Teamwork [week 13]

A Sucessful team

Recently I worked as part of a team in a assignment which on the whole was  a sucessful team. The team had a common goal to produce a good assignment and therefore get a good result. We took on different roles in order to work together to achieve our group objectives successfully. ‘’Teams occur when a number of people have a common goal and recognise their personal success is dependant on the success of others’’ [Mullins 2007].

Teamwork theories, models and concepts

Belbin’s team roles
‘’The team roles identified by Belbin are based on certain patterns of behaviour that people exhibit within teams. These patterns of behaviour can have an impact on the performance of the team’’ [Mind tools, 2010]. Belbin’s team roles help individuals become aware of their strengths/ abilities, understand the role that they are capable of playing within a team and deal better with the demands of the team’s environment. Belbin identified 9 different team roles that are needed to make a successful team.

Action Oriented:
Implementer – makes the team’s decisions and ideas into manageable and practical tasks or actions.
Shaper – is goal directed a dynamic individual who challenges others during discussions, can handle work pressures and can overcome obstacles.
Completer/Finisher - pays attention to detail and has the ability to meet deadlines.

People Skills Oriented:
Co-ordinator - is good at enabling interaction and decision making.
Team worker - is a good listener, collaborative, co-operative, easy going and tactful.
Resource Investigator - is extrovert, can develop contacts, communicate well, explore new ideas/ opportunities, and bring enthusiasm and drive to the team effort.

Cerebral/Intellectual:
Planter - is good at solving problems and thinks out-of-the-box.
Monitor/Evaluator - has good judgment and good strategic thinking ability.
Specialist – is a dedicated and focused individual who likes to learn and build knowledge. The specialist likes to dig deep and is therefore a good resource who can contribute information and knowledge in a team situation.

Tuckman’s stages of group development
‘’Tuckman's model is known as a basis for effective team building and leadership. The model recognises that groups do not start off fully formed/ functioning but evolve through phases’’. [Wikipedia, 2010]
Tuckman suggests teams grow through defined stages, from their group of individuals to a task focused team. The four phases of his theory are:

Forming: The initial stage of team development, individuals not yet gelled together. Everybody is busy finding their place in the team and asking themselves why they are here.

Storming: People begin to see themselves as part of a team, they may challenge each other, and the team leader, conflict and confrontation typify this stage, as differences surface.

Norming: Team members start to come together, developing processes, establishing ground rules, clarifying who does what, and how things will be done, there is a sense of "togetherness".

Performing: Increased focus on both the task, and on team relationships, Performance is delivered through people working effectively together.

Effectiveness of group
Overall our group was effective as we all had different roles from Belbin’s team roles. For example there weren’t two Implementers in our group; therefore we had a range of skills that complemented each other to make our team more effective. When we where due to do our presentation we had a group meeting, where we participated by sharing views about our team performance and improvements. We decided who was going to say what, how we could improve what we where going to say and then practised it together, this worked well as we were satisfied with our presentation.

We went through some of Tuckman’s stages of group development. When our team was forming to begin with we focused on organising the team, decided who will do what and when we will meet as a team. We gathered information about the task itself and about each other by picking up on each others impressions. No work was done at this stage as we spent time to find out what each of us was best at. This stage was difficult for us as a team because we where all from different cultural backgrounds so weren’t quite sure what to make of each other.

We then went through the storming stage when there was a lack of communication and it was proven to be hard to get all of us together in the same place at the same time due to different commitments such as work. Some of the team members became inpatient and questioned other team member’s commitment to get the assignment done. There where minor confrontations that where quickly addressed through communication, as we where able to relate to each others reasons as to why we couldn’t put in more time. It was important that we went through the storming stage and dealt with our problems as a group, because we where them able to become a stronger team in the Norming stage.

At the Norming stage we appreciated each others skills and experiences as we understood each other better. Our tasks where by now agreed and clear, we supported each other, accepted any changes that where discussed and felt part of an effective group. Most of the assignment was done at this stage including the research on motivational theories and on the chosen organisations. We reached the performing stage as by now we where all able to comfortably work with each other and share what we knew. Our responsibilities changed according to need in a seamless way for example when we realised we still hadn’t done the referencing one member who was doing organisational research took it upon herself to do so as she knew how to reference and another team member continued research on the organisations. We where loyal to the group, task orientated therefore morale was high.

Even after passing Tuckman’s Norming stage we went back to the storming stage for the second time, which shows that it didn’t mean we couldn’t go through the same stage again when we had differences of opinion, when the situation changed and we didn’t agree with each other. We had different abilities and therefore set our individual targets according to our own ability. This was the reason as to why the team had minor conflicts as some felt others where not working hard enough and some felt they where being pushed to work harder than necessary. Overall we remained civilised with each other and concentrated on the completion of the given task.

Teamwork does not, of course, guarantee in itself good results’’ [Mullins] It was challenging as some team members where not as motivated as others to put in the extra work to obtain the highest grade possible. Therefore we briefly went through the storming stage once again as some team members felt they where putting more into the completion of the assignment than others. Some felt other team members where happy to hand the assignment in without trying to make it even better, this made sense as the completer/ finisher who paid attention to detail felt this way.

Conclusion
From the group I learnt that some of us have strengths in more than one role and weaknesses in many of the other roles. For example I was a good Implementer and a good finisher but a very poor plant. This showed my natural inclination during teamwork was to facilitate practicality, discipline and attention to detail, but on the flip side, I was lacking as far as solving problems went. I also learnt that depending on the task at hand, we changed what role we took on. For example one of our team members was a good team worker when we did the presentation however when we moved on to do the written assignment she no longer took on this role and instead became the plant. All  the roles from both Tuckmans and Belbin's theories are are important, a sucessful team will need a variety of skills this is why our team worked well togheter.

Sucess of Team work
The NHS in West Sussex are a sucess due to their staff going out of their way to help each other and creating a family feeling with their co-workers.  This will lead to higher productivity as every is willing to help each other to get things done. One person can't do what a team of people can do. The staff care about their achievements and want to provide a better service.
Central office of information claim that their sucess is due to a good leader, which naturally follows with a good team. They say they get a 'buzz' by working as a team, which means the sense of team motivates them as they enjoy being there for the rest of the team. This will also lead to a good turnover and save the company costs of recruiting and selecting new staff. If staff are happy within their team they are less likely to leave as they will feel they are letting their team down.

References:

Mullins, L. (2007). Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8th ed. Essex; Pearson Education Limited.