Definition Of Team, Larson & Lafasto ( 1989 )

According to the video, the characteristics of an effective team are, “size of the team, diversity of its members, and roles. Teams of seven or less are generally more effective. Smaller teams: reach agreement, share opinions, and ask more questions. Larger teams: disagreements, less participation, and more demands on the team leader. Successful teams require a diversity of knowledge, skills, perspectives, and experience.” (Chapter 18 Teamwork at Cold Stone Creamery)

Teams consist of personnel with varied backgrounds, experience, education, and intellectual ability. These differences will, by nature lend themselves to varying perceptions in business, its problems and solutions, which result in

Teams have become very common and effective since they have proven to be effective in areas as cost reduction, developing new and innovative products, and improving quality (Effective Human relation, 2008). Team development is supported, in fact, required by almost all managements today, but still it may take quite a long time for the members to learn the task and activities and to fit themselves in the particular environment. Team work may vary as the organization or company varies. Team work involves a lot of important aspects such as relationships, cooperation, learning, leadership etc. since a team works together in

A successful team can be represented by various characteristics which include respect for one another, a sense of purpose, commitment to the aims of the team which are demonstrated every day by each team member and regular communication between team members.

Teams are an integral component of organizational success. They take on many forms and functions and can have various structures. Teams also conduct a wide variety of projects with goals of innovation or mitigation. An example, from my experience, of a project that required the execution from a team was the establishment of a finished goods inventory program within a paper manufacturing company. A project of this magnitude required that a diverse and multifaceted team be assembled.

In the article of Polzer (2003), it was stated that choosing the appropriate team members could be the trickiest part of designing a team yet it is also of great importance. For a team to work, the right mix of individual should be selected. There should be a right mix of technical and interpersonal skills between team member together with the right level of diversity, and everyone’s roles are clearly differentiated (Polzer, 2003). Team size, individual skills, diversity, defining formal roles, and formal leadership should be taken into consideration during the selection process. Team size is the “most fundamental starting point for choosing team members” (Polzer, 2003, p.7). It is not always the more, the better in this case. The leader during selection should consider the task they need to accomplish, the skills of the members, and the deadline of a task. As an example, it will be easier to relay information to five people than twelve people as it could take twice the effort in doing it. However, as mentioned earlier, it always depends on the project, task, goal, time, and the people involved.

 Set limits on what members can do  Teams perform better.  Understand individual strengths and weaknesses  Optimistic role on diversity  Smaller teams are more effective  Effective with just enough people to complete task  Gives an option  Allows to have high and low performing teams  All members must share workload  Delegate responsibility  Allows teamwork

Teamwork also plays a significant role in a company’s communication structure, when leading or managing a team you will be diversity. Whether its gender, race, culture,

All with differing skills and levels of experience, to allow a service to be provided efficiently and effectively. Each member of the team has a purpose and a function within that team, so the overall success depends on a functional interdependency. There is usually not as much room for conflict when working as a team. The team also does not rely on groupthink to arrive at its conclusions.

Realizing that a group can become a high performance team is important. Accomplishing this goal is invaluable, advantageous and profitable. Once able to operate from a group to the high performing team is a great step into preparation into the big business world. Leaders and members must also realize not only how to accomplish this but that some problems will and can arise from different demographic characteristics and cultural diversity. That is if one is in such a group, which the probability would be quite high.

In many aspects of our life, it is pervasive to work in a team. No matter in company, school, or another type of team it is necessary to be a part of a team and to achieve a team goal by corporations. People join a team with different personalities, goals, values, beliefs and needs. On the one hand, these differences can be a valuable quality of teams. On the other hand, these same differences inevitably lead to different levels of conflicts as well.

Teamwork is defined in Webster's New World Dictionary as "a joint action by a group of people, in which each person subordinates his or her individual interests and opinions to the unity and efficiency of the group." This does not mean that the individual is no longer important; however, it does mean that effective and efficient teamwork goes beyond individual accomplishments. The most effective teamwork is produced when all the individuals involved harmonize their contributions and work towards a common goal.

The personal style and personalities of each member in a group may be influence their team effectiveness. Individuals will tend to play an important role in a group and depend on their personality and working group style. To improve a team and effectiveness in project or working, each team member need to understand the role of every member in a group. With 3 contemporary theories of team roles to use in our group is:

To fully discuss this topic, we must start with a simple definition of a team. Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith define a team in their best-selling book The Wisdom of Teams (Harper Business Essentials 1994), as

A team is a group of people working together to achieve the same objectives. Katzenbach and Smith state in their report The Discipline of Teams (1993) that ‘the essence of a team is common commitment. Without it, groups perform as individuals; with it, they become a powerful unit of collective performance.’ Throughout this study, I will analyse the many different advantages and disadvantages of working in teams and its effects on team members and their performance and commitment within the team. I will consider many different aspects of team work and refer to certain established theories in