The purpose of forming a team is to improve the internal and external efficiencies of the company. This is done through the efforts of the team members to improve quality, methods, and productivity.
Purpose to form a team
- Produce an item or service
- Share learning
- Coordinate resources
- Solve problems
- Plan or develop strategies
- Innovate and create
- Decreased productivity
- Complaints about quality of service
Management supports the team process by
- Ensuring a constancy of purpose
- Reinforcing positive results,
- Sharing business results
- Giving people a sense of mission
- Developing a realistic and integrated plan
- Providing direction and support
Team Types
Teams can take several specific forms or types, and although there is overlap between types, each of the team types has a best application. The variety of team types can vary over several dimensions, such as function, purpose, time duration, and leadership.
- Project Teams – Project, or ad hoc, teams are formed for special projects, especially those with a material focus.
- Self-directed or cross-functional Teams – In self-directed teams, members must have considerable training, experience, and cooperative skills, since they operate without constant direction from management.
- Cross-functional Teams – Cross-functional teams promote the acceptance of change throughout the organization.
- Virtual teams – Virtual teams are typically projected or ad hoc teams, and they are necessary when members are geographically dispersed.
Classification of Teams
- Formal team – It is a team formed to accomplish a particular objective or a particular set of objectives. The objective of the team formation is called as ‘mission’ or ‘statement of purpose’. It may consist of a charter, list of team members, letter of authorization and support from the management.
- Informal team – This type of team will not have the documents that a formal team will have. But an informal team consist versatile membership as the members in it can be changed as per the requirements of the task on hand.
Another type of Team Classification
A team can also be classified into following types depending on a given situation and constraints that prohibit the formation of either formal or informal teams, as
Virtual team – A virtual team is usually formed to overcome the constraint of geographical locations which separate members.
There are many challenges inherent in the management of virtual teams, such as
- establishing trust
- establishing a group identity
- developing clear structures
- dealing with “cliques” or subgroups
- sharing information
- ensuring that information is understood
Working in virtual teams poses problems not usually encountered when groups of people work in the same building. Developing a team culture and clear procedures are essential for the development of trust in a virtual environment.
Process Improvement Team – It is formed to discover the modifications required in a particular process in order to improve it. It consists of members who belong to various groups that will be affected by the proposed changes, thus making it cross functional in nature.
Self-directed and work group teams – It has wide-ranging goals that are ongoing and repetitive. This necessitates the team to carry out activities on a daily basis. They are usually formed to make decisions on matters such as safety, personnel, maintenance, quality, etc.
Team Roles
A team performs optimally when all the members are assigned appropriate roles and they understand their roles in terms of the overall functioning of the team. Teams need balance. Teams include a number of key functional roles, each of which is associated with a number of duties. Some of the major team roles and responsibilities are as
- Team leader – It is a person who motivates guides and helps the team stay focused. S/He heads and conducts team meetings and also supervises the performance of the team.
- Sponsor – They define the scope and goals of the project and provide the essential resources required to achieve the preset goals. They also monitors and the controls the team and its activities through the team leader.
- Facilitator – They facilitate the team members in expressing their ideas and at times head the team meetings. They also aids the leaders in keeping the team focused and also aids the team in making decisions on matters of high importance.
- Coach – Coach coordinates with the team leader and the facilitator to help the team function smoothly. Coach also assists the team members in fulfilling their obligations by supplying required resources.
- Team member – They participate and share their views in the team meetings and also Uses their expertise to accomplish the tasks assigned to them. They tries to carry out the tasks as per the schedule.
Team Member Selection
For a team to achieve its broad goals it must have members who are experts in the critical spheres of the project. Some of the major factors that influence the selection of team members are
- Ideal combination of required skills – A team must consist of members with varied skills.
- Varied behavioral styles – Apart from varied skills, the presence of different personalities or behavioral styles too is a factor to be considered during team member selection.
- Optimal number of members – Ideally a team must consist of five to eight members.
- Basic teamwork attributes – All the members must possess at least elementary teamwork training.
- Adaptability – Members must possess behavioral flexibility.
- Schedule – Team members must be available during the project timeframe. They must be able to dedicate the required amount of time and energy the project requires.
Qualities of an effective team
- Firstly diverse members with a common mission
- Secondly knowledge and expertise
- Next cooperation and trust between members
- Subsequently effective communication skills
- Then creativity
- Lastly effective decision-making skills
Launching Teams
Teamwork can achieve goals that individual efforts cannot achieve. So, for a group of people to produce teamwork certain conditions have to be met before launching the team, which are
- The goals should be explicitly stated and directly related to the project work.
- Appropriate training on team dynamics must be provided to the team members.
- A well planned schedule must be prepared. The team must not be made to wait for specific work to be assigned after the project is underway.
- The team must be made aware about what they are authorized to do. They must also be assured of total support from the management.
- It must be ensured that there is balanced participation of members in the carrying out of the project.
- There must be sponsor who has vested interest in the success of the project.
- Proper communication channels must be created.
Building an Effective Team
The first rule of team building is an obvious one, to lead a team effectively, you must first establish your leadership with each team member. Remember that the most effective team leaders build their relationships of trust and loyalty, rather than fear or the power of their positions.