Pros and Cons of Using Teams as a Strategy
Discuss about the Team Work and Motivation for Employee Engagement.
Working as a team has its own advantages and disadvantages. When the teams are successful they result in improved productivity, employee engagement, creativity and job security but when they are at their worst, they are frustrating and at the same time are unproductive as well. They would then waste everyone’s time. This paper is going to elaborate on a brief discussion about some of the pros and cons of working as a team in the workplace and would recommend the use of team as a potential strategy to improve the organisational production and progress. Furthermore, this paper would also elaborate on discussing about how the company (Sunflower Foods) should approach the staff motivation in order to improve engagement and morale of the staffs working there. Lastly, it shall shed light on the key elements that are associated with driving the effective strategic change that is associated with the strategy of team work.
As in everything, there are several advantages and disadvantages of working as a team or a group. Not all the situations could work in favour and this is particularly true if a team consists of individuals belonging from different cultural backgrounds and possess different knowledge and skill levels. Even people on the same wavelength could sometimes find something to debate and argue about. There are many people who find themselves preferring to work individually rather than working as a group as because of the feelings of lost productivity. Other risks that are can be associated with team work are that of the feeling of people being competitive instead of being cooperative. At that time, a person might be left with no choice but to work in a team. Team work is a part of every business environment and it is considered to be an approach that the companies make use of in order to attain their goals and to compete with certain products in the market or with certain projects. It becomes very difficult to convince different personalities to share a common goal.
To begin with the cons of team work at first, it is to state that in a team, there is almost always someone who rarely does anything but still reaps equal accomplishments and advantages that are earned by the entire group. As no one like such free riders, in some cases, this may result in conflicts and arguments among the group members. Actively gaining the reward for absolutely no efforts could result in a task that would not complete on right time. Furthermore, free riding is somewhat different from the issue of social loafing that refers to the reduced effort of an employee as his potential and abilities are not being taken into consideration and are neglected and overlooked. It is easier to remedy the issue of social loafing than the free riding. The members who have something to share but still are not sharing could be motivated and encouraged in order to take part through making it clear that all the opinions of their would be valued and everyone would get the chance to make their contribution in the task. Moreover, one of the other cons of teamwork includes that of the loss of resources. It might seem a bit contradictory with the benefits of more ideas that are being shared but there are some cases when a team spend more time in planning and organising the whole thing without really getting anywhere. In order to avoid such situation to take place, it is very important that the team members introduce themselves as well as their strengths to the entire team. It would make it easier to make a decision on the sub-tasks and jobs that would be allocated. While the process of brainstorming, each and everyone must be given with an opportunity for speaking and making suggestions. However, in order to avoid the delays, a timeline and an agenda should be developed. With the same, as because of the fact that there are different personalities in a team, conflicts are likely to take place. With varied personalities clashing along with ineffective communication, conflicts are compelled to take place. Contrasting the personal styles could clash and sometimes result in members finding difficulties in accepting the ideas which differ from the ideas of their own (McCleskey 2014). The pressure from the peers could also result in a team members going against the expected results. When the team members no longer feel happy to work as a group, they would be unable to concentrate on the tasks that are at the hand. In order to avoid such situation from happening, it is very important that all the team members respect the ideas of each others’. In case if someone disagrees, it should be voiced out respectfully and politely. Each and everyone should be willingly compromising and negotiating as well. If any situation seems to be getting out of the hand, the group must take a break and discuss about diffusing the situation.
Strategies for Boosting Employee Morale
In context to the pros of team work, when any team is put together for handling certain tasks and managing special projects, people would always find a method to follow a common diverse. It is natural that there will be clashes and arguments as there would be different beliefs and ideas in a team but once every member is on the same track, they would be then able to find a very similar ground and direction to follow. Furthermore, such a varied amount of ideas, creativity and beliefs results in more sharing of ideas among the team members. It is one of the many advantages of a team work. The potential to share the ideas could further lead to more successful project (Freeman 2016). Everyone could share different perspectives and view-points and contribute to the pros and cons and finally find methods to attain their goals. It is the fact that the group or the team members could bounce around the ideas make the entire team work very beneficial. It is also to note that team work could increase the efficiency of the team. With more than one people thinking, searching and working for the ideas, the things are likely to be getting done faster than the ones that are done individually by a single person. When people work as a team, creativity thrives there. The process of brainstorming the ideas as a team prevents the stale viewpoints which are often come out of the working individually. Combination of the unique and innovative perspectives and ideas from each member fosters more effective selling solutions (Wang et al. 2015). Furthermore, collaborating on a single project developed an enthusiasm for the learning process which solitary or individual work usually lacks in. When the team members are able to share the discoveries with the rest of the members of the team really excites the employees and fosters both the team and individual knowledge. It is also to mention under this section that team work builds trust. Relying on the other members builds trust and strong relationships with the team mates. Despite of the occurrence of occasional disagreements, a team that is effective in nature enjoys working together and also shares a strong and powerful bond. Trusting the teammates also results in a feeling of safety which further allows the ideas to emerge. It assists the employees to feel free to open up and motive each other that result in open communication among the team. Open communication has always been considered to be a key while working on a team and it produces effective solution in the difficult most group projects. In absence of trust, a team gets crumbled and it cannot succeed on the assigned projects. Also, as it is described earlier that working in a team often leads to conflicts and clashes among the team members but it is also to note that team work also teaches the skills of conflict resolution. While varied cultural differences and ideas lead to most successful works, they often generate resentment which quickly turns into conflict. So, when such situations takes place, the team members are bound to resolve that and this makes them learn how to resolve the conflicts themselves instead of turning the whole thing to the management. Learning the conflict resolution firsthand is considered to be a skill that the employees could make use in order to become more efficient managers down the road. It is also to note that team work promotes a much wider sense of ownership and encourages healthy risk taking as well.
Key Elements of Effective Strategic Change
According to the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the individual needs of the people must be met before they become motivated in order to attain higher level needs (Robertson 2016). The five levels of this hierarchy are psychological, safety, love, esteem and self-actualisation. Until and unless an individual is met with all these basic needs of his, he is unlikely to work effectively in the work place. Employee morale refers to the overall outlook, satisfaction, attitude and the confidence that the employees fee at their work place. When employees feel positive and constructive regarding their working environment and they tend to believe that they have the potential in them to meet their vocational needs and expected career, their morale is then high and positive. Here, motivation plays a very vital role to play. It has been also described by the Hawthorne effect that in order to get the most out the team, one must support and motivate the team members in all the aspects of their lives outside the work as well (Hawthorne et al. 2015). It is a fact that each and every human being needs motivation in order to achieve certain goal and objective and the same is in the case of employees as well. Recognition programs and incentives could support the organisation to motivate its employees to do more productive work. It has been stated by Pfeffer (2014), that rewards and recognitions play the chief role in making the employees happier. Hence, this could aid in the overall organisational performance to a great extent. As a leader, one of the most important things to think about is how to recognise the employees for a performance which has an exceeded expectations, goals and objectives. Every people want to do more work just like the machines but it is only possible when they are recognised by the other and they are appreciated for their efforts. There are several ways through which companies could support and encourage motivation in the workplace. Some among these includes involving the employees in the process of decision making and providing them constructive feedback. Also, keeping the employees informed about all times also makes them feel important. Employees enjoy being a part of any decision or situation in the workplace. In the workplace, it is very important to hear the ideas and thought of the other employees so that to have a better outcome. Each and everyone like to have their thoughts and ideas appreciated and heard and if the management implement those thoughts in the decision making than it could act as a great motivator for the person. Furthermore, employees become happier when they find that they are been awarded fairly for the works that they do. Hence, it is very important for the organisations to always acknowledge the responsibilities of the employees and the efforts that they put on along with the tasks in which they have done well. According to Burris, Rockmann and Kimmons (2017), recognition is very advantageous from time to time for the employees in order to hear from their superiors and seniors how well they are doing. After all, it does not cost anything to add a personal touch and a job that is done well indeed deserves a pat on the back or called recognition, either in front of their team mates or alone. With the same, it is also very important to encourage the leader of the groups to acknowledge independent or individual achievements at the time of group meeting and complementing the entire team for achieving the team goals. In this way, a company could approach staff motivation in order to improve the engagement and morale of the employees.
The key elements associated with driving effective strategic change associated with team work are trust among the team members, preparing for engagement in debate around the ideas; focusing on achieving collective results and learning to commit to the decisions and plans of action.
- Trust among the team members- Building trust among the group takes much time. If in case trust is lacking in the team, it is the responsibility of the team leaders to focus first on developing and fostering trust within the team before doing anything (De Jong, Dirks and Gillespie 2015). He must encourage open communication among the team members and expose their fears and weaknesses to each other so that one could help the other to overcome those though helping him. He can also make use of team building exercise if needed. It is the most important element as of the fact that until and unless each and everyone are willing to trust one another in a team, the progress of the team towards the team success would be limited.
- Preparing for engagement in debate around the ideas- Disagreement could lead to clashes and conflicts within the team members but sometimes, conflict is good. This is because, if ideas are not debated and presented, the team would miss the chance of finding the best solutions to the problems. Healthy debate would develop respect for the ideas and thoughts of the other members of the team which is very important for the team work (Carmeli, Dutton and Hardin 2015).
- Focusing on achieving collective results- The mission and vision of the team should be accepted and taken into consideration by all the team members and the critical goals are viewed as the collaborative responsibility of a team. If the return to profitability is a vital goal of an executive team, time commitments and priorities should be pulled from elsewhere. Hence, focusing on the outcomes in a manner does not support the crucial goals of the team would result in failure of the entire team.
- Learning to commit to the decisions and plans of action- The results of the team would only come as an outcome of the team commitment to the decisions made by the team (Stout and Blair 2017). This includes agreeing on the specific action plans of the team. If some of the team members are not consistent enough with their commitment, this would further lead to failure as well.
Conclusion
Hence, from the above discussion it is clear that employees are the heart of an organisation and it is very important for the companies to keep their employees motivated in order to attain a successful result and productive production. It has been also concluded that a good team work is very essential for ensuring high performance in the business or any non-profit organisation. There are certain cons of team work that they are not that apt to consider the entire process of team work to be disadvantageous. In fact, working as team increases the ability to focus on a particular matter and increases overall efficiency as well as members in a team could also overcome their fears and weaknesses by the support of other team mates.
References:
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Carmeli, A., Dutton, J.E. and Hardin, A.E., 2015. Respect as an engine for new ideas: Linking respectful engagement, relational information processing and creativity among employees and teams. Human Relations, 68(6), pp.1021-1047.
de Jong, B.A., Dirks, K.T. and Gillespie, N., 2015. Trust and team performance: a meta-analysis of main effects, contingencies, and qualifiers. In Academy of management proceedings (Vol. 2015, No. 1, p. 14561). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
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Stout, L.A. and Blair, M.M., 2017. A team production theory of corporate law. In Corporate Governance (pp. 169-250). Gower.
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