Effective Team and Performance Management - Coursework Example

?Effective Team and Performance Introduction Many organizations have realized the value behind team work in their operations. According to Bales (1965, p.1-7) lack of team work in many organizations is directly related to inefficiencies and failure. Therefore, an organization must consider the reasons behind lack of cohesion and cooperation among the employees (Adair 2008, p.23-34). It must be able to reflect on the areas of conflict and enhance them to increase efficiency and effectiveness. An organization is made up of various departments, each of them different in functions, yet working towards achieving the same goal (Clinebell & Stecher 2003, p. 362). Therefore, an organization must always look for ways of bringing together all the departments to ensure that the specific goals and objectives are achieved. According to Furnham et al, (1993, p. 245-257), in an organization setting, the sources of conflict are varied. Many conflicts are related to psychological factors such as wrong attitudes towards accomplishing given tasks. Some members will normally not co-operate in various areas of an organization due to psychological factors that they pose. Some members may also have emotional problems which will be expressed at most times while the employees are working together. For example, some may show signs of ranging temper, some resentment while others become indifferent during moments of team work. They may not be able to bring forth their ideas with ease, hindering team work. There are also several behavioral practices that work contrary to team work (Kaplan & Miller 1987, p. 346-360). For example, some members may withdraw from the team, others choosing to choose the team members that they would want to work with. This will obviously hinder cooperation in the organization. Leadership plays a key role in the achievement of team work within the corporate world. A leader is any individual who is able to influence the employees towards a specific direction. Leadership may come from any level or department within an organizations setting (Kaplan & Miller 1987, p. 346-360). It is important that appropriate leadership is given, so that all the employees move towards the same direction. In this report, I reflect on various activities that have we have undertaken as a group, in the bid to learn more on the topic of team work. I use the tasks to understand how well team work can be accomplished within an organization. The outcomes of the teamwork within our group indicate the issues that surround cooperation and cohesion within the organizations. Reflection of various the tasks undertaken During our class work, we were called upon to take various tasks as groups. They would either be seminar activities or weekly activities. One of these activities included the egg flying contest. In this case, I and other team members were called upon to use all the resources that were available to ensure that an egg would not breaking after being dropped from a height of 2 meters. Several resources were availed to us, which included: six straws, one balloon, three elastic buds six cotton buds, and four papers; each one and a half centimeters. The task ahead was to be able to put our minds together and see how the materials available to us were of use. The team members had to use the resources ahead of them with a lot of care. The resources were limited, yet the given task had to be accomplished. There was need for the team to give way for a leader, one who everybody would listen to and who would give direction on how exactly to use the materials to accomplish the task ahead. In such a moment, most members feared to fail, they wanted to be correct and perform the task to success. Therefore, a strong leader, one who would take into considerate the task ahead was needed. Our next exercise involved investigation of Cambridge crime. In this case, the team was supposed to investigate a crime scene that had happened in the nearby location. The accurate information in such a scenario was of great importance. Indications of how the crime had happened and who had committed the crime needed the team members to work together. There were those who emotionally were unable to contain themselves, and needed much encouragement to continue with the investigation. More so, other people were also interested in understanding the occurrences of the day. Accessing the area of crime gave us the staring point. We wanted to understand why the area had been targeted, and the loopholes that lead to the commitment of the crime with ease. We also had to investigate the people around the scene, with the aim of establishing whether they were involved in the crime in the first place. The other task was that of being in the moon, where the space ship crashed on the moon. Our survival from such a place heavily depended on the team work. The team members were supposed to reach the mother ship to guarantee our exit from this environment. However, the mother ship is located 200 miles away from the area the ship crashed, and we only few tools available. These tools included box of matches, 50 feet nylon rope, food, parachute silk, gallons of water, signal flares, stellar map, oxygen, two caliber pistols, a heating unit, first aid kit, a receiver, a map and a compass. Major decisions had to be made in this case, and there had to be points of agreement on what our next move would be. With these items, we were supposed to prioritize some of the items. Others would come second in the exercise. The team members were in panic at first. However, an amicable solution had to be found, which called for leadership towards that direction. The resources were also limited, which called for the team members to take quick measures to save the situations. We had no option but to work together to save each others lives. The group’s experience Working together as a group was an unforgettable experience. In every task, the experience was unique. However, there were some points of agreement for the various experiences. For one, decision making for the group was always tasking. Decision making is a process that needs careful evaluation before it is undertaken (Clinebell & Stecher 2003, p. 362). The ultimate decision should always reflect the opinion of the majority and the best solution for a given situation. In the egg flying task, decision making was very hard as pertaining to who would do the final task. Some of the members felt that they would have been allowed to participate more that the person that the majority chose. The team members engaged in heated debates as to why the specific individual was more deserving than others. Further, some chose to watch a far off as the debates went on, making it impossible for team work to take place. Leadership is of great importance when a group is called upon to accomplish certain tasks (Kaplan & Miller 1987, p. 346-360). The leader offers direction and influences the steps that are taken in achieving results. Therefore, he or she must have good skills to achieve this with ease. In the egg flying experience, some of the team members did not agree to the leadership skills that were applied. I, taking leadership in this specific task, most members felt that they were not being directed enough to perform the role. This was reflected by one member who complained that he did not know what to do with the materials at our exposure. Offering leadership became hard for this specific person became hard when he withdrew completely from participating in the activity. In the ultimate end, we completed the task without his participation. It was with much persuasion that the team was able to listen to one another. Team members must always try to listen to one another. The team members should be ready to accommodate others views and opinions, while at the same time voicing their own concerns (Yukl 2010, p. 234-257). In the egg flying task, the team was not ready to listen to one another for various reasons. Some people wanted to talk more than others, making it difficult for agreement to come with ease. I could only imagine the feelings of my fellow team members as all these wrangles went on. Naturally, those who could not stand confrontations had no choice but to withdraw from the group. This they did with their emotions betraying them, some sad while others were resentful. It was in the visiting the moon task that a bit of cohesion was experienced. I believe that this resulted from the panic that the team members were exposed to at this point. Our survival highly depended on our ability to work together as a team. It is also possible that some were too emotional to argue and take dominance in the discussions. The withdrawal from the group’s activity was once more experienced in this, probably because some team members were afraid of losing their lives. One of the members decided to sit all the while, blaming others for not moving as quickly as they were supposed to. The efforts to try and resolve the conflicting situations were sometimes futile. Conflicts are bound to appear when different personalities are put together to work towards the same direction. The leader should always try to point at the areas of conflict and try to resolve them with ease (Kaplan & Miller 1987, p. 346-360). This may be done by identifying the common areas and influence the group to focus on that specific area. Further, the areas of conflict must be worked on, bringing reason to the members so that they move towards the same direction. In each task, a different leader was chosen by the group, apart from that of investigation crime. In this specific task, a certain individual decided to take leadership role without necessarily being chosen by the group. Each of the leader, I included, decided to take time and try to resolve the conflicts amongst the members. In one case scenario, one leader tried to talk to a team member so that she would try and listen to others. However, she was not convinced enough, and kept blaming others for the mistakes that were made. Nevertheless, the tasks were accomplished amidst of all the wrangles and conflicts. Alternative course of action Given the same task in the future, I would chose to make several adjustments in the team work. For one, I would prefer that several decisions are made prior to the beginning of tasks. These include the decisions on the leaders who would oversee various activities in the group. This would avoid conflicts as to who leads in a specific task as we experienced. Further, each of the members should be assigned specific roles so that each member is participating in the assignments. This will resolve the problem of dominance and withdrawal from the group’s activities. Western (2008, p 3-8) indicates that the choice of a leader should be based on who special skills that they portray, even before the task is started. The leader should have a command; a person that everybody can listen to. This will help save the situation of having some members speaking and intruding while other are trying to contribute during the discussions. The members must also be encouraged to speak, making sit possible to have everybody’s opinion and participation In the future, there should a clear cut method of resolving conflict. This should be done through good leadership and utilizing the task as the common ground as the main focus of the team. The team members must be made to realize the importance of the task, and they should be helped to align every effort towards this. This will solve the problem of divisions within the group. Finally, the team members should be prepared to expect disappointments and surprises even before they participate in the tasks. This is important because not every task is accomplished with ease, and sometimes things happen without anyone expecting them (Yukl 2010, p. 234-257). For example, in the egg flying experience, the group must be willing to accept that accidents may occur. This may occur even with much preparation and precision. Still, what happened in the moon experience should not come as a shock for the members. It is important that such is expected and enough preparation done in advance. Learning and Conclusions I had several lessons to learn from the team work experience, and which is applicable in my professional life in the future. The purposes of the tasks were meant to prepare me for the future experience in the job market. This happened, and I am grateful that I went through such an experience. For one, I learnt that people are different, and that every leader should be ready for conflict in an organization. According to Stacey, (1992 p.13-21) the leader therefore has a difficult role to play in trying to bring different sorts of people together. Every person has a different background, and may have different experience in certain areas. Further, they may pose different personalities and behaviors. Every leader has to account for such kind of a scenario as they apply leadership skills (Avolio et al 2003, 277–307). I expect differences amongst the employees in the future, and given leadership roles, I would know how to act in such a scenario. I learnt that personalities, behaviors and attitudes can be brought together, though different, to achieve a certain goal in an organization (Arthur1988, p 12-17). Every unique individual must be encouraged to do their best to finish tasks, yet with consideration of others peoples differences and opinions The leadership therefore must create such a good environment where people are able to voice their concerns (Burns 1978, p.123-135). The environment should be conducive for learning the differences and identifying common grounds of agreements. This way, every member participates to find a solution in the problems that have been identified. Further on participation, roles should be assigned to various people within the organization; clearly defined to achieve the expected results. This participation should be such that the activities are intertwined, making it possible to work together as a group I also learnt that decision making is a process; a process that involves many ideas and different individuals as opposed to one person (Birnbaum 2004, p.10-15). The process involves many team members giving their different ideas, of which must be taken into consideration before a decision is made. Fairholm (2004p. 369-383) indicates that the process involves for equal participation, and discourages prejudice and criticism. I therefore expect that an effective organization engages all the employees before major decisions are made (Yukl 2010, p. 234-257). For example, the investment decision should not only involve the top level management, but also all the employees within the organization. This way, the personnel are able to identify with such projects once they are initiated in the company. In the end, I came to realize that an effective organization works towards the same goals and objectives (Adair 2008, p.23-34). There is heavy price paid for lack of co-operation by the employees within an organization. It is possible to have one organization having different goals and objectives; most of which conflict with one another. Goldstein (1994 p.123-143) indicates that this happens as each individual tries to pursue their personal goals and objectives. Better still, various departments may be pursuing conflicting goals, diverting completely from the mission statement of the organization. All these must be brought to an agreement if at all cohesion and success is going to be achieved in such an organization (Frost & Egrij 1990, p. 279-323) In my conclusion, team work is important for the organizations, especially in the light of competition. Every organization must invest in the best methods of bringing the employees together, if at all they want to evade failure. The organization must always speak with one voice when discussing the organization’s operations. More importantly, the costs of divisions must be avoided at all costs. My experience in the group tasks and seminars has indeed prepared me for the future. My expectations are different, and through the lessons, I believe that success will be inevitable as a professional. References Adair, J 2008, ‘Leadership and team Building’, The Best of Adair on Leadership & Management, Ashford Color Press, UK. Arthur, G 1988, The new leadership: managing participation in organizations, Prentice-Hall New Jersey Avolio, B., Sosik, J., Jung, D., & Berson, Y 2003, ‘Leadership models, methods, and applications’, Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology, Vol. 12. pp. 277–307, John Wiley & Sons, Inc Bales, R 1965, ‘The equilibrium problem in small groups,’ Small Groups: Studies in social interaction, Knopf, New York. Birnbaum, B 2004, Strategic thinking a four piece puzzle, Douglas Mountain Publishing, California. Burns, J 1978, Leadership, Harper & Row, New York. 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