Solution
David answered on
Dec 21 2021
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Unit 3: Homework
A. Teams equal Productivity?
Prominent business professors, management consultants, motivational speakers, and firms have
lauded the productivity of teams, compared with the results of decision making by individuals.
They suggest most firms and organizations have failed to properly use teams. How does this
observation strike you? Does it describe your experiences with team versus individual tasking
and performance? How many times have you been on either side, as a team member or an
individual? What were your experiences with team versus individual tasking and performance?
1. Hypothetically, people who work in groups will be more productive if they are properly
coordinated and managed. One of the keys to success in the team approach is to select the
precise type of team best suited to accomplish the intended task. More and more
usinesses are introducing or expanding teamwork as part of their production processes.
Many companies are now focusing on effectively utilizing their human resources by
estructuring them into more self-directed creative units. These companies are connecting
the most productive aspects of their competitive and supportive instincts, instead of the
more authoritarian structure traditional firms utilized in the past.
The viewpoint behind teamwork is really rather simple and direct: to unite employees
into integrated groups of people in order to reach a specific goal. If team members are not
properly coordinated, they will not be unified nor productive. A nonproductive team will
not benefit the organization. Even though, it is managements’ responsibility to assure that
teams are well managed and are properly unified, it is the teams’ responsibility to make
sure that happens. The example that best comes to my mind is the following: Four years
ago I became a single mom. I sat all three kids down and held a family meeting on the
plan of action I was thinking about taking. In a very condensed version I told them that
the four of us (6 including Niki’s husband and her new baby) had to work as a team, with
absolutely no doubts of working together, no matter what happens in our lives, we will
trudge through all obstacles. I hired Niki, my oldest daughter, and applied to college to
finish my bachelor’s degree. I expanded my business from part time to more than fulltime
and took over my house so I didn’t lose it. Well, I must say, it has been extremely
difficult, but we have worked very closely together through more obstacles than we
thought possible. I used the authoritative approach in the beginning and when things got
out of hand and doubt crept in, but for the most part, we worked very well together. Even
though my kids and I have been extremely close, and have weathered a very rough family
life, this part of our lives has taken a whole new approach to our relationship. I can
honestly say, although we are a family, we have taken the word team and have applied it
in a traditional manner so we can get through one more year of my Master’s Degree
program. I have the most incredible team imaginable.
Teams are typically a temporary group of individuals whose members work together to
identify problems, form consensuses about actions to be taken, and execute the most
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practical ones. Sometimes, even though they may be well coordinated, their purposes and
goals often differ. Teams are not appropriate for all organizations. While effective teams
can produce amazing results, studies have found that an anticipated amount of 50 percent
of the work efforts of self-directed teams fail. I have not participated in teamwork that
often in the work environment, however, I am cu
ently volunteering on two different
teams at the college I teach at. I am a very goal-oriented person and I am also very
focused on the task at hand. So, when I sit down at a meeting that is supposed to be for an
hour, I literally expect to be in a meeting for an hour working on the items that need to be
worked on. Now, mind you, I am a people person, but when the group is sitting at the
table talking about the latest show on television, I become slightly frustrated. So, as I am
eading about teams and how they should be put together by management, I realize we all
volunteered to be on this committee with no prior direction from management. I say that
smiling, but from the first meeting, I sat there thinking, “How can this possibly work out
with who I have sitting beside me?” Needless to say, out of ten individuals three are left.
If you haven’t guessed, in this situation, I would rather work alone. There was no
collaboration with the group of people that signed up for this particular committee. In
eality, I would rather work alone to get things done and not in a team atmosphere. The
only exception I would have to that statement is if the team I was working with were just
as ambitious as myself, self-motivated and energetic.
I am a captain for a bike team for the annual ride for MS. My team of riders, and the team
that doesn’t ride but helps with fundraisers, work very well together. I believe they get
along because they all know I expect things to be done, and they are more than willing to
do it together for the common goal of raising money to find a cure for MS. When I sat at
the table with the committee, the direction was very unclear, and not given priority over
the latest television series or where so and so bought her shoes. A team is put together for
a specific purpose. Placed in that context, virtually every business uses one form of a
team or another, it is what the people do together to reach a goal that makes it a true
team.
Response:
According to me teams are more effective, efficient and result oriented as compared to the
groups. Teams are one of the most important aspects of the organization and have...