Teams in Organization

Teams in the Organization

A large organization needs to be run as effective and efficient as possible so it can compete with other organizations. What organizations have done to accomplish this is to use teams. One person cannot perform all tasks alone; a person needs the support of others in order to be excellent in whatever they do.

"A team is a group of individuals, all working together for a common purpose. The individuals that are part of a team should have common goals, common objectives, and more or less think on the same lines", (MSG, 2012). Individuals on a team should have similar interests, thought processes, attitude, perception, and likings. Team members should all work together and strive towards the achievement of the goal in which they were given. A team should consist of about seven to fifteen members depending on what type of team it is. If there are too many on a team, it could lead to confusion and misunderstanding. What a manager needs and wants in a team is the "positive synergy through coordinated effort", (Judge and Robbins, 2012, p. 123).

There are many types of teams used in an organization; some of the most common types of teams are Problem-solving, Self-managed, Cross-functional, and Virtual. A problem-solving team includes members that "share ideas or suggest how work processes and methods can be improved", (Judge and Robbins, 2012, p. 124). This type of team usually consists of five to twelve individuals from the same department and meets only a few hours a week. This team may only suggest their answers to the manager.

A Self-managed team consists of about ten to fifteen individuals. This team selects its own members and does each other's performance evaluation. The self-managed team takes on much of their managers responsibilities, hence self-managed. This team works on things such as planning and scheduling, makes operation decisions, and work with the suppliers and customers. Some disadvantages of the self-management team include does not manage conflict very well, and does not handle disputes well. When a dispute occurs members of this team usually just stop cooperating.

A Cross-functional team consists of individuals from the same level, but different departments. This team is the most used by large organizations. This team "allows people from diverse areas within the organization to exchange information, develop new ideas, solve problems, and coordinate complex projects", (Judge and Robbins, 2012, p. 125). It takes quite some time for this type of team to develop due to the members having to learn to work with diversity and complexity. It takes time to build trust because most of these individuals are from different backgrounds and have different experiences and perspectives.

How can managers turn individuals into team members? First, the manager needs to remember that