Working in teams and creating successful team dynamics Essay

Working in teams and creating successful team dynamics - Essay Example The aim of the paper is to examine the role of team dynamics in organizational effectiveness and analyze the factors which help the companies to create food working environment for their teams. Today, managers recognize the importance of teams dynamic in influencing behaviour at work. The concept of the organisation as a socio-technical system is concerned with the interactions between the psychological and social factors, as well as structural and technical requirements. Again, it may be remembered that technological change in the coal-mining industry had brought about changes in the social teamings of the miners (Campbell, 1997). Another important aspect if successful team dynamics is that team members in an organization will have one or more goals in common, such as to produce or market a product. Communication is essential within each team and members of a team have roles to play in order to achieve the team task. Expected behaviour patterns are developed within each team and these are referred to as norms. Any deviation from norms will bring team pressure to force a return to the 'norm'. Too low or too high an output as compared with the 'norm' may mean admonishment by team members. For instance, Apple Computer Corporation is a goof example of successful team dynamics: "Apple's management style was relatively in1ormal for a Fortune 100 company. As one employee in Finance said, "Things are done by committees, meetings, consensus. We have very few policies, systems, or controls. What we do is get a team of experts together and make a decision." (Gibbs, Beer, 1991) Distinctions have been made between formal and informal teamings. A teams team consists of carefully selected members who have skills and attributes that can assist the reaching of a desired goal. It will have a leader, subordinates, a location and a task to accomplish - for example, a planning committee. New methods of working disrupted the integration of small self-selecting teams of assembly line worker in Ford Motor Company who worked together as independent teams. The change had undesirable social effects and as a result the new method did not prove as economically beneficial as it should have done with the new technology. The result was a 'composite' method of working with more responsibility taken by the team as a whole. The composite method proved to be not only more rewarding socially to the workers but also more efficient economically than the previous new method of working (Sterman, 2000). To be able to create a good working environment, managers must be aware of certain aspects of team dynamics. Norms can be very influential in encouraging high or low productivity of members of the team. One method of increasing the dynamic in a team is to give members more say in the selection of persons they will be working with. Interview questions for employees: 1. Do like teamwork or prefer to work independently 2. Can you quickly see advantages and new opportunities 3. Is it easy for you to work in a diverse team 4. Is it important for you to be a leader of a team 5. Do you often influencing people without pressuring them 6. Can you work under pressure 7. What is your role in a team (now, previously) 8. What is you characteristic approach to teamwork 9. What is the best method of conflict resolution for you Explain. 10. When do you gain work satisfaction Explain. 11.