ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

THE CENTER OF ATTENTION

WORK TEAMS

WHAT IS A WORK TEAM?

“Group whose individuals efforts result in a performance that is greater
than the sum of those individuals’ inputs.”

WORK GROUP
“It is a group that interacts primarily to share information and to make
decisions to help each other perform within his or her area of
responsibility.”

TEAMS vs. GROUPS

The following four factors help us to distinguish between work group
and work team:
Goal:
Primary goal of the work group is to share the information whereas the
work team strives for collective performance.
Synergy:
Work team generates positive synergy through coordinated efforts
whereas work group result in low synergic impact, even in some cases
it generates the negative synergy.
Accountability:
In work teams both individuals as well as the whole team stands
accountable for its performance whereas in work group only the group
is stands liable for the group’s performance.
Skill:
There is no much difference of skill level in the work team and the
group but in the work team skills are complimentary whereas work
group skills are random and varied.

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TYPES OF TEAMS
There are three popular and generic types of teams:
1-Problem Solving Teams:
It is a Group of 5-12 employees from the same department who meet
for a few hours each week to discuss the ways of improving quality,
efficiency and the work environment.
2-Self Managed Work Teams:
It is a group of 10-15 people who take on responsibilities of their former
supervisors.
3-Cross Functional Teams:
Employees from the same hierarchical level, but from different work
areas who come together to accomplish a task.

Other Variable Types Of Teams Are:

• Study teams • Product
• Committees development

• Task forces team

KEY ROLES PLAYED BY THE TEAM

MEMBERS

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Linker

Creator
Adviser

Promoter
Maintainer
Team

Controller Assessor

Producer Organizer

CRITICAL FACTORS CONTRIBUTE TO

THE HIGH PERFORMANCE OF AN
EFFECTIVE TEAMS

1-Size of Work Teams:

The best work teams tend to be small.
Recommended size for an effective team is 5-
12 members so it will be easy to develop
cohesiveness and commitment and mutual
accountability.

2-Abilities of Members:
Abilities of members highly affect the
performance. Key abilities like technical
expertise, problem solving skills, decision
making skills and interpersonal skills must be
hold by all the members of the team.

3-Common Purpose:

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Common purpose provides common direction,

momentum and commitment for the members.
So teams work for the mutual interest of the
organizations.

4-Specific Goals:
Clear, specific, measurable, and realistic goals
assigned to different members of the teams
stimulate the individual’s performance.

5-Leadership and Structure:

Leadership and structure directly affect the
performance of the teams. Excellent leadership
along with the appropriate structure help
individuals to work in flexible environment and
as a result increase the performance.

6-Performance Evaluation and Reward

System:
Subjective performance evaluations and
inadequate reward systems negatively affect the
performance where as appropriate rewards for
both the individuals and teams encourage the
team members and result in high performance.
7-Mutual Trust (key factor to effective
team):
Mutual trust not only improves the performance
but also enhances the coordination and
decreases the conflicts among the team
members. Integrity, competence, consistency,
loyalty and openness are the five dimensions
that underlie the concept of trust. Higher the
trust, higher will be the coordination that helps

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to improve the performance of an effective

team.

KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF AN
EFFECTIVE TEAM

Clear
Goals
Unified
Relevant Commit
Skills ment

Good
Negotiat- Commun
ing Skills ication
Effectiv
e
Teams

Internal Mutual
Support Trust

Appropr
External iate
Support Leadershi
p

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN
MANAGING TEAMS
Teams & TQM

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TQM, a new concept in management

exclusively depends upon the team efforts.
TQM requires management to give employees
the encouragement to share the ideas and act
on what they suggest. Teams provide the
natural vehicle for employees to share ideas
and to implement improvements. Because of
the cognitive limits it is very difficult for the
individuals to develop all effective ways for
solving the structured and unstructured
problems. In the teams knowledge and skill is
diversified so strategies emerge and processes
are managed in effective way. Coordination,
commitment and trust are the key elements of
effective teams and these are also highly
demanded for the TQM.
Reinvigorating Mature Teams
It is fact that team’s performance start
decreasing after certain time period. There are
two obvious reasons for this:
1. Members become reluctant to express the
openness to novel ideas and innovation.
They themselves assume the ideas of others
and take the decisions.
2. In earlier stages teams are assigned the
simple task so the performance is better in
the early period. There are four strategies to
reinvigorating the mutual trust:
i. Prepare members to deal with the
problems of maturity.
ii. Offers refresh training.

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iii. Offer advance training

4. Encourage teams to treat their development
as a constant learning experience.

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ARTICLE # 1
Title: Life Cycles of Executive Teams
Author: Edwin Lee
Source: www.elew.com
Main Idea:
Do you really want a highly cohesive and highly
effective management team?
THE P4 GROUP
This article is based on a question, about P
Groups, rises at a management workshop
conducted by the business School of Santa
Clara University in 1984. P Groups were
someone's way of describing the characteristics
of a management team in terms of the team's
effectiveness and cohesiveness. That is, one
team might be low in effectiveness and low in
cohesiveness at one extreme, and another
team high in both characteristics at the other
extreme.
Ideal team is one which is both highly effective
and highly cohesive, a P4 group. During that
workshop the author developed the concept of
the Life Cycles of Teams.
A TEAM IS A LIVING ORGANISM
One of the great breakthroughs of the 1950's
was that management consultants became
aware of management teams as entities. Since
then, managers and Organizational
Development professionals have devoted
enormous efforts to develop healthy, effective

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teams and to help team members work

smoothly together.
Author’s association with team dynamics has
been intensely practical. He has been involved
with several social movements, several project
teams, and many business organizations. In the
process He has participated in the birth, growth,
maturity, decay, and death of many teams. Birth,
growth, maturity, decay, and death serve vital
purposes in an individual life and for the entire
human species. The birth, growth, decay, and
death of an executive team serve critically
important functions for the business as a whole
and for team members.
In this article author describe the values and
drawbacks of each phase of the life cycle both
to corporate vigor and to individual growth. He
showed how an attempt to maintain a highly
effective, highly cohesive management team
undermines both the health of the company in
which it operates and the personal growth of the
individuals who are part of that team! It would
be better for all concerned to hasten the death
process rather than fight it!
AN OVERVIEW OF A TEAM'S LIFE AND
DEATH
Figures 1 and 2 briefly describe an overview of
the Life and Death of a typical
management team.
Fig. 1: The life cycle of executive teams. The
period from Birth to Maturity is typically two to

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three years. Maturity to Decay may take two to five years.

Decay to Death takes less than a year and is triggered
(usually) by a catastrophe the team produces.

An executive team is formed to achieve specific

strategic business objectives within a few years.
In the first few months of the team's life, its
cohesiveness is low and its effectiveness is low
(Fig. 2A). There is much uncertainty about how
the team will work together. This is the team's
childhood, a time of maximum learning by team
members, and maximum sensitivity to the world
outside the team.
As team members learn from one another and
take successful actions together, the team's
effectiveness and cohesiveness increase. This
increases the members' enthusiasm and
commitment to the team. This is the team's
adolescence…teenage (Fig. 2B).
Eventually the team accomplishes its first major
success, the strategic objective for which it was
formed. That strategic success marks the point
at which the team is considered to be highly
cohesive and highly effective. But cohesiveness
has a dark side: lack of openness to the world
outside the team or to new team members (Fig.
2C).

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Fig. 2: Relationships among team members and between team

members and the world
outside the team. Shown for
different times in the life
cycle.

Once the team

becomes highly
effective and highly
cohesive, the
communication of new
information between
the outside world and
the team and among
team members
deteriorates (Fig. 2D).
Team members no
longer listen to one
another because they already know what to
expect. They become bored with their
predictable roles.
After decay becomes well established, some
CEOs seek outside help to restore their teams'
to peak performance. Consequently, the
restoration efforts tend to focus on
communication and cohesiveness. Sometimes
these efforts temporarily slow the decay
process.
Loss of effectiveness eventually overcomes the
exaggerated management energy committed to
cohesiveness, and the team disintegrates (Fig.
2E). Disintegration (death), frees team

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members to participate in new teams where

they can renew their enthusiasms, develop new
personal relationships, and revitalize their
atrophied learning processes

PROJECT TEAMS AND EXECUTIVE TEAMS

A project team and an executive team start life
in much the same way. The significant
difference is that a Project Team is disbanded
when it achieves its initial strategic success.
Project team members are rewarded, but one of
the rewards is not continued employment.
Executive Team members expect continued
employment in return for past success.
COMMENTS
When a team is formed it focuses on the future.
Once it succeeds it focuses on the past. Team
members are usually selected based on how
they will contribute to the teams strategic
objectives. Once the team attains its first
strategic success, however, a member of an
executive team gets to stay on the team as a
reward for the team's success.
I-Success breeds failure. In business it is
difficult for a team to repeat its success. A study
of management teams found that most
successes are followed by major failures.
II-Failure can breed success.

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III-Term limits of no more than 8 years for

executives and executive teams would improve
business effectiveness more than any other
management change.
CONCLUSION
A highly effective, highly cohesive team is a
transitory state in a dynamic process. Business
management will improve significantly when
executives respect the values of that process
and work with its dynamics.

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ARTICLE # 2
Title: 7 Keys to Building Great Work
teams
Author: Suzanne Willis Zoglio, Ph.D.
Source: www.teambuildinginc.com
Main Idea:
In this article author has emphasis that how
leaders can foster the performance and
productivity of the work teams. She has
identified seven key elements which high-
performance teams have in common.
1. COMMITMENT
Commitment to the purpose and a clear sense
of direction. Team members understand how
their work fits into corporate objectives and they
agree that their team's goals are achievable and
aligned with corporate mission and values.
Commitment of members towards team’s goal
can be enhance by allowing them to develop
team mission, vision, and values statements by
themselves.
2. CONTRIBUTION
The power of an effective team is in direct
proportion to the skills members possess and
the initiative members expend. Work teams
need people who have strong technical and
interpersonal skills and are willing to learn.
Three factors affect the level of individual
contribution: inclusion, confidence, and
empowerment.

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Inclusion: The more individuals feel like part of

a team, the more they contribute; and, the more
members contribute, the more they feel like part
of the team.
Confidence: Confidence in self and team
affects the amount of energy a team member
invests in an endeavor. The more members are
confidant the more the more they like to
contribute. The confidence of team members
can be bolstered by providing feedback,
coaching, assessment and professional
development opportunities.
Employee Empowerment: Another way to
balance contribution on a work team is to
enhance employee empowerment by involving
them in decisions and giving them right training.
3. COMMUNICATION
For a work group to reach its full potential,
members must be able to say what they think,
ask for help, share new or unpopular ideas, and
risk making mistakes. This can only happen in
an atmosphere where team members show
concern, trust one another, and focus on
solutions, not problems. Communication --when
it is friendly, open, and positive --plays a vital
role in creating such cohesiveness.
4. COOPERATION
Success of the work teams depend upon the
degree of interdependence recognized within
the team. The following F.A.C.T.S. model of
effective team member behaviors (follow-

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through, accuracy, timeliness, creativity, and

spirit) may serve as a guide for helping teams
identify behaviors that support synergy within
the work team.
Follow-through: Team members are keenly
aware that as part of a team, everything that
they do --or don't do---impacts someone else.
Accuracy: We do each job right the first time.
Creativity: Innovation accompaniments on a
team when individuals feel supported by
colleagues.
Timeliness: When work team members are
truly cooperating they respect the time of others
by turning team priorities into personal priorities.
Spirit: Value the individual; develop team trust;
communicate openly; manage differences;
share successes; welcome new members.
5. CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
The problem is not that differences exist, but in
how they are managed. People wrongly believe
that conflict never occurs in "good" groups,
conflicts do exist but these are the sources of
new ideas.
Three techniques that help members shift
obstructing paradigms are reframing, shifting
shoes, and affirmations.
Reframing: is looking at the glass half-full,
instead of half-empty.
Shifting Shoes: is a technique used to practice
empathy by mentally "walking in the shoes" of
another person.

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Affirmations: are positive statements about

something you want to be true.
6. CHANGE MANAGEMENT
It is no longer a luxury to have work teams that
can perform effectively within a turbulent
environment. It is a necessity. Teams must not
only respond to change, but actually initiate it.
7. CONNECTIONS
A cohesive work team can only add value if it
pays attention to the ongoing development of
three important connections.
I-When a work team is connected to the
organization, members discuss team
performance in relationship to corporate
priorities, customer feedback, and quality
measures.
II-When a work team has developed strong
connections among its own members, peer
support manifests itself in many ways.
Colleagues volunteer to help without being
asked, cover for each other in a pinch. A few
ideas for developing and maintaining such
connections are: allow time before and after
meetings for brief socialization, schedule team
lunches, create occasional team projects
outside of work, circulate member profiles, take
training together, and provide feedback to one
another on development.
III-Teams that connect well with other
work groups typically think of those groups as
"internal customers". They treat requests from

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these colleagues with the same respect shown

to external customers.

INTRODUCTION TO
ENGRO CHEMICAL PAKISTAN
LIMITED

In 1957 when the search for oil by Pak Stanvac,

an Esso/Mobil joint venture led to the discovery
of Mari gas field situated in the vicinity of
Daharki - at the time a small town in upper
Sindh province. After a few years of studies,
Esso developed a proposal to build a urea
plant. The government, eager to promote the
use of fertilizers in Pakistan, approved the
proposal and Esso Pakistan Fertilizer
Company Limited was incorporated in 1965,
with Esso owning 75% of the shares and the
Pakistani public the remaining 25%. Shortly
thereafter, commenced the construction of a
urea plant of 173,000 tons annual capacity. The
plant was commissioned on December 4, 1968,
at a cost of US dollars 43 million. Esso's
investment at the time represented the largest
foreign investment in the private sector of
Pakistan.
Esso launched the Company's own branded
urea called
"Engro" - an acronym of "Energy for Growth".
In 1978, as part of an international name
change program, Esso became Exxon and the

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company was renamed Exxon Chemical

Pakistan limited. The Company continued to
prosper as it relentlessly pursued productivity
gains and strived to attain professional
excellence. The plant capacity was
debottlenecked in low cost steps to 268,000
tons, high standards of operational safety
attained and Engro Urea enjoyed a premium in
the market.
The healthy growth in demand for fertilizers in
Pakistan presented opportunities to expand the
business of the Company. However, a major
investment by Exxon was unlikely because in a
global sense it did not view fertilizers as a core
strategic business which fitted with its long term
plans.
Early in 1991, Exxon announced their intention
to sell their 75% share of Company's equity. An
employee led buy out, enabled 28% of the
equity to be acquired by the employees and
their Trust. Several financial institutions
acquired the balance 47% of the company's
shares that were previously held by Exxon
Corporation. It enabled the ownership to be
restructured and the Company was renamed
Engro Chemical Pakistan Limited.
The employee-led buyout of Exxon's equity was
the first of its kind in the corporate history of
Pakistan. As part of the buyout, agreements
were signed with Exxon for technical and project
management support and for the continued use

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of the Engro brand name. The change in

ownership's allowed the Company to proceed
with an expansion project to more than double
its capacity to 600,000 tons in 1993. During
1995 the plant capacity was further increased to
750,000 tons per annum. In 1998, the Company
successfully implemented an expansion cum
modernization that enhanced the urea capacity
to 850,000 tons per annum and appreciably
improved the environmental performance of the
plant site. The company is currently reviewing
up its next debottlenecking step to take the
capacity to 950,000 tons per annum.
Engro's strong presence in the fertilizer industry
and its endeavor to cautiously diversify and
pursue opportunities in petrochemicals has
attracted the attention of several international
venture partners. The future prospects look
promising as the organization is effectively
managed by a highly professional team totally
committed to preserving its core values and
adhering to highest standards of safety,
business ethics, integrity, etc.
Engro Chemical Pakistan Limited is the
second largest producer of urea fertilizer in the
country and is well positioned to take advantage
of the growth and challenges in the agricultural
sector. Apart from selling its own manufactured
urea, Engro also markets imported di-
ammonium phosphate and other potassic and
phosphatic fertilizers. For the last two years it is

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also dealing in the Seed business with its brand

name “ENGRO BEMISAL”.

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ANALYSIS: WORK TEAMS

PRACTICES AT “ECPL”
Over 700 employees are working at ECPL for
carrying on the operations of the organization
effectively and efficiently. They are having the
skilled and efficient employee that’s why they
are progressive and growth oriented.
The team concept is in practice in the
organization. Which make ECPL one of the
leading organizations in this dynamic work
environment. They are maintaining the teams in
their organization according to the international
theory of teams like Study teams, Cross
functional teams and Self-managed teams.
Anyhow they do have the teams with the
responsibility of problem solving in their
organization, but they are not having the
separate teams for the solution of various
problems.
The organization do give the due authority for
the implementation of the decisions whatever
the teams consider fit for the organization. The
organization considers each separate
department as a separate team and within one
department there are different teams for the
different purposes and different activities.
According to the ECPL the size of the team is
basically dependent on the size of the
department and job description. Most of the
time these teams at ECPL have 5-20

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employees for the performance of various

activities in a sub team while in a team that is
department wide that consists of about 50
employees from the same department.
Structure of the team is highly correlated with
the structure of the organization. That’s why the
various teams at this organization are
performing at or above the expectations of the
organization.
Whenever the top management of the ECPL is
building teams for the performance of the
crucial activities it do considers the members’
abilities, skills and knowledge and experience.
For the proper working of the teams the top
management gives priority to the experience
and abilities so that all the time teams’
performance is up to the mark.
Sometimes if there is any conflicting situation in
the organization then the members of the teams
are also playing the role of organizer, advisor
and controller and they resolve the conflicting
situation as early as possible.
The management believes that factors like size,
ability, specific goals, leadership, performance
evaluations and reward system highly affect the
teams. Because if the size of the team is too
large than the requirement then the productivity
suffers. Similarly if interpersonal skill is also not
up to the demand of the team’s performance
then the efficiency also suffers and the like
specific goals and leadership, performance

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evaluations and reward system also affect the

performance of the teams. On the other hand,
factors like structure, accountability moderately
affect the teams. In addition to above all, the
element of trust is very important in the team’s
activities.
The rewards are allocated to the members on
individual basis for the performance of the
individuals in the organization and sometimes
the reward allocation is done on the teams’
collective performance.
As we see that team members are individually
responsible as well as on the part of the whole
team. Often management makes responsible
the team members individual because it thinks
that it is better to get increased efficiency with
the realized responsibility of each member
separately.
The shaping individuals to team is also a crucial
matter in the organization that’s why the
organization believes that training and
motivation is necessary for the formation of
teams and turning individuals into team and
shaping their separate, individual behavior into
team’s collective behavior.
Whenever the different teams in the
organization meet the goals, the top
management ensures the individuals
contribution of each and every member of the
team through clear communication and
reinforcement because it heavily relies on the

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individual reward allocation. So each and every

member at this organization tries its level best
to contribute in achieving goals that lead to the
organization superior performance and growth.
Commitment of the teams toward the goals is a
key to the effective team. Organization
measures the commitment through the
achievement of the teams and motivation level
of the individuals. The organization ensures
friendly, open and positive communication
between the members of the team by becoming
fair, honest, and discussing conflicts in open
way.
Management pursue the inter team relationship
by sharing the resources offering suggestions
and celebrating together. For the development
of the inter team relationship the organization
arranges the schedule lunches and socialization
programs of members.
To build the strong connection between the
teams the organization arranges cross team
meetings frequently. The organization believes
that individuals prefer to work as a part of the
team rather than working alone. They highly
agree upon the team concept in the
organization and argued that the organization’s
goal could only be achieved through the
collective team efforts.

PART (II): TRUST

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Person who filled this part of the questionnaire,

he has been working over there for the last
seven years. The person believes that
productivity of the team is always greater than
the individual. The person is motivated to join
the team by collective wisdom and sharing the
ideas.
The person believes that the trust is the key
factor for effective teams because it determines
the performance of the team whether it is
achieving its objectives as per expectations of
the top management or not. That’s why this
concept is lying in the team every where in the
organization.
He believes that the dimensions like integrity,
consistency, loyalty, competency and openness
all are equally important and prior to one
another for developing the mutual trust among
the teams.
For developing the trust among the team
members we also consider the factors like a
member should act as a team player, practice
openness, speak one’s feelings, maintain
confidence, and most important is to work for
others. The members also believe that
accuracy, creativity, timeliness and spirit are
very important to improve the co-operations.
Employee motivation to perform effectively is
increased by employee recognition programs,
rewards, the challenging jobs, different training
courses. The person argued that decision

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making authority must be given to the team

members and it is highly practiced at ECPL. At
the end he feels pleasure to work as a team
member rather than working alone.

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INTRODUCTION TO
PAK-ARAB FERTILIZERS (PVT)
LTD.
Pak-Arab Fertilizers is a living symbol of
fraternal relations between Islamic Republic of
Pakistan and Emirates of Abu Dhabi. The
company was established as a result of protocol
concluded and signed on November 15, 1972
by the two governments to further strengthen
the brotherly ties through establishment of a
joint venture in the filed of fertilizer industry for
exploitation natural resources available to the
mutual benefits of two brotherly Muslim
countries. Consequently a memorandum of
understanding was concluded between West
Pakistan industrial Development Corporation of
Pakistan (WPIDC) and Abu Dhabi National
Company (ADNOC) of Abu Dhabi on March 7,
1973 followed by a participation agreement on
November 1, 1973 to establish a joint venture
for expansion and modernization of the natural
gas fertilizer factory Multan. Thus the company
was incorporated on November 12, 1973 with
authorized capital of Rs 1000 million.
WPIDC interest in the company were assumed
by National Fertilizers corporation of Pakistan
(NFC) as a result of reformation of public sector
corporations and ADNOC interest in the
company had been assumed by Abu Dhabi
(IPOC) Pakistan has equity share capital

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participation through NFC and Abu Dhabi

through IPIC in the ratio of 52% and 48%
respectively with the paid up capital of Rs.
743061M.
Pakarab fertilizers is the largest fertilizer
complex in Pakistan and is the only fertilizer
manufacturing facility producing compound
fertilizer in the country. Fertilizer production
plants of Pakarab Fertilizers are located about
08 kilometers from the ancient city of Multan
which were completed in 1978 at a total cost of
Rs. 2279.010 million inclusive of Rs. 1326
million foreign component. About 1000
employees are working in the organization.

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ANALYSIS: WORK TEAMS

PRACTICES AT “PAFL”

Although Team concept is in practice at Pak

Arab Fertilizers Limited but it is not in its
particular real shape and name. They do
maintain the Cross-functional and cross
sectional team in their organization. They give
limited authority to the team members for
decision-making and implementation of their
decisions but not in all aspects. The size of the
team varies with respect to the type and job of
the team. The size of the team for the
operational activities is relatively larger then that
of the warehousing and marketing activities. But
as a whole they believe on the small team
concept as they consider it as more productive
and effective.
The management at this organization considers
all the departments as separate teams and
structure of the teams also follow the structure
of the organization. They form the team on the
basis of skills and knowledge and responsive to
the problems when ever these problems arise.
While forming the teams they do considers the
interpersonal skills as core characteristics.
Members play the role of creator, linker,
promoter, advisor and maintainer in addition to
their normal activities. Management considers
the size, specific goals, accountability and
performance evaluations, reward allocations

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and mutual trust are highly affecting the team

performance at the Pak Arab Fertilizers limited.
While the structure and leadership moderately
affect.
Rewards are allocated on the individual and
mutual team basis and the members are
accountable both individually and as a whole for
the team performance. Individuals are
motivated to turn them into team members
through selection of right people, providing them
the appropriate training and extending rewards.
Inter team relationships are managed through
building the trust between the team members.
Inter team relationship is pursued through
sharing the resources and celebrating together
& with the more socialization of the members
and combined training. Commitment of the
member towards the organization’s goal is
measured by meeting the targets; the actual
performance is compared with the standards
already formulated.
Contribution of each team member towards the
team is ensured through individuals
performance evaluations and providing them
proper training. The organization ensures the
friendly and open communication between the
team members through increasing the mutual
interactions of the members.
Cross team meetings are play vital role in
developing the strong relationship between the
teams from various functional areas.

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 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Employees prefer to work as a part of team thus

the team increases the commitment and
organization can achieve its goals in efficient
way.
Management feels that team is good for
performing the right kind of activities within the
organization and outside the organization as
well. So they are highly impressed with the
teams’ performance and their relative
expectations.

PART (II): TRUST

The person is working for ten years in this
organization and he is more willing to work as a
member of the team because he knows that the
output of the team is more important and
greater than the individual output in the
organization.
The reward systems, diverse skill knowledge,
learning of new things and ideas and building
confidence are the major motivating factors for
joining the teams.
He believes that the trust is the key factor that’s
why it is essential part of their teams. All
mentioned dimensions i.e., integrity,
consistency, competency, loyalty and openness
are important for building the mutual trust
between the teams. Trust can be created and
develop through practicing openness and
showing consistency and demonstrating the
competency.

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 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Reframing (compromising, win-win) approach is

considered to be the best approach to manage
the conflict between the team members and the
“FACTS MODEL” is the best way to improve the
cooperation between members. The person
believes that decision making power and
authority must be given to the team members
for the implementation of decisions effectively
and efficiently.

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 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

TEAM PRACTICES
AT “ECPL” & “PAFL” AND THE
GLOBAL PROSPECTS
The concept of teams and teamwork is
increasingly becoming an important key to
productivity and employee satisfaction in the
contemporary workplace. Teams have definitely
become important in organizations because,
increasingly, data shows that productivity,
quality, and morale improves when teams are
utilized. There are many reasons for these
positive outcomes but what we have found at
ECPL and PAFL is:
• Teams produce a greater quantity of
ideas and information than individuals
acting alone.
• Teams improve understanding and
acceptance among individuals involved in
the process.
• Teams create higher motivation and
performance levels than individuals acting
alone.
• Teams offset personal biases and blind
spots that hinder the decision process.
• Teams sponsor more innovative and risk-
taking decision making.
The advent of the global business environment
has caused major changes in who does the
planning, how it is done, and the content of the
plan. It is common to find teams of line and staff

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 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

managers globally. There are several traditional

techniques often used to improve team
performance and what we find consistent with
ECPL & PAFL that not according to the world
standard but up to some extent they are using
such techniques.
• Plan and schedule the work to be done;
• Schedule which team member will handle
which assignments;
• Select, layout, install and manage new
equipment;
• Secure predictive/preventive maintenance
for their equipment;
• Repair, or secure repair for, their
equipment;
• Organize their own material supply
process;
• Contract directly with outside suppliers, or
negotiate with purchasing department
about their input quality and timing
requirements;
• Set up regular feedback and interaction
channels with customers;
Some of the Similarities Exist
Between Two Organizations
• Create a common, shared goal
• Promote interdependency
• Have measurable outcomes
• Continually stress the team's purpose

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 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

• Make sure team members have the right

skills
• Use training to help team members
develop interpersonal, intercultural skills.
• Spell out lines of communication

TEAM PRACTICES
COMPARISON BETWEEN “ECPL”
& “PAFL”
ECPL is 2nd largest company in the fertilizer
company of Pakistan, it hold almost 22%
production shares after FFC, which has about
58% production share. ECPL has two plants
with total capacity of 850 MT. While the PAFL
keeps 10% production share and it has one
plant.
Approximately 700 employees are working in
ECPL and about 1000 in PAFL.
ECPL has got the mixed structure regarding
centralization and decentralization in both
decision-making. It has got the simple structure
in their organization. While at PAFL the
structure is very complex, more lines of
authorities are involved in decision-making.
Team concept is applicable in both of the
organizations, ECPL in particular while PAFL
approximately applies this concept but not up to
that extent.
ECPL has self-managed, cross functional and
study teams while PAFL mostly concerned with

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 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

the problem solving teams whenever any kind

of problem arises teams become active. Both
the organization use to give authority to
implement any decision by team, with this
philosophy the organization is getting the right
kind of work and achieving the overall goals of
the organization.
Both of the organizations mainly rely on the
small size teams but at PAFL sometimes-large
teams also present in the production
department. In large teams there are more than
twenty members.
Formal organizational structure forms the teams
in each of the organization. Each member of
the team is bound to follow the strict rules and
regulations of the organization. While forming
the team both organizations take into account
the knowledge, abilities and interpersonal skills
of each and every member of the organization.
At ECPL team members plays the vital role of
creator, liaison, organizer, and assessor while at
PAFL teams play the role of creator, linker,
advisor and promoter. It means the role of the
team is basically same in both the organizations
but depending upon the unique characteristics
they have built a little bit difference in team
concept.
At ECPL the performance of the teams is highly
affected by the following variables like Abilities,
Specific goals, Leadership, Structure & Mutual
trust.

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 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

In addition to the above-mentioned factors PAFL

considers performance evaluations, reward
systems, and accountability for the effective
teams.
Both the organizations are using the individual
and teams based reward systems because the
members of the teams are individually
responsible as well as for the team as a whole.
ECPL turns its employees into the effective
team members using training, and reward
allocation and it motivates the employees to be
effective team player. While PAFL uses the
selection, rewards plus0. motivation concepts
but they give high weightage in selection of a
team member.
In pursuing the inter team relationships both the
organizations share the resources within the
teams and often celebrates together on the
achievement of the objectives of the team.
Socialization, training together, schedule
lunches are being applied in developing the
inter team relationship at ECPL, at PAFL applies
the socialization and training together while
shaping the teams in the organization for the
effective and superior performance.
Both the organizations use the cross team
meetings in building the stronger connection
between the teams so that their performance
becomes important for the achievement of the
organizational goals so management considers
it as a crucial matter for designing the inter team

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 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

relationships. Both the organizations have

thought that the team concept should be in the
organization, even it is a new concept in
Pakistan but it increases productivity,
commitment, performance and mutual trust
among the members of the teams.
TRUST
At both organizations team members are of the
view that productivity of the person in team is
much greater than the individual performance
working alone. Both organizations have a same
answer that the reward system mostly
accelerates the persons to join the team
because they are rewarded individually and as
a whole. Team members from both the
organization believes that integrity, consistency,
competency, and loyalty are they key factors in
developing the mutual trust.
In case of any conflict among the team
members normally both the organizations try to
reach the compromising situation like Win-Win.
Authority is granted to each team whatever the
decision is made by the team members it is
happened in the both organizations. During the
survey we perceive that people would like to
work in team rather than individually.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Engro Chemicals Pakistan
Limited
Syed Riaz Hussain Shah

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 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Regional Manager Multan.

 0300-8293042
 061-584117

Junaid Ahmad
Sales Officer Multan Distt.
 061-584118

Pak-Arab Fertilizer Limited

Mr. Khlid Bashir
SR. Manager personal Industrial
Relations
 061-552123

Internet
www.emeraldinsight.com
www.articles911.com
www.elew.com
www.teambuildinginc.com
www.hr.com

Books
Organizations Behavior
(Stephen P. Robbins)
Organizations Behavior
(Luthan)
Management
(Stephen P. Robbins)
Principles of Management
(Kiehrich Koontz)

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