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Working in teams

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Working in teams

Teams are normally formed at workplaces to meet the work requirements that cannot be

met by an individual or a group of individuals. Individual efforts determine a team's

performance, and the focus is normally on individual goals and responsibilities. The

performance of a team is measured through the products that are produced jointly by the team.

Teams always have clearly defined goals, with their commitment being demonstrated by the

formulation and the utilization of the norms and rules. Working in teams is a common part of

organizational settings, and it can be an approach that the management can take in achieving

some tasks and finish some projects. As it could remain a big challenge for different people to

work together in achieving a common goal, an organization can realize many benefits when it

incorporates teams into its operations.

Benefits of working in teams

The main advantage of working in teams is that there is sharing of ideas amongst the

different employees. Individuals that have challenges in performing particular tasks are normally

assisted by competent ones hence empowering them (Williams, 2020). Besides, there could be

different ways of approaching a scenario, and the teams will allow the members to come up with

the best approach to handling the issue at hand. An organization will always benefit when the

team shares different ideas about handling some projects, and the outcome will be the best

results, which indicates profitability to the business.

Additionally, there are improved office relations when employees work in teams. Team

members will support each other and get used to the working styles of each member. Team

members can help in building one another by helping one another achieve their personal and
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professional goals. On the other hand, improved office relations will boost the morale and

motivation of the employees. Improved interpersonal relationships amongst the employees will

always lead to loyalty towards the company. They will always be willing to uphold the

company's corporate values and visions, leading to improved performance at the workplace.

Drawbacks of working in teams

Despite the advantages of having teams at the workplace, there are some disadvantages

that these teams may have to an individual and the business at large. Teams are common with

longer project timelines due to the increased number of processes that take a lot of time. It is

very hard to reach decisions due to consultations that must be done. Some team members will

always feel that they must get involved in making decisions, which slows the process of reaching

the business's goals (Hu et al., 2017). The business ends up having reduced performance, and this

greatly affects business operations.

Some people work better independently when compared to working in groups. Such

people always feel more comfortable when they work alone and are even more efficient in such

environments. It would be a waste of talent when such people are forced into groups because

they will not deliver the best results. Some employees could be having personal problems with

each other, and putting them in one group would worsen the conditions. Poor performance at the

workplace leads to reduced outcomes hence reduced profits for the business at large.

Conclusion

Teams are very important at the workplace because this enhances organizational change

and creativity among the employees. There will be diverse ideas in handling issues at the

workplace, and this leads to efficiency. Employees are normally motivated when they are
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working in teams, and this improves general performance. Employees will always grow since

they can encourage one another in various dimensions of life. However, some disadvantages of

working in teams; some people don't enjoy working in teams. Organizations should always

consider the personalities of different people before engaging them in groups.

A positive and negative experience in a team

I have experienced both positive and negative experiences with team projects. Currently,

I believe teams are very important for any business and work process. Teams are crucial in any

organization because they are essential in meeting the goals that indicate the business's success

(Duran et al., 2019).

We have been working on a group research project, which has allowed me to understand

the advantages and disadvantages of working in teams. Our group was made up of five members,

and I was given the role of serving as group leader. The group research project was very

important to our course because it accounted for a whole unit part of our final exam. We were

clear with the goal that we wanted to commit ourselves so that everyone gets a better grade. The

most common thing is that there were diverse views anytime we needed suggestions about some

decisions. For instance, we shared the work between the members easily because everyone was

for the idea.

Communication was very effective in our group, everyone was cooperative, and I was

happy to lead a group like this. The project was a success because of the focus that individual

members had; work was distributed amongst all the members. I remember each person was given

a topic to research, and a timeline was given to make sure that we had enough time to compile
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our final project paper. In addition, the interpersonal relationships between us made it easy to

help the team member that had challenges, and the bond made our work very easy.

I must confess that my results in the group project were among the best; everyone was

committed to offering their best, thus increasing productivity. Anytime there was a challenge, my

group members always came with better solutions; for example, we had a problem choosing the

research topic; this was a process that took us a very long period, the members came with many

suggestions, we analyzed them and came up with a topic that was fair to everyone. Working on a

common plan made work easier, and our team ended up being the best.

However, there was an issue of conflict amongst the team in several instances; some team

members felt that they were being let down by some team members who occasionally missed

attending the meetings where most discussions occurred. As the team leader, I had a very big

challenge to solve such conflicts. They wasted our time and progress. Some of the team members

avoided contributing to suggestions presented by the members they had issues with. The

conflicts distracted our functions and, to some extend, led to poor results. I had a hard time

connecting with my team members during the virtual meeting we conducted on some occasions.

Some of the members never attended the virtual meetings, and they never took this seriously.

I think our team could have performed better if all members could remain focused on

their roles. Teams normally require equal contribution, and this is what motivates others even to

increase their efforts. I think we to focus more on the tasks that we had rather than looking for

the failures in other members. Our group had a lot of conflicts because they were concerned with

finding out about areas that the other members were not performing. Besides, virtual meetings

messed us, and all team members were never serious with them. The next would be working in a
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team. Therefore, I won't advocate for virtual meetings. All team members have to attend physical

meetings because they are very effective compared to virtual meetings.

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References

Duran, D., Flores, M., & Miquel, E. (2019). The Teacher's Role During Cooperative Learning:

Should I Leave the Classroom when Students are Independently Working in

Teams?. Journal of Classroom Interaction, 54(2).

Hu, N., Chen, Z., Gu, J., Huang, S., & Liu, H. (2017). Conflict and creativity in inter-

organizational teams: The moderating role of shared leadership. International Journal of

Conflict Management.

Williams, V. (2020). Working in Teams. Fundamentals of Business Communication.