Crafting a team is not as easy as it sounds.

When setting up a team, there are many

important aspects. In my opinion the three most important factors are the set-up, presence, and
diversity of the team. These factors could all determine who is on the team, and how the team
will succeed. The set-up of a team is important because it will determine how the manger and
team members will work together. In the scenario of a team creating a new major at a university,
I think that the team would be a self-managing team. A self-managing team is given a goal, but it
is up to the team members to decide how best to complete the goal (Thompson, 2018, p. 13).
This team would need open-ended creative space to be able to accomplish the task at hand. The
team should also be a creative team, which Thompson (2018) claims are creative and tend to
look beyond the social norms for new answers (p. 9). With this design the team would have the
freedom they needed to come up with a new major on their own terms. As far as presence, you
must consider if the team will be meeting face-to-face, or if they will be having limited
interaction with one another such as emails, or phone calls. It is important to recognize that some
teams work better together when they can directly communicate (2018, p. 7). Diversity is another
key element here, because some people prefer meeting face to face and may be strong team
players in one environment over another. There are also a wide variety of people at a university
from professors to directors who have a wide array of experience, knowledge, and input.
Knowing who is on your team is critical to understanding the possible success of your team.
If the scenario were to change to developing a new computer, I think the biggest change
would be that the team would switch from a creative team to a tactical team. In a tactical team
every person has a specialized role or something that they excel in that others do not (Thompson,
2018, p. 8). There should still be creative people, but a computer is a highly functional piece of
equipment, and not everyone knows how to create or operate specific parts that create the whole.
The stronger someone’s skillset in one particular area, the more valuable they are for that task.
The last scenario to consider is getting women and low-income citizens to vote. Here I
think the team would be more of a self-governing team. These teams create their goals and
determine the execution that they feel is best (Thompson, 2018, p. 15). In this case, the progress
and responsibilities are determined by the committee themselves. In this case, the presence of the
team may not be as important to consider. Everyone has their own ideas about what is right or
wrong, and they committee will have a large volume of ideas to consider anyway. Here it may be
more important to consider the work environment. The amount of women or low-income citizens
who aren’t voting may vary from area to area, and what may be defined as low-income may
change by location. The committee has to consider what is most important for their area.

References

Thompson, Leigh (2018). Making the Team: A Guide for Managers (6th edition) Pearson.