Discusses the concept of teams and teamwork in operations and organizations.
This paper talks about the importance of teams and teamwork to organizations and what makes for effective leaders of those teams. Furthermore, the paper outlines the advantages teams have for businesses, as well as the disadvantages that often develop with use of teams and teamwork.
“A team is defined as a group of people who have complimentary skills and a higher commitment to common goals and have a higher degree of interdependency and interaction. (French and Bell, 1999) Organizations increasingly use teams to oversee various undertakings and projects in the hope that the creativity and performance of the team will far outperform any individual performance. A team setup can also help motivate employees. It improves productivity by virtue of including workers and managers on the same side to attain a common goal or objective. Teams however, need good structure and guidelines if they have to work effectively. It is important to ensure that every team member works jointly towards maximum profit for the product, the business unit or the project?the purpose for which the team was created. The consequences are: maximal profits for the parent company. The size of the team, the task for which the team is set up and the roles and duties of individual member of the team all play an important role in ensuring the success of the team.”