Posts Tagged ‘teamwork’

The importance of teamwork can be explained in a way that it  “builds morale and actually results in getting more accomplished with the resources you have because the team members develop ownership of the solution to a problem and want make it work” (Lindh et al., 2009, p. 1011). According to Badaki (2007, p.192) as taken from Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary teamwork can be defined as “work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole”. Business Dictionary (online, 2012), on the other hand, defines teamwork as “the process of working collaboratively with a group of people in order to achieve a goal”.   References  Badaki, F. (2007) “Team Art: The Science of Success in the Primary Human Organisations” Azuri Editions Lindh, W.Q., Pooler, M., Tamparo, C. & Dahl., B.M. (2009) “Delmar’s Clinical Medical Assisting” Cengage Learning Teamwork (2012) Business Dictionary, Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/teamwork.html

A team can be defined as “group of people who work together to achieve a common goal or objective, who produce high-quality results, and who enjoy doing so” (Lewis, 2004, p.66). An alternative, more comprehensive definition of the term has been proposed by Halverson and Tirmizi (2008, p.4) as taken from Bailey and Cohen (1997, p.241) as “a collection of individuals who are independent in their tasks, who share responsibility for outcomes, who see themselves and are seen by others as an intact social entity, embedded in one or more social systems and who manage their relationships across organisational boundaries”. Winning team members believe their goal is relevant, possible, and worthy of effort and sacrifice” (Miller, 2009, p.60). Teams have become the main units to rely on to achieve organisation’s aims and objectives in today’s workplaces. In order for a team-work based project to be successful it is important that various talents and skills are gathered and good working atmosphere is created for them, taking into account the fact that different kind of motivation is required for each role and providing the relevant kind of motivation (Shermon, 2004). Sharma (2009) mentions team life cycle to consist of the following stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning. Roles and Relevant Skills that are Important for the Team There are different roles to be played within the teams in order for the teamwork to be a successful one. Belbin (1981) distinguishes ‘plant’, monitor evaluator, co-ordinators, resource investigator, implementers, completer finishers, team-workers, shapers, and ‘specialists’. There are also other classification offered by other researchers as well, however, Belbin’s work is considered to be the most comprehensive in that aspect. Each of above characters should be present within a team for the team to function in an efficient manner. However, if looked at individually the personalities…