TEAM BUILDING

The basic unit of a well-organized company is the team. The team consists of a small group of
people, sharing a joint responsibility for their activity and contribution to the company. Such
groups can be created at all levels and in all departments.

Some consider it easier to create teams within certain types of company, but the basic ideas are
relevant to all. The ream work theory perceives teams working in relation to each other – the
very embodiment of the customer supplier links that are so necessary for quality.

WHY TEAMS?

BETTER CONTROL

Processes are controlled better by teams than by individuals. The team members supply a joint
effort, and support, at the time and place demanded by the process. The process receives control
when it needs it. A team can service its own manpower needs, ensuring consistency and constant
attention.

EASY MANAGEMENT

Teams allow an easy management style, with one manager being responsible for several teams,
rather than for a large number of individuals. Good managers develop an easy relationship with
the team, overtly delegating as much responsibility to the team as it appears able to handle. The
manager is able to very the amount of overt management activity according to the needs of each
team. The well orientated motivated and able team will require little attention, leaving the
manager free to concentrate on the team that is not functioning so well. Teamwork leads to
efficient management.

WORK ROTATION

Teamwork allows a work rotation pattern, or other such formal devices, that best suit the people
involved. Thus their efforts are maximized. The team organizing its own work will integrate the
needs of the company’s and the needs of each team member, giving the most efficient working
environment for the team.

SOCIAL NEEDS

People are social and have a psychological need to belong to a small group. This applies to
working relationship as well as to social and domestic relationship. Each individual team
member will grow to value the strength stemming from such relationships.
GROUP INSTINCT

There is a natural desire to be part of a team or group. Indeed, I would suggest such groupings
naturally occur within any working environment. Without organization, they are unlikely to be
work oriented, and could well be counter productive. Whilst this team instinct may be natural,
the means of working effectively together of a team industrial or commercial organization are
not. The working of a team has to be taught, so that the purpose, l the responsibilities and the
implications are understood by all, both within and outside the team.

RECOGNITION

People need recognition for their work, and it is more possible to recognize group efforts. The
working of the group will always be greater than that of an individual and the team can share
praise and appreciation. Also, many opportunities for a reassuring word, or for reinforcement,
are missed in the wider company organization. Team members can give, and do give, immediate
recognition to the work of other team members. The appreciation of people, mutually respected,
is always a very valuable commodity.

SUPPORTIVE

The team will play a supportive role, smoothing the ups and downs of working life. Nothing
ever goes smoothly all the time, and each individual will have a ‘bad’ day. The group protects
and supports the individual when it is necessary.

DISCIPLINE

Discipline is best achieved through peer pressure. The most effective discipline is self-
discipline, and this regulates most of us, more of the time. Where this ‘ being responsible for
one’s own person and activities’ is insufficient, the pressure exerted by those nearest is often the
most effective, the most immediate and the most acceptable to the misguided individual. Often
the occasional rebuff is taken from friends, when it would be fiercely rejected and fought, if
coming from someone more distant, someone in authority.

ONGOING IMPROVEMENTS

Teams build trust, confidence and responsibility. The team is an excellent natural formation,
within which on-going improvements, via quality improvement projects, problem-solving and
process development, can occur. The team will become more knowledgeable about their own
processes, those involved at previous stages of manufacture, and the design aspects affecting
their work. They will also understand the requirements and expectations of the customers, both
internal and external.
WHAT IS A TEAM?

The concept of a team needs to be actively developed within the individual company. The
answer to the question ‘what is a team’?, becomes, ‘A team is what your company wants a team
to be’. The definition important to you is not that which you may find written here or elsewhere,
but the meaning and common understanding that you can create behind the concept. The team is
an ‘industrial tool’. To be formed and used, not worshiped.

This is a generalized interpretation of the concept.

A team is usually comprised of between four and 10 people, who share a group of activities of
processes. Each team member is multi-skilled to enable him to do any of the tasks of the
team. The members of the team share responsibility for their work.

Central to the concept of the team will be the idea of sharing. This will be typified by the shared
responsibility that the team develops, or is given, for aspects of its daily working life. Such
responsibilities, and the relationship that result, are even more difficult to describe. Indeed,
it is not helpful for a company to define a list of responsibilities. The list would probably be
small, being the least expected from the worst team. It could deny the value of teamwork to
those teams able to wield it.

Multi-skirling is important, as it not only allows the most flexible use of manpower, but also
enables all individuals to maximize their potential.

The company should not prescribe these responsibilities. They emanate better from the
relationship between individual managers and the team concerned. They must reflect the
abilities of the team members, individually and collectively.

It is more valuable to describe the areas in which the team could be expected to wield
responsibility. Having arrived at such a list, the management group should highlight the limits if
the team’s responsibility in each area.

The production of the work from the team

Clearly the ability of the group to meet targets must be enshrined in the team
methodology. This, after all, is the main purpose of the team. Living the company’s
Quality Policy by meeting the customer’s requirements and expectations, will be the
prime target of the team.

The controls of the process

Only those directly operating a process can effectively control the process. The ability of
the team to control a particular process will depend not only on the members, but also on
the measurement of process inputs.
Organizing the work within the team

The sharing of the work to maximize each individual’s interest and satisfaction, whilst
also achieving the required output, is best left within the aegis of the team.

Quality

The team should take full responsibility for the quality of its work, in all respects. No
one else can wield this responsibility with as much effectiveness.

The team will have customer relationships with other reams and individuals. The concept
of ‘industrial citizenship’ is as important for the team as whole, as it is for individual
members. Each member has responsibilities and duties to the team. Each team has
responsibilities and duties to others.

Problem-solving of all problems created within the group.

The solutions to all problems lie in the heads of those most concerned with the processes
from which the problems emanate. The team is the ideal basis for problem-solving
activities.

Constant and never-ending process improvement

For this to become a way of life for the company, it must involve everybody. This is
much easier when operating with team organization. The team is the natural basis for a
quality improvement group, quality circles, or any other formal activity. Also, it can
daily live the never-ending Improvement philosophy on an informal basis. Either way,
the team will need the requisite skills to enable this function to be successful.

In short, the team will probably have responsibility in these areas.

• Work production
• Process control
• Organization of the team
• Quality
• Problem-solving
• Never-ending process improvement.

Sharing responsibility
The key to team work is sharing. It does not matter in which part of the organization the team
operates; its success will depend directly on the ability of the team members to share the
responsibilities of the ream as a whole. It is this joint nature of the activity and responsibility
that provides the cohesion of the team, raising it from being a group of individuals, to being a
powerful team.

Secondary teams

There may be secondary teams at work within the organization. A secondary team is a group in
which the members may not be working at the same location, or at the same activity, or within
the plant. Its members will share an overall, plant-wide responsibility. This may be to provide a
service or back-up to the main company activities. Electricians, maintenance, caterers, and so
on, are all typical examples of secondary teams.

Some people may find themselves member of more than one team, or secondary team.

It is most important that each secondary team is well aware of the negotiated areas in which it
has responsibility. Time and education will be needed to establish such teams. Indeed, the full
effectiveness of the team will not be possible without this initial input. Once in operation, the
secondary team will require time and space to be able to remain a cohesive force.

Many small companies do not posses the logistical arrangements for such group activities. It is
difficult to find time for the team to come together, and sometimes even more difficult to find a
suitable room or space. Such problems must be overcome. The lengths that the company is
prepared to go to ensure the effective operation of teams will be indicative of the commitment to
Quality.

The team may well require the assistant of the manager to accomplish something beyond its
control. This could be external to the team, such as securing finance for a process improvement.
Equality, it might be internal to the team members to the declared team activities. The manager
becomes the supplier of management and the team is the customer. The company Quality
definition, policy or statement, will be as important here as it is in all other areas. Each team has
a right to Quality management.

It may be that the management, carefully observing a team, proffers advice and direction prior to
the team actively seeking assistance. Such a decision cannot be made by anyone other than the
appropriate manager. The task of managing the team involves maintaining a sufficiently close
relationship to know when such assistance is required. There is no question of the manager
abrogating accountability or personal responsibility for the team’s activity, processes, and results
of the team. The best way of meeting this accountability is to delegate much of the day to day
responsibility to the team itself, whilst maintaining an intimate knowledge of its internal
operation and performance.

The ideal team member is:

 Good tempered
  Thoughtful
 Consistent
 Reliable
 Able to get things done
 Capable
 Able to talk to people

TEAM BUILDING

DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS WITH SPECIFIED SKILLS ARE BROUGHT TOGETHER TO

ACHIEVE A COMMON PURPOSE / GOAL.

TEAM WORK

THE WORKING TOGETHER OF DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS BY GIVING OUT THEIR

BEST OF SPECIALIZED SKILL AND ACHIEVE THE COMMON GOAL.

BENEFITS OF TEAM WORK

THE EFFORTS MADE BY EVERY INDIVIDUAL IN THE TEAM BECOMES A SYNERGIC

EFFORT.

THE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS IN A TEAM TO ITS EXPONENTIAL POWER IS THE

RESULTANT SYNERGIC EFFORT.

ESSENTIALS OF AN INDIVIDUAL TEAM MEMBER

Total involvement
 Total Co-operation
 High Degree of Commitment
 Clarity in thought
 Clarity in Speech
 Clarity in Work / Activity

The paradigm shift required in a team member

 Individual Collective
Thinking Thinking
Decision Decision
Experiment Experiment
Learning Learning
Performance Performance
Effort Effort

Development in our personality

 Need to be flexible

 Work towards team’s achievement

 Accepting other individuals in the Team as Team members

 Accepting other team members as they are

 Positive approach towards each and every activity that we do as a team

 Well balanced behaviour

The Essence:

 Let us expect change

 Let us learn & undergo change

 Let us give positive results through meaningful changes