Work Team- Concept Characteristics and Types

Concept of Work Team

Teams are becoming more common in contemporary enterprises. To effectively harness employee talents, an increasing number of firms are reorganizing themselves around teams. Workteams and workgroups are not the same. A work group is a collection of people that communicate primarily to exchange information and reach choices that will help each member perform. Its performance is an accumulation of the individual performances of its members. A cooperative group known as a work team is one whose members' individual efforts produce beneficial synergy through coordinated efforts. Its performance is larger than the total of the individual contributions of its members. The sum of its pieces is bigger than the whole.

Characteristics of work Team

A work team possesses the following traits:

• Its objective is group performance. It is directed by clear team objectives. Everyone works toward the same objectives
• Positive synergy is achieved through group efforts. In terms of overall team effectiveness, it directly assesses performance.
• The positions of authority are shared. The members' roles are clear. The team captain serves as a coach, mentor, advocate, and facilitator.
• There is both individual and shared accountability.
• The skills of the members are varied and complimentary.
• In sessions devoted to active problem-solving, members talk and decide. They are productive.
• The incentives are given to the teams based on their performance.

Types of Work Teams

Types of Work Team

The work teams can be of the following types:

• Problem-solving Teams
  These groups talk about measures to boost output, effectiveness, and the working environment. They are made up of eight to ten people from the same department. Each week, the team has a couple hours of meetings.
  • A problem-solving team that is concerned with issues relating to workplace quality, efficiency, and safety is the quality circle.
  • Teams that work on problems exchange ideas and make recommendations. They don't have the power to make or carry out decisions, though.
• Cross- functional Teams
  Their teams are made up of workers from several departments who are at the same hierarchical level and work together to complete a certain assignment. Departments and functions are represented in the membership. Members are authorities in a variety of fields.
  Cross-functional teams can successfully:
  • Organize challenging projects
  • Transact information
  • Create new concepts and resolve issues
    But developing confidence and cooperation within these teams takes time. Members must develop their ability to deal with complexity and variety. Cross-functional teams' effectiveness depends on:
  • Setting up definite, targeted goals
  • Careful member selection and evaluation
  • Fairness in rewarding members' efforts
• Virtual Teams
  These teams connect geographically separated people via computers and information technology in order to accomplish a common objective. Members communicate with one another online using tools like:
  • Broadband networks (WAN)
  • Visual conferences
  • E-mail Caller ID, etc.
    Virtual teams don't communicate face-to-face. They seldom ever interact with others. However, they get around restrictions on time and space. They make it possible for distant coworkers to collaborate.
• Self- managed work teams
  They are independent teams that have taken on many of the duties of their previous managers. They identify the issue, come up with remedies, and fully accept responsibility for the results. They possess power. Self-managed groups typically consist of 10 to 15 workers who carry out related or interdependent tasks. They choose their own members and assess one another's work. The duties that self-managed work teams assume include:
  • Teamwork scheduling and planning
  • Giving members duties to do
  • Collective control over the workplace through quality assurance and performance review.
  • Making operational judgments
  • Using corrective measures to address issues
  • Group members are given multi-skilling training.

Building Effective Work Teams

Being effective means acting morally. It is focused on achieving collective objectives.

The following elements are necessary for creating productive work teams:

• Work design
• Composition
• Context
• Process

Instructions

• Assign students to small groups of 5–8 in the class.
• Request that each group member rate each of the following questions on their own. The scale is as follows:
  • Poor
  • Not well at all
  • Around average
  • Fairly well
  • Really good
• What percentage of your group members are cordial with one another?
  • Neither of them
  • Few of them
  • a few of them
  • Majority of them
  • They are all
• How much trust do the people in your group have one another?
  • Distrust
  • Little faith
  • Average faith
  • Significant trust
  • Excellent or trust
• How strong is the sense of loyalty and community among group members?
  • None
  • Almost Average
  • Strong above average
• Do you consider yourself to be an important member of your group?
• No a few ways a few ways a lot of ways

Reference

AGRAWAL, DR. GOVIND RAM.Organization Relations. Bhotahity, Kathmandu: M.K. Publishers & Distributors , 2013. textbook.