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The modern work force requires workers to be able to operate effectively as part of a team. This involves developing an awareness of how groups function and develop. This unit looks at the various roles that individuals play within the group and how they effect the stability and productivity of the group. Conflict between groups and group decision making are also discussed.
Identify the stages of group development and the roles played by individuals in work groups.
The ability to work well within a team. This must surely be one of the most common requirements in job advertisements these days. In the past, it was common to find large armies of workers performing more or less the same task under the direct supervision of the boss. Mechanisation and computerisation has meant that each department or function of the organisation is filled by fewer workers and often by just one. These smaller work teams are also required to work more closely with other work teams to achieve the increased flexibility and productivity.
Most work teams are made up of people with different skills and areas of responsibility. Their abilities and perspectives are the resources that the team has available to it. They also have different needs and priorities. This, combined with personality factors means that conflict is bound to arise. An awareness of the way small groups function helps work teams to work creatively together.
The distinction between a group and a team is a useful one in the workplace. Any gathering of people will make a group. People sharing an office are a group. They may be close together but the focus is individual. When individuals in a group commit themselves to a common purpose and work together to achieve it, a team begins to develop.
What is special about a team is the way in which the abilities and talents of members are pooled and creatively combined to achieve something beyond what they could achieve without coming together. A team can give more than the sum of individual talents in the team. The combining and mixing creates new possibilities and leads to new directions.
Teams have a life of their own. They grow and develop over time. Some groups will never develop that something extra which makes a team. The barrier will be the commitment of members to work closely and to deal positively with the conflict that will arise.
The essential differences between groups and teams are:
Teams develop through different stages as they work together and members get to know one another better. Tuckman (1965) identified four stages in the development of a team. These stages often apply when any group of people are brought together to achieve something.
New work teams are characterised by uncertain and hesitant interaction as members develop confidence and assert their character upon the team. A new team has not yet developed the intimacy and mutual understanding that would enable it to withstand the honesty and open conflict of a more established team. Members are generally keen to establish ground rules and seek leadership. The atmosphere of the group is usually a little awkward; perhaps a little formal. People are mostly reluctant to put themselves forward or say too much. Everyone is usually pretty interested in checking everyone else out and making initial judgements. Everyone is very nice.
The holding back and polite uncertainty falls apart as members become better acquainted. Conflicts emerge and are generally at their most explosive and divisive since the team has not yet established cohesion. Personality clashes may surface and individuals begin to assert themselves over the direction the team should take and the way the team should work. Leadership challenges often occur and factions may develop. Feelings of being included or excluded are potent at this time. The storming stage is really about members bringing everything into the open so that important issues may be resolved. Teams that dont experience a storming stage will often have problems with hidden conflict and may not perform so effectively in later stages.
At this stage in a groups development, a team culture begins to establish. Members begin to come to terms with differences in the group and work out ways of getting along. Members come to realise that they can work together and the focus of the team moves to establishing goals and procedures; how they will go about their task. Increasing awareness of each other means that the maintenance roles of effective teamwork can be performed. Members begin to identify with the team and its success as a unit.
With the task and maintenance functions of the team established, it is now possible for real productivity to begin. Real issues and problems can be discussed with honesty without threatening the stability of the team. The skills and abilities of members come to the fore and work to the teams benefit.
A final stage is frequently added to describe the process that occurs when a work-team disbands or is wound up.
Through working together, members establish bonds. Over the life of the team, they will have shared experiences unique to that team. Depending on the successfulness of the team and the manner in which it is wound up, members will often experience a kind of grieving process. Often, a team will choose to mark the occasion with a get together or some other ceremony to bring things to a conclusion. This may be as simple as saying goodbye to new acquaintances or involve reunions and the desire to maintain friendships. Often, unresolved disputes are laid to rest at this point.
Although not all work teams will move through these stages in an obvious way, it is still a good guide to the changes that can occur over the life of a work team. The main point is that teams evolve and change. Working with these changes and the conflict that results enables a team to become an effective and creative work unit.
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