Topic: How can a manager help a work group to function as an effective team?

Discuss
the differences between a group and a team, and describe the strategies a manager can
use to promote team effectiveness. Use examples to support your discussion.

Teams and groups, increasing organizational effectiveness

Introduction

Effective leadership is all about providing clear vision for its employees and

associated guidelines in which employees are expected to operate. Key to improved

performance is empowerment of team members along with clear communication channels to

provide directive s clearly and cogently. “Teaming is a natural and vital part of human social

and work life” (Linda, 2005). Team building is a structured process using which discrete

units can be empowered and best practices used elsewhere utilized for building groups into

functional teams which will provide the required output in timely and precise manner.

Employees have to be charged with “passion”, an excitement, contagious enthusiasm and

ownership about their work to produce results that are truly remarkable and unmatchable. An

effective team has diversity which helps in tapping the individual prowess and utilizing it

synergistically to produce an output more than sum of its constituent parts. Appropriate

training and support from senior management can help build a supportive structure under

which teams can nurture.

Stellar Performance

Enhanced performance and effective leadership has been the cornerstone of best

practices in management. According to Linda (2005), high growth is characteristic of strong

leadership skills with clear vision for the team and with direction emulating the type of

behavior one wishes to see and by making clear guidelines on what behavior is expected of

employees. This is especially important for industries in which knowledge workers lead
effective and quick change mechanisms. She says the managers should go out to hire the best

talent available and establish clarity and direction of what goals the team is expected to

accomplish.

There should be effective communication channels so that information is passed

readily – strategic direction is clearly communicated and the team is continuously aware of its

directives. Appropriate training and resources availability help the team in utilizing their

skills and abilities to fullest advantage. Empo wer your team members and repose trust in

them to deliver. By becoming aware of the group dynamics helps in production of potentate

highly functional teams along with concomitant performance results.

Enabling team building

Effective team building requires commitment from organization and its managers.

Managers need to be aware of their crucial role that they, as managers need to provide,

together with a framework in which tem members can focus and direct their energies for

fruition of their tasks. Laird and Ramon (2005) have structured the team building into a seven

step process that can guide and streamline the team building exercise. The process is built on

the premise that characteristics that form common ground amongst efficacious teams can be

utilized by aspiring team members for similar success in newer ventures.

Worldwide expansion into global marketplace has removed boundaries of towns and

countries – it is now common and very easy to market one’s products to international arena,

so strategies and management have to be cognizant of best practices worldwide to enable

success. Team structuring is hence an important part of this transformation and teams may

include cross functional elements from various discrete aspects of organizational structure -

basically a team may be incorporated to handle a discrete unit of work, work which can be

managed individually and which provides autonomy to its team members for effective
deliverance. Laird and Ramon cite that 82% of companies with more than 100 employees

work in group based work to align their work alongside organizational goals and missions.

Effective team building has to be led by its manager, and it is an on going activity rather than

a one time affair, and team building should be a priori manager’s responsibilities. The

framework within which manager is building his team should be action oriented and aligned

with key concepts from the management principles that form the hallmark of team building.

The seven step process

1. Identifying team characteristics that are desirable: Balancing attributes to effectuate

team synergies, so that the team characteristics produce the optimum output.

2. Profile existing team characteristics: Using surveys, questionnaires, interviews and

direct observation of existing team members can be used to check and validate the

team characteristics that are effective predictors of team’s success. The aim is to

produce as accurate profile as possible of existent situation.

3. Identify deficiencies: The next step is identification of which areas need focus and

improvement. The identified areas are those which create bottleneck and unless these

areas are redressed by management intervention, the group members’ potential will

remain unutilized.

4. Use pre-established criteria to identify and apply proper intervention: Awareness of

the existing environment will help in building a profile of staff’s existing strengths,

weaknesses and that of the organization’s culture, traditions and availability of

resources. Armed thus proper intervention strategies can be placed to guide best

results.

5. Identify team building strategies to help overcome deficiencies: These strategies can

be implemented once weaknesses have been identified and prioritized.

 6. Use pre-established decision processes for appropriate intervention: This will depend

on the variables of situation at hand and management thinking. However the base

requirement is intimate working knowledge of the situation

7. Implement and assess: The key step is implementation with a feedback loop. The

manager should clearly communicate expectation to its team members and ways in

which assessment would be done.

Team management theories espouse reduction in hierarchical layers thus dissolving

boundaries and creating a more cohesive workforce. Organization can be made more friendly

and workplace made more conducive to work if cooperation is made part of the

organizational policies to encourage lines of communication and empowerment of individuals

to work synergistically towards common organizational goals. (Evelyn, 1996).

Richard Chang (2001) proposes that for bringing out the best from employees, team

members must be passionate about their work. According to him “passion” is a resource that

can be leveraged by all organizations and it is not limited to choice few. Passion according to

Chang is one of the distinguishing traits of successful organizations where team members are

working concertedly towards organizational effectiveness – this is where true synergy takes

place and employees exude enthusiasm and excitement about their work. This is what forms

one of the most significant of competitive advantages an organization can boast of! Team

members need to be convinced and working in unity to enable passion to shine through and

make organization work from individual members to one cohesive unit

Becoming passion driven

A very good example of employees working as a single team driven towards a

common goal can be found in Southwest airlines. Their business success has baffled

management gurus and traditional business sense. Founders of Southwest airlines were sure

that commuters were being charged heavily for air travel so they built their airline on the
premise of ultra low fares with friendly and efficient services. Employees of Southwest

airlines are empowered to take on the spot decisions that would help the customers and

benefit the company, thus bringing on profits despite the industry plunging into huge losses

It takes a unity of effort, be it common goal, passion, of unrivalled customer services

or innovation technologically or in product – by being charged with common passion

employees perform at improved levels outputting effort beyond the ordinary. These

employees exude confidence and energy that is infectious and quite simply these employees

enjoy themselves at work Customers are similarly affected by the emotions that like invisible

magnets attract themselves to the services and products being sold, as people don’t just buy

products they buy emotions and feelings and customers often make their judgments and

“purchasing decisions based on emotional responses to products and services”, (Richard,

2001)

How can one enable and nurture passion driven employees: Make passion the

cornerstone and focal point of all activities – vision, mission, policies all should reflect it. The

organization should unearth and acknowledge core areas, ideas and vision that drive and

guide and inspire its performance. Leaders and managers should have clear vision of where

the core passions will lead – what is the sense of purpose. There should be a clear action plan

on how to nurture and grow passion. Passion is as good as its action so employees should be

aligned around goals, passion and excited enough so that organizational passion becomes

their passion and the employees enthusiasm and excitement is visible and infectiously taints

anyone and everyone within its swathe, so the charge like a self sustaining reaction works

without need for external stimulus. However passion driven organizations need to keep on the

track by keeping in sight values, “passions” that made them the organizations that they have

become.
 The leaders and managers should emulate and show to their workers what they

believe in, they must live and be the passion expected from the team members. Without clear

communication, team members cannot be held accountable for core passions that aren’t

aware of. Organizations must allow employees to completely understand, become aware of

and live organizations core passions, by having internal training programs and specific

courses that charge the employees with passion. With training employees can tap into their

potential and emotional reservoir to perform at their best and be happy about what they are

doing. Southwest airlines has established training university where employees can be

indoctrinated in leadership, customer services, team performance and self development.

(Richard, 2001). The corresponding benefits of being passionate about work brings on

emotional investment to the organization providing self satisfaction and commitment on a

level far more profound than traditional work relationship.

Art of team building

Company profitability and motivation often go hand in hand, and team building helps

in allowing employees to combine and produce motivated efforts thus sending positive vibes

throughout the organization. This requires commitment from the senior management and

provides empowerment down the hierarchy which amongst other benefits by its very nature

this helps in improving individual and company wide work performance.

A successful team has effective communication methodology, and builds on strengths

and provides experiential learning of the whole group. In addition senior management buy in

is necessary to enable individual teams to coordinate their efforts towards common goal of

company betterment. (Keith, 1993). If done and managed properly team building can help

employees to make long lasting changes, that would help combine the multi dimensional

team members expertise and skills into natural and efficacious teams that can produce

changes they were expected to.

 Team members individual strengths can help management become effective, as group

members and leaders together can make the difference teams were originally set out to do.

Team’s effectiveness is not only in leadership it is in performance of the unit as a cohesive

whole to sustain and achieve its set targets. (Olusegun, 1998). It is known today that group

working is not only the group leader’s domain it is dependent on the personality traits of the

group’s individuals, hence leadership paradigm is more of the concept of sharing between

incumbent leader and group members.

Olusegun cites Kouzes and Pousner who undertook massive 500 cases study to

determine potency of the leadership. Surprisingly they were able to state that in all 500 cases

any significant achievement was the combined efforts of multiple people instead of the leader

alone. Therefore accomplishing tasks in a group can’t be goaded or pushed by the leader

alone it will be collective onus of the group. Also this validates team members extraordinary

role in accomplishing work in teams. Further individuals’ special skills and diversity might

be considered a key in successful accomplishments of group work. (Olusegun, 1998)

Cooperative team management

As Evelyn (1996) states that working cooperatively for a common goal is the base

construct of team management theory. She cites successful team implementation at blue chip

companies like Toyota, Nissan, Harley Davidson, British Airways, etc. and as mentioned

collective output was far more helpful and synergistic than the leader or single member alone.

Teams working in the above companies not only helped in increasing customer satisfaction

but also increased revenues and reduced operational expenses, and most importantly created

passion for themselves and their workplace to improve work environment and quality of life

in general.

The basic tenet is working together, cooperatively for a common goal. All is not

smooth sailing, as synergy in group only occurs if group is functioning well. Some conflict is
healthy as it offers alternative viewpoints, however procedural conflicts can lead to distress,

hence clear communication and guidelines are essential for success. Another problem to

avoid is clash because of personality clashes, inappropriate task distribution and power

struggles. One resolution method decentralizing power, giving equal status to team members,

rationalizing team members inputs , removing competitive atmosphere (internal competition)

and introducing a supportive environment. (Evelyn, 1996)

Olusegun cites a practical example of group effectiveness. Lincoln Electric Company,

founded in 1895 and was given to James Lincoln to manage. James, hesitant to manage in the

new role diversified the management role into different committees each of which was

responsible for one function like sales, planning etc. These committees were in turn

responsible to an advisory board, which met fortnightly for discussions on the mechanics and

issues of the respective group. The company made rapid progress, and soon grew more

rapidly than it was though possible at that time, with an impressive customer base worth $ 10

million. (Olusegun, 1998)

Conclusion

Effective teams can be built through structured intervention, however it is crucial that

management is committed to providing resources and support for effective team building

initially and later on so that team members are suitably empowered for decision making.

Effective team members have different skill sets that should be blended in by effective

leadership so that desired productivity results with increased customer satisfaction, more

margins and increased productivity together with empowered and passionate employees who

are enthusiastic and committed to positive results. This is the cornerstone hallmark of success

in companies like Toyota, Nissan, Harley Davidson, British Airways and small time

operators like Southwest Airlines. Olusegun (1998) rightly concludes that group processes

become more effective when leader and team members are considered as interdependent to
function effectively, and for high degree of efficacy group members traits need to be mined

and group members managed to produce cooperative results as an integral team.

References

Evelyn Jaffe Schreiber (1996) Muddles and Huddles: Facilitating a Multicultural

Workforce through Team Management Theory: The Journal of Business

Communication. Volume: 33. Issue: 4. Page Number: 459+.

Laird Mealiea, Ramon Baltazar (2005) A Strategic Guide for Building Effective Teams.:

Public Personnel Management. Volume: 34. Issue: 2. Page Number: 141+.

Richard Chang (May 2001) Turning into Organizational Performance. Magazine Title:

T&D. Volume: 55. Issue: 5.

Keith T. Hughes (November 1993) A Manager's Guide to the Art of Team Building.

Security Management. Volume: 37. Issue: 11. Page Number: 20+.

Olusegun Agboola Sogunro (1998) Leadership Effectiveness and Personality

Characteristics of Group Members. Journal of Leadership Studies. Volume: 5. Issue:

3. Page Number: 26.

Linda S Wing (2005) Leadership in high-performance teams: a model for superior team

performance. Team Performance Management; 11, 1/2; ABI/INFORM Global.Page. 4