The Importance Of Team Identity

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.'

These characteristics may serve as the basis of stereotypes that obscure individual differences; prevent people from getting to know others as individuals; and acutely assessing their performance potential (Hunt, J., Osborn, R., Schermerhorn, J., 2005). On the other hand, the impact of demographic characteristics can promote team members to interact, which can contribute to high performance. Some teams who are subjected to demographic characteristics can learn to respect each member 's perspectives, and share the common organizational task.

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

Syer and Connolly 1996 believe that team members need to develop awareness of themselves and each other, and of their differences, through giving descriptive feedback. This allows appreciation of differences, good contact and improved communication. Trust, respect, team spirit and synergy may emerge. The notion of a cycle more easily depicts the kind of continuous process that teams go through and need to revisit as members are introduced or move on. The cycle suggests that skill and attention are required from the manager and from team members.

| “The top 10 features of an effective team are: * clear purpose; * open communication; * constructive conflict; * effective problem-solving and decision making; * defined roles, responsibilities and accountability; * strong relationships; * systems and procedures; * experimentation and creativity; * measurement and self-assessment; * shared leadership.” For a team to be effective, they need to have clear

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.

Team members are committed to the success of one another and to the team. This was seen through the tremendous amount of planning and organization that went on into the building of the house, but the most important key element of the team’s success was always communication.

Work Team development is a dynamic and often difficult process. Most teams find themselves in a continuos state of change and development. Eventhough, most teams never reach full stability, there is a general pattern that describes how most teams evolve. There are five stages of team development, the first stage is forming. In this stage there is a great deal of uncertainty about the teams purpose, structure and leadership. Members are testing the the waters to determine what types of behaviors are acceptable. This stage is complete when members began to think of themselves as part of the team. The second stage is called storming. In this stage there is much intragroup conflict.Team members accept the existence of the team, but there is resistance to the control that the team imposes on individuality. Conflict can arise from numerous sources within the team setting but generally falls into three categories:communication, factors, structural factors and personal factors (Varney, 1989/Townsley). In addition, there is conflict over who will control the team.

My team members are Sara, Wei, Rijuta, Rohit, and Craig. We are one of the more, if not most, culturally diverse groups in the class because we hail from China, India, New Zealand and the Philippines. When looking at our majors, there was not much diversity because five of us are in Marketing and only Rohit is in Global Business. Only four of us in Marketing have been classmates in the previous term and prior to this term, we never experienced working together as a team. Sara told us she wanted to be in a team where everyone would pull their own weight, and she said that it looked that each of us wanted the same thing. The six of us agreed to form a team because we all valued

The purpose of this assignment is for you to develop an understanding of the organisational goals of the team and how to motivate team members to achieve these.

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.

Thirdly, our communication skills were better enhanced and we were able to build up on our synergy levels. In such an environment where communication is open and free-flowing, people were able to bring in new ideas, concepts and attitudes which benefitted the entire group. The problem with ineffective communication, especially where diverse groups are involved is that issues such as stereotyping are bound to crop up. This, in turn, caused team members to become increasingly self-conscious and often kept to themselves for fear of being judged. Much to it, the aspect of self-disclosure becomes almost elusive because no one is willing to step out of their comfort zone and steer a relevant discussion to the project at hand. In a scenario whereby team members are free to talk and express their ideas and feelings without being judged, the fear of revealing one’s true self is diminished tremendously (Peri et al., 2000). This is because such an environment fosters trust, values and ethics. Contrary to this, an environment that is characterized by prejudices and presumptions about others disintegrates this trust and often results to reduced productivity among the members. Cooperation and trust are two aspects that often determine the overall performance of a group. Where there is trust, team players become

Commitment and involvement- the team should be able to understand the goals and should be committed in achieving them

team reach its one and only goal, which is for the team to succeed. This also applies for the

What are the advantages and disadvantages of working in teams? By reference to relevant theory show how can the disadvantages be reduced or avoided.