Running head: UNDERSTANDING WORK TEAMS 1

Understanding Work Teams

Student Name

University Affiliation

Date
UNDERSTANDING WORK TEAMS 2

Workgroups and work teams have been a competing tool in most of the companies. In

Chapter 10, it illustrates how we can understand the work team since it is being adopted more

than the use of a group. The reason is that the teams have the potentiality of exploiting and

maximizing the talents of employees. It is more flexible and responsive to any changes within

the organizations and creates motivating factors in the organizations hence allow a company to

compete favorably (Robbins & Judge, 2014). The significant distinction that has forced many

companies out of workgroups and shifts to work teams is that the decisions in the group are

collective and generalized so that each member will make use of the choices in their respective

area of responsibilities. While in the team, due to coordinated effort, positive coaction is

generated; this is because the individual efforts yield more performance higher than the

combined individual inputs.

There exist a vast difference between workgroups and work teams (Robbins & Judge,

2014). In workgroups, the main objective is the sharing of information among the members

while in the work team side, members have a collective responsibility to perform a given task. In

case of mistake, every individual is accountable to their performance, which is carried mutually

in the work team part. Another big difference between the two categories of work is the

applications of the skills gained. In group work, skills are applied randomly and in varying

departments compared to the common usage of the professions by the teammates yielding more

positive results in the company.

Since teamwork in most companies has been adopted, it classified into four categories;

first, a problem-solving team. Under this category, members from the same department share

ideas. Even though they don’t have the authority to implement, they suggest improvements.

Second, self-managed work team which is a group of high related jobs. The primary duty is to
UNDERSTANDING WORK TEAMS 3

take supervisory responsibilities. Another category is the cross-functional teams (Ashkanasy et

al., 2017). Members form this from diverse areas at the same level, whereby they exchange

information to develop new ideas. Due to complex and varied projects, its development might

take a longer time. Finally, it is the virtual team. This is where the computer technology

disperses members. A multi-team system is formed to dependent on each other.

For successful teamwork, some factors must be put by the organization. The company

should ensure that they avail all the resources necessary for the team members to make the

decisions and implement them. The leadership of the organization should also be well structured

and sufficient to allow the smooth running of the work. Also, once the team has been assigned to

perform a given task, an organization should not doubt its performance. This will enable the

team to work to the best of their ability to avoid disappointing the company (Robbins & Judge,

2014).

Furthermore, the use of rewards by the company to recognize team contributions is

another motivating factor that leads to the success of the team. To turn individuals into team

players, they are selected according to interpersonal and technical skills. They are grouped and

taken to workshops to be trained on how to solve a problem, communicate, manage conflict, and

equipped with coaching skills.

From my understanding, for a company to compete effectively with its antagonists, it

must employ the use of teamwork methodology rather than group work. The reason is that most

of the team members believe in the teams’ capabilities and committed to a joint plan, which

enables them to accomplish their missions (Robbins & Judge, 2014). In this case, the business

will be gaining since practical suggestions are brought forward by the responsible team. Also,

since the team players are selected from those who have interpersonal skills, and provision of
UNDERSTANDING WORK TEAMS 4

training to enable develop teamwork skills makes the team productive. In turn, a capable team

tends to create wise decisions in the company.

References

Ashkanasy, N. M., To, M. L., & Fisher, C. D. (2017). Work Teams. The Wiley Blackwell

Handbook of the Psychology of Team Working and Collaborative Processes, 441.

Robbins, S., & Judge, T. (2014). Essentials of organizational behavior. 14th Edition. San Diego.