The three essential conditions for successful team performance as described by

Thompson in Making the Team are expertise, engaged and motivated, and execution by
coordination. She stated that “members must have the expertise” and that “the manager
appropriately match people with the right skills to the tasks at hand” (p115). We have all
worked on a team where there was at least one person that we didn’t understand why
they were paired with the rest. I was promoted to a Supervisor in a warehouse and
inherited a very dysfunctional team. I couldn’t understand how the upper management
placed these three individuals together in such a small space. After getting to know
each person and identifying their strengths, I was able to effectively play on their
strengths to match the organization’s needs. I later learned that it was a challenge
presented to see if I would be able to make the teamwork and improve on production.
The second essential condition is for the team members to be engaged and motivated.
The team needs to have the same goal and passion level. My husband and I, although
very much in love, do not see eye to eye on how to setup the backyard. We do not have
the same goals in mind which translates into both of us lacking the motivation to
complete the yard. I would like to fully entertain with more pavers and less grass. He
would like the yard to be full of grass so that he can set up games and such for his
version of entertaining as well as take half the yard for his welding shed. This
disagreement has delayed the projected release date of a picture-perfect yard space.
The final essential condition needed is execution by coordination. As a team, if we are
unable to coordinate the tasks needing to be done, we are left with unstructured
decisions to an unstructured plan. I feel that the added essential condition should be
respect. With respect comes understanding and productivity. The best way to combat
social loafing is evenly distribute tasks that require accountability as well as keeping
staffing to a size that is beneficial to the project. When tasks are distributed that require
accountability, this eliminates the need to hide and work minimally throughout the
process.