Teamwork Difficulties in Organizations - Essay Example

? Teamwork in Organizations and Teamwork in Organizations The mythical man-month hypothesis that was developed by Fredrick Brooks explains the significance of teamwork in an organization. The hypothesis postulates that one man takes a year to develop engineering software while dozens of workers take one month to build the same feature. Brooks arguments explains in simple terms that teamwork makes work easier, reduces cost, saves time, and increases efficiency in an organization (Weinstein, 2010). Since organizations aim at increasing efficiency, reducing cost, and saving time for development activities, it means that firms should adopt the use of teams in carrying out their activities. The significance of team work may be explained using the following photograph. The photograph also explains the how efficient service user delivery works, and why it is essential in the success of an organization. Picture illustrating the significance of teamwork (http://www.mkhalid.com/category/project-management-team-work/) The above photographs shows men repairing a broken railway line in a team. I have chosen the picture because the broken railway line connects two geographical regions just like consumers and organizations are connected by services and products. The three men on the right side come from the rightward geographic region while those on the left also reside in the region where they are working. I believe that the two groups represent nurses and patients in the real world. The railway line that connects the two regions is similar to services and communication that takes place between nurses and patients (Naumann, & Ehrhart, 2011). The picture, therefore, indicates that teams should compose of workers from different levels such as nurses and doctors, and because of efficient user service delivery, they should also include consumers (Parker, 2010). This is because consumers are the ultimate users of goods, and they determine the success of the activities in an organization (Hiebart, & Clart, 2011). This means that user involvement should begin at the lowest level of a firm in order for it to achieve its objective. The photograph above indicates that teamwork should take place with an objective of increasing efficiency. The men from the right and left in the above picture have come together to repair the broken railway line. This means that the participants of the project would not be together were it not for the purpose of repairing the transport network. The objective of teamwork should also be positive and beneficial to a large number of users (Belbin, 2010). In the photograph above, the aim of the team is to enhance transport of people and resources between the two geographic regions. One region in the picture practices agriculture while the other does not, and this means that the railways line helps to deliver food products in the non-agricultural region. I suppose that teamwork in nursing should aim at providing consumers with critical health services that cannot be found anywhere else in the market. Members of teams cooperate and develop efficient techniques of delivering their services (Jasper, 2011). The repairing the railway indicates that service user involvement should have an aim for it to succeed. The lack of efficient communication in a team may lead to conflicts among group members. This indicates that there is need for effective communication skills among team members to avoid distortion of messages. However, in the case of the occurrence of conflicts among members of a group, the team leader should be responsible for ensuring that the misunderstanding ends. A team leader who possesses problem solving skills resolves the conflicts using his skills. This saves time that would be wasted by members on the problem, and it ensures that the team works towards achieving its goals. In the photograph above, there seems to be no team leader, and the members are standing because there is a conflict. The team should have employed a leader who would oversee that all activities take place efficiently. This would save the time for all members. A service user involvement should also have a policy of solving conflicts to avoid wasting time, and to ensure that the solutions are efficient. The photograph also shows that teams should create techniques that enable them to achieve efficiency. The men in the above photograph chose to repair the railway line using hoes, shovels, and spades. The team chose the different tools so that they could help them repair the railway line successfully. Organizations such as hospitals should employ the use of a wide range of techniques to deliver their services (Sousa, 2011). The techniques are formulated by the teams that work in the companies, and this means that teamwork also involves creativity. The creativity helps the firms to achieve efficiency, which then attracts more customers for the organizations (Jagdeep, & Harwinder, 2012). Teams create new techniques by researching, brainstorming, and consulting from experienced workers in the company, and in the industry (Ortega, 2013). The members of a team should have the right skills and qualifications that enable them to contribute ideas (Amering, Schrank, & Wallcraft, 2009). The members of the team in the picture are energetic as indicated by the size of their bodies, and the fact that they have put on overalls indicate that they are qualified contractors. Organizations should ensure that workers have the right educational and skills qualifications. Qualifications enable team members to carry out their functions efficiently (Belbin, 2010). The human resource department is responsible for ensuring that workers have the right education and skills. This means that the human resource is the team leader, and it may use techniques such as participative and democratic to lead (Costa, & Anderson, 2011). This also means that the users involved in a service system should possess the right characteristics for the organization to operate efficiently. Hospitals should device uniforms for doctors and nurses to enable customers to identify them with ease. Teamwork in an organization leads to efficiency, time saving, and creativity among other benefits. The photograph indicates that for teamwork to succeed, the members should have the right skills and educational qualifications, be creative, and use diversified techniques. Human resource departments ensure that workers have the right qualifications. Creativity of members of teams enables them to formulate the right techniques that help in the delivery of services. The team in the photograph has all the requirements for success, and this means that they can rebuild the railway line and restore efficient transportation in the region. Bibliography Amering, M., Schrank, B., & Wallcraft, J. 2009. Handbook of service user involvement in mental health research. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. Belbin, R. M. 2010. Team roles at work. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Costa, A. C., & Anderson, N. 2011. Measuring trust in teams: Development and validation of a multifaceted measure of formative and reflective indicators of team trust. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 20, 1, 119-154. Hiebert, M., & Klatt, B. 2011. The encyclopedia of leadership: A practical guide to popular leadership theories and techniques. New York: McGraw-Hill. Jagdeep, S., & Harwinder, S. 2012. Continuous improvement approach: state-of-art review and future implications. International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, 3, 2, 88-111. Jasper, M. 2011. Experiences of leadership in nursing management. Journal of Nursing Management, 19, 4, 419-20. McLean, R. J. 2010. Team work: Forging links between honesty, accountability and success. Camberwell: Penguin. Naumann, S., & Ehrhart, M. 2011. Moderators of the Relationship Between Group Helping Norms and Individual Helping. Small Group Research, 42, 2, 225-248. Ortega, A. 2013. Enhancing team learning in nursing teams through beliefs about interpersonal context. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 69, 1, 102-111. Parker, G. 2010. Team Work: 20 Steps to Success. Amherst: HRD Press. Sousa, M. F. 2011. Management and leadership: Educating and orienting the radiology nurse of the future. Journal of Radiology Nursing, 30, 3, 135-136. Weinstein, J. 2010. Mental health, service user involvement and recovery. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Read More