Building Effective Teams and Teamwork - Assignment Example

Building effective team and teamwork PART A Student Name Student Number Lecturer, Date Name of the Institution Table of Contents PART A Article Review 3 Introduction 3 Context 3 Methodology 5 Sample 5 Data Collection 5 Measurement 6 Limitations of the Study 6 Conclusion 7 PART B. Implementation and Reflection 10 Reference List 16 APPENDICES 16 PART A Article Review Introduction As competition increases in the world today organizations and leaders recognize the need for teamwork more than ever before. Through collaboration individual outputs can be expanded by teams. Working in teams becomes the standard for the organization when employees decide to go that way. Employee work confidently in teams and increase the organization’s productivity with the support from the higher level management. Managers are today assigning employees with more team projects to develop their skills and strengthen their knowledge. A recent study showed that working in a team increased employee productivity compared to individual. This part of the paper will review three articles related to building effective teams and teamwork, the area of my skills development. These three articles are (i) Factors influencing effective performance of university student teams by D. Caspersz, M. Wu and J. Skene, (ii) Towards High Performance Software Teamwork by Emily Weimar, Ariad Nugroho, Joost Visser, and Aske Plaat, and (iii) Factors Influencing Teamwork and Collaboration within a Tertiary Medical Centre by Shu Feng Chien, Thomas TH Wan, Yu-Chih Chen. The main key words considered for both articles are teamwork, teamwork factors and performance. Context Although both the articles focus on influence of teamwork on work performance, they are presented in different context; healthcare, university and software software development. Weimar, Nugroho, Visser and Plaat e in their research show that cooperation within software teams influences software quality to a large extent. They have provided a relation between teamwork and software quality stating that during software development process, there is greater human interaction in form of a team. This makes it important to understand the influence teamwork has on performance. Casapersz, Wu and Skene assert in their article that despite the opportunity for developing and gaining teamwork skills many students don’t take their project teams seriously when working on assignments. Students feel dissatisfied with team allocation putting forward their grievances as availability of ‘free riders’, mismatched expectations of team members, and lack of leadership among others. Unlike Weimar, Nugroho, Visser and Plaat who have concentrated on software quality, Casapersz, Wu and Skene have focused on university students’ performance. Shu Feng Chien, Thomas TH Wan, Yu-Chih Chen have diverted their focus to influence of teamwork on healthcare. Reduction of medical errors and improvement of health care quality has been shown to be influenced by teamwork. In addition, teamwork is significantly associated with innovative project team performance, indicating that teamwork is crucial to the growth and development of an organization. Therefore, Shu Feng Chien, Thomas TH Wan, Yu-Chih Chen have helped to identify the intra-organization factors influencing collaboration and teamwork within a medical centre. Methodology Sample Weimar, Nugroho, Visser and Plaat carried out their research in an Australian university involving 111 undergraduate business students as their sample. Students were divided into 33 teams with at least 3 members per team for which there was availability of performance data. The mistake the researchers did here was failing to account for the rest of the twelve participants. If 33 teams had three members then the total number of participants was 99. Meaning some teams had more than 3 members to accommodate the remaining 12. The authors should have explained this in details instead of living it to the reader to think through. Emily Weimar, Ariad Nugroho, Joost Visser, and Aske Plaat used a sample of at least 100 by inviting more than 20 software development teams in the Netherlands. Each team had an average size of five and were expected to be a software team, embedded in an organization and considered to be a team. On the other hand Shu Feng Chien, Thomas TH Wan, Yu-Chih Chen surveyed 3462 employees to generate response in assessing work environment perceptions. Data Collection Both the researchers from the three articles used questionnaires to collect data though researchers of teamwork performance on software quality used online questionnaires to minimize on respondent convenience, costs and time. Shu Feng Chien, Thomas TH Wan, Yu-Chih Chen do not explain how they administered questionnaires to 3462 health care employees. A reader is left guessing whether it was done online or physical distribution. Therefore, researchers need to improve in this area. Measurement Both the researchers used Likert-scaled questions to measure variables. Researchers of influence of teamwork on university students performance used a 7-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7) while those of influence of teamwork on software quality and those on healthcare used 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (= strongly disagree) to 5 (= strongly agree). Likert-scaled questions are the best choice made, as they are important in fixing choice response formats and the way they are desired they can measure opinions and attitudes of respondents effectively. Data Analysis The researchers of teamwork influence on healthcare used confirmatory factor analysis. Emily Weimar, Ariad Nugroho, Joost Visser, and Aske Plaat analysis their data using the factor analysis method to test if all factors related to the same construct. Factor analysis was also used at individual level to certify the results at the team level to ensure that they are not as a result of inflated correlations cause by aggregation of data. Factor analysis was a better choice by both researchers as it helped them to test whether the measures of a factor were consistent with their understanding of the nature of that factor. D. Caspersz, M. Wu and J. Skene failed to provide a data analysis technique. Data analysis is very important to every research, and for readers who would like to develop research skills will not find the article on teamwork and performance of university students very helpful. Limitations of the Study The research carried out by D. Caspersz, M. Wu and J. Skene has many limitations. First, the various issues investigated in the research were not exhaustive. Inclusion of specific constructs have been justified, but failed to mount contradictions against them instead of other measures. Secondly, there is some skepticism in the use of cultural diversity measure, when providing quality information. This is because besides data gathered from participants there was no supporting data that was collection on team cultural composition, which could then be matched against the individual participants. In addition, it seems that there was incomplete information about the cultural composition of a team, in the case where some students did not attend the class during the survey because students completed surveys during class time, thus providing a situation whereby independent information about cultural identification of students was absent. Finally, this construct provided poor findings which may be caused by low threshold accepted by the membership of the team. A logical question would be, do only three participants form a sub-group? In future researchers attempts should be made to have form a sub-group of at least five members which is a threshold that is more accepted. Emily Weimar, Ariad Nugroho, Joost Visser, and Aske Plaat, and Shu Feng Chien, Thomas TH Wan, Yu-Chih Chen need to improve on the robustness of measure of team performance, particularly when linking individual measures to performance, because the performance measure of individuals was not used. Therefore, future researchers will have to collect both the scores of teams together with the scores of the individual team member, to improve the data collection for this measure. Conclusion Shu Feng Chien, Thomas TH Wan, Yu-Chih Chen concluded that hospital manages with an interest in improving teamwork and collaboration should assess the work climate to ensure that there is a conducive work setting for employees to operate in. The research results provided by Emily Weimar, Ariad Nugroho, Joost Visser, and Aske Plaat will give useful insights to software development teams and their managers. These insights can be used in building, managing and contributing to teams more effectively. The researchers have evaluated their assumption of coordination of expertise, value diversity and trust that contribute more to explaining the success of the project. However, they cannot be able to approach an explanatory model that is perfect, due to the influence of other factors including technical factors (duration, complexity, and size), organizational factors, individual factors and project planning. D. Caspersz, M. Wu and J. Skene provide useful information for individuals who would like to understand better about how teamwork influences the performance of university students. By examining individual-level measures they found that issues related to teams contribute highly to the performance of student teams. The underlying issue is the time required to complete the given task and the type of task that a team need to work on. The researchers report that in the context where tasks take long duration, greater cooperation is found in culturally diverse teams than in non-diverse ones. Building effective team and teamwork PART B Student Name Student Number Lecturer, Date Name of the Institution PART B. Implementation and Reflection My personal plan on skills development was implemented during my group assignment for Accounting Skills for Management that was to be submitted in three weeks’ time. I had three goals to achieve, (i) To communicate clearly on intellectual and emotional levels with my group assignment members, (ii) demonstrate a sense of cohesion in working together with other members of my group by week3 of submitting our assignment, and (iii) be productive and accomplish my tasks as assigned by group leaders by the end of the third week. When it comes to group formation Bruce Tuckman’s stages of group formation were relevant (Tuckman, 1965). These stages include forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. At the forming stage our group members were polite, positive and anxious. As for me I was excited for what was ahead of us. A leader at this stage needs to play a dominant role because group members’ roles and responsibilities aren’t clear. However, we had not chosen a leader which made this stage last for some time. I had only seen one of my group members before but the rest were totally new to me and therefore an effort needed to be made to get to know each other. The second stage storming did not affect us much due to the fact that we easily got along from the beginning. Conflict of roles was not present and workload was evenly distributed to each member, though I took the role of a facilitator throughout the three weeks we worked together. None of the group members tried to make me feel uncomfortable by challenging my authority. However, I was careful not to impose my authority on them but instead chose to be more of a servant or one providing support. Norming as the second stage of the model was relevant to our group development. Since we had known each other quite better we were comfortable to share our ideas, and freely corrected each other’s mistakes in a more constructive manner. We decided on the concepts of accounting to research on and divided them equally amongst us for further research. We decided on our Code of Conduct at this stage and members came into an agreement. Members freely requested for assistance where they were stuck and committed strongly to the group goal of producing a high quality paper on time. We reached the performing stage very fast because there was no friction. The commitment of the members to the Code of Conduct that was set up supported this well. Since the group was small there was no need to delegate my work in order to concentrate on developing the group members. I was able to handle between the facilitator role and my individual tasks as assigned by the group. We finally reached the adjourning stage, as the last stage of the model. Just like other project teams that exist for only a fixed period of time, we were to disband our group after we submitted our assignment to the lecturer. Looking ahead there are uncertainties of the future of not knowing what other group members I will work with in future will be like. I had gotten attachment to this particular group that I wished to have the same group members in the next group assignments. I am glad I have added new people to my cycle of friends. Before I involved in working in groups I preferred working alone because I found it faster in making decision and doing my work at my own pace and time. When I finally joined a group to work on Accounting Skills for Managers assignment, I set my goals that I needed to achieve, simply because I needed to understand how effective a team and teamwork can be and how good a team player I can be. I can confidently say that I achieved my goals. My first goal was to communicate clearly on intellectual and emotional levels with my group members. I was able to express my own ideas freely without fear of being ignored or rejected. I listened carefully to my group members as they gave their own ideas. Even though at some point I felt some of their ideas were not relevant and wanted to tell them off, I remembered that when working in a team every person’s opinion matters and regardless of whether you agree with it or not, they deserve to be heard. It is easy to assume what someone else has said and interpret it opposite to what they meant. To avoid this, I tried to ask questions to clarify their ideas and their questions before I provided my answer. I wanted to make sure that I am not misinterpreting my group members. To work well in a group it is important to accommodate other people. One strength about is that if I am annoyed I say it and if I am happy I also say it. I don’t know how to hide my feelings. I don’t keep grudges because they may create me a negative attitude towards someone, something that may become poisonous to teamwork. I was able to express my feelings openly to my group members. I was also able to sense their feelings through non-verbal communication like face expression and gestures and would ask them if they are alright or if there is something they need to talk about. This made the group members feel more comfortable working together. The second goal was to demonstrate a sense of cohesion in working together with other members of my assignment group by the third week of submitting our assignment. To achieve this, the first thing that needed to take place is getting to know other group members interests, backgrounds and aspirations. This is the most difficult thing to me when it comes to interacting with other people. I am the type of a person who does not like to take the first step in approaching someone or initiating a conversation. I don’t like asking people a lot of questions like where they are from, what they are doing currently and what they are aspiring to do. One of my weakness my inability to remember the names of people I have met recently. So being able to break through my comfort zone was going to be a great achievement to me. When you are purpose-driven like the way I was in being able to work effectively in a team, you are pushed to get out the shell. The first time I met my group members I tried to fake how open I can be in getting to know others better. Whoever said, ‘fake it until you make it’ helped me because this kept me going until I was able to catch up. People have interesting backgrounds, aspirations and interests that you get to know when you step out to know more about them. To be able to work with other group members I needed to be open to their ideas and diverse points, as well as respect their opinions. Our ideas were conflicting and sometimes I was tempted to push my ideas to be accepted by the team members. I struggled a little in this area but I managed to respect their opinions and allow them to be free to give their different ideas. Usually when it comes to trusting other people they have to work hard to gain my trust. However, I realized trusting other people to share my feelings and ideas, is key in fostering cohesion in working a team. There is no way a new group member could prove to me that he or she could do a good job on their assigned tasks. Trust is what was needed to keep things going. I had to learn to have and open mind and trust my fellow group members, after all who told me they too trusted me that much. Supporting each other in a group makes things easier and enables the group to meet its objectives faster. There were times when some concepts and points were hard to articulate and we needed the help of each group member to be able to break the tasks into easy and understandable ones. My last goal was to be productive and accomplish my tasks as assigned by the group leader by the end of the third week. It was not difficult for me to cooperate because I was the group leader and I needed to show a good example for my group members to follow. If I was going to preach water then I needed to drink it. I refused to be the kind of leader to orders everybody around without getting involved or being concerned. After the group members chose be to be their facilitator we agreed upon what tasks were to be done. We decided that each person was to research on the assigned two concepts of accounting and report to the group. I was instructed to research on ‘money measurement’ and ‘materiality’ as well as check on members to find out how they were fairing on with their tasks and report to the rest of the members. As a facilitator I almost encountered a conflict with one of the group members who seemed to lag behind in accomplishing his tasks. Being perfectionist I was tempted to rush him along or get annoyed. I decided to give him constructive feedback on his behaviors which made him acknowledge he was on the wrong and decided to pull up his socks. Knowing how to plan and managing task is part of being productive and accomplishing assigned tasks in the group. I had other individual assignment I had to work on, attend lectures and involve in extra-curricular activities. I had to learn how to plan and manage everything that was in my hands to be able to achieve my goal. I prioritized my work to determine the difference between urgency and importance. I then created a schedule for each task to help me work on those tasks and submit them on time. I can confidently say that I achieved my goal. My goals were specific which enabled them to easily focus on them. The exercise taught me that working in a team widens a person’s scope of ideas and way of doing things. It took me away from my monotonous way of thinking and enabled me to embrace new ideas. Usually I am more reserved with what I know because I presume I am safe that way. Getting out of my comfort zone of ‘me, myself and I’ was a great change for me. What motivated me most to commit to this change is my ability to be a self-motivator, one of my greatest strengths. I had an inner drive to challenge myself to achieve my goals. I was very positive within myself that I could make it and that nothing was too hard to breakthrough. There is always a first time for everything, and that once I make the first step I would accomplish the rest. After all, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Reference List Caspersz, D & Skene, J 2003, Factors influencing effective performance of university student teams. University of Western Australia. Weimar, E, Nugroho, A, Visser, J & Plaat, A 2013, Towards High Performance Software Teamwork. ACM, pp 212-215 Chien, SF, Wan, TT & Chen Y 2012. Factors influencing teamwork and collaboration within a tertiary medical center. World Journal of Methodology, vol 2, No. 2, pp 18-23 APPENDICES Appendix A- Skills Development Plan Appendix B- Timeline for Implementing my Skills Development Personal Smart Goals for Skills Development in Building an Effective team and Teamwork Appendix C- Diary Entry Appendix D- Articles Read More