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Greg Ododa
Dr. Griffin
English 1102-097
26 March 2014

A Dream Teams Guide
Introduction
The act of coming together to accomplish a goal has been a large contributor in the
advancement of man. Teamwork enables people to continue surviving and advancing in the
world. Resident Hall Associations are a student-run university residence hall governing body.
Being a student run association, forming a focused and successful team is a common problem
within these groups. However most universities, including the University of North Carolina
Charlotte, give no guidelines to the RHA members upon the election with the thought that the
students should know how to create a well functioning team, when in reality there are many
necessary components that not all Hall Councils are aware of. There are successful and
unsuccessful groups and each group is made up of different human beings. So with so many
different possible outcomes a group can have, how does that team work together best to complete
the task or tasks they assembled to achieve? There have been several experiments and statistics
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gathered that prove there are certain components that either makes or breaks a team. Among
these attributes that create a successful team are the importance of goal setting, roll classification,
interpersonal relations, communication and proper and positive leadership.
Goal Setting
Setting objectives as well as the development of individual and team goals are vital parts
of a successful team. With a student run organization, it can be a struggle to stay focused.
Creating a clear goal as a group gives the members a target to aim for. A good team establishes
the main goal for the group and also assigns subtasks to members as stepping stones to the
completed task. The number of individuals in a hall council plays a role in goal setting; generally
smaller subgroups raise the efficiency of the given task. Simplifying the overall process by
providing tasks to smaller groups can strengthen team member motivation to achieve the group
goals and objectives.
It is important to establish the expected standards for the tasks, clear time frames, and to
make sure each team member understands their responsibilities. Defining the expected standards
sets the quality of the work and also serves as a guide to what the end result should achieve.
Having clear time frames, gives the members an expected completion date for each task as well
as improves the teams time management of the set goals. Lastly, making sure each team
member knows the responsibilities expected of them reinforces the purpose and importance of
the members individual task in relationship to the overall team goal. This method of goal setting
matches the way your fellow council members and students have been taught all through their
education up until then. Teachers set guidelines to shows the expected quality level, due dates to
improve time management and also give tests which reinforce the success by making sure
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students know what they are meant to learn. In order for this to work, each team member should
have a role classified to maximize the efficiency of the group.
Role Classification
In order to reach the team goal, the team must establish role classifications. The first step
that should be taken is confirming no one on the team will slack off or bring the team down. This
is called Social Loafing. Most likely if an individual is in the hall council, they made the
choice to be involved therefore members are unlikely to exhibit social loafing. However there are
the outliers that do not wish to contribute to the advancement of the group and decide to lay low
while other team members do the given tasks. Social loafing tends to happen in large groups
where individuals feel as if they can let others complete the given task for them.
Kenneth Price from the University of Texas at Arlington did a study where he arranged
514 people into 144 teams that met for 14 weeks. He assigned them projects that required many
steps and diverse skills to complete. As they worked, Price observed and measured how they
worked together and found two influences that play a role in social loafing. The first is
dispensability, when an individual is put in a group they make a judgment of how important or
useless they are to the advancement of the group. When this occurs, the group member comes to
believe that the more indispensable members have a greater responsibility for successful
completion of their assigned tasks and begin to loaf. The second influence found is fairness.
Team members judge the fairness of the decision making procedures and if an individual feels
like the minority or powerless, loafing begins. Price gives some effective solutions to each
problem, first is to avoid creating groups with individuals that have overlapping strengths. This
makes the members in each group feel like they have value, thus decreasing the chance of
loafing. The second solution is to monitor the decision making process in the subgroups and
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giving the minority a voice. This again improves the self value of the member and in turn
eliminates that source of social loafing.
After the social loafing has been stopped, it is essential to establish each individuals
strengths and weaknesses. If an individual is assigned with a task in which one does not excel in,
that will reflect on the team and may cause the team not to meet specific goals or deadlines.
However, if an individual is given a task one will succeed at, the team will be more likely to be
successful as well. The next step to roll classification is to make sure the assignment is clear by
asking how they plan on tackling the task or even just listening and responding to comments.
Reinforcing the commitment of the members is the next step. By setting a high level of
commitment makes the tasks a priority rather than the common worries of overwhelming classes,
intimate partners, even upcoming social events. Lastly checkpoints or deadlines create a way to
monitor progress and give appropriate feedback.
Interpersonal Relations
Developing interpersonal relationships is key to improving the teamwork within a group.
Interpersonal relationships are simply strong associations between people. These relationships
help create trust between the members, which in turn causes them to work more in sync with one
another and raises the efficiency within the group. When a random group of people are put
together, especially students, the unfamiliarity can hinder the openness and communication
within the group. Good interpersonal relations in the team improve teamwork skills such as
supportiveness, communication and the exchange of opinions. Creating that needed relationship
is basically done by being aware of the way each member feels and encouraging civil resolutions
to problems.
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Actions that improve the relationship within the group can include: considering each idea
as valuable and harmonizing team members. If the group members feel as if each contribution is
valuable, they are more inclined to provide more and unique ideas. Maintaining a harmonized
team keeps the focus on the main task rather than minor disputes or even just setting ground
rules about things such as the speaking order. Also, encouraging informal conversation between
members improves the interpersonal relations in the group by making it easier to freely
communicate an opinion. The respect that comes with a stable relationship between the team
members helps sustain a healthy level of creativity and comfort in the council.
Communication
Communication is more than just exchanging contact information, it is a vital aspect of
having a well-organized team; communication could easily make or break the productivity of
teamwork. Working as a team means one must understand and cooperate with one other but
without communicating ideas, deadlines, questions, etc. the team would quickly crumble.
Frequent communication as a team has a much higher success rate because everyone is
constantly being involved. However, too much communication can result in negative
productivity because an individual can feel smothered or annoyed by other team members or an
individual may become confused by receiving an excessive amount of information at one time.
Balance is important in communicating; ensure there is equality between both speaking and
listening.
One of the most crucial forms of communication is listening and being attentive to other
team members. This allows members to build a relationship and feel comfortable with everyone
on the team. In order to further relationships with team members, communication outside of the
formal setting is necessary. Informal meetings and discussions brings the team together as a
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close unit rather than having the sense of strictly business. In order to continue building
relationships, positive reinforcement is key; positive energy in teamwork allows for a pleasant
environment and a productive team. If a team wishes to maintain high productivity,
communication is crucial.
Proper Leadership
Effective leadership is essential for team success. Having a main individual in charge of
the group greatly increases the organization of the team because every member can voice their
opinions or concerns in a way that can quickly address the issue. There is a common
misperception that the success of the group lies in the leader. In reality, the best leader focuses
on creating conditions that help members competently manage themselves. Along with that, the
leader must have certain characteristics that help foster a respectful, motivating, understanding
and most importantly, productive relationship with the team members.
Research shows that building a positive team is an effective way to create a successful
team. Keeping the team positive has proven to make a real difference in peoples success and
well-being. Just the positive environment positively impacts a persons ability to think creatively,
progress their careers, cope with challenges, and work with other people. Having a positive
leader often influences the rest of the team to have the same attitude. Martin Seligman, a leading
positive psychologist came up with the PERMA Model to identify the five elements that an
individual should have to be happy. The first letter of this acronym stands for positive emotion.
This just means to look on the bright side, if the leader is always optimistic, then the others will
feel comfortable having the same positive energy. The next element is engagement, which
simply asks for the leader to be involved in the groups progress. A positive relationship is the
next element. Much like interpersonal relations, positive relationships asks to be aware and
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understanding of other group members and their emotions. Seligmans next element is meaning.
She says that having meaning is serving a cause bigger than ourselves which creates a sense of
well-being to the individuals life. Her last element is accomplishment because achievements
contribute to our ability to flourish.
Conclusion
Teamwork has been thought of as one of the most effective problem solving tools for a
very long time. However, teamwork takes a lot of time and effort if done right. Residence Hall
Councils have the chance to come together and make a real difference in a large number of
students college experience. They just need to make the effort of working as a team along with
the proper guidance. There are certain attributes that create a successful team such as importance
of goal setting, roll classification, interpersonal relations, communication and proper and positive
leadership. These factors have been proven to greatly improve a groups functionality and
together are sure to form an unbelievable team.