Is Establishing Team Work Difficult in Organisations - Coursework Example

Teamwork Course Lecture Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Executive summary 3 Introduction 4 Situation surrounding organizational effectiveness and team effectiveness 4 Is establishing teamwork difficult in organizations 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Executive summary Teamwork is an area that has received a wide range of attention over the years. Managers are of the perception that, tasks in the organization needs to be worked on by more than one employee thus; they are quick when it comes to team development. This can be attributed to the fact that, teamwork has been said to be a contributing factor to organizational effectiveness. This paper sets out to discuss whether it is difficult to establish teams in organizations. In doing so, there will be a discussion of the situation surrounding both organizational effectiveness and team effectiveness. This section will be closely followed by a discussion of management theories that managers can apply to enhance team effectiveness. Lastly, a discussion of whether it is difficult to establish a team in organizations. The following conclusions are drawn as to why it is difficult to build teams and they include but not limited to; Conflict Presence of virtual workplaces Globalization of businesses and Lack of required skills. Introduction Based on the fact that industrial systems and processes have become more complex, teams have turned out to be the basic working unit in modern day organizations. Since teamwork foster open communication and interaction, and at the same time creates desirable settings that encourages the generation of new ideas, the capability to execute duties efficiently as an associate of an interdisciplinary team seems to be essential. A wide range of disciplines are necessary to move a ground-breaking idea to the market. In the 1980's, companies such as 3M, Hewlett Packard, and Motorola became more aware of the need for improved performance, and this could only be achieved through teamwork. The full acceptance of teamwork has an approach to improving performance as has a great impact on the work environment. Teams are commonly defined as people or employees who are joined so as to accomplish a common goal. There are numerous definitions of teams, but one thing that they have in common is that, they share some common themes. Scholtes defines a team as a group of people who pool their skills, knowledge and talents (Scholtes 1988:5). Another group of authors who describes teams are Katzenbach and Smith; in their definition, they add the elements of mutual accountability and commitment. Thus, they identify a team as a group of people who are committed toward a common goal, respecting and capitalizing on the knowledge and skills of all individuals in the group. Discussion Situation surrounding organizational effectiveness and team effectiveness Organizational effectiveness is the notion of how an efficient organization can attain the outcomes that the organization aims at achieving (Carron and Brawley 2000: 100). Organizational effectiveness is nowadays viewed as a critical success factor in the current economy. Organizations are able to attain sustainable organizational effectiveness by helping the employees to understand their role in achieving success and also by engaging the employees in their job. Progressively, what makes up organizational effectiveness is how an organization can organize their staff and at the same time manage the firm's human capital (Forsyth, 2010: 99). The modern organization relies heavily on their employee's knowledge and complex systems. At the same time, organizations need to have an adequate amount of hard assets and financial capital. Effective organizations usually exhibit strengths in five core areas which are people, culture, work processes and systems, leadership and decision-making and structure (Gomez-Mejia et al. 2008: 123). The evaluation and improvement of organizational efficiency and effectiveness is a primary strategy that is used to help assure the continued development and growth of an organization. Organizational effectiveness measures the bigger picture of business performance across a wide range of criteria. Long-term planning, financial performance, adherence to the core values and internal structure are critical components when it comes to understanding organizational effectiveness (Mitchell, G. (2012: 133). Team effectiveness also termed as group effectiveness is the capability of a team in accomplishing the objectives or goals administered by the organization or by an authorized personnel. Based on Hackman 2005, team effectiveness is usually defined in relation to three main criteria which include social processes, output and learning (Hackman and Wageman 2005: 66). From this model, the necessary antecedent conditions of input and the processes of team maintenance define the characteristics associated with effective teams. The analysis of team processes and precursor conditions stresses the issues for team training and development. In essence, there are four major types of teams. They include; problem-solving teams, self-managed work team, and virtual teams and cross-functional teams. Effective teams tends to share certain common characteristics such as clear purpose, open communication, constructive conflict, define roles, accountability and responsibilities, effective decision making and problem solving skills, strong relationship, system and procedures, experimentation and creativity and shared leadership(Hackman and Wageman 2005: 66). Effective teams need to collaborate and also take collective responsibility so as to complete the designated task. Additionally, there are a number of contextual factors that are closely related to the performance of the teams, and they include but are not limited to; leadership and structure, adequate resources, performance evaluation and reward systems (Mitchell 2012: 141). Management theories to be applied by managers so as to establish team effectiveness within an organization There are number of management theories that can be used by managers in a bid to enhance team effectiveness in an organization. One of the major management theories that can be used by managers in establishing team effectiveness is the motivational theories (Papa et al. 2008). A wide range of motivational theories have cropped up over the past decade all in an attempt to understand the behavior of humans and answer the question of what actually creates the force that individuals need to do what they want to do. For managers to be able to motivate people, they need to be aware of what motivates them in the first place. There is a large misconception that, people usually work because of money; and on the other hand, those who have delved deeper into people's psyche have noted that, this is far from the truth. One of such theorists is Taylor, who developed a motivation theory. In 1911, Taylor who was an engineer published the earliest motivational theory. He suggested that, workers can always be motivated by been given the highest possible wages, by working in a manner that is most productive and efficient. Performance was mainly limited due to physiological fatigue. Based on Taylor’s analysis, motivation was a simple issue in that, workers just wants high wages from their employers (Wren & Bedeian 2009: 122-132). Another theory that managers can adopt is Fayol theory. By prediction of the modern thinking on relation to work groups, Fayol was able to organize the miners who worked under him in self-selected teams. This in a way increased the cohesiveness of the teams, reduced employee turnover. Furthermore, teams output increased since teams refused to accept members who were inferior. Managers can also make use of Fayol twelfth principle that relates to the stability of tenure of the employees. This principle sets out to offer the orderly human resource staffing and at the same time, establishing provisions that ensure that the organization’s employees have the requisite abilities for completing the allocated duties (Wren & Bedeian 2009: 220). Fayol also appreciated the fact that, it always took a considerable amount of time for employees to develop the required skills to perform at more superior levels. He also acknowledged that, managers and their subordinates take the time to develop and interact to form an effective team. More precisely, managers need to know their employees in a better way so that they can inspire their confidence (Wheelan 2010). Managers can also make use of Follett principle termed as the group principle. Follett’s primary premise is that, individuals could only find their true self through group membership (Wren & Bedeian 2009: 315). She further articulated that, through discussion and cooperation, individuals would be able to evoke each other ideas and manifest their unity when they are aiming at common goals. By relying heavily on Gestalt theory, which states that every psychological situation contains a precise character separately from the absolute nature of it parts, Follett felt that, through team and group experiences, individuals would be able to unleash their creative powers (Schultz and Schultz 2010: 77). Managers can also apply ideas formulated by Barnard. Based on Barnard, cooperation within formal organizations made it possible to expand group power beyond what individuals would be able to accomplish alone (Wren & Bedeian 2009: 324). For instance, the making of automobiles and construction of bridges would be done effectively in groups. Barnard further argued that, organizations need to offer some form of inducement aimed at satisfying individual motives in the pursuit of team purposes to ensure their continued survival. Is establishing teamwork difficult in organizations The establishment of teamwork in an organization seems to be an essential aspect of success in most modern day businesses. Thus, managers leading modern day organizations need to be skilled on how they should manage individuals and also on how to manage teams. The manager’s role is to come up with a high performing team; where the members perform their work well, respect one another and offer support to the other members of the team (Collins and Parker 2010: 1000). To achieve these, managers must always work with the aim of fostering teamwork as well as collaboration among the employees, and this ought to be done occasionally. I am of the opinion that, teamwork is difficult to establish in organizations due to the lack of skills in the workforce. One of the significant challenges that is facing managers in organizations is finding the employees who have the ability to work together and effectively in teams (Richard et al. 2009: 56). A great number of organizations rely heavily on the educational institution to train their future employees with workplace skills. In regard to these, the organizations mainly encourage students to work individually for their grades and succeed without the input of others. By doing so, the organizations create an emphasis on self-interest as opposed to collaboration with others. This works against the behaviors that are needed for successful teamwork (Khalifa and Truong 2010: 140). It is also difficult to establish teams in organizations since there is an increasing need for teams to work together even though they are working in virtual workplaces and some even across organizational boundaries. With time, organizations will find it essential for individuals to work collaboratively though they may be in different physical locations. These kinds of teams will be challenging to create and maintain since they will not be able to create concrete relationships (Katzenbach and Smith 1993: 111). Face to face communication between team members creates an efficient working environment for teams as opposed to virtual project teams. Face to face communication is essential to developing trust between the team members. Another reason as to why it is difficult to establish teams in organizations is due to the concept of globalization. Globalization in most organizations makes it more challenging for teams of the future and even current ones. Teams will, therefore, be composed of members of dissimilar cultures, language, approaches and values and thus, finding common congruence’s of interactions for the team members will require a lot of time and effort and sometimes the points of diversity in terms of culture, values will be the points of weaknesses when it comes to creating effective teams (Devaney 2003: 78). It is also difficult to establish teams in organizations due to the conflict that may arise between team members. Teams are difficult to establish since managers fear that they may ultimately fail due to conflict and lack of cohesion between the members. Conflicts seem to be inevitable in most teams. The manner in which team members deal with conflict is very essential to team development (Lawler and Mohrman 2003: 15). Thus prior to team establishment, managers need to train themselves and their employees on conflict resolution skills. When there are minimal conflicts, the cohesion of the group is improved ultimately. At the same time, too much cohesion may encourage group thinking. Thus all employees needs to be trained on how to resolve conflicts effectively, team members can apply the skills to enable them to stay on track with minimal or no intervention (Beal et al. 2003: 989). Conclusion From the discussion above, it is clearly evident that teams are slowly becoming essential aspects of modern day organizations. Effective teams need to work together and also take joint responsibility so as to complete designated tasks within the required time limit and with the allocated resources. Managers can also make use of the theories formulated by Taylor, Fayol, and the others to enhance team effectiveness in an organization. When the team members are motivated, they are likely to work towards the achievement of team goals at all cost. Teamwork seems to be difficult to establish due to a number of uncertainties such as conflict, presence of virtual workplaces, globalization of businesses and lack of required skills. References Beal, D. Cohen, R. Burke, M. and McLendon, C. (2003) Cohesion and performance in groups: A meta-analytic clarification of construct relation. Journal of Applied Psychology. 88: 989-1004. Carron, A. and Brawley, L. 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