Question
Write a research paper that analyzes methods used to appropriately manage groups and teams. In your paper, be sure to include the following:
Discuss the process of evolving a group into a team and the importance of organizational culturein that process.
Evaluate the leadership styles that are effective for managing groups and teams, including unique considerations
for leading multicultural teams.
Describe the benefits and drawbacks of having groups or teams in terms of groupthink vs. teamthink.
Sample paper
Team and Group Management
A human being is known to be a social being who likes to associate with social and economic groups that satisfy his desires. As a result, everyone is part and parcel of a particular group in their everyday life that helps them to achieve their dreams. A group is usually formed by individuals with a common objective and goals. As a result, there is a high likelihood that workers and employees in an organization will eventually form both formal and informal groups with people who share their interests and visions. These employees engage and interact with each other, sharing their various principles and beliefs since they have this connection and links as well as desires of fulfilling their tasks and objectives. Teamwork originates with and builds relationships among a group of people with common interests hence allowing individuals from different programs with different roles and skills to work as one (Curseu, 2015). However, it is worth noting that a team has intense and strong relation and relation than a group and thus, members of a team are likely to be more committed than members of a group. As a result, a team will always have better and high standards results than a group. This assignment will attempt to identify and explain various ways through which managers and team leaders can manage groups and teams in their organizations to get the best out of them.
A work group might be missing an important element if the members of these groups have no mastery of working together as a team. A group constitutes of people who coordinate their personal efforts. On the other hand, a team is often made up of individuals who share similar team goals and challenges that stand between them and their goals. Therefore, a group can exist without a team, but for a team to exist there must be a group. A group takes time to evolve into a team and thus, the group or the team leader must be patient with members of his team for them to evolve into an effective team. It takes hard work, determination and motivation from members of a team learn and understand each other better which in turn helps them to understand their roles and responsibilities in the team better. It is worth noting that in the first few stages are important in forming a team since they can either lead to a break-up or increase cohesion among the team members. With time, team members learn to embrace teamwork principles and become more cohesive towards the achievement of the set goals and objectives.
The formation of an effective team is a gradual process that requires patience and perseverance from all team members. The first step in an evolving team focuses on bringing the team members together by meeting them as a team leader and explaining to them why they need to work as a team and the benefits they are likely to enjoy as team members. Communication is key is transforming a group into an effective team (“Editorial Search,” 2013). Therefore, the team leader should step up, communicate to the team members the objectives and goals of the team as well as their role and input into the team before they can set out to achieve their goals. Every team member should have the sense that he is contributing to the success of the team, he is safe, and he is always available when called upon for them to feel satisfied and motivated to work diligently for the team and in turn increase the productivity of the team. Moreover, the team leader should receive and respect inputs from team members on how they can improve the team. This move creates equality and increases cohesion among the team members.
The second step encompasses the creation and development of a common goal that requires the embers of the team to work interdependently as a small team which is part of a something big than themselves. Moreover, at this stage, the group leader should inform each team members his roles and tasks in the team based on their knowledge and skills. Having clearly defined goals and objectives helps the team members to avoid distractions that may act as barriers preventing them from achieving their objectives. Although informing each member his or her role in the group may seem obvious, some members of the team may not understand the scope of their tasks and duties which may bring the conflict of interest or confusion in the team.
The third step in the evolution of a group into a team constitutes the creation of expectations and setting targets for each team member. The team leader should strive to motivate his members to works towards the objectives of the team by constantly encouraging the members through performance appraisal and giving feedback (Tracy, 2014,). Moreover, the team leader should provide guidance and training to ensure his team remains sharp all through.
Notably, organization culture is at the center of creation and development of an effective team considering that it describes the behaviors of all team members and their impact on the performance of the team. Organization culture acts as the blueprint of the behavior of team members and all employees in an organization considering that it provides values, beliefs, and assumptions adopted by all employees. Therefore, if a company has a strong organization culture that focuses on the achievement of the team objectives, the team will eventually succeed. However, weak and poor organization culture increases the likelihood of failure of a team.
For a team to be successful, the group leader must know how to handle his team members effectively. A team leader can adopt various leadership styles, but Democratic leadership can give better results when dealing with team members. Democratic leadership ensures that the team leader has access to insights and inputs from other team members which make them develop a sense of belonging and importance. Moreover, democratic leadership increases the cohesion of the team by ensuring that all team members buy into the required objectives and goals through insights and inputs.
Group thinking is popular among big corporation where members of the workforce have to select the best alternative from the alternatives provided. One of the benefits of this practice is that here is more scrutiny of the choices and decisions made as opposed to one man decision. Moreover, the team leader is likely to get robust recommendations and solutions as a result of collaboration and analysis from team members (Bateman, Snell, & Konopaske, 2016). On the other hand, such practices may result in unaccountability of the decisions made considering that it was a group decision and there may be no one willing to assume the responsibilities. Furthermore, group thinking and decision making process reduces the effectiveness and efficiency of the team as more time might be spent arriving at a decision.
References
Bateman, T. S., Snell, S., & Konopaske, R. (2016). Management.
Curseu, P. L. (2015). Team Performance Management – 2014. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 21(1/2). doi:10.1108/tpm-01-2015-0002
Editorial Search. (2013). Group & Organization Management, 38(5), 654-655. doi:10.1177/1059601113499394
Tracy, B. (2014). Management. New York: AMACOM.
