What are the main hallmarks of a group of people working effectively together and how might managers seek to optimise the performance of such individuals?
4. What are the main hallmarks of a group of people working effectively together and how might managers seek to optimise the performance of such individuals?
In the business world teamwork is increasingly demanded because, if the team is well built, it helps to obtain more objectives with higher quality and in a smaller amount of time. The aim of every team is to join everyone’s forces, following in union on the same path to a common goal that would be hard to reach for a single individual. In the first part of this essay I’m going to discuss how to pick the correct members for a team. Then my attention will move to the issue of how executives manage to merge the individuals that they have picked, into an efficient working team, and how they make sure that the team will work effectively.
How do managers pick the right members for a team? To answer this question we first need to distinguish two types of teams: the ones that are made to take specific decisions, and the ones made to work together for a long period of time. In both cases building a team that will work well and that will make good decisions that will then be put in practise, is a process that is not simple and that requires time. Not only the working characteristics of the members that will compose the team have to be taken in consideration, but also their personalities and their ability in team work. Indeed it is never a good idea to put a person to work in a team if he is not good at collaborating with others and if they do not enjoy teamwork. That choice would probably be counter-productive, even if that person is the best worker of the company.
In the first case, to build a good team that has to make a specific decision, according to Ichak Adizes’ methodology, people with these three characteristics are required:
A = authority: someone that has the power (the authority) to say “yes” or “no”
P = power: someone that will be involved in the activities about what the decision is.
In the business world teamwork is increasingly demanded because, if the team is well built, it helps to obtain more objectives with higher quality and in a smaller amount of time. The aim of every team is to join everyone’s forces, following in union on the same path to a common goal that would be hard to reach for a single individual. In the first part of this essay I’m going to discuss how to pick the correct members for a team. Then my attention will move to the issue of how executives manage to merge the individuals that they have picked, into an efficient working team, and how they make sure that the team will work effectively.
How do managers pick the right members for a team? To answer this question we first need to distinguish two types of teams: the ones that are made to take specific decisions, and the ones made to work together for a long period of time. In both cases building a team that will work well and that will make good decisions that will then be put in practise, is a process that is not simple and that requires time. Not only the working characteristics of the members that will compose the team have to be taken in consideration, but also their personalities and their ability in team work. Indeed it is never a good idea to put a person to work in a team if he is not good at collaborating with others and if they do not enjoy teamwork. That choice would probably be counter-productive, even if that person is the best worker of the company.
In the first case, to build a good team that has to make a specific decision, according to Ichak Adizes’ methodology, people with these three characteristics are required:
A = authority: someone that has the power (the authority) to say “yes” or “no”
P = power: someone that will be involved in the activities about what the decision is.
References: Hackman, J.R. (2009) “Why Teams Don’t Work” Harvard Business Review, May, 87 (6), 98-105 Frisch, B Wenger, E. and Snyder, W. (2000) “Communities of Practise: The Organizational Frontier” Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb, 139-145 Belbin, R.M Belbin, R.M. (1993) Teams Roles at Work, Butterworth/ Heinemann, Oxford Hackman, J.R Tuckman, B. and Jensen, N. (1977) “stages of Small Group Development Revisited”, Group and Organizational Studies, 2, 419-427 http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/teamwork.html