organizations support distributed project teamKey dimensions and their impact on decision making and teamwork effectiveness. Journal of Management Development, 3298), 865-885. Edger, C. (2012). Effective multiunit leadership: Local leadership in multi-situations. Farnham: Gower Publishing. Mountain, A., & Davidson, C. (2011). Working together: Organizational transactional analysis and business performance. Farnham: Gower Publishers. Robbins, S & Judge, T. (2013). Essentials of organizational behavior. New York: Pearson Education. Shetach, A. (2012). Conflict leadership. Journal of Quality Participation, 35(2), 25-30. Yukl, G. (2012). Effective leadership behavior: What we know and what questions need more attention. Academy of Management Perspectives, 88(1), 66-85. Read More