Creating High Performance teams in the workplace Essay

Creating High Performance teams in the workplace - Essay Example A group of six to seven people does not comprise a team. Teams are a group of individuals within a group with a common goal (Griffin &Moorhead, 2011, p.268). Groups and teams are not the same as group is a collection of people who may not have the same goal but in team the goal remains the same for every team member (Griffin &Moorhead, 2011, p.268). In a team, the decisions are taken either by the group together or a single person who may have better skills and expertise (Katzenbach & Smith, 2001, p.8). In a team, there is a continuous and a rigorous assessment of the performance of the team members (Katzenbach & Smith, 2001, p.9). Team activities help a person to inculcate leadership qualities in his personality (Franz, 2012, p.5). Features and benefits of team working Collaboration- In a team, the members work together to fulfill the common goal. Effective team work can produce tangible and intangible benefits for an organization in the form of increase in the quantity of the produ cts and increased customer satisfaction (Parker, 2011, p.5). Communication- In a team work, communication plays a major role. The leader would communicate with his team members on a regular basis as a good team cannot be built unless there is proper orchestration or communication of thoughts (Pritchett, 1992, p.2). Reducing complexity- Any activity that is first sorted out within a team will help to reduce its complicity and chaos in the operation (Willcocks & Morris, 1997, p.8). Balance of individual contribution – In a team, every member contributes his knowledge and expertise. The dominant members also contribute their expertise but they do not suppress the opinion of the others (Clutterbuck, 2007, p.70). The team leader would try to ensure that there is no imbalance in this regard Mutual support- In a team, the members mutually supports each other and help in continuous improvement (Goethals, et al., 2004, p.1533). Mutual trust can help the team to establish a work climat e and a communication process (Barner & Barner, 2012, p.40). Effort- The effectiveness of a team performance is assessed by its efforts. The effort that a team might put in depends on the task which should be motivating for the team members (Parcon, 2006, p.92). Cohesion - Team cohesion describes the way the team comes together in a social work (Kornspan, 2009, p.57). There is a positive relationship between performance level and cohesion in a team (Jowett, 2007, p.95). Effective ways to create high performance teams There can be many ways and tactics to create a high performance teams. a few aspects like bonding pattern in newly hired team, removing low morale in the project team, the team fit , resolving conflicts and increasing participation and creativity in the team can lead to a high performing team. It is often observed that new recruits or people joining an organization in their teams face difficulty and are uncomfortable with the environment. Also, sometimes the people with in a team feel isolated due to the factors like loneliness, new environment etc. This can harm the productivity of the team to a great extent (Roussel, 2011, p.244). So, the manager needs to make the new recruit comfortable with the team. Organizations face problems where there is inconsistency in the fit amongst the workers. In a team, some people can be productive working in a traditional work environment but as the working environment changed, there may be situations where these workers may not be able to work with