Project Management : A New Modern Architect Building

Katzenbach and Smith (1993a) recognise teams as the basic units of performance in organisations and identify a team as '...a small number of people with complimentary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.'

Teams are used to serve a variety of functions for organizations. According to Levi (2007), teams are comprised of people working together on a common project for which they all are accountable. They are usually part of a larger organization and the members of the team have specific knowledge, skills, and abilities about the task at hand. A successful team from the team members’ point of view is one in which the team members focus on the internal operations, the contributions of the team members and how well they all work together. A successful team, from managements’ point of

Refer to definition of team, Larson& LaFasto (1989) concludes that a team is a unit of two or more people who interact and coordinate their work to accomplish a specific goal. There are three important components in the definition. Firstly, it should be more than two people. Teams can be large groups and mostly teams have fewer than 15 team member. Secondly, people should have regular interaction and communication with each other. Third, people have a same direction and share a common goal. That means team members collectively desire to achieve a goal. It is important that teams appear characteristics in organisations to internal processes and team performance. Team characteristics can be divided into three parts: team size, diversity and member roles. In terms of team size, psychologist Ivan Steiner found that when there are five people in a team and it still add additional members will caused a decline in motivation, an increase in coordination problems, even general performance will decline (Yang, 2006). Refer to diversity, Robinson & Dechant (1997) points out research supports the idea that diverse teams can produce more innovative and creative idea to solute different problem. In a successful team, in order to maintain its member communicated healthily and to finish its task, it is necessary to have two types of roles: task specialist and socio-emotional. As a manager, managing a team should choice right type of team to accomplish task and balance the size and diversity

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.

Teams exist because of the productivity of the whole team is greater than that which can be achieved by the individual contributions of its members. Establishing the team’s purpose, its role and responsibilities is key to achieving the development of a real team as everyone identifies their purpose within the group known and each individual becomes accountable for their contribution to the productivity of the team. Team members usually have complementary skills that the team leverage, creating synergy by maximising an individual’s strengths and minimising the impact of weakness.

Teams are more than just groups of people assembled in the same area, they are a collection of individuals dedicated to a common purpose and with a series of detailed performance targets, working together with complementary skills. Teams of people are encountered in various scenarios, not just in the workplace, but also throughout life, such as sports, associations, charities and voluntary services.

A team is a group of people who must interact with each other in order

Groups are dynamic in nature and are characterized by energy and vitality and growth and development (Carron & Eys, 2012). Although all teams are regarded as groups, not all groups can be regarded as teams (Franz, 2012). In this sense, team cohesion can be defined as special ingredients that change a collection of people into a team. This happens after the members have understood the dynamic of that team. Then the team members begin to interact with one another during the forming stage. Immediately after the process has been defined, the team members cease to intermingle with external entities in the same way as before and the team starts to become an entity in itself (Cox R.H., 2007).

Team effectiveness is often referred to as group effectiveness, it is the capacity a team has to accomplish the objectives administered by their management staff. A team is a group of individuals who are interdependent in their tasks, share responsibility for outcomes, and view themselves as a unit embedded in an organizational system which operates within the established boundaries of that system. Teams have established a synonymous relationship within the confines of processes and research relating to their effectiveness or group cohesiveness. Teams and their members are independent of each other's role, skill, knowledge or purpose versus teams and their members, who are interdependent upon each other's role, skill, knowledge and purpose.

A team is formed when a group of people come together to cooperatively, and collectively work together to accomplish a task or a goal. All members of the team are encouraged to contribute, and participate fully as each plays a crucial role to successfully accomplish

Katzenbach and Smith (1993) describe a team as “a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, perform goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.” These teams may range from sports teams to work teams which all work together towards a common purpose and the utilization of well-defined goals.

However, there is a great deal of dispute in the literature as to what constitutes a team. One common definition is: "a team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they are mutually accountable" (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993, cited by Pyatt 2007). Another definition is "people working together in a committed way to achieve a common goal or mission. The work is interdependent and team members share responsibility and hold themselves accountable for attaining the results" (MIT Information Services and Technology, cited by Pyatt 2007).

Every day in our life we come across challenges. It becomes imperative that we find solutions to them. Some problems we need to face alone and some we need to encounter as a team. I worked in several teams all my professional life and I believe that any task can be easily completed when there is coordination between the members of the team. In this reflection paper I would like to present my views on the importance of defining roles, advantages of being with the same team, challenges in a diversified group and the significance of trusting team members.

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