The Problems and Challenges in Developing Teams - Research Paper Example

The Problems and Challenges in Developing Teams Table of Contents Introduction 2 Organizational Analysis- Context and Scenario leading to the problems of Team Roles and Team Development in the organization 2 Recommendations 7 Conclusion 8 Reference 9 Introduction Teams congregate the efforts of each individual and generate synergetic outcomes in the organization. The analysis of team performance bears a positive link with the coordination, creativity, and cooperation existing team. Today’s organizational scenario demonstrates highly complex and multifaceted work structures which call division and subdivision of work units among members. This requires extensive group activities and team work. Moreover, multinational organizations also require collaborating efforts of people located in a wide variety of geographic locations. Thus team work may also constitute people belonging to different nations. Thus it is seen that the overall performance and productivity of organizations fall short in the absence of proper management and development of teams. The present project discusses the situation and condition of team work and development at British Airways which is one of the largest airlines in England. The organization has confronted with challenging situations on account of the varying environmental and business conditions; but has successfully overcome hurdles through proper and effective team work and development. The project discusses the problems and challenges in developing teams and its implication for organizational leaders and managers as well as workers. Based on these challenges suitable recommendations are provided in favour of eliminating emerging problems in the domain and resolving issues. Organizational Analysis- Context and Scenario leading to the problems of Team Roles and Team Development in the organization British Airways demonstrated tremendous failures in its self managed teams during the 1990s. This is because of the fact that its team members lacked proper people management skills (McCann, “Introduction”). Following is the details of the context and scenario in British Airways which group work and team development failed. Person Sex Age Position Character AB M 35 Project Manager Autocratic leadership style that reinforces decisions and choices. Sociable, Extrovert. Pays little heed to people’s concerns, issues, views or suggestions CD M 32 Software Developer Highly knowledgeable and skilled worker, friendly yet introverted, conscientious; prefers to interact with computers rather than with people EF M 30 Software Developer Medium level of knowledge of technical aspects, people oriented, quick learner, extrovert and bubbly. Good listener and puts work first and self aspects later GH M 28 Software Developer Unsociable, prefers to work on his own terms without being guided or directed; Concerned with his won work objectives and individual task accomplishments rather than the tasks of the group at large. The above table mentions the characteristics of the different team members working under a single project manager. The main implication on the manager is the fact the members differ distinctly from one another in terms of their nature and behaviours. On the other hand the manager himself displays an authoritarian autocratic style of leadership which members find difficult to handle. The fact that he imposes his own decisions and choices with regards to work activities and strategies is a crucial for the team which comprises of members who are adequately knowledgeable and prefers to work as per their own understanding and decisions. Here, arises another problem. As members prefer to work on their own style and according to their own decisions, the performance of the group falls. This is because there is lack of coordination and concern for each other in the team and each seeks to put their preference first rather than the welfare of the team at large. The result in that despite comprising of efficient and knowledgeable members in the team the performance of the team remains poor resulting in dissatisfaction, frustration and discontentment in the work team. The verbatim transcript of the interactions between members can be depicted in the table below Person Transcription of interactions AB AB communicates work procedures to members; sets deadlines in which each individual activity is to be completed; divides work activities and allocates them to each member in the team without giving them a choice; allocates work according to the priority of the team and not according to the skills and expertise of members CD CD responds promptly without questioning. He communicates least with other team members; least involved in the group. He works as per the manager’s instructions and does not question his roles or responsibilities. Having little people management skills, his efforts are independent and successful in it. When other members communicate with he shows reluctance to reply back in proper manner. EF EF being a ‘people man’ considers the goal of the team first and his self interests later. He tries to communicate with CD regarding a particular job issue but fails to get a proper reply. This creates a disturbance and conflict between CD and EF. Improper communication between team members leads to improper collaboration and cooperation in work activities. Team members do not help each other out during crisis and puts their own interests first. They seek to accomplish their own tasks on time rather than the goal of the team first. Differences in opinion, choices and strategies reflect through poor performance and productivity of the team. Unlike other teams in the organization the performance of this particular team remains poor. GH AB communicates the exact work procedures to GH, who is not willing to be guided and led through. He pays little heed to what he is being asked to do and prefers to set his own roles. The autocratic style of leadership is perfectly unsuited for him. He prefers to bring forth his choice to the manager who rejects it and reinforces his own decisions. This is not accepted willingly and thus his work is not accepted by the manager either. The result is poor performance of entire team. The analysis reveals inappropriate application of Belbin’s team roles theory. Belbin puts forth that a team is not a group of people with different job titles. It is rather a congregation of individuals and each of them have their own roles which are completely understood by the other members. Also members of teams must seek out those roles which they can perform most effectively and which also come naturally to them (Belbin, “Belbin Team Roles”). Belbin also suggests that work must be allocated according to the strengths and weaknesses of people and productive work relationships must be built at the workplace. However, the condition in British Airways reveals a case where responsibilities are reinforced upon people without taking into consideration their individual strengths and weaknesses. The leader also fails to instil a sense of group behaviour and team effort, rather focuses on their individual efforts. Their problems are overlooked which generates frustration and discontentment at the workplace thereby reducing the team’s efforts. The autocratic leadership style also seems to be a failure in this case as it overlooks the concerns of people and dictates decisions which is detrimental for individuals and the team (Belbin, “Belbin Team Roles”). Recommendations The first recommendation is to develop and strong and improved communication network within the team in which each of the members can exchange and share information. They must be completely aware of each other’s work activities, expected time of completion of the work and the possible chances and areas of hurdles in the process. The development of team culture is called for in which each one must work in collaboration with the other and sort out problems within themselves. The idea of outing the team’s interest first and then the individual interests must be instilled in the team. Work must be allocated according to the strengths and weaknesses of each individual team member. Members must be allowed to work as per their comfort levels in order to avoid frustrations and slow down of work processes. In case a member encounters a problem it must be handled in assistance and collaboration from others and not singlehandedly by considering it to be group problem and not an individual problem. Since each of the team members account for being high in skill levels and competent in their respective domains, it must be understood they would not like to be dictated their regular responsibilities. Rather the autocratic style of leadership would fall short of attaining their full participation and cooperation at the workplace. Rather a participative form of leadership would be required in which the views, suggestion and decisions of employees would be considered. However, these would have to be backed with adequate rationale and grounds. The fact that people’s concerns were being taken care by the leader or the manager would make them deliver their best efforts towards the interests of the group. Lack of concern for them would only result in the withdrawal of their participation from the group. Conclusion The analysis reveals serious implications of team management and development on organizational leaders. The case of British Airways reveals a failure to properly utilize team efforts. Poor interpersonal communication, poor coordination of work amongst members coupled with the bent to put self interests ahead of that of the group's are some of the reasons behind team failure. Thus it is suggested that communication is strengthened in the team in which each one of them is aware of the other’s work. Any sort of problem must be sorted out in a team manner putting the group’s objective first. Lastly a participative style of leadership is called for, in which members’ suggestions and views are taken into consideration. Reference McCann, R. ‘Introduction’. 2009. Agile Teamwork – what BA’s need to know (Guest Post). July 27, 2012. < http://practicalanalyst.com/agile-teamwork-%E2%80%93-what-ba%E2%80%99s-need-to-know-guest-post/>. Belbin, R. M. ‘Belbin Team Roles’. 2012. BELBIN. July 27, 2012. < http://www.belbin.com/rte.asp?id=8>. Read More