Effective Teamwork Strategies for Organizational Success
Teams
Teams are groups of people who collaborate and share work and responsibility to achieve a common goal. They coordinate work, enabling different parts of an organization to meet customer needs that individuals with limited specialties often cannot fulfill. Teams promote equality, encouraging positive attitudes and trust.
Types of Teams
Several types of teams exist within organizations:
- Leadership Teams: Steering committees that establish overall quality policy, guide quality implementation and evolution, make key decisions about quality processes, and review and adjust them as needed.
- Problem-Solving Teams: Corrective action teams and quality circles that identify and solve specific quality-related problems, typically composed of workers at lower organizational levels.
- Natural Work Teams: Organized to perform a complete unit of work with broadly defined tasks, extensive cross-training, and shared responsibilities. These teams require technical and interpersonal skills, with all members certified on each step and responsible for completing the work.
- Self-Managed Teams: Also known as self-directed teams or autonomous work groups, these teams have broad responsibilities, including self-management. They often handle budgeting, scheduling, goal setting, ordering supplies, and sometimes performance evaluations. They are generally more productive than conventional teams.
- Virtual Teams: Geographically separated teams that are increasingly important due to globalization, knowledge work, and the need for diverse skills. They rely on technology for communication and collaboration, working across time, distance, and organizational boundaries, sometimes operating “around the clock.”
- Project Teams: Example: Six Sigma teams include champions/project sponsors, master black belts, green belts, team members, and functional business groups.
Team Categories and Purposes
- Routine Business Activities: Natural work teams, self-managed teams, leadership teams, and virtual teams are integral to how work is organized and designed.
- Ad-hoc Basis: Project teams and problem-solving teams address specific tasks or issues, often related to quality improvement.
Cross-Functional Teamwork
- Natural work teams, self-managed teams, and problem-solving teams are typically intra-organizational.
- Leadership teams, virtual teams, and project teams are usually cross-functional.
Cross-functional teams:
- Members come from various departments or functions.
- Address problems involving multiple functions.
- Typically dissolve after problem resolution.
- Often used for process improvement and large-scale organizational changes.
Criteria for Team Effectiveness
- Goal achievement
- Timely action and results
- Maintenance or increase of team strength
- Team perseverance
Ingredients for Successful Teams
- Clarity in team goals
- Improvement plan
- Clearly defined roles
- Clear communication
- Beneficial team behaviors
- Well-defined decision procedures
- Balanced participation
- Established ground rules
- Awareness of group processes
- Use of a scientific approach
Why People Participate in Teams
- Influence decisions affecting their work
- Enhance promotion or job opportunities
- Gain more information
- Increase sense of accomplishment
- Address personal agendas
- Genuinely help the organization
- Enjoy recognition and rewards
- Be in a comfortable social environment
Commitment Building
Every project team should define core values expressing a project commitment to honor each individual and an individual commitment to serve the project.
Proposed Core Values:
- Respect the individual
- Uphold truth and honesty
- Recognize that service without sacrifice is not true service
Team Charters
A team charter is a written document providing guidelines, rules, and policies for team members. It includes:
- Mission statement
- Values guiding behavior
- Structural issues (logistics, meeting agendas, task responsibilities, target dates)
- Decision-making methods
- Conflict resolution processes
- Methods for resolving problems with team members
Note: A team charter is not the same as a project charter, which is a contract for the work to be performed.