Teamwork Definition

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.'

Teamwork is a group of people who work together toward a specific goal regardless of personal feelings toward one another. A team will use their individual skills and provide constructive feedback to each other.

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

Team work means that a shared sense of purpose is felt and a common purpose is identified. This bonds individuals into a team and creates the ideal scenario for success and achievement.

A team is something more than a collection of individuals. Teamwork is a group of people working together to achieve the same goal. The whole is more than a sum of the parts. A team can be identified by evidence of some or all of the following:

What is a team work? Team work can be defined as when actions of individuals are brought together for the purpose of a common goal. Each person in a team puts his efforts to achieve the objectives of large group. Teams make efforts to achieve the success but not necessarily the success is achieved every time. Within a team every member plays a role to achieve the team’s objectives. These roles add new and important dimensions to interactions of team members. Bruce Tuckman’s team development theory provides a way to tackle the tasks of making a team through the completion of the project. On the part of the team every member played an important role to achieve the success at

Hoegl & Gemuenden (2001) observed that the definition of teamwork is a social system including more than three people in an organization or context. These members identity others as one member of the team and they have the same goal. Robbins (2001) stated that the factors influencing teamwork are relation of leadership, roles, principles, status, size, composition and the power of agglomerate.

What is teamwork? Teamwork is defined as "a formal work group consisting of people who work together intensely to achieve a common group goal." (University of Phoenix, Apollo Library, 2007). A group becomes a team when members demonstrate a commitment to one another to reach a common goal. There is a high degree of cohesiveness and accomplishment in a team. Simply put two heads are often better than one. (University of Phoenix, Apollo Library, 2007). Teamwork can help us communicate in many ways.

The features of effective team performance are set out in Brian Tuckman’s phases of team development theory, ‘Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing.’ This outlines the phases that a team will go through in order to become effective and reach maturity. At the ‘Forming’ stage of team development individual roles and responsibilities are unclear and each member of the team is concerned to avoid conflict with each other. From this point the team will go through the ‘Storming’ phase which is when they start to conflict as individuals put forward ideas which will be challenged by others in a bid to gain power and position over others. After this the ‘Norming’ phase follows and it is at this point that individual roles are defined and accepted

Defining the way a team works is important as it creates a sense of stability, helps prevent confusion, aids communication, enforces standards, makes routine tasks quicker and makes required time frames run consistently.

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.

communication, job focused, problem-solving, joint responsibility, and original approach. High-performance teams must be self directed, integrated production technologies, and organized. To build a high-performance team the group must focus on reliance, self-assurance, and the ability to work as group skills, flexibility and detailing the team process as its goes on. According to today's competitive business environment demands increased productivity, better quality, shortened response time, and lower costs.

Teamwork is the backbone of effective communication and the crucial cog that keeps the wheel of successful project management turning. The role of teamwork in enhancing problem solving skills, cohesion, learning, and productivity can no longer be ignored. Proper teamwork plays an integral role in promoting the effective implementation and fulfillment of shared goals in a team project in a manner that is better and quicker. Team work also provides a solid platform on which team members can take on different responsibilities and contribute in ways that together makes the entire team an effective unit.

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.

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