INFORMATION SHEET. 2.

1-1
BUILDING RELATIONSHIP AND TEAM WORK

Learning Objectives:

1. Define team and its importance to a certain organization.

2. Identify the skills needed for teamwork

What is Team?

A Team is a group of people working together to achieve common objectives

and willing to forego individual autonomy to the extent necessary to achieve
those objectives.

A smallest team consists of 2 people and the upper limit can be to the size
of the organization. The whole organization can work as a team if its members
develop a common style of working i.e., constructive and cooperative. This is
normally described as teamwork. An organization is viewed as a network of
teams, temporary and permanent.
For a team to achieve it’s common objectives, its members should share
its objectives and be identified wholeheartedly with them. By joining a team, the
individual member “signs on” the team’s objectives, he enters into a contract as
a condition of becoming a member of the team. A team member is willing to
forego personal autonomy to the extent necessary to achieve common objectives,
by joining a team one has to limit his freedom to do as he likes.
 There cannot be a team without a leader who has ultimate responsibility for
deciding the degree to which autonomy of the team member has to be
constrained. He has to exercise his responsibility in a way that it does not erode
the commitment of the team members. He needs to establish the constraints
through a consultation process of problem solving and negotiations.

Skills needed for teamwork

Aside from any required technical proficiency, a wide variety of social skills are
desirable for successful teamwork, including:

 Listening - it is important to listen to other people's ideas. When people

are allowed to freely express their ideas, these initial ideas will produce
other ideas.
 Questioning - it is important to ask questions, interact, and discuss the
objectives of the team.
 Persuading - individuals are encouraged to exchange, defend, and then to
ultimately rethink their ideas.
 Respecting - it is important to treat others with respect and to support
their ideas.
 Helping - it is crucial to help one's coworkers, which is the general theme
of teamwork.
 Sharing - it is important to share with the team to create an environment
of teamwork.
 Participating - all members of the team are encouraged to participate in
the team.
 Communication - For a team to work effectively it is essential team
members acquire communication skills and use effective communication
channels between one another e.g. using email, viral communcation,
group meetings and so on. This will enable team members of the group to
work together and achieve the teams purpose and goals.