Team-work has become one of the ways companies use when they want to create unity in the workforce. Many organizations have realized the need to support knowledge sharing, which happens when people operate as a team. When people work as a unit, they reduce cases where projects are handled disjointedly. Although it has been recognized as an ideal approach to management, there is a need for cohesiveness and effective communication structures in a team. Notably, team-work in an organization is about the formation and how people work in unison. Teams fail when there are internal conflicts. Low-level managers require training sessions to understand aspects such as the formation of teams. This is how an organization realizes the benefits of a team-based organizational structure.
Introduction
Organizations are modeled on different organizational structures. The organization in this research uses a team-work organizational structure. Under this type of management, workers in an organization handle tasks as a group. Primarily, during a recruitment exercise, the focus is usually on the personal competencies of an applicant. Therefore, what many people believe is that they will handle their duties in isolation. In this case, the workers will not be concerned with colleagues' activities since the hiring exercise focuses on individual competencies. However, managerial concepts have created scenarios where organizational operations are anchored on a team-based structure. In the company, it is believed that collectivity supports experiences like the sharing of knowledge. Most workers are expected to be skilled, but some job demands will require a team-work approach. Considerably, such tenets of the team-work approach are the ones that have made companies align organizational operations to the team-based structure. Although the use of the team-based method as an organizational structure has become popular, there is a need to look at some of the issues that determine its effectiveness.
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Cohesiveness
The efficacy of a team-based organizational structure depends on cohesiveness. One of the needs of cohesiveness that this report investigates is trust and respect among the group members. For example, there have been concerns regarding the unity of teams in the workplace. During team-work assignments, there has been suspicion regarding the lackluster performance of some of the members. This affects the willingness of certain workers to partner with those they believe are lazy. However, considering that the company's organizational structure is profoundly team-based, the employees are compelled to work as a group even when some are unwilling. The issue is that the committed members will feel that they are being exploited by opportunists who use the team-work environment to underperform. This is a concern that requires intervention plans. According to Rovira-Asenjo et al. (2017), cohesiveness is the state in which individuals work in unison to meet a particular task's goals. This entails the relationships and interactions that members have against each other.
Among some of the issues that strengthen cohesiveness is a sense of satisfaction when members feel that they have contributed as a team to the successful completion of the task. This makes the members develop a sense of togetherness, and this is what entails cohesiveness. Notably, this can be achieved when the task is divided into milestones that aim to achieve the project's general objectives. This reduces instances where disunity emerges because some team members feel that other workers are not committed to the task. In this scenario, the strategy is to minimize mistrust among members that eventually affects cohesiveness in a team. When members doubt each other's commitment to a task's goals, it affects the level of productivity.
Productivity Needs for the Team
Effective communication structures and behavior is one of the needs that affect the productivity of a team. The issue of mistrust in team members affects performance. As indicated, when others feel that some are less committed, this could result in a ‘ripple’ effect. In this case, some of the hardworking members may decide to assume the laziness exhibited by other team members. Observably, this is sabotage where workers knowingly refuse to act and cause experiences such as delays or low-quality deliverables. Typically, this is common when there is ineffective communication in the team. It is normal for differences to emerge when many people handle a task. However, the significant aspect, in this case, is for the workers to embrace problem-solving skills through training sessions.
The intervention plan for this issue is to enhance intercommunication mechanisms. Notably, before the issue was realized, the members had failed to solve their concerns at the team level. Under the concept of expressed struggle, in a group, people may have tacit negative perceptions against each other that could be hidden for a long time but explode (Humphrey et al., 2017). This is evident when hardworking workers decide to be lazy due to uncooperative members.
Observably, this can be addressed using communication channels where the workers handle issues amongst themselves with team leaders' help. Team leaders coordinate problems and are likely to detect any complaints before the team's interpersonal conflicts aggravate. Also, there should be a supportive platform with this type of communication whenever internal mechanisms in the team fail. This avoids instances where the management seems to be involved in the team's internal conflicts (Wu et al., 2017). However, there should be a channel that explains how people report cases of members who are not focused on the task's goals, and this could involve the writing of complaint letters to the management. Also, the existence of communication structures allows the members to remind each other about the group's objectives, which is ideal in enhancing productivity. It is important to note that people might deviate from the ideal of the team because of complacency. As such, the members must remind each other about the need to support the project’s goals. With this form of communication, there will be few instances where the team's productivity will be compromised.
Training and Development on Team-work in organizations
Team-work skills can be both inherent or acquired. Notably, there are individuals whose personality makes them likable in a group work setting. However, some may have issues with working as a team. Wu et al. (2017) reveal that in some cases, issues such as cooperation in a team-based project may be challenging to even some of the qualified workers. In this case, such people should be trained to respond effectively to skills such as team-work cooperation. Considerably, the problem relates to selecting the people who will be involved in the training exercise.
Significantly, team-work is usually active at low-level managers and the junior workers in an organization. In a company, the role of middle-level managers is to receive proposals from the top management. However, low-level managers, such as supervisors, are in charge of forming the teams (Friedrich & Ulber, 2017). Therefore, these low-level managers need to be trained on how they can design communication structures in a team. Also, supervisors have a personal interaction with the junior employees, and as such, it is easy for them to understand how to manage the teams' problems. As such, they will be crucial to the training program. This is because some of the issues are due to ineffective communication structures that low-level managers create when dealing with teams.
Another level of workers that require training is the workers who are part of the team-based arrangement. For instance, when handling the projects, some of the workers have technical skills such as engineers. Therefore, they need to be trained in soft skills, enabling them to engage with others. This scenario ensures that the workers have the appropriate interpersonal skills that will enhance trust and respect amongst themselves.
Time for the initiative
The training exercise has to ensure that other operations within the organization are not disrupted. Reid et al. argue (2019) that many programs have been disruptive because of the inability to balance between the company's operations and the training initiative. As such, in this scenario, the low-level managers will be trained rotationally. This is to ensure that some low-level managers remain to attend to some of the company's functions. Also, the junior workers will be trained on the same rotational basis.
Schedule for the initiative
Selection of the participants
This will involve choosing the participants to be involved in the exercise. In this case, it will be in two phases; for the workers and the low-level managers.
The matriculation session
This will entail educating the selected persons about the objective of the program.
The actual training programs
Under this, the workers and the low-level managers will learn about the concepts such as how to manage interpersonal conflicts.
Assessment
The workers will be assessed on what they have covered. This will also involve recommending re-training for those who might not have grasped the concepts.
Closure of the program
At this point, the participants will be recognized through certificates of participation.
Conclusion
Team-work management is a skill that low-level managers need to embrace in handling emerging trends in organizational management. Observably, workers do not operate in isolation but as a unit that is focused on particular goals. The tricky consideration with team-based organizations is the ability to enhance cohesiveness. This can be achieved when low-level managers and junior workers are trained in effective communication strategies in a group-based context.
References
Friedrich, A. L., & Ulber, D. (2017). 12 Why Are Wein Effects of Teamwork and How to Enhance Team Effectiveness. An introduction to work and organizational psychology: An international perspective , 212.
Humphrey, S. E., Aime, F., Cushenbery, L., Hill, A. D., & Fairchild, J. (2017). Team conflict dynamics: Implications of a dyadic view of conflict for team performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes , 142 , 58-70.
Reid, D. H., Green, C. W., Parsons, M. B., & Rotholz, D. A. (2019). The best and worst things staff report about behavioral training workshops: a large-scale evaluation. Behavior Analysis in Practice , 12 (3), 523-535.
Rovira-Asenjo, N., Pietraszkiewicz, A., Sczesny, S., Gumí, T., Guimerà, R., & Sales-Pardo, M. (2017). Leader evaluation and team cohesiveness in the process of team development: A matter of gender?. PloS one , 12 (10), e0186045.
Wu, G., Liu, C., Zhao, X., & Zuo, J. (2017). Investigating the relationship between communication-conflict interaction and project success among construction project teams. International Journal of Project Management , 35 (8), 1466-1482.
