First of all, what is a team? A team is a small group of people who work closely together toward a common objective and are accountable to each other. [3]
Organizations claim that they implement teams in the workplace as a way to increase employee’s talents. Nevertheless, working in teams does not guarantee that the results will be satisfying.
My classmate Zain Ali, in his blog talked about an article by Martine Haas and Mark Mortensen called The Secrets of Great Teamwork. This article says that teams work better when they are under certain conditions. Therefore, Zain Ali concluded that in order for a team to be successful they should have certain characteristics as a team, instead of individual characteristics. In this blog, I intend to expand Zain Ali´s blog, by making further analysis in the characteristics of a team.
(2313 Inc, 2014)
What characteristics do you think are fundamental for a team?
Before talking about the characteristics of a team I want to briefly touch on something every team needs before being able to define their own characteristics. Norms. Norms are acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group´s members. [1]
This is a key element for a team to thrive because before working they need to identify what is acceptable or expected while they are working. After defining the norms, they can start adopting the characteristics.
The characteristics of an effective team are:
1-Clear purpose
2-Informality
3-Participation
4-Listening
5-Civilized disagreement
6-Consensus decisions
7-Open communication
8-Clear rules and work assignments
9-Shared Leadership
10-External relations
11-Style diversity
12-Self-assesment
Of all of these, I consider clear purpose, participation and shared leadership to be the more important ones. Clear purpose is being able to establish the mission and vision of the team; this is fundamental because now everyone knows what they are aiming for. Participation is always a key factor for success because it creates discussion which leads to better ideas. And finally shared leadership, a team always have a leader, but sometimes the circumstances change and the team members need to have the skills of a leader for any given situation.
In conclusion, we can say that teams are a great way to achieve better results in a faster way. But as you may already have concluded, you need to be very careful about how do you manage them.
Word count: 389
References:
[1] Ali, Zain. “Why Teams Beat Individuals – Zain Ali’s Blog.” Zain Alis Blog. The University of British Columbia, 5 Feb. 2017. Web. 01 Apr. 2017.
[2]Inc., 2313. “Why Business Teamwork Is Important – 2313 Inc.” Pinterest. Pinterest, 09 Apr. 2014. Web. 01 Apr. 2017.
[3]Langton, Stephen P., and Nancy Robbins. Organizational Behaviour: Concepts, Controversies, Applications. N.p.: Pearson Education Canada, 2009. Print.
[4]Mortensen, Martine HaasMark. “The Secrets of Great Teamwork.” Harvard Business Review. Harvard Business Review, 16 May 2016. Web. 01 Apr. 2017.
