Introduction

Team work, effective work teams, and team building are popular topics in today’s
organizations. Successful teams and team work fuel the accomplishment of your strategic
goals. Effective work teams magnify the accomplishments of individuals and enable an
organization to better serve customers. Fostering teamwork is creating a work culture that
values collaboration. In a teamwork environment, people understand and believe that
thinking, planning, decisions and actions are better when done cooperatively. People
recognize, and even assimilate, the belief that “none of us is as good as all of us”.

Employee involvement, teams, and employee empowerment enable people to make

decisions about their work. This employee involvement, team building approach, and
employee empowerment increases loyalty and fosters ownership. These links tell you
how to do team building and effectively involve people. Organizations are working on
valuing diverse people, ideas, backgrounds, and experiences. People have miles to go
before valuing teams and teamwork will be the norm.

To make teamwork happen, these powerful actions must occur. Executive leaders
communicate the clear expectation that teamwork and collaboration are expected. No one
completely owns a work area or process all by himself. People who own work processes
and positions are open and receptive to ideas and input from others on the team.
Executives model teamwork in their interaction with each other and the rest of the
organization. They maintain teamwork even when things are going wrong and the
temptation is to slip back into former team unfriendly behavior.

Teamwork is rewarded and recognized. The long ranger, even if she is an excellent
producer, is valued less than the person who achieves results with others in teamwork.
Compensation, bonuses, and rewards depend on collaborative practices as much as
individual contribution and achievement. Important stories and folklore that people
discuss within the company emphasize teamwork. People who “do well” and are
promoted within the company are team players. The performance management system
places emphasis and value on teamwork. Often 360 degree feedback is integrated within
the system.

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Team

A team is defined as a group of people working together to achieve common objectives

or goals. Teamwork is the cumulative actions of the team during which each member of
the team subordinates his individual interests and opinions to fulfill the objectives or
goals of the group. The objective or goal is a need to accomplish something, such as
solve a problem and improve a process.

Members of a team will need to focus on how they relate to each other, listen to the
suggestions of others, build on previous information and use conflict creatively. They
will need to set standards, maintain discipline, build team spirit and motivate each other.
Each member of the team has their own history of experience to help achieve the
objectives. They should have a need to see the task completed, but also the need of
companionship, fulfillment of personal growth and self-respect.

Why Teams Work?

Teams work because many heads are more knowledgeable than one. Each member of the
team has special abilities that can be use to solve problems. Many processes are so
complex that one person cannot be knowledgeable concerning the entire process.

Second, the whole is greater than the sum of its members. The interaction within the team
produces results that exceed the contribution of each member.

Third, team members develop a rapport with each other than allows them to do better job.

Finally, team provides the vehicle for improved communication, thereby increasing the
likelihood of a successful solution.

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Types of Teams

The early history suggests that work simplification efforts by management and labour
were most likely the first production–oriented teams. The current type of teams can be
divided into four main groups. They may be called by different names and slightly
different characteristics to accommodate a particular organization.

1. Process improvement teams

The members of the process improvement team represent each operation of the
process or sub-process. Usually, the scope of the team’s activity is limited to the
work unit. A team of labour six to ten members will come from the work unit and
depending on the, marketing accounting location of the sub-process, an external
or internal customer would be included on the team. During the course of the
team’s life, additional expertise from other work areas may be added on a
permanent or temporary-it is disbanded when the objective has been obtained.
When the targeted process includes many work units or the entire organization, a
cross functional team may be more appropriate with work unit teams as sub
teams.

2. Cross functional teams

A team about six to ten members will represent a number of different functional
areas, such as engineering, marketing, accounting, production, quality and human
resources. It may also include the customer and supplier. A design review team is
a good example of cross functional team. This type of team is usually temporary.
An exception would be a product support team, which would be permanent and
have as an objective to serve a particular product line, service activity, or a
particular customer. This type of team breaks down functional area boundaries.

3. Natural work teams

This type of team is now voluntary–it is composed of all the members of the work
unit. It differs from quality control circles because a manager is a part of the team
and the projects to be improved are selected by management. Some employees

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 may not to work in teams for various reasons and managers should anticipate this
action and be prepared to help employees become comfortable in the team
environment or alternatively find work in another unit that still performs work as
individuals. Even through, “team work” is technically feasible; there may be such
resistance that its introduction should be delayed until there has been substantial
turnover.

4. Self directed/Self management teams

They are an extension of natural work teams without the supervisor. Thus, they
are the epitome of the empowered organization–they not only do the work but
also manage it. There is wide direction to organize their work subject to
organizational work flow requirements. There is a team coordinator to liaison
with senior management that may rotate among members. The team meets daily
to plan their activities, and decisions are usually by consensus. Additional
responsibilities may include; hiring, dismissal, performance evaluation, customer
relations, supplier relations, recognition/reward and training. The team must have
access to business information in order to plan, control and improve their
processes.

Characteristics of Successful Teams

In order team to be effective, it should have certain characteristics, listed below

1. Sponsor

In order to have effective liaison with the quality council, there should be a sponsor.
Preferably the sponsor is a member of the quality council, thereby providing
organizational support.

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 2. Team Charter

A team charter is a document that defines the team’s mission, boundaries, the back
ground of the problem, the team’s authority and duties and resources. It also identifies the
members and their assign the roles-leader, recorder, timekeeper and facilitator. The
sponsor and the team negotiate the charter.

3. Team composition

The size of the team rarely exceeds ten people except in the case of natural work teams or
self directed teams. Larger teams have difficulty maintaining commitment, and
interpersonal aspects become difficult to control. Teams should be diverse by having
members with different skills, perspectives, and potential. Where appropriate internal and
external customers and suppliers should be included.

4. Training

As the needed arises, members should be trained in problem solving techniques, team
dynamics, and communication skills.

5. Ground rules

The team must develop its rules of operation and conduct. There should be open
discussion on what will and will not be tolerated. Periodically the ground rules should be
reviewed and revised when appropriate.

6. Clear objectives

Without clear objectives and goals, the team will have in difficulty. In addition, the
criteria for success should be agreed on with management.

7. Accountability

The team is accountable to perform. Periodic status reports should be given to the quality
council. In addition, the team should review its performance to determine possible team
process weaknesses and make improvements.

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 8. Well-defined decision procedures.

Effective, acceptable, and timely decisions have to be made by the team.

9. Resources

Not only is founding and employee release time for the project important, but also
important is access to information. The team cannot be expected to perform successfully
without the necessary tools.

10. Trust

Management trusts the team to perform the task effectively. There must also be trust
among the members and a belief in each other.

11. Effective problem solving

Decisions are based on the problem solving method. They are not made on the hunches or
quick fixes.

12. Open communication

Members actively listen, without interruption, to other members, speak with clarity and
directness, ask questions and say what they mean.

13. Appropriate leadership

All teams need leadership-whether imposed by the quality council, or someone emerges
as a leader figure as the life of the team progresses, or whether the leadership changes as
leadership matures.

14. Balanced participation

All members must become involved in the team’s activities by voicing their opinions,
lending their knowledge, and encouraging other members to take part.

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 15. Cohesiveness

Members should be comfortable working with each other and act as a single unit,
not as individual or sub-groups.

Team Member Roles

Teams are usually selected or authorized by the quality council. A team will consist of a
team leader, facilitator, recorder, time keeper and members. All team members have
clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

The team leader, who is selected by the quality council, sponsor or the team itself, has
following roles.

• Ensure the smooth and effective operation of the team, handling and assigning
record keeping, orchestrating activities, and how overseeing preparation of reports
and presentation.
• Facilitate the team process, ensures that all members participate during the
meetings, prevents other members from dominating, actively participates when
appropriate, guides without domineering, and uses positive interpersonal
behavior.
• Serves as a contact point between the team and the sponsor or quality council.
• Orchestrates the implementation of the changes recommended by the team within
organizational constrains and team boundaries.
• Monitor the statues and accomplishments of members, assuring timely completion
of assignments.
• Prepare the meeting agenda, including time, date, and location; and ensures the
necessary resources are available for the meeting.
• Ensures that team decisions are made by consensus where appropriate, rather than
by unilateral decision, handclasp decision, majority-rule decision, or minority-rule
decision.

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The facilitator is not a member of the team; him/her neutral assistant and may not be
needed with a mature team. This person does not get involved in the meeting content or
evaluations of the team’s idea. Roles are as follows.

• Support the leader in the facilitating the team during the initial stages of the team.

• Focuses on the team process; is concerned more with how decisions are made
rather than the decision itself.

• Acts as resources to the team by intervening when necessary to keep the team on
track.

• Does not perform activities that the team can do.

• Provides feed back to the team concerning the effectiveness of the team process.

The team recorder, who is selected by the leader or by the team and may be rotated on a
periodic basis, has the following roles.

• Documents the main ideas of the main team’s discussion, the issues raised,
decisions made, action item and future agenda items.

• Present the documents for the team to review during the meeting and distribute
them as minutes after the meeting in a timely manner.

• Participate as a team member

The timekeeper, who is selected by the leader or by the team and may be rotated on a
periodic basic, has the following roles.

• Monitor the time to ensure that the team maintains the schedule as determined by
the agenda.

• Participate as a team member

The team member, who is selected by the team leader, sponsor, or quality council or is a
member of a natural work team, has the following responsibilities

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 • Contributes best, without reservation, by actively participating in meetings and
sharing knowledge, expertise, ideas, and information.

• Respects other people’s contribution, does not criticize, complain, or condemn.

• Listens carefully and asks questions.

• Is enthusiastic-it’s contagious and helps galvanize the entire team.

• Works for consensus on decision and is prepared to negotiate important points.

• Supports the decision of the team-badmouthing a decision or a member reduces

the effectiveness of the team.

• Trusts, supports and has genuine concern for other team members.

• Understands and is committed to team objectives.

• Respect and is tolerant of individual differences.

• Encourage feedback on own behavior.

• Acknowledges and works through conflict openly.

• Carries out assignments between meetings such as collecting data, observing

processes, charting data, and writing reports.

• Gives honest, sincere appreciation.

Effective Team Meetings

If the participants know their roles and utilize the characteristics of successful teams the
probability of effective team meetings is enhanced. There is however, a few items in that
can help improve the process:

• Meeting should be regularly scheduled; have a fixed time limit and start on time.
Participants should be notified ahead of time with the location, time and objective.

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 Avoid unnecessary meetings through e-mail, voice mail and telephone calls;
however, also avoid accumulated issues.

• An agenda should be developed, either at the end of previous meeting or prior to

the beginning of him next meeting. It should be sent to the participants prior to the
meeting. Each agenda item includes a process. Such as brainstorming, affinity
diagram, discussion and so forth; the presenters; and time guidelines.

• Agendas usually list; opening focus. Previous meeting feedback, agenda review
agenda items, summary and location items.

• Periodically, the meeting should be evaluated by the participants.

Stages of Team Development

Organizations can dramatically improve team performance by understanding and

recognizing the stages in the lifecycle of teams. These stages are forming, storming,
norming, performing and adjourning.

Forming is beginning stage where members become aware of the boundaries of

acceptable behavior.

Storming is the most difficult stage as members start to realize the amount of work
that lies ahead.

Norming is the stage where members begin to work together. Emotional conflict is
reduced as cooperation, cohesion and constructive criticism start to become the
normal behavior.

Performing is the stage where the team members have settled their relationships and
expectations.

Adjourning is a stage that is resaved for temporary teams. Evaluate its performance
and determine lessons learned.

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Common Problems of a Team

1. Floundering

This problem occurs in the teams which are having trouble starting or ending a project or
different stages of the project. Solution to this state are to look critically at the
improvement plan, review the mission statement, determine the cause of the holdup, and
have each member write down reasons and discuss them at the next meeting.

2. Overbearing participants

These participants have an unusual amount of influence in the team. They usually have a
passion of authority or a particular expertise. Teams need these abilities; however, it
becomes detrimental when they discourage discussion on their expertise and discount
other member’s ideas. Solutions are to reinforce the ground rules, talk to the person off-
line and ask for cooperation, and enforce the importance of data and the problem-solving
method.

3. Dominating participant

They like to themselves talk, use overlong anecdotes, and dominate the meeting.
Members get discouraged and find excuser for missing meetings. Solutions are to
structure discussion on key issues for equal participation. Talk to the offending person
off-line, and have the team agree in the needs for limits and a balanced participation. In
addition the leader may act as a gatekeeper by asking questions.

4. Reluctant participants

They feel shy or unsure of themselves and must be encouraged to contribute. Problems
developed when there are no built-in activities that encourage introverts to participate and
extraverts to listen. In addition to structured activities, solution includes dividing the task
into individual assignment and acting as a gatekeeper by asking questions such as, “ what
is your experience in this area?”

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 5. Unquestioned acceptance of opinions as facts occurs

When members assert personal beliefs with such confidence that other members think
they are facts. Solutions are to request data and to follow the problem-solving method.

6. Rush to accomplish

It is common to teams being pushed by one or more members who are impatient for
results. Teams must realize that improvements do not come easily and rarely overnight.
Solutions are to remind members that the ground rules call for the problem-solving
method or to confront the rusher off-line and explain the effects of impatience.

7. Attribution

This is the activity of guessing at a person’s motives when team members disagree or
don’t understand his or her opinion or behavior. Solutions are to reaffirm the importance
of the problem-solving method, question whether this opinion is based on data, and find
out the real meaning of the problem.

8. Discounts and “plops”

These things arise when members fail to give credit to another’s opinions or no one
responds to a statement that “plops”. Every member deserves the respect and attention
from the team. Solutions are to reinforce active listening as a team behaviour, support the
discounted member, or talk off-line with members who frequently discount, put down or
ignore.

9. Wanderlust

Digression and tangents happened when members’ loss track of the meeting’s purpose or
want to avoid a sensitive topic. Discussions then wonder off in many directions at once.
Solutions are to use a written agenda with time estimates, write meeting topics on flip
charts or redirect the conversation back to the agenda.

10. Feuding team members

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This can disrupt an entire team with their disagreement. Usually these feuds predate the
team and are best dealt with outside the team meetings. Solution are to get the adversaries
to discuss the issues off-line, offer to facilitate the discussion, and encourage them to
forms some contract about their behaviors.

Conclusion

Team work is the understanding the interaction among the people. A team is not a group.
It can be defined as a group of people whose individual effort result in a performance that
is greater than the sum of individual input. (Stephen P Robbins, 9th edition,
Organizational Behaviour)

A team produces synergy by putting all members’ full effort for the completion of a
particular task. Organizational culture, management role, people attitude and hierarchy
are having grater impacts on the team base environment. A flat organization structure will
support a team base working environment. Teams can be categorized in to four types.

Each team consists of members and those team members have to play essential roles
within the team while they are achieving a certain target. In general, a successful team
has important features that are driven to the attainment of its goal and also a team is
required to meet continuously. But every team meeting will not be effective as people
factors affect to the effective team meeting.

People are the lifeblood of an organization. Employees can face up to the turbulence and
constraints of today’s environment by being an effective team member which is formed
to attain a certain task.

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In Total Quality Management view point everyone should involve in the process from the
managing director to the first level labour. Having a team base environment or a culture
will highly influence the quality Management purposes. A people focus philosophy is
required to assure the quality standards that are to be complied by any organization.
Teams are increasingly becoming the primary means for organizing work in
contemporary business firms like 3M, Volvo, etc. Most of the successful organizations
use this Team concept today. However, it also has number of problems within a team.

It’s hard to find work places that exemplify teamwork. In SriLanka, our institutions such
as schools, our family structures, and our pastimes emphasize winning, being the best,
and coming out on top. Workers are rarely raised in environments that emphasize true
teamwork and collaboration.

References

Besterfield H.D, Besterfield M.C, et.al, (2004), Total Quality Management, 1st Edition,
Pearson Education Publication.

Ahuja, K.K. (1990), Organizational Behaviour, 1st Edition, Kalyani Publishers, New
Delhi, India.

Robbins S.P, (2001), Organizational Behaviour, 9th Edition, Prentice-Hall Publishers,

New Delhi, India

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