INTRODUCTION

Humans have always lived in groups. It brings a sense of unity and security,
provides better chances of both surviving and thriving, but it mostly brings a sense
of belonging. Whether it’s a family, a tribe, or simply a band of friends, we’re always
better together. Thus, we look at teams and teamwork as we defined it in this
chapter.

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

• explain the fundamentals of teamwork and how it works;

• discuss how to create and maintain an effective team;
• identify and compare the Benefits and Dysfunctions of a Team.

ACTIVITY

What do you see in these pictures? What does it imply?

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ANALYSIS

On your own opinion what does the famous saying “No Man is an Island” mean?

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DEFINING TEAM AND TEAMWORK

TEAM is defined as two or more people working together to achieve a shared goal.

TEAMWORK is a process of bringing individuals together and joining their efforts

and talents collaboratively, to achieve a goal or a mission for a cause; an attitude and
sense that individuals can support each other so that their strengths combine to
enhance what they do.

HOW DO WE ASSESS TEAMWORK?

• Trust among members
• Feedback mechanisms
• Open communications
• Approach to decisions
• Leadership sharing

FOUR FUNDAMENTALS OF TEAMWORK

• Acceptance of goals and tasks
• Valuing diversity
• Member cohesiveness
• Support for each other
• Performance norms

When you are establishing and developing work teams, consider building these
four fundamentals: purpose, people, practices and relationships.

PURPOSE
Work teams depend on a clear purpose from leadership. They know precisely
what the team is expected to achieve with appropriate measures. Without a clear and
compelling “what’, teams will struggle and become frustrated figuring out the “how”.

PEOPLE
Clear roles and responsibilities, both within and between work teams,
facilitate coordination and leverage team member knowledge, skills, strengths, and
abilities. Without clear roles and responsibilities, teams will become confused about
“who” is responsible for “what”. Without the right skills and experiences, teams may
work hard, but it will underperform.

PRACTICES
Operating practices effectively guide how a single team works together, and
how teams work with other teams. Consider how the team(s) communicate, employ
technology, solve problems, resolve conflicts, make decisions, and perform the work.
High performing teams are constantly evaluating and improving how they work together.
Without well designed operating practices, teams will certainly be inefficient, and likely
ineffective.

RELATIONSHIPS
Collaborative working relationships establish and grow trust between people.
Highly effective teams are aware of, and agree on, the behaviors that can build and
destroy trust. Teams members get to know each other’s non-business lives, they
develop personal connections that often last well beyond the life of the team, and they
care for each other. They become aware and are sensitive to each other’s preferred
styles for communication, decision making, and dealing with conflict. They create a safe
place for each member to grow. In short, the members’ personal relationships bind them
together and unite them around working toward the team’s clear purpose.

CREATING AN EFFECTIVE TEAM

How do we maximize the capabilities of the team? In order for any team to
accomplished their goal, they need to work together and as one. Here are some steps
in building an effective team:

1. Whether you are the leader of the team or just a member, help your team
define a vision and a purpose of what they do. Members often lack a sense of purpose
because all too often, they don’t have all the information to allow them to understand
how their efforts contribute to the bigger picture and move the world forward. As a
result, some may be focused solely on getting the job done. Always give your team
members enough information to realize the importance of their contribution.
2. When forming a new team, it is important to have a varied set of skills within
the team. Identify which skills and expertise you’re looking for. Then ask everyone to
state their strengths, what they can do best and what are the skills they want to master.
3. Create a habit of regular honest communication between teammates. This
way, the team can have updates or progress meeting wherein they can ask for help. If
they don’t know how to handle a task, they can ask for advice. Trust and communication
bring the teammates together.

MAINTAINING AN EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK

Just like a well-functioning car engine, teams should be checked and maintained
to provide maximum performance and to achieve the goals efficiently and effectively.
Here are some things that can be done to sustain the productivity of a team:
1. Keeping the team’s motivation high is a big hassle, but it’s not
impossible. The best way to maintain a high level of motivation is to enable the team
members to align their personal development goals with the group’s growth goals. We
all want to believe we can put the team’s interests ahead of our own individual interests,
but if team members don’t feel they can grow and thrive within their teams, they will end
up leaving for a better environment or simply being unengaged and unproductive.
2. Share weekly updates. Update each other about general progress,
milestones hit, planned for the upcoming week. The updates should be informative and
serve as an opportunity to recognize progress and keep everyone in the loop about
what has been done, who is doing what and what needs to be done.
 3. Nurture a sense of accountability among team members. When each
member is aware of the bigger picture, they know how being accountable for getting
their part of the job done allows the group milestone to be achieved.
CELEBRATING SUCCESS
A good motivation in working as a team is recognizing the success that the team
has achieved, recognizing the different members that contribute to the achievement and
enforce a productive atmosphere through reinforcement of good and providing solutions
to the challenges encountered.

• When your team succeeds, it is important to celebrate even the little successes.
Recognize the efforts made by each member of the team. Make it a regular tradition to
celebrate whether it is over a meal or a treat whenever a milestone is reached.
• When your team fails to reach the objective, still recognize the effort of each
member, but have everyone talk about their own mistakes and what they could have
done better. Don’t point any finger or blame other. Involve everyone in planning
improvements. This reassures team members that they have each other’s backs,
and focuses them on continuous improvements.

BEST PRACTICES
Here are some ways to develop the best working team:

1. Effective Leadership – Each member should be empowered to be a leader. When

you have a team of accountable leaders, teamwork is highly effective.
2. Encourage Creativity – Value each member’s contribution, leave room for creativity,
trying new things and iteration.
3. Reward and Recognition – Make it habit to recognize efforts made by the team to
build team spirit.
4. Inter-group Communication – Create a space for teams within each
class/department to meet and share their progress, struggles, challenges and success.
It gives different perspectives and assures everyone that they’re all working toward the
same result.

BENEFITS OF TEAMWORK

A. BENEFITS TO GROUP/ ORGANIZATION

1. Increase productivity. Successful teams often achieve something which is greater

than the sum of their individual parts (Multiplier Effect).
2. Increase quality through collective measures
3. Better morale
4. Better problem solving. Teams can help to approach problems in new ways.
5. Increase creativity. Fellow team members may raise ideas you may not have
thought of if working on your own.
6. Better decisions through collaborative efforts

B. BENEFITS TO INDIVIDUALS
1. Work is less stressful
2. Responsibility is hared
3. Rewards and recognition is shared
4. Members can influence each other
5. All members experience a sense of accomplishment

HELPFUL AND HARMFUL BEHAVIOR IN TEAMWORK

DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM
 REFERENCES:
MAPUA University CWTS Program Module 2019 -
https://www.mapua.edu.ph/Campus%20Life/SOCIP/Downloads.asp

Name: __________________________ Date: ____________________

Course: _________________________ Rating: __________________
Answer the following questions with detailed explanation. Encode your
answers using WPS Office or MS Word. Submit your document file to Google
Classroom.
1. Which is the most important fundamental of teamwork? Defend your answer.
2. How do you maximize the team’s capabilities?
3. List some team-building activities for your team. Explain how each activity enhance
your teamwork.
4. Select a famous team that has been successful in their field, be it sports,
politics, entertainment. Discuss their journey from bottom to top and how their
teamwork paid off.
5. When it comes to failures, why do team members tend to blame somebody for
the unfinished goals?
Rubrics:
Content 30%

Organization of 30%
Ideas

Grammar Usage 20%

Originality 20%

TOTAL 100%