An example of a time when I worked in a team and were successful was when I worked with Zov in carrying out a presentation titled "Our New Business Idea". Since this was the first assignment we had in the University, we were very polite to one another which I felt made the process of practising our presentation a lot easier. This is because we were comfortable with each other. At this point we were at the "Forming" stage of team development. I think that being polite to each other made our presentation successful because it didn't delay the task of practising our presentation. This allowed us to practise and reherse our presentation without any delays e.g. having personal disagreements and other conflicts which would have delayed the process of rehersing. Repeated rehersals perfected our performance.
When we were rehersing our presentation, me and Zov would often consult each other about issues regarding the presentation e.g. what bits that weren't necessary to include, taking into account that our presentation had a time limit of ten minutes. At this point then, we would manage any conflicts that both of us had with the presentation. We were at the "Storming" stage of team development during this period. I think that our team worked successfully during this period because we acted as one, editing the content of our presentation which allowed us to present content that was relevant and necessary in order to reach the higher mark bands.
After confronting issues and difficulties that we had, me and Zov then focused on developing our presentation skills next e.g. such as speaking clearly, giving eye contact to the audience and not speaking too fast/slow. At this point we were at the "Norming" stage of team development. I think our team worked successfully during this period because we both made attempts to improve our presentation skills, which was crucial in receiving the highest mark our team could achieve because the quality of the content presented would have been limited by our skills of presenting the content.
Once our presentation skills had improved to a level that we were both comfortable with, me and Zov focused on making our presentation as a whole as effective as possible. We did this by sharing and suggesting ideas in addition to improving our maturity as a group so our presentation would look professional. At this point, we were at the "Performing" stage of team development. I feel that our team worked successfully during this period because it was at this point where we added the final touches that made the presentation from good to great. By sharing ideas through interacting with one another, I feel we achieved this.
When it came to performing our presentation, I feel me and Zov were very successful in working as a team. This is because we linked our own individual parts of the presentation together e.g. I would say that "As Zov just said" and he would say the opposite on sections of the presentation that overlapped on both his and mine's parts. This made the presentation seem united and feel like a group presentation as opposed to a presentation where you are simply working with someone. In addition, we both worked equally as hard when it came to presenting our presentation which helped make the presentation look like a group effort as I wasn't "out-presenting" him and vice versa. As a result, we clearly shared the responsibility of the work together as a good team should.
The people in my team were myself, Zov, Pierre and John for the People and Organisations group assignment. Looking back on the People and Organisations group assignment, I think that we performed reasonably well as a team. This is because we covered the main points that were included in the assessment criteria. However, I don't feel we were truly united as a team. This is because instead of working as a team, we instead split the work into four pieces between the four of us, with each of us researching and writing up the definition of certain motivation theories in addition to relating these motivation theories to a business of our own choice. If we had collectively looked at all of the results from our secondary research, we could have made sound conclusions based on our findings making links between the different theories and businesses respectively. We didn't do this however. Instead, we simply split the conclusions from our results into four different conclusions with no links between each of the theories and business's. In this respect, we weren't successful as a team because it seemed like we were doing our work as individuals and simply compiling all the information together instead of analysing all of the results and linking them together cohesively.
Our group (consisting of myself, Pierre, Zov and John) did not progress through all of the key stages in Tuckman's theory. The key stages that we progressed through were Forming and Storming. We progressed through Forming in the beginning stages of the assignment by being polite to each other and impersonal. Going through the Forming stage of development contributed to our success as a team in my opinion because it allowed the team to concentrate on the assignment at hand and stay professional. This is because we didn't know each other as individuals very much which meant we didn't get distracted by going off the subject of the assignment e.g. gossiping.
We also progressed through the Storming stage of development. We did this by confronting each other with regards to the assignment. This is because their were a few occasions where some of our group arranged to meet at a certain time but didn't turn up. Going through the Storming stage of development contributed to our success as a team because it helped resolve issues surrounding our dedication, independence and maturity towards the assignment. If we hadn't have addressed these issues, we wouldn't have been able to complete the assignment fully.
We did not progress through the Norming stage of development however. Even though I feel that we confronted issues regarding the assignment, I don't think we developed our skills as a group e.g. analytical skills, as we didn't analyse the content of the assignment to a great degree. I think that this effected the success of the group because it prevented us from achieving a higher grade for our assignment, as analysing the content was a big part of the assessment criteria.
We also did not progress through the Performing stage of development. I think we didn't progress through the Performing stage because I feel we never met our potential as a group. The reason for this is that we never worked effectively or maturely enough to meet this stage. I think that this effected the success of the group because it prevented us from improving the assignment by a significant amount in order to receive a high mark for the assignment.
Using the link above, Microsoft is one company where teamwork has been identified as a major contributory factor to their success. For example, Anon 1 (2009) states that 74% of employees feel that working in a team gives them a buzz. Employees with a "buzz" are generally excited which insinuates that 74% of Microsoft's employees that work in a team are excited about working in a team, improving the morale in the work environment. This would also motivate the employees into working harder and more efficiently because they are excited about the prospect of working in a team.
Anon 1 (2009) also states that 81% of Microsoft's employees feel that working in a team "is fun". Working in teams that is regarded as "fun" would mean that the labour turnover rate would be low at Microsoft because people would be interested, excited and motivated into going to work reducing the chances that existing employees would seek employment elsewhere. This would therefore be one of Microsoft's major contributory factors to their success. Anon 1 (2009) proves this further when it states that "regular get-togethers at team, department and company level ensure success is celebrated and staff remain engaged". Furthermore, "Managers have morale budgets which are used to keep teams happy and motivated".
Another company where teamwork has been identified as a major contributory factor to their success is Iris. According to Anon 2 (2009), "employees believe there is a strong sense of family in their teams (an 83% positive score)". If their is a "strong sense of family" in their teams at Iris, the workers would be more open to pitching new and creative ideas together which may result in better results for the company overall, which may help boost sales and therefore profits. This would therefore be a major contributory factor to Iris' success.
In addition, Iris' employees say that "working with their teams gives them a buzz (80%), agree that colleagues go out of their way to help each other (81%) and say that workmates are fun to work with (89%)" [Anon 2]. [n.d.]. Working for a company that gives teams "a buzz" would give the employees more enthusiasm about their job which would motivate them to work harder / more efficiently. This would therefore reduce the labour turnover rate in the company which would mean Iris wouldn't have to spend as much time and money into training new employees as replacements for the employees that have left the company. Teamworking in Iris is therefore clearly contributory to the business as it ultimately saves the business time and money from training new employees.
In conclusion, I have learnt quite a lot on the subject of team working. The main thing I learnt from this topic is the importance of good team working in any business. This is because good team working can work better than people working well as individuals. The reason for this is that more ideas can be pitched together with the best ideas inputted and the worst ideas discarded in teams unlike working as individuals. The outcome is better results. I also enjoyed the topic because I felt it was interesting as it relates to the world of work and I learnt something new.
References
[Anon. 1] (2009) Microsoft [online]. [s.n.] Available from: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/article5703546.ece [Accessed 17 January 2010].
[Anon. 2] (2009) Iris [online]. [s.n.] Available from: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/article5845070.ece[Accessed 17 January 2010].
Teamworking image [n.k.] [online]. Available from: http://www.pathways4change.com/images/cgi.gif [Accessed 17 January 2010].
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