WORKING IN TEAMS 1 GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY (MGT-420) WORKING IN TEAMS SHIMIYU ABASS PROFESSOR TANYA ROUNDTREE OCTOBER 31ST, 2015 WORKING IN TEAMS 2 Problem Solving Team: These are team put together to manage themselves, team is responsible for daily activities, scheduling, decision making. They replace the traditional managers and supervisors in companies. They are usually to ten to fifteen in number, enough to have different skills and not to be too many so they can function effectively. Members are collectively held accountable for their performance and also rewarded together. The advantage of problem solving team is they focus on main day to day business operation and responsible for making decisions that will improve the organization. Virtual Team: Mainly, technology and computer system of managing the organization. Groupware have changed the managing of organization and meeting are being conducted online and through social media. Many companies are using the technology, conferencing and collaboration including audio data and video. Virtual team bring a lot of advantages, cost effectiveness and team work. Virtual team work have actually bring together business success, control, possibility of increase in productivity through computer technology. There may not be face to face meeting but, technology such as "Go Meeting" has many businesses to achieve more online than face to face meeting. Self Managing Teams: Also known as self directed team or empowered team, they are formal element in the organizational structure. The self managing team replace the traditional supervisor or managers, they bring the modern style managing team to enhance the productivity and increase in productivity and profitability. The self managing team are responsible for accountability of the company and performance evaluation, work scheduling and quality control. WORKING IN TEAMS 3 The effectiveness of the video: The video shows a typical team, the leader try to start the meeting agenda but there was no corporation from the team member, every team members seems to have one problem or the other to avoid the task given to the team. This will make the team to fail. The leader stood up to make them aware that this has to be done and excuses will not cut. Team leader should not allow members to get away with their excuses and everyone should fulfill their task. Tuckman's five stages of group formation are, Forming: team members are polite and positive and everyone is trying to know each and anxious and looking forward to the task ahead. The team leader have work to at this stage delegating task to members of the team. Storming: The next phase will be storming, if the team leader does not define the role of members, it cause the team to fail. There are times when the authority of team leader or member may challenged. People work differently and to really work together as a team may be challenging for some people. Team members if they are not carried along, they may be frustrated and not able to complete their task. The Norming stage is the phase of appreciation and working out differences between team members. This stage, each team member will be comfortable to ask for help. Team members have known themselves and leader is doing every right to keep the team going working on task and meeting the dead line. Performing: This stage of performing and achievement, hard work has being put in and every team member has put in their effort to make the task to be successful. Team leader has lead the team to a great start and end positive. Team leader has delegated to team members to achieve their task. Adjourning: Final stage of bringing a task to a close, team may be disbanded through organizational restructuring. The video shows no task WORKING IN TEAMS 4 can be completed as the team leader was not getting any help from the members and this can get him frustrated and may lose interest in the task. Task is the assignment given to a group to perform or carried out. Various task need to succeed may delegated to team members and a follow up by the team leader to make sure that each member is on point of their task. Task must be defined, identified and analyzed. This will help the entire team to work on task effectively. Some of the things that may be included in findings of the task, developing and understanding a particular technical knowledge, obtaining references and taking notes, doing calculation and analyzing, devising graphs and tables, writing section of report and preparing presentation. Functional roles, In order for groups to function as a team, each member must find a way to function together besides performing their task role. This bring the team together and achieve their goals as a team. Roles such as, Coordinator, information seeker of giver, opinion giver or seeker, Goal setter, deadline settler, progress monitor, evaluator, planner, spoke person etc. The maintenance role helps the team to grow and strengthened. Team leader and other member of the team may find themselves as encourager, gate keeper, consensus tester, Tension reliever, mediator and Listener. The team leader who had the agenda of the meeting in his hand was delegating and other members of the team seems to be less concern about the task given to them. Excuses, of mother in-law, quitting in three weeks and the gentleman who walked out of the meeting without achieving the goal of the meeting/task. This is a dysfunctional meeting as a result of team members not cooperating with the team leader who got frustrated as a result of lack of cooperation from members. The communication among the participant in the video are not effective, there was a backlash, argument and complaint among members and leader was not WORKING IN TEAMS 5 actually taking control of the team members to put them in check to have respect for the task which was given to them. The message was conveyed, but, there was no concrete conclusion as to how the task will be handled and who will do what, every member of the team seems to have one or two thing to do in other to avoid the task. There was not an active listening, there was a lot of attitude from team members, excuses, lack of cooperation. Interpersonal Conflict: refers to conflict between two people and how individual work is different from others. Personalities are incompatible and choices are different, opinion are not the same. When interpersonal get too destructive a mediator is called in to to have situation resolved. Intrapersonal conflict, the experience takes place in the mind. It is a psychological conflict which involves, thought, values, emotion and principle. Joe Tanny, he should have use a more directive way of approach, he was easy and not being firm enough to be taken serious. He should have also taken a lead in the task as to delegating the assignment to each member of the team. He should have being more directive (cohesive), immediately compliance from the team members, this is necessary because of the way each team member displayed a negative approach to the task at hand. Avoidance, not addressing the issue at that moment may lead to failure of the team. When the team leader is not being affirm to members they tend to disappoint the team leader and task is not performed. The "Working Teams" video, is a typical example of a group, they got together and not having a purpose to be successful about the task at hand. This bring lack of cooperation and future result. I believe the team leader should have done more to not accommodate the team members action of excuses. The major motivational problem in the video was dysfunctional, lack of purpose, lack of cooperation and team leader was not WORKING IN TEAMS 6 firm to get members to work with him. Suggestions for motivation, pay people what they are worth, they will work and be productive. Offer opportunity for self development, certain employees will like to get ahead, but the opportunity may not be there, but, if provided they will take advantage of it. Foster collaboration between the team, sometimes team members are not happy simply because their opinion was never count, it is important and necessary. Encourage the team members to participate and their input and opinion will be appreciated. And it is also important to implement their opinion just to try something new from a team member. All team members cannot be wrong. Encouraging the team members is also a form motivation for the team member and their leader. Setting clear goal, team leader should set a clear goal for all the members of the team to follow and there must be a follow up on regular basis to make sure every member is task so as to meet the deadline. Do not encourage failure, it is the last thing a team leader will want to do, if members are meeting deadline, they failure is eminent for such team. In conclusion, ''Working Team" video serves as a case in point of what a team should look like and not look like. The video shows a typical example of a conflict type management, there was complaint, excuses and lack of cooperation among the team members. Team leader was not in control of meeting to show who is in charge and every member of the was able to say what they will do and not do. Hire those who are effective and with good work ethics. Communicate effectively and regularly via emails, text and possibly phone calls and regular meetings. This will bring a positive outcome of every team and their leader will be to lead effectively. WORKING IN TEAMS References: 1. http://www.eng.monash.edu.au/current-students/download/groupwork.pdf 2. Grand Canyon University Management and Organizational Behavior MGT-420 3.http://people.rice.edu/uploadedFiles/People/TEAMS/Leading%20and%20motivating %20as%20a%20manager.pdf 7