Introduction

Since long the concepts of team and team efforts has been a part of games and sports and has
been recognized quite effective. With the increase in competition, organisations have adopted the
team concept as they realized that grouping people for the executing certain tasks is not as potent
as the organisations would like have. As the organisations started seeing positive results with the
use of team concepts, the popularization led to many other organisations also adopting the
concept. Consequently, organisations regardless of its size are using teams. Ergo, relevance of
studying teams has increased.

Teams are increasingly common and relevant from an organizational

perspective, as globalization and technology continue to expand organizational scope and
strategy. In organizations, teams can be constructed both vertically (varying levels of
management) and horizontally (across functional disciplines). In order to maintain synergy
between employees and organize resources, teams are increasingly common across industries
and organizational types.

Work environments tend to foster rugged individuals working on personal

goals for personal gain. Typically, reward, recognition, and pay systems single out the
achievements of individual employees. The culture that bred powerful individual contributors,
both traditionally and in less egalitarian workplaces today, is not conducive to nor does it
encourage teamwork. Appraisal, performance management, and goal setting systems most
frequently focused on individual goals and progress, not on team building. So, in addition to the
behavior of the employees and managers, employers needed to change the work systems to
support the newly desired culture.
 What is a Work Team ?

A group whose individual efforts result in a performance that is greater than the
sum of the individual inputs. Work team puts joint effort to get e job done what can be done
easily with a team work which might have very difficult to do only with individual effort.
Teamwork has been defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as "work done by several
associates with ach doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of
the whole."

Teamwork

Teamwork is closely related to team and hence is essential to understand. It is

a kind of spirit that exists in a team when it is in operation. It is the spirit of self-suppression for
cooperation and pulling together the efforts for the success of the whole rather than the personal
exploits. Teamwork is essentially a mind set which requires a complete mental revolution i.e.
from individual orientation to collective orientation. A feeling is generated among team members
that no one is authorized to direct others and no one in the team is to be directed by other. Team
work and team spirit are used interchangeably and both basically mean the same thing, one way
or another. However, one thing is for sure team spirit is the soul of a team and without it one
cannot expect the best from any team to perform at its best.

So to summarise it was famously quoted:

"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct
individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common
people to attain uncommon results." --Andrew Carnegie
 Importance of team work :

1. Delegation:

A team that works well together understands the strengths and weaknesses of each team member.
One of the benefits of strong teamwork in the workplace is that team leaders and members
become proficient at dividing up tasks so they are done by the most qualified people. Without
strong teamwork, it can be difficult for managers and executives to determine which staff
members can best accomplish job tasks.

2. Efficiency:

Work groups and teams develop systems that allow them to complete tasks efficiently and
quickly. When a task is handed to a well-trained and efficient team, the team's work pace assures
that the task will be completed quickly and accurately. This allows the company to take on more
work and generate more revenue without having to add more staff. This becomes helpful when
efficient teams from different departments work together. Each team is well aware of its own
abilities and the groups can work together effectively as opposed to disjointed groups of
employees who may not be familiar with how to work together.

3. Ideas:

Teams in the workplace often meet to discuss how to solve company issues. When a team works
well together, it allows staff members to feel more comfortable in offering suggestions. Team
members become accustomed to processing brainstorming information, and the company
benefits from the variety of suggestions that come from effective teams.
4. Support:

There are challenges each day in any workplace, and a strong team environment can act as a
support mechanism for staff members. Work group members can help each other improve their
performance and work together toward improving their professional development. Team
members also come to rely on each other and trust each other. These bonds can be important
when the team faces a particularly difficult challenge or if the group is forced to deal with the
loss of a team member while still trying to maintain productivity.

5. Faster accomplishment of a task: Tasks are accomplished at a faster pace when it is done by a
team rather than an individual. An individual will definitely take more time to perform if he is
single handedly responsible for everything. When employees work together, they start helping
each other and responsibilities are shared and thus it reduces the work load and work pressure.
Every team member is assigned one or the other responsibility according to his specialization,
level of interest and thus the output is much more efficient and faster.

6. Mutual gain: Every individual is different and has some qualities. One can always benefit
something or the other from his team members which would help him in the long run. Everyone
is hungry for recognitions and praises. One feels motivated to work hard in a team and to live up
to the expectations of the other members. Each member is a critic of the other and can correct
him whenever the other person is wrong. One always has someone to fall back on at the time of
crisis.
 The key elements of a work team

Small number of people: Teams by their very nature can't be big therefore a real team has a
definable membership, typically fewer than 12.

Complementary Skills:

Teams bring together complementary skills and experience that exceed those of any individual
on the team. The different perspectives, knowledge, skills and strengths of each member are
identified and used, by comparison most groups are extremely rigid, and members usually have
assigned roles and tasks that don‘t change. Teams however are flexible performing different task
and maintenance functions as required. Roles and tasks may change depending upon the
expertise and experience most pertinent to the work being performed

Performance Goals:

Members share the common task and have clearly defined objectives for which members are
individually and collectively accountable

Common Approach:

A team has sense of shared purpose with a clear understanding of what constitutes the team's
mission. They can describe a vivid picture of what the team needs to achieve, and the norms and
values that will guide them. The actions of members are interdependent and coordinated.
Members have a shared sense of unity and consciously identify with the team and each other.
Individuals use "we" rather than "me."

Mutually Accountable:

A group typically produces products that are the sum of individual member contributions
whereas a team develops products that are a result of the team's collective effort. In groups,
members are individually accountable for their efforts where in real teams members need the
help of one another to accomplish the objectives of the organization.
 TYPES OF TEAMS

1. Problem-Solving Teams:

Twenty years ago, teams were just beginning to grow in popularity and most took similar form.
They are typically composed of 5-12 hourly employees from the same department who met for a
few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency, and the work
environment. Members share ideas or offer suggestions on how work processes and methods can
be improved. Rarely are they given the authority to unilaterally implement their suggested
actions. One of the most widely practiced applications during the 1980s was quality circles.

2. Self-Managed Work Teams:

Problem-solving teams did not go far enough in getting employees involved in work-
related decisions and processes. This led to experimentation with truly autonomous teams.These
groups of employees (typically 10–15 in number) perform highly related or interdependent jobs
and take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors. This includes planning and
scheduling of work, assigning tasks to members, collective control over the pace of work,
making operating decisions, and taking action on problems. Fully self-managed work teams even
select their own members and have the members evaluate each other‘s performance. As a result
supervisory roles become less important. Business periodicals documented successful
applications of self-managed teams. They can be summarized in the following:

A) They are empowered to share various management and leadership functions.

B) They plan, control, and improve their own work processes.
C) They set their own goals and inspect their own work.
D) They often create their own schedules and review their performances as a group.
E) They prepare their own budgets and coordinate their work with other departments,
F) They usually order materials, keep inventories and deal with suppliers.
G) They are frewquently responsible for acquiring any new training they might need.
3. Cross-Functional Teams:

These are teams made up of employees from about the same hierarchical level, but fromdifferent
work areas, who come together to accomplish a task.

A) Many organizations have used horizontal, boundary-spanning groups for years.

B) IBM created a large task force in the 1960s made up of employees from across departments
in the company to develop the highly successful System 360

C) A task force is really nothing other than a temporary cross-functional team.

D) The popularity of cross-discipline work teams exploded in the late 1980s.

E) Example- A task force is essentially a temporary cross-funtional team

4. Virtual Teams:

The previous types of teams do their work face to face. Virtual teams use computer
technology to tie together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal.

A) They allow people to collaborate online.

B) Virtual teams can do all the things that other teams do.
C) They can include members from the same organization or link an organization‘s
members with employees from other organizations.
D) They can convene for a few days to solve a problem, a few months to complete a project,
or exist permanently
 Distinction in Groups and Teams

A group is a collection of individuals who coordinate their individual efforts. On the

other hand, at team is a group of people who share a common team purpose and a number of
challenging goals. Members of the team are mutually committed to the goals and to each other.
This mutual commitment also creates joint accountability which creates a strong bond and a
strong motivation to perform. Without purpose and goals you cannot build a team. The purpose
must be worthwhile and create a sense of doing something important together. The goals must be
challenging and specific so that each member can understand how they contribute to the success
of the team.

A well-defined strategic plan outlining the purpose, values, goals and objectives of
the team becomes the glue that binds the group together and helps transform them into a team.
Participation in developing that plan helps to build understanding, consensus, and commitment.
As a leader, you use the plan to set expectations for individuals and the team as a whole.

The power of a team emerges from the sense of community that develops and exerts strong
influence on the attitudes and behaviors of the participants. Peer pressure and a desire to be a
productive member of the team helps to shape priorities and direct efforts where they will
support the team goals.

Thus, a team places more concerted action than a group. In the organizational context,
group and team are quite distinct. The collection of people who happen to report the same
superior in an organization can be called a group work. Group members may not be committed
to a common goal. From this point of view, we can say that a team is a group with a common
goal. But a team differs from a group in other ways.
 TEAM CREATION

1. Planning:

Teams have always been, and will always be, an essential ingredient for building a
successful business. But building great teams isn't something that just happens. It takes
planning and ongoing effort to get them right--and to keep them that way.

Smart leaders know that for their teams to work well, they must
accurately identify employees' skill sets and assign them tasks that are well suited to their
abilities. When putting together teams, they choose people they sense will work together
well. The combined efforts of their team members not only produce superior results, they
also build a sense of solidarity within their organizations.

2. Decision:

Selecting the right team members is critical. Ideally, teams should be small,
not more than ten people so that members can develop a high-level of connection and
interdependence. Members need both technical expertise (including writing and
presentation skills) and good interpersonal skills for working in small groups. For teams
working on Institute-wide projects, diverse membership i.e. across different units, across
payroll employee classifications and across gender/race categories etc. can lead to a
richer team with better results. Content experts, process experts and end users can all play
key roles.

Meanwhile , efforts are made to create suitable conditions by changing

organizational structure, organizational policies, and even personnel through training.
When the conditions turn to be favorable, the decision for team creation is made.
 .
3. Implementation:

A strategic plan is of little use to an organization without a means of

putting it into place. In fact, implementation is an essential part of the strategic planning
process, and organizations that develop strategic plans must expect to include a process
for applying the plan. The specific implementation process can vary from organization to
organization, dependent largely on the details of the actual strategic plan, but some basic
steps can assist in the process and ensure that implementation is successful and the
strategic plan is effective.

1) Mission statement is prepared to express how the organization will be benefitted by

creation of teams. This mission must be consistent with overall organization mission
and strategy.
2) Once the mission is formulated, the steering committee needs to decide where teams
will be created first. Selection of first site is crucial because it sets the tone for the
success of the total program. The initial site should be one which conforms the
maximum number of conditions suitable for team creation. This site may be a
department, division, or plant of the organization.
3) After selecting the initial site, a design team is constituted. This team is a select group
of individuals who are aware of the team working in general as well as conditions of
initial site including personnel. The design team is responsible for working out
operational details to make teams perform well. The initial team members are
selected by the design team. The design team also works out the details of transitiom
from the current stste of affairs to the team environment.
4) At this stage, a plan is prepared when and how authority from management to teams
will be transferred. The process of transferring authority to teams is a gradual process
at the initial stage. This is the reason that teams created initially have much lower
authority than what they might have at maturity stage.
5) The last stage of planning for implementation is to write the tentative plan for the
initial teams. This plan is, generally, prepared through the combined efforts of
steering committee and design teams.

Start up phase : It consists of two activities selection of team members and initial
training.

Selection of team members:. Team members are selected according to the guidelines
provided by the draft plan prepared before the team implementation. Though criteria
for selecting team members may differ from team to team, depending on the nature of
teams, their duration etc.

Initial training: Team members need training on continuous basis. Training at the
initial stage is informational or awareness training that sends the message that top
management is firmly committed to teams and that teams are not experimental.
Training covers the rationale for moving to a team-based organization, how teams
were selected, how they work, roles and responsibilities of teams, compensation, and
job security.

In general, training covers the technical skills necessary to do the

work of the team, administrative skills necessary to do the work of the team,
administrative work necessary for the team function within the organization, and
interpersonal skills necessary to work with others in the team and throughout the
organization.
 Task Force:

A task force is a small group, usually four to twelve people, that brings together a
specific set of skills to accomplish a short-term task. It may be called a "project team" or a
"working group." But by whatever name, a task force exists for a specific, time-limited purpose,
usually lasting a few months to a year. Often its members come from different parts of an
organization, such as various functional units or divisions, and different levels, ranging from line
staff to management. Individuals are selected for their expertise, their history in the organization,
and their interest in the project.

Drawing from this varied pool enhances the project's chances for success because the
group’s members:

 bring together different skills and ideas,

 become the project's advocates within the organization,

 squelch rumors about the project,

 foresee potential hurdles to implementation and build solutions into their

recommendations.

Some projects benefit greatly from the advantages of a task force, while others may
not justify the effort of a group effort. A task force is often essential when the project involves
complex or thorny issues, or when solutions will require organizational change. The involvement
of staff brings multiple perspective to the table and can "grease the wheels" for implementation.
The buy-in a task force generates can be especially valuable when the outcome affects people
deeply, is emotionally charged, or impacts a large part of the organization.

Advantages of a Task Force:

a) Co-workers as leaders: Task groups typically govern themselves. A coworker may lead the
group, or the group may take a more democratic approach and ask all members to lead at various
times. This can help employees feel important and contribute to better morale and productivity.
On the other hand, an absence of management in the task force can cause members to compete
for leadership positions and this can foster disagreement and conflict that slows down the task-
solving process.

b) Decision making: Task groups offer the advantage of arriving at decisions that have
approval of all the members, thus reducing resistance among the staff to the decision that has
been made. The danger lies in the fact that a dominant group member may cause others to
conform in order to feel they belong to the group. This may not result in the best decision
because the criterion for making the choice is more social than factual.

c) Focus: Because groups take on one task at a time, their focus on the issue at hand can help
generate solutions that a busy manager might otherwise overlook. Unfortunately, this one-task
focus can cause decision-making to be slow, because each decision requires the input of group
members.

d) Socialisation: Task groups offer a chance for employees to relate to each other and form bonds
that can make the workplace more enjoyable and help it to function better. Solving problems
together fosters a spirit of teamwork. However, this often means that individual achievements
and contributions go unrecognized and unrewarded. This can cause dissatisfaction among some
task group members.
 Characteristics of an effective team:

The following 10 characteristics should present in successful teams. These teams work well
together, achieve their goals and enjoy them in the process.

1. Clear Purpose.

Members understand and are fully committed to the vision, mission, goals, and objectives of the
team. Ineffective teams lack clarity of purpose, a plan and specific goals. Members wonder,
wander and pull in different directions.

2. Open Communication.

Effective teams pride themselves on open, participatory communication and vigorous

discussions. Ineffective teams are marked by gossip, hidden agendas and guarded
communication.

3. Constructive Conflict.

On effective teams, there's disagreement, but members are comfortable with this and deal with it
openly. There are very few signs of avoiding or suppressing conflict. Ineffective teams lack trust
and are often undermined by personal disagreements and their inability to resolve conflict
constructively.

4. Effective Problem Solving and Decision-making.

Approaches to problem solving and decision making are well established in effective
teams.Ineffective teams lack problem-solving strategies and are stymied by inefficient decision-
making processes and low quality decisions.

5. Defined Roles, Responsibilities and Accountability.

Roles, responsibilities, expectations and authorities are well defined, understood and accepted.
Work is fairly distributed and skills are well represented with team members' abilities recognized
and fully utilised. Team members are fully accountable for individual and collective team
performance. Ineffective teams struggle with role conflict, unclear boundaries, confused
expectations and poor accountability.

6. Strong relationship:

Effective teams work on building and maintaining internal relationships. Team members are
supportive; trust one another and have a lot of fun together. Members also invest in developing
relationships and building credibility with important stakeholders in other parts of the
organization. Poor collaboration, low morale, cliques and silos characterize ineffective teams.

7. Systems and Procedures

.Effective teams implement and support procedures to guide and regulate team functioning.
Ineffective teams rarely invest in developing their team systems or improving work processes

8. Experimentation and Creativity.

Well functioning teams encourage creativity and risk taking and experiment with differentways
of doing things. Ineffective teams often are bureaucratic, low risk and rigid.

9. Measurement and Self-assessment.

Effective teams have clear shared measures. They schedule time to regularly assess their
progress and performance, identifying achievements and areas for improvement. Ineffective
teams tend focus on individual measurement and rarely review their collective performance.

10. Shared Leadership.

Effective teams share leadership roles depending upon the circumstances, needs of the
group,and expertise of members. The formal leader co-ordinates the integration of effective team
functions and models appropriate behaviour to help establish positive norm. Ineffective teams
often have one person dominating.
 Conclusion:

Even though the concept of teams is relatively new in management, it is gaining

popularity as the results have been satisfying and extremely positive. With the rise in the number
of organisations there has been an acute need for effective teams to take over and perform the
tasks with ease and effectiveness. Work teams being small and agile handle tasks with relative
ease and sharpness. Seeing as to how useful work teams can be, many organisations have
expressed their willingness to form a work team of their own and have given positive response to
the result they came across.

Work teams have proved themselves useful and apart from being effective they are
relatively easier to form thereby relieving the organisations from lengthy processes of making a
group. Task force is another one of team’s advantages. A task force being of temporary nature is
totally focused on the achieving the objective for which it is formed. Emphasizing the
importance of teams has been done since olden times in games and sports. But, in the modern
world also the organisations have started to adopt the methods of a team and proved that olden
knowledge can be put to good use in an organisations and even though the team concept has yet
to reach its full potenetial, it has proven to be a wildly successful concept.
 Bibliography:

1. Organizational behavior by Robbins

2. http://wikipedia.org
3. Organizational behavior by S.M. Shukla