What are the central features of an effective work team? What advice would you give to a manager of a new team who is concerned about making the team effective as quickly as possible? The word team work is a synonym for groups, though there are slight differences between the two. The everyday lives of people involves group situations (Douglas, T, 2000). Groups are a collection of individuals who are together for period of time or in a given place for a particular purpose.
(Adair, J, 1987) defines team work as a group in which the individuals involved have a common aim and in which the jobs and skills of each member fit in with those of others. This piece of report aims to identify the key features of team work,, the report will occur in two segments. The first segment will look at issues of team development. The second segment will provide various advice which a manger of an new team may find useful in order to achieving effective team work at a rapid pace by looking at numerous ways of encouraging group coherency.
Team Development and effectiveness. In order to develop a good team an organisation must consider personal attributes when selecting individuals. If an organisation is to exceed they must select individuals with high technical skills which meets the skills of other members. Team development occurs in four stages these are: The first of this is forming; this is the coming together of the team. Hartley 1997 suggested that this is a period of uncertainty and confusion.
The reason for this is due to the fact that individuals within the team are aware of the chain of command structure. Storming is the second stage, this is a stage of conflicts with regards to the demand of tasks, the team may start forming cliques which may lead to power struggles. This stage is vital to the success of a team because it presents opportunities for reforming ideas and possible solutions to better use of resources and procedures. The third is norming, conflicts are better controlled, responsibilities and roles are apparent and acknowledged.
(Tuckman’s 1965) stated that large decisions are completed by groups and commitments and unison is strong. The fourth and final stage is performing, at this stage the team is aware of the reason for doing the task, this stage sees the group gelling, sharing workload and strong commitments are made towards the team and the organisation. The team at this stage is independent and disagreements are resolved quickly and positively. During the preparation for our group presentation, we found ourselves communicating using information and communication technology.
The reason for us using this style of communication was because it gave us the possibility to deliver urgent message instantly, over great distances and to a number of people at the same time via a variety of electronic media such as. Mobile phones This method of communication was particularly useful for us as a group because it allowed us to communicate with each other anywhere at anytime. It was highly useful because once the call is made and the call is received on the other side you are sure that the message has been delivered.
The mobile phone was an effective way to communicate for us because group members lived in different towns from each other, this helped us to communicate effectively and efficiently wit each other and allowed us to send and receive urgent messages. E-mail We also used E-mail service messaging it gave us the opportunity to communicate immediately with each others via word processed text or images. It allowed us to send large documentations immediately to other member anywhere in the world.
