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TEAM BUILDING AND TEAMWORK

Overview of Team Building and Teamwork

• Team – it pertains to an interdependent group of employees who unite around a particular task,
project, or objective.
• Teamwork – it pertains to the collaborative effort of a group of individuals to achieve a common goal
or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way.
• Team Building – it refers to the various activities undertaken to motivate team members and increase
the overall performance of the team.

Building Effective Teams

In order to build an effective team, leaders must follow the necessary steps below:

1. Establish leadership. Team leaders must exercise their leadership skills by promoting honesty and
transparency in the workplace as the foundation in building a team.
2. Establish relationships with each employee. Team leaders must identify the potential team members
by assessing the skill set of the employees. This will help team leaders match each employee’s expertise
and competencies to specific problems, which will help increase employee’s productivity and job
satisfaction.
3. Build relationships among employees. Team leaders must examine the collaboration of team
members and must support in the improvement of communication, cooperation, and trust among the
team. This will help minimize conflicts among team members.
4. Foster teamwork. Team leaders must encourage team members to share information among
themselves and the wider scope of the organization. This will encourage team spirit and cooperation
among the members of the team.
5. Set ground rules for the team. Team leaders must set team policies and promote team values in
order to establish order within the group.

Characteristics that Promote Successful Teamwork

The characteristics that must be possessed by individuals in order to promote successful teamwork are as
follows:

• Selflessness. It pertains to the willingness of an individual to put the team’s interests ahead of their
own.
• Dependability. It refers to being reliable in accomplishing tasks efficiently in consistent manner.
• Enthusiasm. It is the eagerness of an individual to accomplish tasks with team spirit.
• Responsibility. It pertains to being accountable for their actions, decisions, and performance.
• Cooperativeness. It pertains to the ability of an individual to work together towards a common goal.
• Resourcefulness. It is the initiative of an individual to propose ideas and find ways to accomplish
the tasks in spite of an apparent lack of resources.
• Perseverance. It pertains to the personal outlook of the people to remain positive in overcoming
obstacles that they may encounter.

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Teams are Coached - Not Bossed

Managers and supervisors need to realize that members of the team must be coached and not be bossed
around. Bosses are only in-charge to plan work, provide orders, monitor programs, and evaluate individual
performances. Bosses approach the job in commanding the team and reprimanding mistakes. Coaches
are the facilitators of team development to continually improve performance. Coaches approach the job
from the perspective of leading the team in such a way that it achieves peak performance levels on a
consistent basis.

Handling Conflict in Teams

Team leaders must handle conflict by following the three-stage process below as a form of mediation
procedure:

• Step 1: Prepare for Resolution – team leaders must acknowledge and discuss the conflict focusing
on its impact towards team dynamics and performance. Both parties involved must agree to
cooperate in order to resolve the conflict. Most importantly, the team leader must keep the
communication open throughout the process of resolving the conflict.
• Step 2: Understand the Situation – team leaders must clarify the position of those involved in the
conflict and make sure that everyone’s point of view is heard and understood. The team leaders
must list facts, assumptions, and beliefs underlying each position, which must be analyzed and
dissected by smaller groups of the team. After the group dialogue, uncover the facts and
assumptions to allow people to step away from their emotional attachments and see the issue
more objectively.
• Step 3: Reach Agreement – the team must decide what decisions or course of action to take in
order to reach an agreement among the group. Team leaders must make sure that the team is
committed to work with the outcome of the proposed analysis and evaluation.

Rewarding Team and Individual Performance

The most successful compensation systems combine both individual and team pay as follows:

• Individual-based compensation. It is the fixed amount of money or the traditional regular pay of
an employee.
• Individual incentive compensation. It pertains to the additional income of an employee, which
s/he receives on top of the base pay for surpassing goals set for his/her individual performance.
• Team-based incentive compensation. It refers to the additional income received by employees
on top of other company benefits for hitting a goal set for team performance.
• Non-monetary rewards. It pertains to other tangible rewards that employees receive apart from
money like movie tickets, gift certificates, concert tickets, airline tickets, and electronic or
household products among others.
• Intangible rewards. It pertains to the rewards that employees receive in the form of recognition
and appreciation for a good performance. The recognition strategies include creating a “Wall of
Fame” in the office to honor outstanding performance, designating the best parking space in the
lot for the “Employee of the Month,” and publicly acknowledging the efforts of the employee.

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References:
Cardinal, R. (2015). 5 steps to building an effective team. Retrieved on May 10, 2018 from https://www.
huffingtonpost.com/rosalind-cardinal/5-steps-to-building-an-effective-team_b_7132406.html

Nailia, S. (n.d.). Resolving team conflict. Retrieved on May 15, 2018 from https://www.mindtools.com
/pages/article/newTMM_79.htm

Stevenson, J. (2015). Operations management (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

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