TASK 1

A team refers to a collection of individuals organized with an intention of fulfilling a certain goal. The team members are always interdependent and are identified themselves as team members. However, it is important to have a distinction between a team and a group. This is because a group is a collection of people with something in common while a team is a collection of people motivated tow3ards achieving a certain goal. At times, there exist different teams that interact amongst themselves in the course of service delivery to the organization.

Teams are one way for organizations to gather input from members, and to provide organization members with a sense of involvement in the pursuit of organizational goals. Further, teams allow organizations flexibility in assigning members to projects and allow for cross-functional groups to be formed. Cohesive as semblance of teams within the organization ensure that successful operations within the organizations are fulfilled. Organizational teams are usually of six different types and include: informal, traditional, problem solving, leadership and self directed.

However, in order to achieve success tam work within an organization, it is important to have different clear characteristics that will enhance smooth running of the organizational events. For instance, nit is an obligation of every team to ensure that every team must have clear direction, clear responsibilities, clear and knowledgeable members, reasonable operational procedures as well as good interpersonal skills where there is adequate sharing of both failure and organizational success.

The team developing stages were initiated by Tuckman and Jensen in early 1990s which was identified by lifecycle of stages. Under this work, they separated the team development in several stages that included: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. All these stages forms great component of management process and should be encouraged at all cost.

Forming

This forms the first stage in team development as outlined by Tuckman. This is a stage at which all team members are supposed to become acquainted with one another. It is at this stage that the group members should gather essential information on what the team members are expected to carry out in their group. At this stage, every team member is expected to be typically polite and willing to go as per the agreed suggestions among the members.

It is at this stage that all the members are expected to get orientation on what is best for the overall success of the organization. Discussion centers on defining the scope of the task, how to approach it, and similar concerns. To grow from this stage to the next, each member must relinquish the comfort of non-threatening topics and risk the possibility of conflict. In essence, it is at this stage that most of time is spent on planning, data collection and bonding to kick start the team work.

Storming

This forms the second phase of the team development unit. It is at this stage that the team members start to address the major tasks suggesting different ideas through which the organizational objectives can be realized. At this stage, there are different ideas within the team that at times are required to compete and if they are mismanaged, they can be detrimental or destructive to the overall performance of the group. The storming phase is a phase where competition and conflict of personal relations must be dealt with. Under this phase, team members constantly show different personalities as a result of different ideas and prospective between the different team members. At this phase, disagreements, confrontations and frustrations are common everywhere and team members should strive to minimize their effects. The phase also recommends that goals and responsibilities among the different team members should be expressed openly.

Norming

This is the third stage of team development as outlined by Tuckman As the team moves out of the storming stage, the next stage in line is the norming phase. At this phase, harmonious working environment tends to be developing as the different team members gets too understand each other better. At this phase, members are able to lay out values and rules through which the organizational objectives can be realized. It is at this stage that the different team members are able to develop trust and mutual understanding among them as the different team members are able to take greater responsibility (Livermore, 2010). The risk during this stage is that the team becomes complacent and loses either their creative edge or the drive that brought them to this phase.

Performing

This is an essential phase that is characterized by high performance. However, it is important to note that not all teams are able to get at this stage. It is at this phase that roles become more flexible and functional and all the team energy is channeled towards realization of team task. Cohesivesss and efficiency is enhanced as less cases of conflicts are reported. In this stage, people can work independently, in subgroups, or as a total unit with equal facility. Their roles and authorities dynamically adjust to the changing needs of the group and individuals. Stage four is marked by interdependence in personal relations and problem solving in the realm of task functions. At this stage, high of independence, motivation, knowledge and competence is at high levels within this stage of the organization. High level of communication and decision making is always at increased level within this stage.

Adjourning and transforming

Adjourning and transforming forms the last stage in team development as outlined by Tuckman. This stage is concerned with the ending of the project and breakup of the team. In most cases, this phase is also referred to as the mourning stage even though it seems as a very depressing way of looking at this issue. In this final stage, team members are concerned with termination and disintegration of the relationship that lead towards realization of the task. At this phase, appraisal and frequent goodbye among the different team members is encouraged as they wish for better moment’s ahead. The most effective interventions in this stage are those that facilitate task termination and the disengagement process.

Belbin’s Team Roles Theory:

Belbin was also actively involved in developing team work theory. In his work, Belbion was mainly concerned with the roles necessary for success of any team work. According to him, team roles were servant members who were essential to facilitate the progress of team task as a whole. He argued that a team is a not a bunch of people with job title but instead it is a group of individuals who are assigned to different roles aimed at realizing organizational success. Belbin had very high sense in the level of performance as offered by the different members within an organization. Structural and behavioral attributes as displayed by the dfferent team members formed as great component of his theory. According to Belbin, team members are usually of two types.

The first type of team members is that one that is described in the theory as a typical functional role. The secnd class of teammembers is the team role (s). Team roles describe how suitable the members are for the team not the functions. According to Belbin, members of a team are expected to seek out certain roles that they perform to their level best and those that occur naturally. Belbin work was mainly concerned with the role of identifying the peoples behavioral strengths and weaknesses in their places of work. As result of his work, Belbins information was crucial in ensurigng that:

• Build productive working relationships
• Select and develop high-performing teams
• Raise self-awareness and personal effectiveness
• Build mutual trust and understanding
• Aid recruitment processes

According to his work, he argued that role is described with six factors that include: personality, mental ability, motivation, values, experience, field restrictions and personalities. However, it is important to understand that the theory lacked conclusively on how best these changes could be explained as far the realization of roles in a team work can be realized. He however argued that balance among the different roles was very critical to ensure that there is balance between the different roles within the organization.

Adair’s Action Centred Leadership model

John Adair is another great player as far as team work is concerned. He is fondly known for his work commonly referred to as action centered leadership. In his theory, Adair provides a blue print for effective leadership and management of any team group or an organization.  His work is outline with three major overlapping circles all of which are embedded in management theory (Andersen, 2012)

John Adair team development theory is based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the Herzberg motivation theory. According to his theory, he asserts that leadership is trainable, transferable skills and not automatically inborn. He helped change perception of management (encompassing leadership) to include associated abilities of decision-making, communication and time-management all of which are essential in effective leadership.

According to Adair works, leaders are obligated with three major management responsibilities that includes; achieving tasks, team management and managing of individuals. In his work, he advocates for balancing of all the above functions to ensure that the team gets the desired results which will lead to improved results, morale boosting, quality improvement and overall increase in output of the team work  a combination of all these as outlined by Adair leads to good leadership.

Culture and team leadership

Organizational culture is defined as the aggregate of management ‘perceptions of aspects of the organization, for example, quality of communication, support for innovation, level of supervisory support and so on. This is a concept which has attracted considerable interest among practitioners. Increasingly, senior managers are commissioning employee attitude surveys in response to the enormous volume of research on organizational culture and the related concept of climate), the assumption being that culture influences performance. However, the evidence for the influence of culture upon organizational productivity is limited

Conflict resolution and motivation among employees

The primary emphasis is on norms and values associated with belonging, trust and participation. Motivational factors are attachment, cohesiveness and group membership. In every successful team work, employee welfare through motivation, increased trustworthy and feeling appreciated within the organization forms part of a health human relationship amonhg the team members. It is also essential in developing the skills f the employees as well as the overall production within the organization. Open systems model The primary emphasis is on change and innovation, where norms and values are associated with growth, resource acquisition, creativity and adaptation. Motivating factors are growth, variety, stimulation. Cultural dimensions which reflect this orientation are: outward focus – where the organization is attuned to the external environment; flexibility; innovation; and reviewing objectives – a concern with reviewing and reflecting upon progress in order to improve. This will also be a great toll for conflict resolution within the organization if there is harmonious coexistence among the different members within the organization.

Review the effectiveness of the team in achieving the goals

Effective f a team can only be measure by assessing the level of productivity that has been achieved by the organization (Reason, 2010). An effective team can be defined by the following major factors: shared leadership, shared responsibility, commitment to team goals, effective communication, increased levels of motivation, and increases responsiveness.

An opposite of such team work is one that is in constant quarrels, unnecessary disruptions and constant strategic failure. Failure t properly strategize on your team work can be very detrimental to the overall success of the organization. In order to realize efficiency in team work, it is important for the team leader to put in place measures that will enable the team member to work harmoniously as a system (Magnuson & Alexander, 2008). This involves proper combination of available skills to the overall performance within the organization. Proper communication skills and ability to combine different technical capabilities will be vital in ensuring success in a team. The assessment will be carried out my measuring received results against the set goals and making recommendations if the set objectives are not realized. If the desired results are not achieved, continuous training, capacity building and reshuffles among the team are recommended.  The team leader must also be aggressively involved in supervisory roles to ensure that all team members are actively involved to the task.

Task 2

Factors involved in planning the monitoring and assessment of work performance

Planning and monitoring the performance within a business is a part of the business. This is because it is the obligation of the management to ensure that all the efforts channeled towards the success of the organization just not disappear in the thin air (Shea & Solomon, 2013). The main reason why business organizations are concerned with mentoring and assessment of the performance is to ensure that the long term and short term obligations of the organizations are fulfilled. Continuous assessment and monitoring of the business will ensure:

• Survival
• Maximise profit
• Maximise revenue
• Be environmentally friendly
• Boost share price

In order to enhance the monitoring and performance assessment in a team work, several factors will be of great importance.

Feed back: the team leader must ask several questions to interested partners in order to assess how far the team work has accomplished organizational goals.

Measurement of effective performance:  this is a kind of measurement whereby the team leadership asses the development made as compared to the set target. If target are not met, remedial measures must be take appropriately.

Appraisal procedure: this is a situation whereby the organization management puts in place measures to recognize those who have done exemplary well towards realization of the objective.

Methods of correcting underperformance: this is exact opposite of appraisal. Thos e team members who do not strive to realize the objective of the organization should also be dealt with accordingly. This can be achieved through demotion, decreased salaries or overall   relieving of duties within the team.

Legislation and code of practice: it is the obligation of a team leader to ensure that every single member within an organization acts on the best interest of the organization. Those who fail to act as per the codes may hinder the overall achievement of the team and thus disciplinary actions should be taken against such people.

Plan and deliver assessment of development needs on the individuals

Both Patricia and Susan form an integral part of this company. However, it is important to understand that it is always very difficult to find a perfect match for the job description. To start with, Susan has been a member of this company for over two years now. It is important to acknowledge that she poses very likeable traits of being able to relate well with PR.  This is a very important aspect as it is likely to bring more business to the entity as a result of her good interpersonal relationship with customers.  It is also important to bring to attention the fact that the lady is quite experienced and thus is likely to make less professional mistakes in the course of her duty. However, it is important to bring to notice had wrong doing as far as other team players are concerned. It is clearly that she hardly shares crucial information with colleagues which could be detrimental to the overall success of the organization. However, this can be corrected through vigorous training and capacity building to ensure that the lady becomes a all round person.

On the other hand, Patricia is a young blood in this organization with little experience of one year. it is clear that she is prone to making very serious errors in the course of duty since there are few c concerned. However, it is important to understand that the company is aware of her potential of becoming the kind of an employee that the company desperately needs. As result, intensive training, benchmarking and capacity building should be encouraged to ensure that Patricia fulfils her potential. From the case, it is clear that Patricia has the required educational background and only requires enough practice and benchmarking to provide excellent results for the company.

References

Andersen, E. (2012). Leading so people will follow. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Livermore, D. A. (2010). Leading with cultural intelligence: the new secret to success. New York: American Management Association.

Magnuson, D. S., & Alexander, L. S. (2008). Work with me: a new lens on leading the multigenerational workforce. Minneapolis, Minn.: Personnel Decisions International.

Reason, C. S. (2010). Leading a learning organization: the science of working with others. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Shea, G. P., & Solomon, C. A. (2013). Leading successful change 8 keys to making change work. Philadelphia: Wharton Digital Press.

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