The concept of team effectiveness is an important one in the management of an organization. It is because a collection of persons working together to achieve a common objective has been key pillar of social organization. Team effectiveness therefore refers to the degree of efficiency in which a collection of individuals can achieve set goals and objectives as determined by the team leader or organization. The extent of a team’s effectiveness is a factor of the level of interdependence among the various individuals that make up the team. It is therefore the case that team effectiveness is reliant on the quality of input of each of the members.
The management can evaluate team effectiveness by employing a number of tools. According to Halvorsen (2013), team effectiveness can be evaluated on the basis of three approaches as determined by Hackman. The approaches include output which involves the attainment of certain goals and objectives as the bare minimum for a team to be considered effective. Another approach is the social process of the team which is concerned with the cohesiveness of the group rather than the achievement of set goals. The extent of a team’s cohesiveness is evaluated by the level of conflict management which involves the speed in which conflicts that arise are resolved. The ability of the team to continue working together in future projects also acts as a measure of team cohesion. Learning is also an important metric with which to evaluate team effectiveness. The three approaches are mutually inclusive and as such the success of a team as evaluated from one approach is highly likely to pass the criteria of another approach.
An effective team has some inherent characteristics. They include each of the team members having requisite skills and knowledge to enable the team achieve its goals. Open communication is also an important attribute of an effective team as it encourages members to contribute to contribute ideas without fear. The goals set by an effective team are realistic and each member is accountable (Halvorsen, 2013). It is contrary to an ineffective team in which goals set tend to be unrealistic leading to frustration arising out of inability to achieve the exaggerated expectations. Communication is also stifled and only a few members of the team can contribute ideas. An ineffective team also constitutes team members that lack the requisite skill sets necessary to achieve the goals objectives for which the group was set up for by the management.
Conflicts within a team are inevitable. It is therefore essential that team leaders and each member develops conflict resolution skills. Each member should ensure proper anger management which is effective in ensuring emotional control. Each team member must also learn to accommodate the viewpoints of others (Barrick, Stewart, Neubert, & Mount, 2011). In the event that a crisis situation persists, the team leader can recommend a break to enable each of the members recollect their thoughts.
In light of the above, there are a number of skills sets and behaviors that individual members need to adhere to in order to ensure team cohesiveness. Such behaviors include the ability to control one’s emotions, good communication skills (both verbal and non-verbal) and listening skills. The lack of the above mentioned mannerisms will result in an ineffective team in which conflict resolution will be become a difficult and prolonged process (Barrick, Stewart, Neubert, & Mount, 2011). On top of the above behaviors, new members also need to familiarize themselves with the rules and regulations of the team and learn to adapt to them.
The need to construct an effective team is especially important considering that the effectiveness of such a team is important in determining the success of the end of semester course project. It is therefore essential that the team members to be chosen have the necessary skills and knowledge, good communication skills, and effective emotional control in order to ensure the success of the course project. The goals of the project should also be realistic to avoid undue frustrations on the part of members.
References
Barrick, M., Stewart, G., Neubert, M., & Mount, M. (2011).Relating member ability and
personality to work-team processes and team effectiveness. Journal of Applied
Psychology. 83 (3): 377–391
Halvorsen, K. (2013). Team decision making in the workplace: A systematic review of discourse
analytic studies. Journal of Applied Linguistics & Professional Practice. 7 (3): 273–296
