Why Do Many Managers Prefer That Their Employees Work in Teams - Coursework Example

TEAMWORK IN ORGANIZATIONS Why Do Many Managers Prefer That Their Employees Work In Teams Name Course Instructor 13 September 2012 Team working is understood as a concept that refers to a range of practices inclusive of work patterns, continuance and the improvement of problem solving (Thompson & Wallace, 1996, p.109) within an organization. In this regard, a modern view of teamwork is based on increasing motivation in the workplace especially at the individual level (Mueller, 1994, p.386). Normally, working as a team involves the workers coming together in groups, getting involved with an organizations decision making process, increasing motivation as well as better relations and a good working environment. It is however questionable on how team work does work, especially, when an organizational structure does not have adequate people to play the role of a team leader, independence, low motivation as well as drastic change in the management structure in terms of choosing a team based organizational structure (Buchanan, 1994). Increase in stress as well as improper allocation of team roles, can potentially have a negative impact on the success of using team work as a basis for management. However, it can be attributed that team work is the best especially for a large organization and business in the modern society. A high performance business or organization is what many mangers would want to associate themselves with and success of an organization depends on the employees motivation levels. Team work has been isolated in many instances to be a major contributor to the success of any business organization as well it will result in a higher level of normative integration (Findlay et al. 2000). Commonly it has been divided into three substantive categories in Thomsons and Wallace (1996) and Findlay et al. (2000) that of technical, normative dimensions and governance in teamwork. In this categories, the technical aspects involves the managerial interests in the teams based on the tasks that the team undertakes , the normative aspects involves the social changes and attitudes of the members of the team with the governance involving the decision making process and the responsibilities. Firstly, a manager would desire to adopt team working as a management strategy for an organization to work effectively (Proctor & Currie, 2002 p.304) based on the fact that the employees are the people who make the majority of an organization. A team is considered as the basic organizational unit (Thompson & Wallace, 1996), but what is at the focus is the organization rather than the team as per Proctor & Currie (2002, p. 304).The dynamism of a team is mainly based on the attitude, of each member of the team that can easily lead to difficulties (Parker, 1996), that is why a manager should be able to adopt a proper team working strategy in management. The main reason why a manager would regard team work as important is to increase the motivation of the employees within the business (Muller 1994, p.386). Motivation is a driver for any employee to work focusing on the outcome, as well as an environment for working would be provided to them. This aspect of teamwork, in enhancing motivation provides a basis for an improvement in manager-employee relationship as well as employee-employee relationship within the work environment. Conflicts would be avoided, there would be a build of trust, and the communication system would be greatly improved with a development in the interdependence levels (Oakland, 1996, p.12). Further Oakland attest that team working is sufficient to boost the morale of the employees hence their outcome would be more satisfactory to the manager (1996, p.12). A team based approach in management, would mean that there would be a widening of the range of different tasks that are to be undertaken by an individual within the team (Dunphy & Bryant, 1996). This would mean that work within the organization would be improved, based on the expectation placed on an individual within the group. New kinds of work might crop up within the team, giving rise to new problem-solving system and improvement in the activities carried on by the organization. Better communication as well as responsibility within the organizational framework would be improved, compared to having only an autonomous manager (Findlay et al. 2000). Performance levels is usually of great concern for any manager in an organization, as identified by Cohen et al. (1996) in considering the “predictive model” in performance of teams, it was identified that it involves; task design, supervisory behaviour, group characteristics and the organizational context. This variables need to be considered in ensuring that a manager runs a good team in ensuring that they do give a high variety, autonomy, identity, significance and feedback to attain the desired performance(Cohen& Ledford, 1994). For instance Procter and Currie identify how Inland Revenue uses the team working management strategy to improve the employee performance within the public sector (2002, pp.304). Additionally, team working can be considered as means of allowing individuals within the organization to increase the scope of their skills and experiences and provides a foundation for continuous improvements as identified by McCabe (2000). Team working is considered to be a positive means for which an employee can improve their scope of working as well as make one competitive within the organization. Competition is enhanced by good communication of employees within the group as well as sharing of information guarantees that a manager gets the best from their employees (Ezzamel & Hugh, 1998). The organizations goals, mission and vision also guarantees that there are no divisions within the organization and that the normative dimensions of team working (Mueller, 1994) is promoted within the organization. The main question is what makes team work in any given business or organization. Teamwork works well if there is an effective team leader. Team leadership is at the core and central to the success of any given them, because a team leader is vested with the role of rallying people , giving compelling purpose and direction, as well as giving direction( Karau & Johnson, 1998). Sharing of power is enhanced making it quite effective rather than focusing power on a manager or on one person. What makes team work is the concept that any person is given the chance to lead a team, decision making process takes the opinions of all other members of the team hence giving a varied and dynamic means of running the organization or the business as a manager. A work team is a collection of employees empowered to plan, organize, direct and control their own works, with their “manager” or “team leader” playing the role of a coach rather than a “boss” (Marks et al. 2001). In this case the organizational structure is decentralized as opposed to a hierarchy system of management. The success of teamwork is based on the fact that power and autonomy is spread even to the lower level s of the management as well as promoting participation. The fact that power is decentralized means that there is no over control by a manager, and delegation of duties increasing motivation. Team work will be effective if the managers would maintain participation and empowerment, because the manager should not give the workers control, and later have it taken away altogether (Ricky, 2012, p.462). The manager must be able to work in the best interest of their employees to ensure that they are motivated to perform in their given tasks. Griffin states that in the decentralization of power , the manager need to be systematic and patient , and should not turn over power and control quickly, as this can lead to a disaster (2012, p.462). Proper training on team work to all employees would go a long way in guaranteeing that a manager successfully initiates the team work system of organization (Wright & Edwards, 1998). The main critics to the team work are that it leads to the intensification of work and an enhancement in how management is controlled (Turnbull, 1986). It is considered that any manager who chooses teamwork would be working under a stressful environment, because of its imposition to the employees. It is crucial for any manager who wants to use teamwork to find a suitable way of introducing it to the workers, rather than by imposition. In this regard a manager should seek consensus rather than impose the concept on the workers hence causing an unreasonable strain on the workers (Sinclair, 1992, p.621). Another critic is based on the workers previous life experiences and working relations as well as identity that can make them susceptible to working in groups or teamwork. Any given manager cannot find team players without considering how they do respond and interpret team work, before you find a team player. McCabe states that if team work is introduced in new management, a problem would bound to arise especially when one attains to control labour within the organization (1996). The failure of a manger to identify and give clear roles for the team has been an area of failure especially when advocating for team working in an organization (Kirkman et al. 2000, p.74) A team can have a team leader, a facilitator, an organizer and the team members, without a clear definition of their roles within the organization, then conflicts, and disputes would bound to arise. A manager choosing a team work based organization, should clearly identify the roles to be played by all the team members within the entire business and management structure. For instance a Self-Managing work teams (SMWTS) as identified by Kirkman et al. (2000, p.74) would be best in managing and creating a manageable team for any organizations success. This kind of option gives team members the upper hand in managing themselves, assigning jobs, planning, scheduling work, making proper service-related decisions as well as solving problems actionably (Wellins et al. 1990). In instances where a teamwork management system fails, the team leader can choose to revert to a “command and control” style due to pressure especially when they are faced with short-term production and financial targets (Watson & Rosborough, 2000). This is mainly caused where the team members are given freedom that they themselves cannot handle and tend to abuse it, leading to poor performance. Employee’s failure to perform within a team, only means that the team leader would assume full responsibility, giving rise to a burden placed on a team leader to ensure that the team works and performs as if it were in an autonomous structure of management. In conclusion, team work essentially involves bring together employees or workers in an organization in a decentralized manner playing different roles. This is opposed to a system of management, where only the manager has a say in the decision making process, quite autonomous and the employees are demotivated. The major aspects of using team work for any organization is to improve the employee performance, reduce conflict within the organization as well as improve the manager-employee relationship (Vallas, 2003). Decentralization of power as well as delegation of duties and assignment of roles would improve an employee’s performance and relations. The team work based approach to management works properly as long as the members of the team have well assigned roles and a proper team structure is established, without this there is no guarantee of success. However, despite the option of having a teamwork system, there are a lot of critics on the unworkability of team work mainly centered on the increase workload. The belief of individual motivation as opposed to group motivation is centered on a workers experience as well as the experiences one has had. Imposing group dynamics in an organization as opposed to a consensus would guarantee its failure when introduced as a management option for any organization. Team work can be the best and ideal system of management as opposed to a hierarchical system of governance, as long as it is implemented and introduced in the correct way, acceptable and proper roles are defined within the entire structure. List of References Buchanan, D, 1994, Principles and Practice in Work Design, In Sission, K. (Ed), Personnel Management: a Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice in Britain, 2nd Ed, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 85-116. 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Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice Vol.2 , no. 3, pp.185-191. Kirkman, B, 2000,Why do employees resist teams? Examining the resistance barrier to work team effectiveness, International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 11, no. 1. Marks, MA, John EM, & Stephen J Z, 2001, A Temporally Based Framework and Taxonomy of Team Processes, Academy of Management Review ,Vol.26 , no.3, pp.356-376. McCabe, D, 2000, The team dream: the meaning and experience of team working for employees in an automobile manufacturing company, In S. Proctor and F. Mueller (eds), Teamworking, Macmillan, Basingstoke. Mueller, F, 1994, Teams Between Hierarchy and Commitment: Change Strategies and the Internal Environment, Journal of Management Studies, vol.31, no.3. Oakland, JC, 1996, Total Quality Management: A Practical Approach,European Centre For Total Quality Management, University of Bradford Management Centre. Pollert, A, 1992, “Team Work” on the Assembly Line: Contradiction and the Dynamics of Union Resilience, In Ackers, P, Smith, C, & Smith, P, (eds) The New Workplace and Trade Unionism ,London Routledge, pp. 178-209. Proctor, S & Currie G, 2002, How teamworking works in the Inland Revenue: Meaning, operation and impact, Personnel Review, vol.31, no.3. Thompson, P & McHugh, D, 2002, Work Organisations, 3rd edn, Palgrave, Basingstoke. Thompson, P & Wallace, T, 1996, Redesigning Production Through Teamworking: Case Studies from the Volvo Truck Corporation, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, vol.16, no.2, pp. 103-118. Vallas S, 2003, Why Teamwork Fails: Obstacles to Workplace Change in Four Manufacturing Plant, American Sociological Review, vol. 68, no. 2. Watson T and Rosborough J. (2000), Teamworking and the Management of flexibility : local and social-structural tensions in high performance work design initiatives, In Procter, S. and Mueller , F. (Eds), Teamworking ,Macmillan, London , pp.162-179 Wright W & Edwards P, 1998, Does Teamworking Work, and if so, Why?, A Case Study in the Aluminium Industry, Economic and Industrial Democracy, vol. 19. Read More