Making Teams Work

More and more work is being done at today’s school by groups of people working together
towards a common goal. Having teams and groups work efficiently is a challenging task for
students. Bringing people together can slow down and complicate day-to-day operations, and
friction can make it even the easiest task difficult to accomplish.
A team can do what none of the individuals inside it can do on their own; with the correct
combination, a collection of ordinary individuals can do specialised task. But there can also
be a conversation: a team can struggle to complete what all of its members could easily
achieve.

How to make a team?

If you chose to set up a team to perform a task, the second question is: ‘What kind of team do
I need?’ One way of approaching this is to understand, from routine to strategic, the type of
role to be performed and its level. In exchange, these variable impact many other main
dimensions of teams.
 Degree of Continuity: Depending on the task, the lifespan of a team may vary from
weeks to years.
 Skill/competence required: This depends on what skill levels are required to perform
the assignment.
 Autonomy and influence: This will depend on whether the task is routine or strategic.
Four possible types of problems relating to how well they are already known and understood
and to what extent there is already a solution to this problem. In order to solve this multiple
challenges, four types of teams are identified: problem-solving teams, creative teams, tactical
teams and problem-finding teams.

Work Roles
After making a team the next task is to assign a role to each group member according to their
individual behaviour. So for that, a group must distinguish the activities of its members in
order to achieve its objectives and upload its standards. One or more members assume
leadership positions, others conduct the group’s main work, and others also serve in support
roles. The function distinction is generally referred to as this specialisation of activities. More
 precisely, a task function is an anticipated pattern of action allocated to a particular position
in the group or attributed to it. On behalf of the group, it determines individual obligations.

It has been proposed that work roles can be split into three categories within group context on
the basis of the existence of the tasks that encompass the role.

These are:

1. Task-oriented roles: These roles focus on task-related activities aimed at achieving

group performance goals. Task- oriented roles can broadly divide into six categories on the
basis of individual behaviour,

 Initiator – One who proposes, suggests.

 Informer – One who offers facts, expresses feelings, gives opinions.
 Clarifier – One who interprets, defines.
 Summarizer – One who links, restates, concludes.
 Reality tester – One who provides critical analysis.
 Information seekers or providers – One who gives information and data.

2. Relations-oriented roles: These roles emphasise the group’s further growth, including
building solidarity and consensus of the group, maintaining group peace, caring for the
wellbeing of group members, and so forth. These are the five categories on the basis of
individual behaviour,

 Harmonizer – One who limits tension and reconciles disagreements.

 Gate Keeper – One who ensure participation by all.
 Consensus Tester – One who analyses the decision-making process.
 Encourager – One who is warm, responsive, active.
 Compromiser – One who admits error and limits conflict.

3. Self-oriented roles: These roles emphasise individual members’ unique needs and
priorities, often at the detriment of the group. Five types of individual fall into these
categories on the basis of their behaviour,

 Aggressor – One who devalues others, attacks ideas.

 Blocker – One who disagrees and rebels beyond reason.
 Dominator – One who insists superiority to manipulate.
 Cavalier – One who takes part in a group non-productivity.
 Avoidance – One who shows special interest to avoid task.

Individual group members also perform many of these tasks simultaneously, as we would
expect. For example, a group leader must concentrate group focus on task success while
maintaining group cohesion and cohesiveness at the same time.

So, we as group first look at the individual behaviour of all the group member and then
assigned the roles according to group members individual behaviour.
How to Deal with Someone Who’s not a Team Player
 Inquire about the goals, objective and motives of your group member to get a better
understanding of their viewpoint and the causes of their behaviour.
 Use this chance to rethink the mission and priorities of the team.
 Look for ways to best exploit the unique skill set of the uncooperative team member.