How Do Teams Differ from Groups at Work - Essay Example

Table of contents How do teams differ from groups at work Introduction2 Body...3 Team's definition4 Team Management.5 Team conflicts.7 Managerial structure and its influence on teams.9 Conclusion..9 Reference10 Introduction In the words of Sims, and Manz, (1995) the major differences between teams and groups is that; there exists groups in organisations which are not necessarily teams while teams are as a matter of fact, groups. Sims, and Manz, (1995) further notes that groups only develop into teams the moment they embrace cooperation and oneness and interdependency. Thompson, and McHugh, (2002) refers to a team as a group of people who come together in pursuit of common goals and objectives. Teams involve pulling together individual talents and strength for the benefit of the group which in a business sense constitutes of organisations or departments within an organisation. Therefore, teams enable the individual members to bring into their teams special skills and knowledge, different experience as well as diverse cultural exposure. Teams also allow for a speedy communication process as feedback can be achieved in short periods of time (Cranny, Smith, & Stone, 1992). Mullins, (2005) identifies some potential problems in teams as conflicts which arise due to differences in individual's way of doing things, poor leadership of the team if especially the mode of communication the team adopts is very centralised. Cranny, Smith, and Stone, (1992) identifies personality differences as another cause of team failure given the fact that individuals may fail to work together if they have major or irreconcilable personality differences. If a team lacks clear focus for its aims and objectives there is always a likelihood that such teams may end up failing to achieve the very goals they were formed to achieve. Therefore the management has a role in team building especially through encouraging collective responsibility amongst team members. Teams cannot function in an environment free from conflicts and therefore the only way to achieve team goals and objectives is by engaging in effective conflict resolution strategies through strengthening of teams. Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn, (2005) defines a team as a formal group of people working together with an aim of achieving common goals. Teams are important in that, they improve performance in an organization, they enhance communication and they make an organization more competitive in that they draw from a wide range of talent. On the other hand, groups are less formal and less coherent and thrive best outside the organisation and whenever groups exist within the organisation, it is usually in a non formal setting. This paper looks at conflicts in teams as the single most threat to team survival and team spirit. In addition, the paper outlines as well as analyzes conflict management process in teams. Business organizations are constantly striving to achieve efficiency and effectiveness on the part of the work force. The numerous challenges organizations are faced with such as ; competitor activity and unfavorable business environment all play a very important role in determining the success of the organization. Of all resources an organisation has in its disposal none is perhaps as relevant and important to the success of the organisation than the human resources. Human resources if managed well hold the key to the success of the organization. According to Cranny, Smith, and Stone, (1992) human resources output is higher when the employee's function as a team than it is the case when employees function in their individual units. A synergetic effect is what results when organizations embrace team spirit. However, creating functional and efficient teams' calls for expertise, tolerance and a lot of motivation on the part of the organization. Teams enable employees to exploit their potential and therefore increase job performance. A team consists of members with diverse experience, skills and qualification, cultures and business backgrounds. To an organization, this translates into potential for success. However, as (Cranny, Smith, & Stone, 1992) notes team building process is a challenging process that can present numerous challenges to the management. Therefore teams have disadvantages such as; reduced independence of talented and capable workers, social loafing as well as bureaucracy hence time wastage (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005). Tajfel, and Turner, (1979) classifies teams into functional teams which consist only of members drawn from various departments, self-managed teams which are formed to meet some specific goals and objectives and function with little or no supervision, task forces which refer to teams which are constituted to oversee completion of specific projects. Finally, there are process improvement teams which are comprised of experts as well as technocrats in a given field. Nothing inspires team members than changes that are geared towards improvement of business processes, in the organization. Most organizations have turned to decentralization as a way of alleviating rigidness, as was common in most organizations in the 1960s and early 1970s. The effectiveness of any organization is measured by amongst other things, cost effectiveness, the time it takes for information to flow between the bottom and up, the level of bureaucracy in an organization, as well as how the organization strategically positions itself to face its competitors as well as profit maximization. Decentralization is very central to the performance of teams in that, it creates room for horizontal coordination as well as delegation of duties in organizations. Ackroyd, (2002) defines decentralisation as the process in which the organizational structure is designed in such a way so as to have the administrative roles practiced in the lower divisions in the organisation. With decentralization comes delegation of duties and responsibilities, something which implies that, teams are empowered in the decision making process. Through delegation authority is transferred to lower levels making subordinates more empowered. Decentralization leads to more learning and talent is best nurtured as subordinates feel appreciated and part of the organization's decision-making system. The beauty of delegation is that superiors delegate to their juniors only what the subordinates can perform better. Teams are more strengthened in a decentralized structure. Delegation acts as a motivator and a show of confidence to employees who can participate in the decision making process with little supervision or no supervision at all. However delegation may not be possible in very big organizations or sensitive and key installations such as the military. Depending on the activities of the organization, the organizations size and the business environment, management is supposed to look for the best structural design to advance its goals and objectives. From the above discussion it is clear that, decentralization, horizontal coordination and delegation play an important role in the success of businesses therefore there is a need for organizations to practice decentralization as a form of management and strengthening of their teams. Formation of working teams presents the following challenges to leaders; establishing strong team leadership, difficulty in establishing positive interpersonal relationships, fear of the teams failing to meet set goals which translates to wasted resources as well as the possibility of members of the team failing to adopt well into the team. These challenges lead to conflicts in the group. As Cote, and Morgan, (2002) notes, conflicts are not necessarily detrimental to the success of a team. If well-resolved, conflicts in a team can have numerous advantages and disadvantages alike. If well managed conflicts serve as a bonding experience and an opportunity for the team members to learn and reunite something which results into the team emerging more strong, and ready for the challenges ahead. According to Sims, and Manz, (1995) in modern business organizations, teams are indispensable something which explains the reasons for meetings and committees in most modern organizations. Teams are faced with numerous challenges and barriers in the process of executing their roles and functions, specifically, conflicts emerge which unless well resolved can lead to disruption of activities in the work place. The purpose of teams varies but no matter the nature of the teams, conflicts always crop up in teams. According to Sims, and Manz, (1995), there is a positive correlation between effectiveness of any given team and high motivation and commitment of the team members. Therefore, while handling conflicts in teams, there is a need for an understanding of these dynamics. How well motivated teams are, determine which way teams go in their implementation of company policies. Conflict resolution calls for proper communication since all conflict resolution strategies involve one form of communication or the other. According to Tajfel, and Turner, (1979), conflicts in teams result from a number of factors such as; the members having different goals from those of the organization as well as communication breakdown between members of the teams. Team conflicts are categorized into two; relationship-oriented conflicts and task-oriented conflicts Fox, and Spector, (1999). Relationship conflict results when members of a team experience interpersonal incompatibility orchestrated by their different characters and traits. If not well resolved, these differences can interfere with team performance. Relationship conflicts are not beneficial to organizations and when they occur in an organization, efforts should be put to resolve them. The danger with relationship conflicts in teams is that, if not well controlled, they turn into a vicious cycle affecting the whole team and can totally paralyze teams hence causing the team to failure to achieve team goals and objectives. Task-oriented conflicts are more related to the task the teams are involved in and results when team members cannot agree on the process of accomplishing team goals and objectives. As Tajfel, and Turner, (1979) notes, task conflicts can be beneficial for teams in that they can cause team members in conjunction with the team leader to dedicate more effort and energy into evaluating the best way of achieving team objectives. Consequently creative solutions to the tasks are discovered, brainstormed and agreed upon, resulting into workable and effective solutions to problems, although (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005) cautions that for task conflict to be effective, the conflicts must be moderate in nature as opposed to being extreme. When conflicts occur, the only available option is to resolve the conflicts as fast as possible and in the best way possible. There are several conflict resolution strategies namely; avoidance, imposition, composition and integrative bargaining (Tajfel, & Turner, 1979). According to, (Fox, & Spector, 1999) avoidance is a conflict resolution method in which team members ignore the conflict existing in the team. Ultimately, avoidance can backfire especially when team members can no longer withstand each other. Imposition as a method of conflict resolution involves a process in which team members involved in the conflict are forced to cope with the team inspite of their indifference. This type of conflict resolution can cause members of a team to be demoralized and demotivated something which can affect performance. Compromise as a conflict resolution method involves members of the team conceding some of their interests for the sake of the interests (Cranny, Smith, & Stone, 1992). Compromise is a very effective conflict resolution strategy in that, it caters for the diverse interests of team members and does not affect personal interests. Where it is embraced, it can lead to motivation and a synergetic effect. However, compromise as a conflict resolution method can deprive the organization of constructive disagreement in that members may become complacent and keep on agreeing and striking deals which are not necessarily beneficial (Cote, & Morgan, 2002). Integrative bargaining as a conflict resolution method is a strategy that aims at getting a win-win solution for all members of the team in times of conflict (Sims, & Manz, 1995). Integrative bargaining has been found to be the most effective of all the four conflict resolution strategies named above due to the fact that, it involves objective and assertive brainstorming of the problem at hand and at the same time, caters for each member's concern without compromising the interests of the organization. The organizing function of management is the process of establishing structures in a business to enable smooth cordination, division and control of the tasks in an organization, therefore, the management is supposed to support and empower teams to achieve their goals. The organizing functions aims at the achievement of the organization's goals and objectives through the utilization of human resources, knowledge, technology, finances and inventories. The role of human resources and knowledge to the organization as well as contribution of knowledge management towards the achievement of the organizing functions of management is of utmost importance. Human resources and knowledge are important resources to an organization and if used well these two resources can contribute largely to the success of the organization. In the organizing process, all employees function according to the organization structure in which employees are allocated job titles and respective authority that is supposed to interlink the various departments. To ensure that employees function properly, managers come up with plans then tasks are listed and are allocated as jobs under respective job groups and eventually work is assigned to employees who consist of groups' functioning as departments. Managers supervise the workers although there is a room for the managers to delegate authority something which can sometimes be very effective in building self confidence in the employees (Thompson, & McHugh, 2002). Where the organization function of management is applied in the best way possible to the human resource development, success is achieved external and internal processes of the organization are likely to improve. Effective utilization of human resources is the only way to achieve efficiency; this is exactly what every organization needs to do. How an organization utilizes resources such as knowledge and human resources determines how the organization will perform. Therefore the best way for organizations to achieve improved internal and external processes is through such organizations allowing teams to thrive in the organization. Management should create and ambient atmosphere for groups to freely exist as long as they function within the policies of the organization. An organization which appreciates the role and importance of team and groups is more likely to thrive compared to an organization which neglects or discourages employees from functioning as teams. Conclusion The success of a conflict resolution very much depends on the leadership of the team. It is the team leader who is supposed to guide the team through the conflict negotiation and resolution process and ensure that teams come out of conflicts stronger and united. Conflict resolution continues to plays a very important and central role for organizations. There is a need therefore, for organizations to encourage team work despite the numerous challenges especially in regard to conflicts, given that teams are central for the success of any given organization. Reference Ackroyd, S. 2002. The Organization of Business, Oxford- OUP.90-122 Cote, S. and Morgan, L. 2002. A longitudinal analysis of the association between emotional regulation, job satisfaction and intention to quit. Journal of organizational behavior. 32-67. Cranny, C., Smith, P. & Stone, E. 1992. Job Satisfaction. New York: Lexington.54-89. Fox, S. & Spector, P. 1999. A model of work frustration-aggression. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 915-931. Mullins, L. 2005. Management and Organisational Behaviour. 7th Ed. Harlow. Prentice Hall.56-79. Sims, H. and Manz, C. 1995. Company of Heroes: Unleashing the power of self-leadership. New York. Wiley. 12-31. Spector, P., Fox, S., & Van Katwyk, P. 1999. The role of negative affectivity in employee reactions to job characteristics: Bias effect or substantive effect. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 72.123-134. Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. 1979. An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W.G. Austin & S. Schermerhorn, J. Hunt, J. and Osborn, R. 2005. Organisational behavior, 9ed. John Wiley & Sons Inc.24-79. Thompson, P. and McHugh, D. 2002. Work Organisations. 3rd Ed. Houndmills: Palgrave. 31-42. NAIROBI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL NBNHFNHH HHBHRHRG OF KHNFHGGH HNFFH RN Read More