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There are two main points when it moms to relevance of teams, the first is the recognition that human strengths usually bring countervailing weaknesses and the second is that some combinations of these roles have a greater probability of team success than others. Advantages of Teams – 1) Those closest to the work know best how to perform and improve their jobs. 2) Most employees want to feel that they “own” their jobs and are making meaningful contributions to the effectiveness of their organizations. 3) Teams provide possibilities for empowerment that are not available to individual employees. Teams tend to be more successful in implementing complex plans. 5) Teams develop more creative solutions to difficult problems. 6) Teams build commitment and support for new ideas among staff and community members. 7) Teams become part of the learning process of professionals in schools. Team Structure Structure of the team decide that variables that relate to how teams should be staffed. These variables are as follows – 1) Ability of members – A big part of team’s performance depends upon the knowledge, skills, and its abilities of individual members.
To perform effectively, a team requires three types of skills, namely, technical expertise, problem solving or decision making skills, and interpersonal skills. 2) Personality – Teams that rate higher in mean levels of extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and emotional stability tend to receive higher managerial ratings for team performance. 3) Allocating Roles – Team manager needs to understand the individual strengths in mind, and allocate work assignments that fit with members’ preferred styles. By doing so manager makes sure that he team members will work well together. ) Diversity – Effective team is diverse in terms of personality, gender, age, caste, education, functional specialization, and experience, this ensures that the team is capable of completing the task effectively. 5) Size of Teams – Ideal team size of an effective group is of 8-10 people, and if the size is more the team is broken down into sub-teams. 6) Member Flexibility – Successful teams have members who are adaptable and are able to complete each other’s tasks. This helps in improving the team’s performance in the longer run. 7) Member Preferences Effective teams pays special attention while selecting their members.
Apart from the individual performance, personality and skills are taken into consideration Team Processes – Process variables play a major role in team effectiveness. Effect of group process is shown below Some of these variables are as follows 1) Common Purpose – Effective teams have a common and meaningful purpose that provides direction, momentum, and commitment for members. This purpose s vision and its broader than member’s specific goals. 2) Specific Goals – Successful and effective teams translate their common repose into specific, measurable and realistic performance goals.
These specific goals facilitate clear communication. They also help teams maintain their focus on getting results. 3) Team Efficacy – Effective teams have confidence in them. They believe they have the potential to succeed in any given condition. 4)Conflict Levels – Effective teams maintain a perfect level of negative and positive conflicts. At times disagreement is encouraged to lessen the likelihood of corrupting. 5) Social Loafing – Effective teams make members individually and jointly accountable for the team’s purpose, goals, ND approach, thereby removing any possibility Of social loafing.
Team Strategies – There are several strategies which are adopted by the managers of the effective team, some of them are – 1 )Establish objectives together: Define performance objectives with the team and make sure that all team members understand the objectives and what actions will need to be taken to achieve them. 2) Develop a participatory style: Encourage staff suggest ways to improve services. Listen to their ideas and acknowledge their points of view. Encourage team members to discuss issues and to find solutions together. Focus on contributions: Define objectives for having all team members actively contribute to the meeting. Introduce team members to the ways in which they can participate. 4) Organize meetings: Hold meetings with the whole team during supervisory visits. Discuss supervisory and clinic objectives and encourage the team to discuss their concerns. 5) Explain the rules: Discuss all norms and standards that have been established for this clinic by the Ministry or the organization. Explain the rationale for these rules and discuss their implications in day-to-day practice. Promote team responsibility: Encourage members of the clinic team to take responsibility for completing specific tasks and to solve problems as a team. Introduce rewards only if the entire team meets objectives. 7) Establish time commitments: Schedule when and how each team member will devote time to team work. Determine if team work Will require other staff to take on extra work and, if so, discuss this with all staff and obtain their commitment. Tasks behavior in effective teams – Task behaviors are conducive to accomplishing a task and achieving a goal or objective.
The types of behavior that are helpful in achieving the team’s tasks 1) Initiating – State the purpose or objective. Offer opinion and ideas. Offer facts, examples or relevant information. Suggest a procedure or method for the team to follow. Suggest resource people to contact. 2) Asking – Ask others for their opinions and ideas. Validate others’ ideas. Ask others to clarify their opinions and ideas. Bring in others who may not speak. Poll the team for a consensus. 3) Clarifying – Clarify or explain reasons. Provide concise examples and illustrations. Point out relationships between facts and opinions.
Pull ideas and suggestions together. 4) Refocusing – Refocus the team when joking personal stories, or irrelevant talk goes on too long. Refocus the team by redefining goals, problems, or outcomes when things become hazy or confusing. 5) Summarizing – Summarize progress or discussions. Summarize alternatives and issues facing the team. Celebrate small successes. Maintenance behavior in effective teams – Maintenance behaviors are aimed at fostering good relationships and team cohesion. They relate to social and emotional needs. These behaviors ensure that the team is working together.