Unit-5 Teamwork Presented by N.Vigneshwari

 Every organization may start initially with one person or a few people, one of them being the entrepreneur or the promoter. Personnel are added in the organization to do more work. Each person has to contribute to the business output of the organization. Each person is recruited for a specific job. As the organization grows, a formal structure is evolved to enable better management and communication. Teams are formed to fulfill the objectives. It is part of the regular organizational structure of the organization. The team coordinator will coordinate the day-to-day activities of the team. He may be called a manager, supervisor, team leader, head, team coordinator, etc. He is responsible for the output of his team while each member of the team is responsible for the work assigned to him.

 Therefore, it is amply clear, that teams are made to do more work, which individuals can't. However, this concept erodes with time. When the organization gets larger, people start defeating the very purpose of increasing the manpower and the net output comes down. It is quite logical therefore that team members have to work together, in the interest of the organization in fulfilling the basic expectations of the employers

 At times, one may find that the team members are incompatible and it is difficult for them to work together. Therefore, every effort should be made to put together compatible persons as a team. Some employees may try to disrupt teamwork. Generally, left to themselves, the employees may like to work alone. Added to this, increasing personal needs of the modem world cause them to work individually and derive all the benefits an organization can bestow, individually.

 It is the responsibility of the management to foster teamwork amongst employees. It requires clear  definition of the following:  Responsibility  Authority  Wherewithal for accomplishing the task  Criteria of measurement of the work output.  Unless these are defined clearly and implemented, the teams cannot function effectively. The authority should commensurate with the responsibility and the wherewithal should match with the requirements to be fulfilled by the team

 It is the responsibility of the management to impress upon the employees to practice teamwork. Even when management forces employees to work as a team, some may drift apart since they feel that they are either much smarter than the rest or they are highly talented. Hence, like other TQM practices the management can only enable teamwork. The management by emphasizing teamwork and showing a real concern for teamwork can help the organization to practice teamwork.

 Some employees may try to impress upon the top management that the teams do not work at all and only one or two of them can carry out all the tasks in the organization. This is an oversimplified statement and as such should not be taken seriously by the top management. The top management should try to develop every individual to contribute to the organization and at the same time more talented individuals should be encouraged for achieving innovations and inventions.

 All the employees will not be alike. They will not be having the same potential, or same level of intelligence, but by working as a team, if the strengths of all the employees can be pooled together, it will benefit the organization. The management should not work on the weakness of the employees. It should rather exploit the strength of each employee. It may be found quite often that some individuals in a team are responsible for sabotaging the teamwork.

 Such individuals, even if they are bright, should be tamed to practice teamwork. Management should not be seen in any way contributing to the break up of teams. Management should believe that the teamwork is only beneficial to the organization and not the divide and conquer philosophy. Divide and conquer may give temporary benefits or may appear to give benefits, but, certainly it is detrimental to the organization. The top management should also not force teamwork, rather they can encourage and persuade employees to practice teamwork. The management should gradually institute teamwork for success.

 With proper training, the employees could be motivated to work as a team. Employees should be informed about the advantages of achieving a win-win situation. They should also be informed about the disadvantages of win-lose situation in which one member wins and the other loses. The win-lose situation occurs when people in a team have different views and decide that rather than trying to reach an agreement, they argue with a determination to get their way at all costs.

To summarize, the team can have the following benefits if they work for a win-win situation:  achieve dramatic results,which individuals can't  make best use of skills of each member of the team  make right decisions  get more enjoyment and job satisfaction. The problems of win-lose are summarized below:  wastes time  creates conflict  stops people listening  spoils happiness and health of team members.

 There is a lot of discussions in management circles, as to why only the Japanese can practice teamwork and not the other management of the world. Experts believe that teamwork is possible in Japan, as there is no diversity among employees. This may be one of the reasons for the success of the Japanese teams, but the major deterrent for the teamwork elsewhere is the organizational culture, for which only the top management can be blamed.

 The top management should always encourage teamwork and discourage individualism in organizations. By working as a team, the bright individual will be able to contribute much more and probably will scale new heights easily with the help of his team members, however insignificant the contributions of others may be.

 It is believed by some that rewards and awards break teamwork. However, this it is not quite true. On the contrary, rewards encourage people to practice teamwork. Awards should be given to motivate the team of people, who have contributed in a greater measure. It is to be noted that awards should be given to teams rather then individuals whenever possible. It is true that in a team, contributions of all the members may not be equal. One individual would have led the innovation and others would have contributed in varying degrees.

 The whole team should be appreciated and rewarded. Therefore, while giving awards or recognitions, the top management has to foster teamwork. In other words, the output of team should be given more importance than the output of the individuals. This should not curtail the innovation of individuals. The individual should be made to understand that by working in a team, he could do much better and get more awards. The top management should make it clear that they want the entire team to contribute although they know who are the star performers.

 Total quality management – Subburaj Ramasamy

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