Scholaly Article

Global Business and Economics Research Journal
ISSN: 2302-4593
Vol. 2 (3): 50 - 70
Power and culture of teamwork

Amena Shahid
Lecturer, College of Business Administration and Associate Director, Teaching &
Learning Center, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
amena.shahid@gmail.com, ashahid@pscw.psu.edu.sa
Dr. Shahid M. Azhar

Deputy Director of Development and Marketing, Center of Excellence Research in
Engineering Materials (CEREM), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
sazhar@ksu.edu.sa
Abstract
Today workplace significance is based on teamwork culture & current employers look for
teamwork skills when evaluating a candidate for a prospective position. The study was
conducted to assess how teams present different perspectives when they work together within
their parent organizations. Teams working together bring a diversified portfolio of
accomplishments & they acquire far greater heights that any individual might attain. They
make a difference in productivity, survival of an organization & quality and excellence.
Students, teachers & administrators within a project & leaders and managers are of crucial
importance once they are working together. The analysis method in this research was mainly
descriptive & case studies. The research main focus is on how teams can shape the
environmental & organizational settings to achieve success for not only the quality of the
products & services they supply but the atmosphere of cooperating that leads to the various
dimensions of effectiveness.
Keywords: communication, organizational success, team trust, employee performance,
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50
recognition
Citation:
Shahid, A. and Azhar, S. M. (2013). Power and culture of teamwork. Global Business and Economics Research Journal, 2(3): 50-70.
Global Business and Economics Research Journal. Available online at http://www.globejournal.org
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1. INTRODUCTION
To work smarter, improve quality and customer service and enhance productivity,
organizations consistently design teams to support and positively influence the business
strategies. Team work applies to small and medium businesses, the corporate world,
government, academia and society as a whole. The competitiveness of an organization is
based on its organizational stage which determines its productivity. Todays organizations
operate in a lean and proactive environment focusing to the future & the opportunities that
will bring success and productivity.
Team work is of no doubt a platform and a tool that improves productivity, high
performance and improved quality and service; thus turning into competitiveness. Teamwork
is all around us, in everything we see that is the combined effort or effect of individual forces
(Diamond & Diamond, 2007). If you know your behavior will make a difference in the
success of a team, you may already have Team Wisdom. If you dont, develop it! (Avery,
Walker & Murphy, 2001). The quality of an individuals participation affects the quality of
the team results. Getting your employees to adopt a quality mindset is the real key to
producing high quality products and services. Employees must feel a sense of ownership.
That is, they must feel responsible for the outcome of anything connected with the product or
service.
One always takes better care of something that they own as opposed to something that
they do not. With ownership, employees will feel a sense of pride when hearing that their
product or service has the highest reputation in the market place. To instill a sense of
ownership, employees must feel that they play an important role in the success of the product.
This is done through teamwork. (Holladay, 2000). The essence of a team is shared
commitment. Without it, groups perform Individual; with it they become a powerful unit of
collective performance. The best teams invest a tremendous amount of time shaping a
purpose that they can own. The best teams also translate their purpose into specific
performance goals (Katzenbach & Smith, 2004).
A case study is used to investigate two teams of final year multimedia students completing
a project-based unit, in which teamwork was an essential ingredient and immersed in an
authentic context. From the results it is evident that commitment, interdependence,
important role in determining the success of these teams (Tarricone & Luca, 2002).
Organizations have embraced teams and teamwork as an effective way of doing business.
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composition, commitment to team processes, leadership and accountability played an
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interpersonal skills, open communication and positive feedback, appropriate team
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The last 20 years has seen the replacement of 'supervisors' by 'team leaders'. Companies have
embraced these concepts because they work. Employee motivation and morale improves
dramatically when people feel valued and when their contributions make a difference.
Creating a climate of appreciation where efforts are rewarded & potentially recognized can
go a long way towards strengthening the process of engagement & improving the outlook for
the company as a whole (The Recognitional Council, 2009). An organization that succeeds in
reaching its targets therefore necessarily has to inculcate the culture of teamwork. As John
Maxwell said One is too small a number to achieve greatness. Nothing of significance was
ever achieved by an individual acting alone. Look below the surface and you will find that all
seemingly solo acts are really team efforts.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
What is a team? According to the Websters new collegiate dictionary a team is A
number of persons associated together in work or activity. What is teamwork? Teamwork is
work performed by a team. The quality of teamwork may be measured by analyzing the
effectiveness of the collaboration in the following ways: 1) Communication 2) Coordination
3) Balance of contributions 4) Mutual support 5) The ability to work through conflict 6) The
willingness to take responsibility for team actions. Teamwork is defined by Scarnati (2001)
as a cooperative process that allows ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results. Harris
& Harris (1996) also explain that a team has a common goal or purpose where team members
can develop effective, mutual relationships to achieve team goals. According to John C
Maxwell (2001) Teams involve more people , thus affording more resources, ideas & energy
than would an individual; Teams maximize a leaders potential & minimize her weaknesses.
Strengths & weaknesses are more exposed in individuals; Team provides multiple
perspectives on how to meet a need or reach a goal thus devising several alternatives for each
situation. Individual insight is seldom as broad & deep as a group when it takes on a problem;
Individuals play the game but teams win championships.
The nature of the workplace has changed over the last several decades as organizations
have shifted to team-based work structures (Cannon-Bowers, Oser, & Flanagan, 1992; Ilgen,
1994, Kozlowski & Bell, 2003). Researchers estimate that over 80% of organizations
will disband in the near future. Members of these fast acting, temporary project teams usually
have a specific task to accomplish and are expected to be self-managing, capable of handling
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these workers are asked to integrate into team environments, knowing full well that the team
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employing more than a hundred workers utilize teams (Cohen & Bailey, 1997). Many of
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novel situations, and willing to invest in a continuous learning process (Allred, Snow &
Miles, 1996).
Bacon and Blyton (2006) highlighted the two important factors i.e. self-management team
and interpersonal team skills. These factors enhance the communication as well as
interpersonal relationship between team members and also boost the employee performances.
One research study concluded that the good manager is the one who assigns the
responsibilities to his/her employee in a form of group or team in order to take maximum
output from employees (Ingram, 2000). Another study concluded that it should be possible to
design a system of team building within every organization for employees in order to
promote and distribute best practice and maximize output. The main emphasis for designing
and implementing such a system is ultimately to improve employee learning (Washer, 2006).
Conti & Kleiner (2003) reported that teams offer greater participation, challenges and
feelings of accomplishment. Organizations with teams will attract and retain the best people.
This in turn will create a high performance organization that is flexible, efficient and most
importantly, profitable. Profitability is the key factor that will allow organizations to continue
to compete successfully in a tough, competitive and global business arena (Conti and Kleiner,
2003).
Therefore the following hypothesis of the research study is as follows.
Hypothesis 1
Team work makes a difference in productivity, survival of an organization and Quality
and excellence. When people work in teams they are more productive then when they work
individually. In a task of getting business the following skills are expected in an individual:
Good communication, Convincing power, Behavioral knowledge, Technical knowledge,
Sound Commercial knowledge & Customer Relationship Handling. If a single individual has
to achieve this task he is expected to be master in all the listed skills which rarely found and
is challenging. However if the single roles & functions involved here are assigned to each
individuals who is artistic & proficient in any one particular skills the team thus found shall
be a highly credible & proficient team.
As they work towards a common goal they shall work with full cooperation and during
challenging situations at work every member is present to provide strength, help to his co-
Not Fear: Transforming People and Teams after a Massive Downsizing one team leader
had an explanation: How does anyone explain this outbreak of team spirit? One team leader
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different mindsets increases the productivity of work. In one of the case studies titled Love,
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workmate, such benefit is not present when a person works alone. Thus coordination with
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had an explanation: "The principles we are applying, when understood and taken together,
give us a picture of a new way we can live and work. Its an inside-out approach to change. If
managers ask: How do you get our work done more efficiently with a better end product?,
Id tell them that, along with improving the work process, go out and build trust,
communicate honestly, support each team member, and find ways to drive out the fear and
relearn the idea that its important for everyone to seek balance and wholeness in and through
our work. When this catches fire, an epidemic of sanityeven love can spread."(Financial
Services Case Study, 2012)
Hypothesis 2
Team work firmly imposes team trust & cooperation. Trust is very important for team
work. No professional trust in among group members, team will never perform at par. One
research study concluded that trust among the team members develop the unique skills and
coordination of individuals (Erdem, Ferda, Ozen & Janset,2003). Experience in many
organizations shows that successful teams focus specifically on building relationships to
increase trust, and that unsuccessful teams do not. According to Manz & Neck (2002) high
performance teams within the organization exist when there is cooperation and unity exists
between members. Reducing mistakes, quality outputs, increased in productivity and
customer satisfaction are the variety of criteria through which the performance of the team is
evaluated (Mickan & Rodger; 2000). According to Trickey (2006), there is plenty of research
evidence to show that high levels of trust can be linked to the successful management of
some of todays key business challenges. Indeed, most business leaders see high levels of
trust as a competitive advantage in the struggle to retain talent, to motivate teams and bind
people together across borders (Trickey, 2006).
Hypothesis 3
Team trust has a significant impact on employees Performance & organizational success.
One of the key outcomes of a good leadership skill is to motivate the employee performance
to achieve organizational goals that leads to success. Teams who work together who have
build trust & who feels that they are 200% with each other produce great results? Geller
(1997) takes this further and connects the positive reinforcement of employee recognition
with employee success. Success, Geller claims, is a motivator and a much better teacher than
benefits of the team. Teams show the collective strength of the individuals and boost the
motivation and morale of individual as well. Managers critically observe the team members
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individuals who are working in teams. Perceptive managers know and constantly capture the
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failure. According to Rabey (2003) recognition and rewards are the primary focus of the
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hidden working potential otherwise managers may lose them (Rabey, 2003). One automobile
manufacturers version links employee compensation with performance and creates a sense
of ownership among all team members. This sense of common ownership driven through
the risk and reward system encourages higher levels of communication, team work, idea
sharing, proactive problem resolution and knowledge exchange (Sundstrom, De Meuse and
Futrell, 1990) Organizations who communicates with clarity the fair rewards & recognition to
the rest of the teams within their companies creates role models, a high standard of
performance, tools of motivations for extensive trust & success among teams & teammates.
2.1 The Attraction of Team work
The attraction of teamwork stems from the reasons teams are implemented. A number of
authors state that teams are being implemented in ever-increasing numbers as a reaction to
increased global competition (Heap, 1996; Roufaiel and Meissner, 1995). Teams can
maximize organizational innovation because employees have increased independence,
increased participation, and ownership regarding decisions. The employees are given goals,
or they develop goals with their team leader, and are then have freedom to decide how best to
acquire the goals. Managers can no longer know everything about every aspect of the
organizations operations. It has become essential that the knowledge and skills of the
workforce be promoted. Research carried out by Acas in conjunction with the Tavistock
Institute suggests that teamwork is used by organizations for improvements in four key areas:
Productivity, Quality, The use of new technology, Motivation (Acas & Tavistock Institute
Advisory).
2.2 Improving Productivity
Team work is noted as the essence of workplace productivity. In any discipline working in
teams is assured because the productivity ratio of diversified people is always greater than
one person. Teamwork in a company or organization has much greater importance for a
number of reasons. Companies, who have accepted & maintained this concept, have reported
increased performance in work production. This collaborative approach has improved
employee morale and increased input when managed correctly. The benefits of teamwork can
make a positive effect on the company that associates this type of teamwork approach.
The following are the focused effective & efficient use of people to increase organizations
thus avoiding day-to-day problems such as bottlenecks; Developing some managerial control
to the work group or the team leader and so reduce the number of levels of hierarchy;
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variety of tasks may be launched; Delegating the order and allocation of tasks to the group,
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productivity; Maximizing the different strengths and skills of team members so that a greater
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Encouraging employees to undertake a wider range of tasks; A mutual association or a bond

of friendship is attained to make the work easier goals attainable.
Team collaborations leads to faster pace of accomplishments as the work is assigned &
distributed properly & is completed on time; The exposure of a team of a variety of members,
their knowledge & skills helps improve the learning; The team work reduces the risks of
errors & the accountability level is also shared as a team not on a solo basis; The performance
of the team work produces far better results than a single professional; Suggestions, advices
and mutual brainstorming can help employees in generating novel ideas and bringing out the
creativity in their projects.
Team work is favorable to employee motivation & enthusiasm because this approach
makes the work enjoyable for the employees as well as it improve their performance; Team
work leads to organizational interests rather than individual interests. This ensures that the
team will commit to the maximum effort to attain the common goal with highest quality in a
timely manner; Due to the mutual trust among the team the public relations as well as the
reputation of an organization increases & thus brings better business from the market.
2.3 Create a Culture of Team work & Monitor its Impact
Promoting team work is creating a work culture that values cooperation. People perceive
& grasp the belief that none of us is as good as all of us (Best Practices LLC). Its hard to
find organizations that exhibit true team work & participation but with commitment &
appreciation for value the overall sense of team work culture can be initiated & maintained.
The 10 Building Blocks of a Strong Culture are as follows:
1.
Commitment
6. Trust
2.
Responsibility
7. Leadership
3.
Accountability
8. Courage/Compassion
4.
Integrity
9. Service
5.
Respect
10. Humility
2.4 Case Studies at a Glance.

2.4.1 Teamwork at Shell
Shell is a major global energy organization which has operated in Australia since 1901 and
employs approximately 3,000 people in Australia. Shell finds, develops and supplies about
and improved performance. The challenge involved addressing factors influencing the
effectiveness of the team, including misunderstandings arising from differences of
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members of multi-cultural oil refinery team to achieve stronger engagement and affiliation
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one-third of Australias petroleum requirements to over 50,000 customers. To enable
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communication styles, decision making preferences and cultural background. The team
required an engaging learning framework, which would enable them to develop an agreed set
of goals to improve team interactions and performance.
The team participated in a process involving individualized assessment and feedback of
their MBTI profiles, an experiential workshop designed to address team interactions and
agreed approaches for communicating, managing conflict and utilizing diversity within the
team to achieve business objectives. The team gained insight into their strengths and
addressed the challenges they identified through the process. Trust increased between team
members, enabling them to make constructive use of personality type differences within the
team and improve the performance and efficiency of the team, resulting in tangible dollar
savings (Blanchard et al., 2012).
2.4.2 Team Work at McDonalds
McDonalds being a highly reputed organization claims team building to be its benchmark
for the success of its accomplishments. McDonalds does not have very highly integrated
teamwork, but they would be unable to deliver their products and service without sufficient
team unity and cooperation (Goldman et al., 2009). The team on the floor of a McDonalds
restaurant is best described as a functional team (Daft, 2008). McDonalds restaurant team is
sequentially interdependent (Daft, 2008).
Motivation, working together and thus administering and supporting excellent and quick
quality results was not possible without being composed and having harmony. McDonalds
strongly believed that the failure of one person of not meeting the required skill and thus not
working adequately could have resulted in loss of business and tremendous amount of
complains. Multitasking staff who were unable to accomplish adequately needed constant and
absolute input from the manager. Managers role was more of to repair the team efficiency
and bring the team together but at the same time wherever the manager needed motivation his
team followed suit. Managers were also instrumental in helping out struggling team members
by motivating them. This attitude kept the production line moving adequately. The team
effectiveness is directly related to the managers leadership efforts (Goldman et al., 2009;
Daft, 2008).
Employees needs was one of the managers priorities which was supported by providing
functioned mostly without speaking. Without much discussion teams perceived and
implemented what was needed. Because the team did not required continual reinforcement or
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awarding a break and taking over a workers responsibilities temporarily. The team
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direct help, words of encouragement, not punishing undesired behavior every time, or
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correction, it was a sign that the employees are well trained and have been given the tools to
adequately perform their roles.
2.4.2.1 Cultivating Team work Excellence
Comparison between excellent and average teamwork is between efforts that is gained on
enthusiastic participation and playfulness versus activities driven by obligation and protocol.
This experience and similar ones helps to integrate ways to cultivate teamwork excellence.
2.4.2.2 Launch Awareness of Needs
Submitting a need is not enough to fulfill it rather launching awareness is the significant
step. This requires team members involvement & discussion to create a framework of the
required need. Give an opportunity to everyone if they would prefer to be a part of the team
or not. Follow up with clarity in communication by sharing similar experiences & relate
required needs to situations that team members may have encountered.
Seize the ones who have the desire to contribute. The key is to build a motivated team who
would like to utilize their capabilities & earn recognition. Therefore anyone who desires to
collaborate should be embraced. Be open to people who truly desire to lead an effort & carry
the right skills to delegate, plan & execute successfully.
2.4.2.3 Ensure Support
Providing guidance in defining measures of success, assisting in performing tasks,
appreciation of team members & boosting their confidence through out projects
implementation & completion.
2.4.2.4 Remit on your Promises
Being clear about expectations, accountability and support -- and delivering what you
promised -- is essential to teamwork; in fact, those behaviors define leadership for teamwork
excellence. If you dont as promised the entire credibility is slaughtered.
2.4.2.5 Celebrate Success
Great team members will celebrate along the way, reveling in exercising innate skills,
engaging with interesting people, and being part of an effort that accomplishes more as a
team than possible alone. Celebrate successful project completion and special achievements,
especially those above actual expectations. Show appreciation of team members with the
understanding that recognition doesnt have to be flashy or expensive but should be obvious
ABC Company is the UK's longest-running customer loyalty program. Over eight million
participants currently do business with ABC buying with credit cards and/or shopping online.
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2.4.3 Case study at ABC company
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and heartfelt.
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The ABC Call Center is the critical function that fulfills customer requests for processing
orders. In addition, the ABC Call Center generates additional revenues by cross-selling other
items when taking an order. ABC had a core group of sales associates who consistently
outperformed the others in the Call Center. Previous attempts to understand what
differentiated the high performers from their colleagues had consistently failed to identify
exactly what accounted for the differences between top performers and the others. The result
of this ambiguity was a system of hiring, training, and managing that was based on a series of
unsubstantiated assumptions.
The consulting team worked with ABC to identify top, mid-level, and lower performers
according to well-defined key performance indicators. Using the Language and Behavior
Profile (LAB) the consultants interviewed associates separately and in-depth. Through the
LAB Profile based interviews, the team quickly identified the below-conscious drivers that
were the major factor in causing top producing associates to consistently outperform their
colleagues. An in-depth process of comparative analysis enabled the consulting team to
identify both where and the exact extent to which top-performing associates were different
than their peers. Using the Inventory for Work Attitude and Motivation (iWAM) online
assessment tool, the consultants created a Model of Excellence to benchmark successful
behavior in Call Center personnel. In addition to knowing the below-conscious drivers that
ABC could use to identify future applicants for Call Center positions, the consultant team
analyzed the key differences between high performers and their lower performing associates
and used the differences to creating a training program that helped lower performers behave
in the same way as top performers. The training program included components on sales
effectiveness (for Call Center personnel) and team management (for supervisors of the Call
Center staff). The training modules were based on principles and content of the The
combination of the iWAM Survey and LAB Profile provided the basis for the intervention in
ABC. The net result of this intervention was a 33% increase in revenue from those who
underwent training within the first six months following the intervention. Not only were
associates more effective in selling, but also managers and supervisors said that the
knowledge of differences among team members allowed them to manage individuals more
effectively. The combination of outcomes provided an extremely high ROI for the effort
Maintaining a strong company brand and unique culture in a global company is no easy
feat. For global employee engagement, it is not about reinventing the wheelits about
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2.4.4 Case study at Starbucks
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(Jaquillard, 2007)
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following best practices. In Howard Schultzs book Pour Your Heart into It, he discusses
how Starbucks grew big but stayed small by remaining committed to their unique culture
and sustaining it at any cost. Whether you are the CEO or a lower level employee, the single
most important thing you do at work each day is communicate your values to others, Schultz
proclaims. Starbucks took a people first, profits last mentality as they expanded globally to
ensure that their expansion did not come at the loss of their culture, their vision and, most
importantly, their people. Schultz recognized that as the company grew, so did the chance
that an employee was not being treated fairly, negatively affecting engagement scores. If we
cant attend to that problem, Schultz said, We are facing a failure worse than any
shortcomings Wall Street can detect. Human Resources quickly became the most important
department at Starbucks, which is attributed to their ability to maintain the small coffee
comfort shop across the globe. Schultz said that Starbucks learned to communicate the
mission Better to create a work environment employees wanted to be a part of. The
Starbucks employee rewards and recognition platform encompasses goals and values, and
rewards employees with award nominations to celebrate milestones and moments that are
significant to the company (Achievers, 2011)
2.5 Trust: A Successful Team's Foundation
Steven Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, states, "Trust is the
highest form of human motivation. It brings out the very best in people. But it takes time and
patience... The question is how to build trust as an infrastructure of team ownership? A
simple response to this question is to form a structure that promotes trust among the teams.
The structure can be established with the following attributes.
2.5.1 Accessible communication
An effective team leader is required to ensure the continuing openness & effectiveness of
channels of communication among the team members. Successful collaboration between the
teams cannot take place without open expression. Open communication that addresses
problems & conflicts also builds trust. The more this channel is accessible the more everyone
grows used to speaking freely & to being heard. Each member is to get an opportunity to
express her thoughts regarding the team performance, culture, procedures & efficiency.
2.5.2 Information Asset
The effectiveness of this recipe is in its course of process. A team leader can simply send an
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information than her. Information that is accessible to all is the key ingredient of trust recipe.
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Trust level accelerates when team members are not distressed by knowing that I got less
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informal team updates session or email with updates each day is a few tips to gain the trust of
your potential team.
2.5.3 Performance authenticity
Sitting each morning & thinking about how fortunate a team is which contains the most
reliable people is a very common thought of many leaders & team players. We count on
people who work on the right things at the right time & the most importantly. When
anticipations of each team member are open than each team member attempts to perform with
full potential for the good of the team.
Covey points out in his book The Speed of Trust, nothing can be achieved long term
without trust. Without trust, short-term gains may indeed be acquired but at huge cost and
after huge delays and in todays fast evolving business environment, speed is key to business
success. Trust is therefore the fundamental driver of performance in the new global economy
and indeed is the key leadership competency required to drive effectiveness. Especially in
fast evolving, matrix, lean organizations, its not possible to monitor every employee and
compliance cant be the only management objective. Only a culture of trust delivers the
behaviors businesses needed to get the results required at the cost and speed expected by
customers (Covey, 2006)
Brandon Smith is a leading expert in workplace health and dysfunction. He is the founder
of www.theworkplacetherapist.com. One of his writings titled Prescription for Leaders
building trust with your employees / team specifies that framework of trust is a simple
formula of Trust = Credibility & Vulnerability (Smith, 2011). He has emphasized on how
significant it is to affirm the expectations and motivations to the team members in order to
manage understanding within team members and maintain the performance consistently.
Brandon perception to stay communicative to the teams and to share relevant information
promptly as needed is also a strong factor of great teamwork. This leads to open approach
and appreciation and keep the lines of communication open and exciting for everyone. Does
that mean Trust will follow? According to Brandon yes the trust will follow if you always
keep your word and commitment and loyalty within the team for the employer or the unit will
be obvious, if the leaders of the team back their team members which is again the key facet of
establishing trust and great team work. Stand up and fight. Your team will reward you for it.
Based on the literature review the following framework for employees performance is as
follows: Team work + Team trust + Recognition = Employee performance.
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2.5.4 The Virtue of Positive Employees Recognition
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(Brandon, 2011)
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Effective
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recognition
ensures
positive,
productive
and
stimulating
organizational structure; thus encourages more of the actions and envisions that leads to
organizational success. Therefore employee recognition and reward is not just a nice gesture
only rather it is more of a communication tool that augments and rewards the most important
key performance indicators that an organization anticipates to achieve. The structure of
employee recognition is advised to be simple, immediate and powerful. The reward and
recognition programs serve as the most contingent factor in keeping employees self esteem
high and passionate.
Oosthuizen (2001) stated that it is among the function of managers to motivate the
employees successfully and influence their behavior to achieve greater organizational
efficiency. La Motta (1995) is of the view that performance at job is the result of ability and
motivation. Deeprose (1994) argued that the motivation of employees and their productivity
can be enhanced through providing them effective recognition which ultimately results in
improved performance of organizations. Barton (2002) argued that the factor in Fortune best
companies which discriminates companies from the others is recognition that is the most
important factor of their reward system. Wilson (1994) stated that the conditional recognition
is that type of recognition which one has to earn by his own efforts and which is gained by
some sense of achievement of an action or result. Employees are definitely closer to their
organization as their job can become the major satisfaction in their life after having a proper
rewards and recognition at their job. Rewards enhance the level of productivity and
performance at job whether its a first time performance or repeated activity at the job in a
progressive way.
A recent study by Harvard Business School found that every 1 percent increase in staff
loyalty resulted in a percent increase in customer loyalty. The key to business success is
engaged employees. Engaged employees are employees that produce results because they are
truly valued at work and their efforts directly contribute towards the mission and success of
the company. Research implies that todays management strategic priority is to promote and
communicate that they highly acknowledge, value and recognize an employee achievements.
This appropriate recognition at the appropriate moment will create a positive attitude that, in
turn, will lead to improved performance. Communicating this to the rest of the organization
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creates role models and sets the standards of desired performance.
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3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Participants included faculty members of one of the departments from one of the leading
private university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. All participants were informed about the
participation. The study was conducted to investigate the perception & effect of teamwork on
individuals & professionals performance. There were 10 faculty members completing the
surveys and questionnaires and their views were recorded. Within this setting 2 teams were
selected who collaborated in a highly successful manner.
3.1 Questionnaire & Survey
The instruments used to gather the data was questionnaire & one page survey. The faculty
teams survey and questionnaire items were designed & disseminated containing questions
which were similar to assess the success rate of a successful team and its attributes. It
contained items as borrowed from Team Effectiveness Questionnaire (TEQ) 2.0. In all the
questionnaires reliability and validity of the questionnaire items were re-examined and found
to be good. Each Questionnaire contained 2 parts with section A & section B. Section
A consisted of item seeking demographic data such as age, gender and management level
with no score attached to it. Section B consists of the items, which collect information
about the teamwork, team trust and recognition and rewards and its effects on employee
performance. Section B of the questionnaire measured on five point Likert scale ranging
from (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree).
4. DISCUSSION
The results point to some interesting trends how teams stay alive and well within an entity
and play a valuable role in organizational success. It is evident that teams are being used as
much to drive change and for direct business results. The teams collaboration within their
departments and other departments is a significant factor for leading the organization to meet
their mission and vision. Team leaders are expected to be strong communicators and
multitalented to contribute effectively to the team mandate.
Collaboration is a key determinant of success and the challenge for this factor is the
resistance to work share. The survey also got the current and future needs of the teams which
are required to focus on team coaching, training and development, appreciation and rewards
questionnaires and surveys were distributed & ten were completed giving a response rate of
100%. Respondents ranged in age from their early 40 to 45.
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coordination, collaborative problem solving and communication avenues. The total 10
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and recognition programs. In this study we examined the affects of the planning and task
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Table 1
Organizations Reward and Recognition System
Percentage
Giving formal recognition for employee efforts to make a difference
40%
Co workers are recognizing employees who are making a difference
30%
Demonstrating your work is valued & respected
60%
An extra day off as a reward of a well done project
10%
An article of your work published in companys magazine
20%
Verbal praise of appreciation from the manager in front of the colleagues
20%
Flexible office hours
60%
Recognizing & appreciating outstanding office punctuality
50%
Recognizing years of service for the organization
40%
Table 2
Teams Experience ( Years)
Percentage
0-3
20%
4-6
50%
7 - 12
30%
Table 3
Organizational Level
Percentage
Junior level
20%
Middle level
40%
Senior Management level
40%
The research examines the relationship of team work, organizational success, employee
performance, team trust & recognition & rewards. For obtaining data questionnaires were
targeted to faculty members of a specific academic department. Hypothesis one states that
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excellence & was found significant in this study by reviewing Figure 4.
64
team work makes a difference in productivity, survival of an Organization & quality and
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Table 4
Teams perceptions on team work
Percentage
Team collaborating with other teams is essential for success.
80%
Members enjoy being part of the team.
70%
We learn from our mistakes.
50%
Membership stays the same for more than one year.
40%
The team exceeds organizational expectations.
80%
Teams have shared goals
60%
Receiving formal recognition for your efforts in making a difference
80%
Being recognized by peers and co-workers for your efforts
70%
Receiving recognition for team accomplishments
80%
Independence & freedom to influence work content & methods
70%
Financial incentives & bonuses
80%
Possibility to achieved promotion
70%
Support & guidance of supervisors & other officials
80%
It is evident that organizations that are focused more on teams claim substantial
improvements in morale, job satisfaction productivity & quality. The establishments of
quality & customer satisfaction at the top of the agenda for most of the companies have been
the compelling force behind the several team work initiatives.
Hypothesis two states that team work imposes team trust & cooperation. The research
supports the literature that trust is the most important element of a harmonious, synergistic
and efficient work environment. Organizations that have trust among employees are usually
successful; those that dont frequently are not and figure 2 specifies the results for this fact.
Hypothesis three states that team trust has a significant impact on employees Performance &
organizational success also found to be positive as analyzed in the Starbucks case study.
Research findings demonstrate that identified team support significantly dominates
teamwork behavior and trust. In other words, the level of support that members perceive
could influence their future attitudes and behaviors within the team, including their team
commitment. In a team, an individual cannot accomplish the appointed tasks only through his
fruitful interactions and good relationships with colleagues, but would also be valued by
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colleagues and this further builds trust. In the process, an individual would not only establish
65
or her own efforts, thus, that individuals perception of support would lead to alliances with
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others. Team members who have their value recognized are more willing to invest greater
efforts for the team through greater commitment to work and better attitudes and behaviors
(such as staying in the team). It is upon the employees perception of organizational support
that they would establish a trust in the organization and this would result in behaviors that
benefit the organization.
Table 5
Teams Perception on criteria as qualification for an award
Percentage
Outstanding performance
80%
Focus on innovation
70%
Consistently doing a good job
80%
Exceeding performance objectives
80%
Achieving cost savings
40%
Demonstrated team work
80%
Outstanding customer service
40%
5. CONCLUSION
In the pursuit to analyze the perspective of teams in business or academic environment, we
analyzed literature from Book titles on team work & its impact on organizational success,
Harvard business review & variety of manuscripts on organizational behavior. We explored
precisely for content on team work, team trust, team learning & organizational success. The
10 Building Blocks of a Strong Culture were identified which cultivates the strong
organization culture. The question is that are organizations doing enough to cultivate a
culture of team work & its attributes beyond including the word in mission and values
statements? Those that actively deal & promote the team work values at all levels will be
developing the key intangible for increased corporate value. The growing global competition
is inventing new morals about the workforce & organizational success
Improving productivity
Improving quality of work & energizing novelty
Taking leverage of the opportunities provided by technological advances
Improving employee motivation, & commitment
Employees engagement has never been more important

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66
Team work increases competitiveness by
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Recognized employees become engaged employees
Employees who feel they are respected & valuable stay with companies & are thus
notably more productive
Engaged teams foster customer satisfaction & company loyalty which leads to
organizational success & profitability
Engaged team can aspire business performance & the economy as a whole.
Recognition & Reward programs help the essence of efficiency
Recognition & rewards program are ROI
Companies with recognition & rewards programs attract & retain the right talent which is
the key to stability in any business environment
5.1 Future area for research

The area for further research is, an in-depth analysis of
the building blocks of
commitment, responsibility, leadership, integrity, respect & accountability that contribute

towards the employee performance, team work culture & how best to implement these
strategies in a methodological fashion to ensure teams & organizations acknowledge and
understand the importance of how to implement each which incorporate teamwork activities.
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Global Business and Economics Research Journal

Power and culture of teamwork

Dr. Shahid M. Azhar

Global Business and Economics Research Journal. Available online at http://www.globejournal.org

Shahid and Azhar

Global Business and Economics Research Journal

composition, commitment to team processes, leadership and accountability played an

interpersonal skills, open communication and positive feedback, appropriate team

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Global Business and Economics Research Journal

Shahid and Azhar

Global Business and Economics Research Journal

Shahid and Azhar

Global Business and Economics Research Journal

Shahid and Azhar

Global Business and Economics Research Journal

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Encouraging employees to undertake a wider range of tasks; A mutual association or a bond

2.4 Case Studies at a Glance.

one-third of Australias petroleum requirements to over 50,000 customers. To enable

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Global Business and Economics Research Journal

2.4.3 Case study at ABC company

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2.4.4 Case study at Starbucks

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Global Business and Economics Research Journal. Available online at http://www.globejournal.org

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2.5.4 The Virtue of Positive Employees Recognition

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creates role models and sets the standards of desired performance.

Global Business and Economics Research Journal. Available online at http://www.globejournal.org

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Global Business and Economics Research Journal

coordination, collaborative problem solving and communication avenues. The total 10

Shahid and Azhar

Global Business and Economics Research Journal

Giving formal recognition for employee efforts to make a difference

Co workers are recognizing employees who are making a difference

Demonstrating your work is valued & respected

An extra day off as a reward of a well done project

An article of your work published in companys magazine

Verbal praise of appreciation from the manager in front of the colleagues

Flexible office hours

Recognizing & appreciating outstanding office punctuality

Recognizing years of service for the organization

Senior Management level

excellence & was found significant in this study by reviewing Figure 4.

Global Business and Economics Research Journal. Available online at http://www.globejournal.org

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Global Business and Economics Research Journal

Team collaborating with other teams is essential for success.

Members enjoy being part of the team.

We learn from our mistakes.

Membership stays the same for more than one year.

The team exceeds organizational expectations.

Teams have shared goals