Importance of teamwork in organizations
The concept of teamwork is not new for companies, but its practice is becoming a fundamental unit within the structure of companies. The team is a unit made up of two or more people with complementary skills who commit to a common purpose and set performance goals and expectations.
Equipment modalities
In organizations there are many kinds of teams:
- The functional team is made up of a traditional vertical line manager, there is no consensus regarding the specific leadership style that the functional team leaders employ, however, in many cases, the size of the team. The description of the task and the type of members play an important role in determining the leadership style. The cross-functional team is made up of members from different departments or units of the organization, the team is given the responsibility of planning and carrying out projects requiring considerable coordination, cooperation and input from all related parties. Self-administered teams,they are made up of members of different departments or units of an organization who are given authority and responsibility to make administrative decisions in order to achieve the objectives of the group. The amount of delegated authority varies from one organization to another.
Importance of teamwork
This work consists of the members of a team understanding and committing themselves to the objectives of the whole.
Advantages of teamwork.- In a situation in which a team participates, it is possible to achieve synergy, thanks to which the total contribution of the team exceeds the sum of the various individual contributions.
Disadvantages of teamwork.- Teamwork has certain disadvantages for both organizations and individuals.
A common problem is that members face pressure to conform to performance standards and group behavior.
Social leisure.- It is a phenomenon of reduction of personal effort when one is not individually responsible for work.
Group reflection.- It is a phenomenon that occurs when the members of a cohesive group usually agree is a decision not because of their merit, but because they are not willing to risk being rejected for questioning a majority point of view or lending an opinion that differs from the rest.
How to develop team leadership skills
Team effectiveness is achieving four performance results:
innovation / adaptation, efficiency, quality, and employee satisfaction.
Innovative or adaptive teams are those with the ability to respond quickly to changing needs and environment.
Role of leaders in building effective teams
One of the important goals of a team-based organization is for group members to participate in leadership, as in the case of self-managed teams, leaders continue to play an important role.
Nine key roles a leader can use to build a good team.
1. Highlight the recognition of the group and the rewards
2. Identify and build based on the strengths of the group
3. Build trust and a norm of teamwork
4. Consolidate the capacities of the group to anticipate and face changes effectively.
5. Give authority to the group to carry out its work with the least interference.
6. Inspire and motivate the team to reach high levels of performance.
7. Recognize individual and group needs and address them in a timely manner.
8. Encourage and support team decisions.
9. Offer teams a job that is challenging and motivates them.
Nine functions of the organization in creating effective teams.
- Unconditional support from top management. Adequate information and resources. Flexibility in the structure of tasks. Adequate size and members. Clearly defined mission and objectives. Adequate structure of shared power, shared leadership. Competent team leadership. Evaluation and request for feedback on the effectiveness of the team. Adequate socialization of the members.
Post-activity reviews and dialogue sessions to facilitate team learning
A post-activity review is a systematic analysis that is done after the team completes an important activity to discover the reasons for successes or failures.
The goal of this technique is for members to review what they did well in the activity and identify what can be improved the next time a similar task needs to be done.
Organizational and administrative practices that contribute to the creativity of the team
Four organizational practices that can support team creativity, include offering teams:
1. Adequate resources
2. Recognition and appropriate rewards
3. Flexibility and less formal structure and
4. Free time for members to think and experiment with new ideas.
The four administrative practices that support team creativity are:
1. Assign members the appropriate tasks
2. Give them greater autonomy to do the job.
3. Assure them of the availability of time, money and other convenient resources
4. Protect the team against the "Creativity Blockers"
Determinants of good team decisions.
The five determining factors of good team decisions are:
1. The size and composition,
2. The hierarchy or position of the members,
3.. The cohesion of the team,
4. The traits and values of the members,
5. The quality of leadership.
Role of the leader in team decision-making according to traditional and group-oriented methods
According to the traditional method, the leader must exercise his power to initiate, direct, promote, instruct and control team members, it is the leader-centered method, common in hierarchical organizations, in which decision-making is top-down.
Stages to carry out fruitful meetings.
Each meeting should include:
1. Identify the objectives of the meeting.
2. Address the items on the agenda.
3. Summarize and review homework assignment.
Bibliography
Lussier, Robert N., Achua, Christopher F. Leadership: Theory, Application, Skill Development, Mexico: Thomson, 2002.
