组织中有效的团队合作是实现组织目标的一种自然而必要的方法-Effective teamwork in organisat

Assignment Question:Effective teamwork in organisations is both a natural and essential method ofmeeting organisational goals. Studies have explored how teams are created andstructured, how they influence individual behaviour and how individuals influenceteam behaviour.In this assignment, you need to use the four articles provided (or additional articles)to write an essay of no more than 1500 (+/- 10%) words, which discusses thefactors of a group or team that influence productivity and performance.Pay particular attention to thetypes of task that influence a team’s performance, theinfluence of social identification within the team and the various measures of groupor team effectiveness. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of each study, andhow they may inform your own approach to managing effective workplace teams

本文旨在拓展团队合作的概念，以及如何在商业生活中有效地实施团队合作。将要讨论的一些要点包括团队合作的好处，例如提高团队绩效和价值感。本文还将关注影响团队绩效的任务规模和类型、团队内部社会认同的影响以及团队或团队效能的各种衡量标准。最后，还将研究提高团队合作效率的方法。

The essay aims to expand on the concept of the teamwork, and how it helps in effective implementation in business life. Some of the points that will be discussed include the benefits of teamwork such as increased team performance and sense of value. The essay will also pay attention to the size and types of task that influence a team’s performance, the influence of social identification within the team and the various measures of group or team effectiveness. Finally, ways to improve teamwork effectiveness will be examined as well. 

A team has been defined by Katzenbach and Smith (1993, p. 45, cited in Moorhead & Griffin, 2004, p. 314) as "a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, common performance goals and an approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable." It goes without saying that teamwork has vital roles to play in all types of our daily working environment. People interacting and working together towards common goals need cohesiveness to succeed in achieving its objectives. Cohesion or cohesiveness is the degree to which the members or group are attracted towards the group to one another. To put it in another way, the cohesiveness is the degree to which group of team members are attracted to the group ideas. There are different advantages of team and group cohesiveness. It is usually committee to team or a group where all the members find a distinct similarity in their roles, nature, and interests (Salas, 2008).

团队合作有助于提高团队绩效。团队绩效凝聚力的重要性可以通过团队活动的有效性来衡量。当团队成员的贡献在一个团队中得到赞赏时，团队将被激励去更加努力地工作（Judeh，2011年）。正如内奥米在他的论文《感觉被包括和重视：被感知的尊重如何影响积极的团队认同感和投资团队的意愿》中所提到的，被其他团队成员尊重的个人更有可能在心理上和行为上与团队合作。（Ellemers，2013年）。

Teamwork can helpimprove team’s performance. The importance of cohesiveness of group performance can be measured by the effectiveness of group’s activities. When team members’ contribution are appreciated in a group, the team will be motivated to work extra hard (Judeh, 2011). As Naomi had mentioned in his paper “Feeling Included and Valued: How Perceived Respect Affects Positive Team Identity and Willingness to Invest in the Team”, individuals who feel respected by other team players are more likely to engage psychologically and behaviourally with the team. (Ellemers, 2013). 

 

What is more, working as a group can be associated with emotional benefits. When people are working together as a team, they will feel a bit attached to each other especially when they feel respected by others, and thus become active team players. The sense of value reported by team members is positively related to their willingness to invest in the team (Ellemers, 2013). The cohesiveness will quite result in hard work as well as promoting the team’s spirit. The team cohesiveness leads to increased group cohesion. The elements that help a person to be part of the group are the motivational elements, which enable the employees to perform exemplary. Again, the team cohesion leads to increased cooperation in the group. Through group cohesiveness, the teams can cooperate in completing various tasks thus improving the efficiency (Manzoor, 2011). Time saving is the other benefit of group cohesiveness. Each individual has their own unique strong points. As long as each team member actively contribute their value, it is safe to say that production efficiency in group work will outperform the individual’s work. Each team member can approach the positive side of the work. When it comes to a person, a person may take longer to solve issues unlike when the talents are combined together through a group of the teamwith cohesiveness.  Finally, the group cohesiveness leads to improved communication between the members. Different factors lead to group cohesiveness(Manzoor, 2011).

 

However, there are some important points that we cannot afford to ignore when it comes to team work. In fact, the group size and task characteristics can influence group’s performance. In Glenn’s paper, he conducted case studies which proved that the size of the group, the compatibility of the members and task features all can affect team’sperformance (Littlepage, 1991). He conducted research among 324 students and allocated them into different group size such as 2, 5 or 10 then asked them to address various problems. A final implication is that decreased participation of some members in groups is not always dysfunctional under some situations. And it is difficult to determine the optimal group size because the team performance will be influenced by not only the task characteristics but also the team member’s participation level (Littlepage, 1991). In my opinion, the group should not be more than of 12 members, as that will reduce the cohesiveness. The cohesiveness will occur better if it is allowed to develop slowly. The other group of factors is work environment factors. They include the nature of the work, the physical setting, and communication in the teams. For instance, the physical proximity and ease of communication will affect the team’s cohesiveness. Organizational factors are also in the interplay. Organizational factors include management and leadership, human resource policies and procedures, and success of the organization. The management should support cohesiveness by activities such as fostering a mutual trust and respect (Gittell, 2009). It is widely acknowledged that the striving for status and the need to belong are the top two motives factors for all human beingsin social groups (Huo, 2008). On top of that, the organization can encourage cohesiveness by promoting respect, fairness and equity among leaders and subordinates. Numerous studies indicate that the importance of a leader’s study of inclusiveness and the importance of respect and fairness paid to a team can facilitate team members’ sense of “we”, thus increasing team performance considerably (Lin, 2016). 

 

It is admitted that working as a team sometimes can be challenging. It happens especially when team members have diverse personalities and goals, and work ethics. Nevertheless, applying the right tactics should help in achieving effective teamwork. The management should allocate resources carefully, which is to say top management must instill codes of ethics against dysfunctional behavior so that all the resources provided to the team can be properly used instead of being wasted for any dysfunctional purpose(Lin, 2016).  Moreover, the management should be at the forefront of creating a nurturing team environment. Lin also suggested that management should create an environment that supports the group to work together despite the differences and diverse backgrounds. The management can ask seven sets of question that help to identify what the team wants to accomplish. The seven areas that management should be concerned with include vision, mission, the strategy, objectives, values, and identity. For instance, the management may need the team members to define what their goals are. When the majority of the team members contribute to the answer, it will generally become easier to achieve effective workplace teamwork (Lin, 2016).  

 

It is important for good leaders to create pleasant working environment and conditions that allow people togrow and flourish, enabling the team to come together, and feel empowered, valued and respected. When the leader balances are developing people’s strengths with the buildingofgood relationship and connections, you are moving towards the creation of effective teamwork in the workplace that allows for the flourishing of the team goals and objectives (Gittell, 2009). According to Salas (2008), developing individual strengths, establishing a good relationship, and pursuing worthwhile and meaningful goalshave been proved to be vital factors to people’s happiness. Different ways can be employed to develop strengths of individuals (Gittell, 2009).  The first one is speaking highly of other people’s ideas, which can stimulate creativity to a large degree. Besides, building on the strengths of your colleague in a team can help in developing strength of the team members. Lastly, the strengths of individuals can be developed by letting the people do what they are good. Again, the management should strive to cultivate to create relationship and friendship. It can be achieved by various tasks such as trusting the team to deliver. The manager can also think win-win. This can be achieved by consistently seeking mutual benefit in what the management is seeking to do with the tea. Last but not the least, the other pillar towards the creation of the effective teamwork. The effective communication team means not just skillfully listening and responding (Scholtes, 1988).However, it means understanding the communication needs of the team and reacting effectively. The communication ranges from instructingprovision of the feedback. The effective communication enables the collaboration within the team that effective in minimizing the conflicts within the team although real collaboration is sometimes challenging (Scholtes, 1988).#p#分页标题#e#

 

Reference 

Ellemers, N., Sleebos, E., Stam, D. & de Gilder, D. (2013), Feeling Included and Valued: How Perceived Respect Affects Positive Team Identity and Willingness to Invest in the Team. British Journal of Management, 24: 21-37. doi:10.1111/j.1467- 8551.2011.00784.x

Gittell, J.H., (2009). High-performance healthcare: Using the power of relationships to achieve quality, efficiency and resilience. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Huo, Y. J. & Binning, K. R. (2008), Why the Psychological Experience ofRespect Matters in Group Life: An Integrative Account. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2: 1570-1585. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00129.x

Lin, C., Tsai, Y. & Liu, M. (2016) Something good and something bad in R&D teams: Effects of social identification and dysfunctional behaviour. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 104: 191-199. doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2016.01.001

Littlepage, G.E. (1991). Effects of Group Size and Task Characteristics on Group Performance: A Test of Steiner's Model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17(4): 449-456. doi: 10.1177/0146167291174014

Manzoor, S., Ullah, H., Hussain, M., & Ahmad, Z. M. (2011). Effect of teamwork on 

employee performance. International Journal of Learning and Development, 110-126.

Moorhead, G. and Griffin, R W. (2004). OrganisationalBehaviour-Managing People and Organisations. Seventh Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company

Judeh, M. (2011). An examination of the effect of employee involvement on teamwork effectiveness: An empirical study. International Journal of Business and Management, 6(9), 202.

Salas, E., Cooke, N. J., & Rosen, M. A. (2008). On teams, teamwork, and team 

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Scholtes, P. (1988). The Team Handbook: How To Use Teams To Improve Quality. Madison WI: Joiner Associates