Work in team environment

What is a team?
Team: Two or more people working interdependently towards a common goal. Getting a
group of people together does not make a “team.” A team develops products that are the
result of the team's collective effort and involves synergy. Synergy is the property where the
whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Team Building: The process of gathering the right people and getting them to work
together for the benefit of a project.

What is an ideal work environment? Answer to this question may be very subjective. An ideal
environment of a person may not be very comfortable for others because of different people who
come from different backgrounds, ethnic races; languages, faiths, political views and most
importantly have different psychological behaviors. So what kind of environment can an
employer provide to employees which doesn't make the environment alien for them and
eventually getting the best out of employees without having them to leave there comfort zone.
This will make employees more focused on work rather than the issues caused due to work
environment. Development of a professional working environment should be an evolutionary
process. It is not just about the bookish human recourse management methodologies rather it
should be based on problems and concerns of employees at the organization in real terms. By
doing this employer will be able to develop realistic, practical and employee friendly
methodologies which may eventually lead to better work environment for the mutual benefit of
the employer and the employee. Do you consider yourself a team player? Do you work alone
often and very rarely seek help or give advice to others? Many people prefer working alone and
thus they never gain any additional knowledge from the experience of others. When you work in
a team environment you have the opportunity to learn and help others. Therefore you will
accomplish more.

When working in a team environment, people will have different opinions and ideas. You must
be willing to express your own ideas while listening and accepting others ideas in a respectful
manner.
There are different roles that those working in a team will undertake for the most part. When
working in a team environment, one must understand what their role is. If everyone is doing the
same job or trying to be the ''leader'' little will get accomplished.

Team:- is a comprise group of people linked in a common purpose -are especially appropriate
for conducting tasks that are high in complexity & have many interdependent subtasks.
Group:- is a collection of people who interact with each other, are working toward some
common purpose, and perceive themselves to be a group
 Teams are types of groups
 Teams are relatively small, group can be large
 Teams members are mutually accountable some groups have members who are not
necessarily accountable to other group members
 Teams share a common goal, some groups can share goals but do not have to possess
shared objectives
Types of team
1. Production team:- such as factory teams, manufacture or assemble products on a repetitive
basis.
2. Service team:- such as maintenance crews & food services, conduct repeated transactions
with customers.
3. Management team:- composed of managers, work together, plan, develop policy, or
coordinate the activities of an organization.
4. Project team:-research & engineering team, bring experts together to perform a specific task
within a defined period.
5. Action or performing teams:-sports team entertainment, surgery teams engage in brief
performance that are repeat under new conditions & that require specialized skills & extensive
training or preparation.
6. Parallel teams:-are temporary teams that operate outside normal work, such as employee
environment groups & advisory committees that provide suggestions or recommendations for
changing an organization.
Effective teams
Why do some groups accomplish very little, while others achieve much more?
This difference stems very much from the processes within the group - its inner dynamics or
workings. The features of an effective team include:
• Combined group effort of all members
• Clear goals
• Group members focused on learning
• Mutual trust and support
• Open communication
• Democratic processes.
 Making the most of your team
There are many advantages of working collaboratively with other students. To make the most of
your experience as a team member, remember to:
• Become actively. Don't wait for another team member to do all the work.
• Share - open communication and the contribution of ideas and information is essential for
successful and highly performing teams.
• Learn to work cooperatively. The success of your team will depend on helping each other.
• Respect your fellow team members. Be aware that each team member will have unique
talents and ways of learning. Not everyone learns by the same process.
• Use your time productively and effectively. Define clear goals - what needs to get done, by
whom and why?
• Expect success - be enthusiastic and positive.
• Meet with your group members regularly.
• Ask your tutor for frequent feedback - that's the tutor's role.
• Maintain a sense of humour - keep things in perspective.
• Hang in there - developing a good team is hard work and demands commitment from all
team members.

Clarification of working instruction

what is the definition of work instruction? A document describing specific activities and tasks
within the organization. It contains the greatest amount of detail.

Group development
There is strong evidence that groups pass through a sequence of five stages of development.
These are sometimes defined as:
Forming, or coming together
Storming or conflict
Norming, or working out the rules
Performing, or getting the job done
Mourning, or breaking up.
The length of time different groups take to pass through each of these developmental stages will
vary, but it is generally not possible to achieve high team performance until the group has passed
through at least the first three stages. The duration of each stage will depend on factors such as
individual and team maturity, task complexity, leadership, organizational climate, and external
climate.
Forming ….. Am I a member of this group?
During this stage of group development new team members discover what being a member of
this group means.
You may find that you and/or other group members need:
• Clear goals and objectives
• Definition of tasks and roles
• Clear work plans
• To identify group behavior, standards and norms and ways to handle behavioral problems
You and/or other group members may:
• demonstrate excitement
• participate hesitantly
• show tentative attachment to the group
• discuss problems peripheral to the task
• be uncomfortable and anxious about the new situation
• accomplish minimal work

This stage is complete when new members start thinking of themselves as part of a group.
Storming ….. Who controls this group?
During this stage of group development, team members may become hostile or overzealous as a
way to express their individuality and resist group formation.
You may find that you and/or other group members exhibit:
• Infighting, defensiveness and competition
• Doubts about success
• Low group morale
• Polarization of group members
• Concern over excessive work
• Disunity and increased tension
You and/or other group members may:
• set unrealistic goals
• resist the task demands
• establish a pecking order
• criticize group leaders or other group members
• complain.
Many groups do not develop beyond this stage because they lack the ability to listen to each
other and find mutually acceptable resolutions to the major issues.
Norming ….. What are the rules of this group?
During this stage of group development, members accept the team, the team norms, their own
roles and the idiosyncrasies of fellow group members. Emotional conflict is reduced by patching
up previously conflicting relationships.
You and/or other group members may:
• Attempt to achieve maximum harmony by avoiding conflict
• develop a high level of trust and respect for others in the group
• discuss group dynamics constructively
• form friendships
• develop a sense of team cohesion with a common spirit and goals
• have high group morale
• establish and maintain group boundaries
• accomplish a moderate amount of work

During this stage, if the formally appointed leader is not effective, or there is no formal leader, a
leader will emerge or should be agreed upon who can focus the group resources to solve
problems.

Performing ….. How high can this group go?

Now that the team has established its interpersonal norms, it becomes an entity capable of
diagnosing and solving problems, and making decisions. This stage is not always reached by all
teams.
You and/or other group members may:
• be willing to sort through group problems
• develop high conflict resolution skills
• understand members' strengths and weaknesses
• undertake constructive self-change
• identify closely with the group
• accomplish a great deal of work
Groups reaching this stage will be effective and will devote energy to maintain good group
relations.
Mourning ….. Where do we go from here?
This final stage of group development applies more to temporary teams like task groups or
committees. However these days, with reorganizations occurring frequently this stage is not
uncommon.
You and/or other group members may:
• feel elated at the successful attainment of goals
• feel disappointed at unattained goals
• feel a sense of loss when the group is disbanded
• feel relief at the end of the process
• congratulate each other
• celebrate.

Team role
Action Oriented Role:
Implementer – The implementer’s strength lies in translating the team’s decisions and ideas into
manageable and practical tasks or actions.
Shaper – The shaper’s strength lies in being goal directed. The shaper is a dynamic individual
who boldly challenges others during discussions, can handle work pressures and has the courage
to overcome obstacles.
Completer/Finisher - The completer/finisher’s strength lies in meticulousness, attention to
detail and the ability to meet deadlines.

People Skills Oriented Role:

Co-coordinator - The co-coordinator’s strength lies in enabling and facilitating interaction and
decision making.
Team worker - The team worker’s strength lies in being a good listener, being collaborative, co-
operative, easy going and tactful.
Resource Investigator - The resource investigator’s strength lies in being an extrovert who can
develop contacts, communicate well, explore new ideas and opportunities, and bring enthusiasm
and drive to the team effort.
Cerebral/Intellectual Role:
Planter - The planter’s strength lies in problem solving and out-of-the-box thinking.
Monitor/Evaluator - The monitor/evaluator’s strength lies in good judgment and good strategic
thinking ability.
Specialist – The specialist’s strength lies in being a dedicated and focused individual who likes
to learn and constantly build his or her knowledge. The specialist likes to dig deep and is
therefore a good resource who can contribute information and knowledge in a team situation.

Identify own role and responsibility with in team

Roles in groups To drive performance, organizations should define roles, managers should
explain the connection between job and organization, and teams should help translate goals
into day-to-day activities.
 Organizations should continue to fulfill traditional responsibilities related to workforce
planning, but as part of this they should take extra care to properly define roles.

 By explaining the connection between an employee’s individual job and the organization,
managers can build employees’ pride in and motivation toward their day-to-day work,
 Organizations can support employees’ immediate motivation by encouraging co-workers
to help one another and understand how organizationally-set goals and roles translate into
day-to-day work.

Individuals within a team all have unique skills and strengths. It is only when the contributions
of ALL team members are valued that teams will function efficiently. Any individual team
member can play a number of different roles within the team. Roles are predetermined behaviors
expected of people in a group. Some roles will feel natural - "I'm always the one who . . . " There
will be other roles, however, which may be difficult, eg Chairperson or Presenter. Try and gain
experience in at both natural and difficult roles in the group. There are four main types of roles:
• Task roles
• Functional roles
• Maintenance roles
• Dysfunctional roles

Task roles
Once a team knows what its goals are, the various tasks needed to succeed can be identified
and assigned to group members. The more clearly the task roles are defined, the better the chosen
team member will be able to perform the task. If a task role is too narrowly defined, however, the
team may miss out on the opportunity to capitalize on the skills and talents of that team member.
When a team has the right mix of tasks that are well differentiated and integrated, group
members develop a sense of cohesion and team spirit, and each can see where their particular
role fits with the objectives of the group as a whole. Some of the tasks you may need to do
include:
• developing an understanding of particular technical knowledge
• obtaining references and taking notes
• doing calculations
• analyzing data
• devising graphs and tables
• preparing designs
• building a prototype
• writing sections of reports
• preparing presentations

Functional roles
In order for a group of people to function as a team, members must find ways to interact with
each other beyond just performing their task roles. These 'functional' roles help the group to
achieve its goals. Each team member can adopt one or more functional roles as needed.
You may find yourself taking on such roles as:
• Coordinator: draws together the various activities of team members.
• Initiator: proposes solutions; suggests new ideas, a new definition of the problem, or new
organization of the material.
• Information seeker: asks for data; requests additional information or facts.
• Information giver: offers facts or generalizations, relating own experience to illustrate
points.
• Opinion seeker: looks for options about something from the team; seeks ideas or
suggestions.
• Opinion giver: offers a view or belief about a suggestion, regarding its value or its factual
base.
• Goal setter: helps the group to set goals.
• Deadline setter: makes sure that deadlines are set and met.
• Progress monitor: makes sure that the group is progressing according to plan.
• Evaluator: measures decisions against group goals.
• Clarifier: tries to see how an idea might work if adopted.
• Summarizer: restates suggestions after the group has discussed them; outlines related ideas
or suggestions; provides a précis of the ideas.
• Decision pusher: helps the group to come to closure; makes sure that decisions are reached.
• Planner: prepares timelines and schedules; organizes.
• Spokesperson: speaks on behalf of the group.
• Troubleshooter: asks the 'what if ... ?' questions.
• Diagnosor: determines sources of difficulty; decides where to go next; eliminates blocks.

Maintenance roles
As well as the functional roles that assist the group to achieve its tasks there are group
maintenance roles which help the team grow and strengthen. These roles support and maintain
group life and activities. You may find that your personal skills lend themselves to one or more
of the following maintenance roles:
 • Encourager: is friendly and sincere; praises others; is warmly responsive to others, and their
ideas; is accepting when people offer contributions.
• Gatekeeper: makes sure that every member of the group has a chance to be heard.
• Standards setter: expresses standards for the group to use in its discussions; reminds the
team to avoid actions which don't fit these standards.
• Consensus tester: checks for agreements, for example 'I think we are all feeling the same
way'.
• Mediator: conciliates; harmonizes.
• Tension reliever: helps eliminate negative feelings.
• Listener: is able to listen empathically and hear what others have to say.
• Volunteer: offers whatever is needed.

Dysfunctional roles
Unfortunately sometimes you may find either yourself or other team members take on roles that
are disruptive to genuine efforts to improve team effectiveness and satisfaction. Some of these
roles include:
• being aggressive
• Blocking or nit-picking
• competing
• clowning or joking to disrupt the work of the group
• withdrawing
• being sarcastic or cynical
• blaming
• taking all the credit
• dominating
• manipulating.

When group members take on dysfunctional roles, this can lead to very ineffective team
behaviors. Examples of these behaviors include team members being late to agreed team
meetings, or team members not doing the work they were supposed to do. You might have two
hour meetings where nothing was accomplished or one student tells everyone else what to do
while other students say nothing. Such behaviors inevitably cause team conflict, which needs to
be addressed quickly and effectively to get the group back on track to working effectively and
collaboratively.