Advantages of teamwork

Team work

Teamwork is the basic form of work organization, which we understand as a specific degree of organizational team members' teamwork in the work process needed to accomplish specific tasks and goals.

Teamwork is a type of collective action in which specific, ordered sets of activities and operations are entrusted to a specific group of people. These are also activities that are carried out in teams, and they have been commissioned individually for each of them.

Team

A team is a group of people who have a common goal to achieve, complemented by knowledge and skills, where members are jointly responsible for the task.

Building a team

Effective teams are not created by accident. The team, as well as a target-oriented organization, should be properly developed and built. Various procedures are used for this, starting with building a team - it is a method of looking for the best way the team works, in terms of improving its functioning or obtaining better results. The team building consists of:

• decision-making,
• Troubleshooting,
• setting goals,
• solving internal conflicts,
• communication.

We can define them as processes and ways that the team achieves their goals. Usually the team leaders are responsible for them. The team building procedure helps the group to check which problems are more important and how to resolve them.

Types of teams

Considering the lifetime of the team, they are divided into the following categories:

• Emergency teams - appointed for the implementation of unforeseen tasks,
• Permanent teams - are permanent and permanently located in the organization,
• Periodic teams - are appointed to perform predictable and repetitive tasks,
• Sleep teams - a combination of periodic and ad hoc teams.

We distinguish five stages of the team's life cycle:

• formation
• period of storm and pressure
• standardization
• action
• farewell

Features of teamwork

The characteristics defining teamwork can include:

• cooperation, common pursuit of a specific goal,
• cooperation, mutual help,
• the possibility of combining specialties,
• collective responsibility for the task.

Managing people in a team

These are processes that ensure the most effective use of the resources of people who are involved in the project. This applies to project stakeholders, including: clients, sponsors and partners.

The advantages of teamwork

The most important advantages of team work are presented below:

• team members are motivated to act, team work allows better results than individual work. There is a synergy effect of the team, which consists in combining cooperation and synchronization,
• productivity increases, due to the fact that employees are from different departments and can complement each other,
• work satisfaction is increased because team members can perform tasks that are right for them,
• there is a lower sense of dependence on the superior,
• team integration is increasing, the group becomes the whole and takes care of the whole business together,
• the fluctuation decreases, which reduces the costs associated with it,
• information flows faster,
• makes it possible to make a profitable division of work,
• sets a common pace of work,
• helps in overcoming barriers related to individual attitude,
• activates the self-monitoring process,
• communication increases, thanks to faster information flow,
• the need to belong to a group is met,
• it is less painful to feel failure because failure is spread over the whole team,
• there is the opportunity to share ideas and choose the best ones,
• higher quality of work,
• team members motivate each other to act,
• Accidental errors are less frequent.

Methods and techniques of teamwork

• Brainstorming

A technique derived from social psychology, aimed at improving group decisions. It is also called creative discussion. It is an unusual way of team searching for new ideas regarding problem solving methods.

• Technique 635

It is one of the brainstorming techniques, a so-called brainwriting model. The principle of this method is hidden under the numbers: number 6 corresponds to the number of team members, number 3 the number of ideas to come up with, number 5 is the time available for the task.

• Decision tree

This method is intended to graphically support the decision-making process. This method works well when making decisions in risk conditions.

• Delphi method

Experts take part in this method where they express their opinion. They are to answer the questions that were included in the questionnaire.

• Conference debate

The aim of the conference debate is to divide the general issues into a detailed one, then they are developed by teams.

• Belbin's model

Analyzing team roles helps to provide information about the functioning of people in the team, as well as the entire team. This analysis is used to build a team, introduce a new person to the team, increase teamwork effectiveness.

• Teamware

Teamware is a method of supporting knowledge in the organization. It consists in supporting the work of the team as well as communication. It helps to solve very complex projects in a more effective way in a shorter time.

• 360 degree model

It is a modern method of assessing an individual employee or team. The information is collected on the basis of respondents who work with them. The assessed employees receive feedback on the course of their work.

Advantages of teamwork — recommended articles

Importance of teamwork — Ability to work in a team — Internal training — Organic organization — Quality circles — Organization of administrative and office work — Knowledge management system — Feature-driven development — Organizational techniques — Motivational factors

References

• Hoegl, M., & Gemuenden, H. G. (2001). Teamwork quality and the success of innovative projects: A theoretical concept and empirical evidence. Organization science, 12(4), 435-449.
• Hall, P. (2005). Interprofessional teamwork: Professional cultures as barriers. Journal of Interprofessional care, 19(sup1), 188-196.
• Stevens, M. J., & Campion, M. A. (1994). The knowledge, skill, and ability requirements for teamwork: Implications for human resource management. Journal of management, 20(2), 503-530.