What’s the difference between a
team, a group and just a bunch of people?
It boils down to four things: identity,
interdependence, relationships, and task accomplishment. If
a collection of people don’t identify themselves as a unit
and others don’t as well, they don’t depend on each other,
there is a minimal relationship and they don’t have a common
task to accomplish, they’re just a bunch. One example of a
bunch might be a collection of strangers waiting for a bus.
On the other end of the spectrum, teams have all these
aspects. Groups have some of these characteristics
(relationships, for example), but don’t necessary band
together to accomplish a task.
What are some different types of
teams?
Teams can differ in several ways: their
duration, the degree of structure/self organization, and
their relationship to the organization and other teams.
Teams that are organized for a short-term purpose, have a
designated leader-manager, and have a “tight” connection
with the organization will work very differently than teams
that have long-term goals, choose their own leader, and have
little connection with the organization.
What are some of the indicators of
poor teamwork?
Some symptoms of poor teamwork include:
poor performance; groupthink, where group members avoid
confrontation and discourage dissension to give the
appearance of harmony; “drops and plops”, big differences
between what members think should happen and what actually
happens; assignments aren’t executed, especially because
someone thought someone else was doing the task; few people
perform beyond expectations; personal attacks and sabotage;
an increase in absenteeism and turnover.
What are some of the organizational
causes of poor teamwork?
There are lots of these, and the most
common causes of poor teamwork: senior management not
encouraging it ; measurement, performance and pay systems
discouraging teamwork; a combination of functional
organizational structure and work flows that are “silo”
based; and a poorly defined or executed strategic plan.
What are some of the “group” causes
of poor teamwork?
These include an imbalance between the
structure or fluidity required to perform the task, and the
resources, constraints and abilities of team members;
insufficient clarity as to who does what; insufficient and
unclear communications between team members; and a
disconnect between what is expected of the team and what the
team wants to/can accomplish.
What are some of the personal causes
of poor teams?
These include ignorance of conflict
resolution skills; unwillingness to speak up when things are
going wrong; a poor mix of team members that result in
insufficient skills, conflicting priorities and
personalities.
What can be done to encourage
teamwork?
That depends on how widespread the
problem is, and how much influence you have. And whatever
you do, make sure to conduct a thorough assessment of
teamwork issues before acting.
On one hand, if teamwork problems are
across the organization, organization-wide solutions have to
be put in place. Changes in organizational structure, pay
systems, criteria for promotion and management, and changing
workflow come to mind. On the other hand, If the problems
are isolated just a group or two, you can do other things:
Select a new supervisor who is trained in making teams work;
removing or adding group members; defining goals,
relationships and methods of getting there; providing
measurements and incentives meeting goals; task-focused
teambuilding to deal with issues and concerns; and training
in group dynamics and problem solving.
