Creating successful teams
ORGANISATIONS world over are embracing team-based organisational structures to improve decision-making, problem-solving, employee involvement, customer satisfaction, and product creation and development.
They recognise the benefits teams provide to maintaining the viability of their businesses in these dynamic modern times where rapidly changing technological inventions, global competition, and economic constraints demand greater production efficiencies, speed and quality from organisations. Research bears testimony to these benefits as it indicates that teams, through the pooling of abilities and resources, typically outperform individuals. In fact, during an economic recession, teamwork becomes critical to the maintenance of efficiency on the ground floor.
Teamwork, simply put, is the process of people working together to achieve a common goal. It requires that the people in the team co-ordinate their knowledge, skills, abilities, roles, personalities and efforts to achieve a specific output of value to the organisation. Does this come naturally for Jamaicans? I think not. We are oriented through our socialisation, education system, and reward systems to seek individual attention, approval, accomplishments and glory.
Historically, the social divisive tactics used to keep the slaves from forging strong family units and from uniting in social settings may have created a learnt mindset that even now prevents people from working as a team except under extreme circumstances. Our school-family system trains us to compete for recognition and rewards from parents and teachers based on our individual performances in academics, sports and other social activities. Organisations employ us based on individual qualifications and personal qualities.
What does this say about us? According to numerous management books, it says that we have a culture of individualism where people prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups. So clearly we will have difficulty attaining teamwork in the classroom or the workplace.
It means, therefore, that Jamaicans must be reprogrammed to work effectively in teams…and this should start in the school-family system. We should teach children at the primary level how to create an item borne of collective effort, and teach older children and youth the dynamics of completing group assignments in secondary and tertiary institutions. I once asked a class of approximately 70 university students if they liked to work in groups, and the majority said “no”. They preferred to work alone and to be the sole person accountable for their coursework grades. The problem…they were exposed to the dysfunctional side of teamwork – the side that creates interpersonal conflict, distrust, inequity, inefficiency, and dissatisfaction. These students, because of course assignment time constraints, often had to leap from the group stage of forming to the stage of performing without going through the middle stages of storming and norming where personality differences are worked out, understanding and trust among team members is developed, roles are properly allocated, and where the modus operandi is set for team members to perform tasks with minimum friction. To address this, teachers or lecturers in secondary and tertiary institutions where group work is required could establish groups at the start of the semester (before the assignment is given) and initiate team-building activities with students that will allow them to understand personalities and abilities, build trust, and establish the guiding norms for the group. This will make working on the group assignment more harmonious and effective.
Similar group problems occur in the workplace. Since teamwork is unnatural in our culture, team members must be trained to overcome the challenges of working interdependently, and must commit to group processes that create positive synergy (co-operative action among team members such that their combined effect is greater than the total of their individual efforts). Observing the teamwork displayed by successful teams in sports arena may be useful.
It is impossible to play sports such as netball, basketball, football, volleyball or cricket without teamwork. The effectiveness and success of these teams depend on persons attaining positive synergy, achieved only when they desire to play as a team, trust and respect each other, fuse their complimentary skills, have a common vision and purpose, and commit to performance goals and play tactics for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. These are some of the principles or tenets of teamwork identified by Tome E. Jones in his book titled If It’s Broken, You Can Fix It: Overcoming Dysfunction in the Workplace.
In addition to adopting Jones’ principles, incorporating teams into the Jamaican business landscape require leaders to move away from the paternalistic philosophy and rigid hierarchical structure of traditional organisations to a partnering philosophy and team-based structure. Within this new approach and structure, leaders should: (1) train and guide team members to make certain decisions and take responsibility for completing assigned tasks; (2) increase employee rights and responsibilities in return for their agreement and willingness to learn about the business so as to make decisions in the best interest of the organisation; (3) foster a climate of collaboration by enabling employees to collaborate in various ways and for different purposes, for example, to solve a delivery problem, or plan a company retreat or party; and (4) adjusting work processes and business system to encourage teamwork (for example, adopt group-based performance appraisals and compensate employees for teamwork). These changes will allow Jamaican organisations to reap the benefits that teams and teamwork can afford.
Patricia Grant-Kitson is a human resource management & training consultant. You may send your comments to patriciaktsn@yahoo.com