money as well should be transferred as such in order to improve the situation,re

sentment among team members escalated, why is because others were notcompetent e
nough to do the work (Mokate 2007).The members of the team should be tolled of t
heir expected roles to play within thegroup or teamwork and team skills seems to
be a stagnating point to solving issues andprogressing. Teamwork skills include
the following as stipulated by Scarnati (2001:5)lack of listening skills, lack o
f respect, sharing, helping and participation. As teams growlarger, the skills a
nd methods that people require grow as more ideas are expressedfreely but the pr
oblem is other teams cannot keep up with the rapid growth of teams andoften expe
rience the following problems:

Absence of trust it develops from the teams unwillingness to be vulnerablewithin

the group and team members are often not genuinely open with oneanother about m
istakes and weaknesses and making it impossible to build afoundation for trust.

Fear of Conflict teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfilteredpa
ssionate debate of ideas and instead the only solution is resort to veileddiscus
sions and guarded comments.The causes of teamwork failure is group size cause la
rge groups less productivityand coordination losses is mostly to take place with
in that organization, meaninginefficiency that result from the group members inab
ility to combine their resource in a maximally productive way. Social loafing is
the other ingredient of factors inhibiting teamwork success, thus, relaxation t
hat people experiencewhen in a group and individual performance cannot be evalua
ted.
6.Characteristics of Successful Teamwork
Successful teamwork relies upon synergism existing between all team memberscreat
ing an environment whereby all the members are willing to contribute andparticip
ate in order to promote and nurture a positive, effective team environment. Thef
ollowing characteristics where identified as been the most popular among differe
ntteams to success, firstly, the team must take responsibility and accept credit
for itsactions as a group and not individually, as well as it must be committed
to a commonpurpose and goal. Teams must be provided clear expectations and adeq
uate resources
LEADERSHIP
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What is teamwork?
INTRODUCTION: TEAMWORK
Teamwork is about galvanizing a group of people towards a common objective while
simultaneously addressing the head yet appealing to the heart. Teamwork is also
about bringing the best out of each individual in the pursuit of a collective g
oal deemed worthy of being realized.
Therefore, according to Jon Katzenbach (a published author and consultant who is
best known for his work on theinformal organisation.), a teamis a small number o
f people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of
performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually account
able.'
IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK IN ORGANISATION
A challenging business climate needs to be engaged by effective teamwork. It pro
vides an opportunity to come together and establish a common ground for the fulf
illment of specific objectives. Empathy, appreciation and encouragement are some
of the critical ingredients of effective teamwork. The vision must be bold, sti
r the intellect and yet move the heart. What is at stake needs to be clearly spe
lled out.
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Alcorn (2006) provides a definition of a team from 1886, which defines a team as
"work done by several associates, with each doing a part but all subordinating
personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole." In a simple context, this m
eans that a team is a collective whole of people that work together so that they
are more productive. The key for any organisation is to possess a team that can
be defined using Alcorn's provided definition. A team isn't a team simply becau
se a company pulls a group of workers together and calls them a team, but instea
d as a result of careful planning, hard work, and constant tweaking of team proc
esses on a continuous basis.
In today's competitive world where every organisation is striving to gain the be
st position in the market the concept of Group Development and Teamwork are stea
dily gaining importance. Individual decision making has taken a back stage and p
aved the way for team management approach for problem solving and decision makin
g which has been productive for the organisations. This strategy not only benefi
ts the organisation but also the individual employee, hence it's been rapidly ad
opted by businesses.
Management Professor Tracy McDonald states that "The teamwork push probably star
ted in business in the late 1970s or early '80s with the advent of quality circl
es [employee problem-solving teams],"she says innovation, creativity and change
have been some of the main drivers of team success and since the past 30 years,
organisations have embraced this concept with welcoming hands.
Yuki Funo the Chairman and CEO of Toyota motor, states that the Toyota way is the
way to number 1. One of the principles of the Toyota way is to add value to the o
rganisation by developing your people' and people can be developed by molding th
em into exceptional individuals and teams to work within the corporate philosoph
y.
Nippard B. creator a Facebook group (teamwork ladder) on teamwork states that mor
e than 80% of fortune 500 companies subscribe to teamwork. Teamwork brings succe
ss no matter how you define victory.
Groups and Teams facilitate the organisation to achieve a competitive advantage
because groups increase responsiveness to the organisations customers, employee
motivation, increase creativity and they have also been capable of helping the m
embers of organisation to enhance task performance and experience more satisfact
ion with their work.
Team Responsiveness to Customers:
It has been a priority for organisations to be elastic and readily responsible f
or the continuously changing needs, behavior and desires of customers. Being rea
ctive to customers often requires different levels of the hierarchy departments
to combine their skills and knowledge. For example, at the lower hierarchy the e
mployees such as sales representatives of a car company, they are the people who
are closest to the customers and are aware of the customer needs. But their job
in the organisation is to just make sales of the cars and they cannot instill t
he desired changes into the car, which is in the field of the research and devel
opment department. For making the change a higher level of hierarchy is required
such as research and development experts and other members who can come togethe
r and create a group or a cross- functional team who with its diverse skills and
capability will enhance the responsiveness to customer needs.
It is important for managers to understand the need and set up the appropriate c
ross-functional team who will carefully determine what type of expertise and cap
abilities are required to be responsive to the customers.
This information is very vital for forming teams. A cross-functional team is the
best solution that's aligned to any business needs can help you improve your ef
ficiency and respond to customers more quickly.
The needs of a customer are focused forming such cross functional teams and a sa
tisfied customer is always an asset for any organisation.
Employee Motivation:
Kreitner R. (1995) has defined motivation as the psychological process that gives
behavior purpose and direction. Groups and teams are formed to increase the prod
uctivity and efficiency of an organisation. To do so Managers have learnt that i
ncreasing employee motivation and satisfying team members is the best way to ach
ieve an organisations strategic objectives. It is also about the motivation of m
embers of the group to stick with each other and oppose leaving it.
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Being motivating to the team members and giving them the experience of working w
ith other creative members in the organisation is very inspiring and leads the t
eam members to be more creative in their work and helps them to be more producti
ve and increases their work effort.
All the ideas generated are directly contributed in the final result and in the
success of the organisational goals, and hence the members of the team feel pers
onally responsible for the outcomes or results of their work. This satisfies the
statement by Dwight D. Eisenhower that"Motivation is the art of getting people
to do what you want them to do because they want to do it."
Enhanced Performance and Synergy:
Synergy is the effect that the combined return whole is greater than the sum of the
individual parts'. (Sebastian Knoll, Cross-Business Synergies, page 14).
The phenomenon of Synergy within a Group or Team has become one of the most vita
l parts for an organisation. People who work in groups are able to produce more
efficiently and they confer greater quality of output than that produced by an i
ndividual and their productivity combined. Joint problem solving, variety in ide
a's and knowledge, different views towards an issue and accomplishing difficult
tasks are some of the factors added by synergy in groups.
To make utilize of synergy in groups managers need to make sure that, the group
they put together comprise a variety of skills and talents which are diverse and
corresponding but still relevant to the task, and being certain that these skil
ls are coordinated efficiently. Managers should make sure that the groups achiev
e goals for the organisation in their own way and enough independence is provide
d to solve problems.
Innovation:
Organisations constantly strive to develop new products, services, new technolog
ies and deliver them to the market. Innovation provides organisations with compe
titive advantage. An individual working alone might possess an innovative idea,
but it takes a team with skills and expertise to execute it. For this reason, Ma
nagers create teams with different individuals, with diverse skills, knowledge,
and a variety of talents so they can turn an individual's innovative idea to a s
uccessful one.
Managers give maximum freedom to their teams to perform their tasks without inte
rfering much and full responsibility is given to execute the innovation. Require
d guidance, training, and resources are provided by the Managers but the rest is
in the hands of the team. It's therefore important to have skillful team mates
and everyone should be specialized in their own work, to be more creative and qu
ick which all lies as additional advantage to the team and organisation.
Team Conflicts
Teams do not work in isolation and are often highly dependent on other groups or
teams within the organisation to complete their goals. Conflicts can arise due
to several reasons but it's often due to lack of agreement on the goals of diffe
rent groups. Sometimes it also arises due to direct competition.
The consequences of conflict can take two forms, positive and negative.
Positive also known asconstructive conflicthelps teams work towards goals throug
h healthy debate on the decision in question. Conflicts helps the team reduce co
nformity and unhealthy agreement, solve problems better and overcome obstacles t
o group progress. It also helps teams achieve goals outside the box through cont
inuous feedback from both internal and external sources.
Negative which is also known asdestructive conflicton the other hand can result
in lack of cooperation within teams and this may prove disastrous to the final g
oal if not managed well at its early stages. There are following conflicts in gr
oups which are causes of destructive conflicts.
Relationship Conflict
Task Conflicts
Value Conflict
It is therefore very important for managers to take control of all the problems
right from their roots. Teams that face problems such as conflicts, risky shifts
, groupthink and social loafing are a treat to the organisation and should be re
solved at the earliest.
Conclusion:
Team oriented approach is the order of the day when it comes to successful organ
isations who have empowered their employees, motivated them and involved them in
such a way that the existence of the organisation wouldn't have been possible w
ithout the existence of teams of such highly motivated individuals. Teamwork has
bought the employee and the organisation closer than ever. Problem solving, cre
ativity, innovation and shared vision are as synonymous to teamwork as teamwork
is to success. Although team building is a complex process and there are many ch
allenges that hinder a team's success.
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The effectiveness of teams is dependent upon a number of psychological factors t
hat can inhibit or improve performance.
Subtle processes such as social loafing, hierarchical effects, and personality d
ifferences can dramatically inhibit team performance.
Within organisational settings, teams are usually put together and allowed to fu
nction without attempts being made to ensure effective functioning.
The most important elements of team management are specifying individual and tea
m goals and the design of the team task.
At the same time there must be regular clear and accurate feedback to the team o
n its performance over time in order to promote effectiveness.
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