Organizational Behavior from the Perspective of the Importance of Teamwork - Coursework Example

RUNNING HEAD: Organizational Behavior Organizational Behavior Student Name: Institution Name: Course: Date of Submission: Introduction Teamwork is a concept considered by most organizations and that deal with operations and involvement in between resources. Work teams and work groups relate to the behavioral and psychological orientation of an employee within the workplace. The dimensions behind work groups and work teams are a key factor in determining the success of every organization by shaping the organization’s culture and behavior, thus influencing productivity (Belanger, et al, 2003). Additionally, work teams and work groups bring about certain benefits to an organization that may include employee motivation among others. However, there are also certain differences between work groups and work teams as even though they both enhance productivity of an organization. Finally, the effectiveness of every work team and work groups depend on the synergy created within it. Thus, this paper seeks to critically analyze organizational behavior from the perspective of the importance of teamwork, creating synergy in work teams, and addressing the difference between work groups and work teams. Importance of Teamwork The importance of work groups and work teams in an organization has become a major focus in the current business world. For the past few years, organizations realized that the evolution from individual-oriented engagement to teamwork approach is a priority in current time. The reality behind the concept is that organization's operations are accomplished effectively through teamwork. The following are some of the benefits of teamwork that most organizations enjoy. Industrial harmony Work teams play an important in encouraging employees to present results of problem analysis to the organizational management for review and approval of the preferred solutions. This structural faces offers room for improved labor-management and interactions. This implies that work teams encourage employees to work closely with the management and thus creating a close relationship between employees and management (Moon, et al, 2004). Such relationships enable organizations to have an improved level of industrial harmony that organizations without proper team structures. Good leadership Effective leadership that comes with teamwork is one of the most important components that most organizations realize. Effective teamwork should ensure that there is an effective leader to realize high productivity (Parris, 2003). This implies that the leader should possess good leadership skills in order to motivate followers, create, and maintain a positive working environment and thus create a positive workforce that is highly committed. The eventual result is the creation of high morale and highly valued employees since work teams have shared leadership roles. Clear communication The benefit of a good teamwork is the realization of good communication within an organization. In essence, good communication across all levels of production ensures effective production and thus increasing and organization’s profitability. Additionally, good communication within a team facilitates the sharing of information and ideas (Parris, 2003). Finally, various benefits come with effective communication process within an organization. Such benefits include effective sharing of information, reducing information distortion. Establishing roles Creating good teamwork within an organization ensures that there is a clear role definition and thus eliminating confusion on who performs certain tasks within the organization. This will also increase the level of responsibility among individuals since the team leader can reward good performers within the group and thus general commitment towards the achievement of certain objectives (Belanger, et al, 2003). Therefore, work team formation ensures that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined to avoid job duplication and define individual accountability. Conflict Resolution The rise of conflicts within an organization is a matter of daily occurrence and there must be a proper mechanism to resolve the conflict to avoid poor goal realization. This implies that there should be structured method of conflict resolution. Effective team formation provides organizations with a hands-on approach that allows team members to resolve conflicts quickly whenever it arises (Batt, 2004). Therefore, teamwork is one of the most effective methods that organizations employ in resolving organizational conflict since tackling conflict at a group level is the most efficient approach. Therefore, most organizations consider formation of various teams to enhance conflict resolution within the entire organization. Setting a good example Team creation narrows down the management of an organization by delegating the overall management role to the team leader. Team leaders on the other hand carry out their management roles by setting a good example for the followers to emulate (Friedman and Casner-Lotto, 2002). The qualities exhibited by a team leader are those aimed at keeping followers motivated, committed, and valued in realizing group and organizational goals. Thus, it is possible to argue that any negativity from team leader can be very disastrous. Minimal absenteeism The increased level of autonomy and responsibility that come with a team role assignment, together with the need to achieve certain goals and objectives encourage employees to attend their jobs as required to ensure achievement of the predetermined objectives (Glassop, 2002). Additionally, with the fact that employees enjoy the social structure of teams, there is a great possibility that they will attend work. Reduced turnover Similar to the case of reduced absenteeism, the social structure of every team reports a positive impact on employee turnover. In the event of improved quality of work through the presence of teams, the most likely outcome is a reduced employee turnover, which is a medium of measure for redesigning jobs (Friedman and Casner-Lotto, 2002). Reduced employee turnover brings about benefits for both the organization and individual employee. Product and service quality Proper team formation and management play an important role of removing variations from a working system, ensuring that the resultant in the output being reliable and consistent. Improving consistency and reliability in the output of the product or service is inherent the notion of quality (Moon, et al, 2004). Thus, work teams are important in promoting quality of the products and services since every individual will concentrate on the specific are assigned to quality inspection carried out at the end of the process. Creating Synergy in Work Teams Creating a good collaboration among team members is one of the most important factors that a team leader should consider in order to realize a high performance within the team. A great synergy within a group is achievable through a clear definition of roles and responsibilities and thus enabling every team member can take upon themselves the share of the load assigned to them (Parris, 2003). This will also ensure that all individuals work collaboratively to see the entire process from its start to the end. The following is a brief description of how a team leader can create a positive and sustainable synergy within a team. Defining shared vision, values, and goals This implies that clear definition of the organization's vision, mission statement, core values, goals, and targets gives team members the sense of purpose as to how they contribute to the organization. Setting clear goals acts as an effective motivational factor. However, in a team, shared goals need clear role definition to ensure that every member plays a role in the goal achievement. Setting roles for every individual provides a good stage of increasing responsibility and reducing overlap or gap within the workplace (LePine, 2003). Finally, setting goals will also provide challenge for other teams. For instance, a group that undergoes a difficult situation and comes out successfully will most likely work strongly together and provide a good example for other teams. Good leadership and followership Development of good leadership skills will definitely lead to the development of good followers. It is important to note that great synergy is achievable through incorporation of leadership and followership. Rottenly, most individuals put more emphasis on the importance of good leadership in developing a good synergy within a team while there is less emphasis on the importance of good followership. Therefore, good leaders and good followers must coexist in order to realize good team synergy (LePine, 2003). Such co-existence is effective when a leader develop good communication skills and encourages information sharing among members of the team, participating in carrying out certain activities to serve as a good example, and encouraging fairness and opportunity for all. Trust, respect, and compassion When every individual within the team acts along the values and ethics of trust, respect for each other, and compassion for themselves increases the chances of great synergy within the group. This will also increase the feeling of contribution and appreciation of their productivity. This will also ensure that individuals give their best contribution to the team. Compassion within individuals enables them to be conscious of their activities and impacts of their actions on others (Costa, 2003). Additionally, trust among individuals increase collaboration and eliminates dishonest issues among team members while on the other hand, respect among individuals improves relationships among them. Consequently, all individuals will pull their overall weights and eventually reach synergy. Positive working environment Synergy needs proper management and maintenance through creation of a proper human relationship with creation of positive working relationship. It is also important to note that synergy is a continuous journey that needs proper maintenance. Creating a positive and favorable working environment offers room for effective conflict resolution and integration of different skills, opinions, talents, strengths, and weaknesses among team members (Kozlowski and Bell, 2003). Finally, positive environment also offers room for smooth management as individuals will have the morale to work as per the expectations through reduction of stress and employee burnout and increased motivation for work. The result will be team members working together in their bid to achieve common goals and objectives. Similarities and Differences between Work Groups and Work Teams There are minimum similarities between work groups and work teams. The most usual similarity is that the common objective is to accomplish certain goals that are generally linked to the overall organizational success (Jon and Douglas, 2006). However, there are various differences linked to the basics of leadership, structure, relationships, performance, skills, and accountability. When considering leadership, working groups have strong and a clearly focused leadership while working teams have some shared leadership roles where every individual may act as a leader depending on the prevailing situation (Jon and Douglas, 2006). Additionally, work groups have individual accountability as opposed to work teams that encourages both individual and mutual accountability among its members. Similarly, work groups measure its performance by indirect assessment of the group’s influence on others while team performance is measured through direct assessment of collective work products (Jon and Douglas, 2006). Moreover, another difference that relates to individual relationship is that work groups value its members working independently from other members whereas work team members work together to achieve common goals and objectives. Furthermore, work group members have similar skills while members of any work team possess different and complementary skills (John and Douglas, 2006). Finally, on the structural difference, a work team has a smaller number of members working together through individual, functional, and hierarchical differences thus creating effectiveness as compared to a large number of members of a work group working independently towards different goals. Conclusion The paper looked sought to discuss the importance of work group and work teams as opposed to individual-oriented approach. The paper indicates that organizations realize various benefits in individuals working together towards the achievement of common goals and objectives. Among the discussed benefits of work teams, include effective conflict resolution, improved communication within an organization, improved leadership, and clear definition of roles and responsibilities (Jon and Douglas, 2006). These benefits explain the reason why a team oriented approach is becoming the preferred approach adopted by most organizations to ensure improve organizational behavior and productivity. In essence, it could be impossible for organizations exist and thrive well without teams that bring employees and the organization more closely than ever through shared goals, problem solving, and innovation. The paper also discussed an approach of creating work team synergy to ensure success and effective goal realization. Clear definition of shared vision, values, and goals, employing good leadership skills, creating a positive working environment, and encouraging the values of trust, respect, and compassion among team members are some of the factors that help in creating a good and sustainable teamwork synergy. This will help bring about good coordination among the team members and thus the effective achievement of goals and objectives. In conclusion, teamwork approach is the focus of every leader to ensure that the success of every organization becomes the responsibility of the people working within it. Reference List Batt, R 2004, Who benefits from teams? Comparing workers, supervisors, and managers, Industrial Relations, vol. 43, no. 1, p. 183–212. Belanger, J., Edwards, P & Wright, M 2003, Commitment at work and independence from management: A study of advanced team working, Work and Occupations, vol. 30, no. 2, p. 234-252. Costa, C 2003, Work team trust and effectiveness, Personnel Review, vol. 32, no. 5, p. 605-423. Friedman, W & Casner-Lotto, J 2002, The power of teamwork, Worklife Report, vol. 14, no. 1, p. 8-9. Glassop, L 2002, The organizational benefits of teams, Human Relations, vol. 55, no. 2, p. 225- 249 Jon, R & Douglas, K 2006, The Wisdom of Teams-Creating the High Performance Organization, Collins Business Essentials. Kozlowski, S & Bell, B 2003, Work groups and teams in organizations. In W.C. 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