Importance of Workgroups

Part One:
Importance of Work Groups
11/15/12
Andrew Humpert
MGT 211
Mr. Dumas

Sometimes we over look the little things that management does to ensure our productivity and general well being as employees. One of these is the use of work groups. It’s a small thing yes, but it has big results. In some research it has proven to more than just improve productivity. You might think that working in teams means that you get to do less work. The employees are likely to grant this as an advantage and it is. Only its advantage is more than they might think. In the article Teamwork in the Workplace they spell out team to mean: T-Together E-Everyone A-Achieves M-More. So allow me to show you the way that it really helps.
In teams it’s likely that they will go through 4 stages: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. (Workplaces That Work) Each stage is necessary and useful to the groups functioning. Each stage is a new step not only in their production of project but their roles as a whole evolving within the group. It’s an important view to hold. So let us take a look at what each stage entails.
The first stage, Forming, starts as the team is formed. In this stage individuals desire to be accepted by others so they avoid controversy, conflict or serious issues. For now team member focus mainly on routines. At this time the members are assessing one another and the scope of the task and how to approach the task. (Workplaces That Work)
The next stage, Storming, occurs as the more important issues start to be addressed. In this stage minor confrontations can arise about the team. The issues may be dealt with quickly or ignored. This is when the more astute group members will like that fact that real issues are starting to surface while others will feel uncomfortable. (Workplaces That Work)
The third stage, Norming, occurs as the team becomes more established. Confrontation are now more prevalent and allow other members to get to know each other better. Roles of the group will become clearer and members will be listening to each other better and identifying themselves as part of a group. In fact in some groups the fact that so much work was invested in reaching this stage may mean group members become reluctant to change anything. (Workplaces That Work)
The fourth stage, Performing, occurs as the team becomes more interdependent, even flexible. Typically team members trust each other well and focus turns completely to the task as hand. In the comfort of this stage roles can change as needed. Although this is ideal and does happen often, not all group will reach a stage like this. (Workplaces That Work)
The last stage, Adjourning, is much like it sound. It’s the stage of the team when things start to wind down. Team members may movew on from the team or from the task. Team members will have a sense of achievement and with any luck a small sense of loss. (Workplaces That Work)
As I’ve said the stages and how they work are important. However, equally important is what the team members get out of the experience. They get more than just a sense of accomplishment. They can learn and grow as an employee and as part of the business. There are several ways this can occur. I will explain just a few of the numerous advantages and employee and business related benefits of working in teams. In working in teams an employee tends to learn faster. Some of the more experienced workers are able to work with the less experienced and lend their knowledge to help the team work more efficiently. It also allows for fewer mistakes to be made. (Deshmukh, 2011) However, it has been said that a team is only as strong as its weakest link. As much as this may be true, it also stands to reason that the weakest link cannot get stronger without further information. In working in teams there is power in combining the talents of many individuals and strong teams contribute more than the sum of their parts. (Workplaces That Work) The biggest advantage, in an employee’s eyes, would be the workload distribution. Although it may look to them like they got a smaller amount of work to do, it’s also a great way to get more accurate levels of information. They are focused a smaller portion of the work therefore can do a more thorough job. It also creates a healthy level of competition among the team members. They are all helping each other with work related problems and the part in all of us that wants to be superior is nagging at the back of our minds to always have the answer. In this the employees are constantly doing as much as they can to stay on top of their own topics as well as the others in the group. (Deshmukh, 2011) The competition does two major things for workplace. The first is it increases creativity. When you have others to bounce your ideas off of you are more likely to find a better solution. However, if you are trying to bounce ideas off of another employee who is competing, although implicitly, you are likely to find even more innovative ways to attack a problem. The second is increasing your speed of work. With many people working on the same project, it’s reasonable to assume that you will get the work done faster than if one single person was working on the project. (Deshmukh, 2011) Although there is much competition there is also much communication. Teams cannot work without them. It takes any sort of competition within the team without it. In a team communication is promoted in several ways. There’s all of a sudden a very new environment when there are teams. Ideally input from every employee is valued. There are then more experienced employees who have seen what works and what doesn’t and there are then newer employees who are more apt to think of new innovative ideas that perhaps haven’t been previously enforced. (Workplaces That Work)
Teams also take the pressure of full decision making off of one single person. It’s allows the team as a whole to decide the best course of action. There are many things that can be done in many different ways. But with a whole team of people to decide what to do you might find that it is something that can take on a whole new meaning of efficiency. This not only works in small project teams but in whole organization management teams as well. (Workplaces That Work)
Even though teams are very useful in the work place you also need to be aware of when the appropriate times are to use them. Groups function best when they have ample time to meet, discuss issues and resolve problems. If you need an immediate decision, teams probably aren’t the best way to go. (Burley) If you find a bigger problem with time to be address however this is a very good time to use a team effort. It’s also a good idea to use teams as an educational tool. As I’ve stated earlier, teams can learn from their more experienced co-workers. Therefore splitting them up into such groups on bigger or more time consuming projects allows for greater learning and productivity ideals. (Burley)
Although teams are great for creativity purposes, it’s a good idea to keep them sort of structured. Teams are not created by blindly picking out whoever is first at hand. They should be carefully chosen. Depending on the issue at hand in the project team you may need to have a manager, board member, or volunteers as well as your basic staff on a team. (Burley) You also must be able to be clear on your objectives. Make sure every member know exactly what they are expected to do and be on a reasonable time frame. Because teams are usually used on bigger project you might want to take into consideration that it will likely take longer than individual projects, even with the expected higher efficiency of teams. As I’ve mentioned before, communication is a key point in the smooth running of a team. Therefore it is important that you make sure that the team knows how it should communicate. Often in teams, members will communicate using several different methods. (Burley) For instance if it’s a small update on a members progress in their part they might just e-mail a report. However, if it’s a bigger update to see how the group as a whole is doing, you might want to set up a meeting for all of the members to be present. Like everything else in the business world, team work is a balancing act. If you get too much of one thing in the group and not enough of another it can topple the whole effect you are trying to conceive in such an experiment. But perhaps that’s just what team work is, an experiment. You are not likely to get the teams right the first try. You may need to rearrange team choices and communication choices, before you get the desired result. In the end I think it’s a worthwhile and rather important issues business may want to pursue. It may be even more important, given the recent technological age. It’s something that will force businesses to work with more space between face to face contacts. In order to force more communication team work may be the best option that businesses have.
I believe in order to keep a business running you have to really have all the parts moving together. If we don’t move together then how do we keep progressing forward? If you have all kinds of different parts going different directions you won’t get anywhere. In this day and age, creativity and innovation are the biggest tools we have to navigating our economy. Without that then what do we have? A world full of nothing but the sameness and we see how far that’s gotten us. If teams are going to cause new and creative ideas, then why not use them? It may be the key to the success of your business.

References
Burley, K. (n.d.). Roles of Groups in the Workplace. Retrieved from Chron: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/roles-groups-workplace-18295.html
Deshmukh, U. (2011, December 07). Teamwork in the Workplace. Retrieved from Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/teamwork-in-the-workplace.html
Workplaces That Work. (n.d.). Retrieved from HR Council for the Nonprofit Sector: http://hrcouncil.ca/hr-toolkit/workplaces-team-work.cfm

References: Burley, K. (n.d.). Roles of Groups in the Workplace. Retrieved from Chron: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/roles-groups-workplace-18295.html Deshmukh, U. (2011, December 07). Teamwork in the Workplace. Retrieved from Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/teamwork-in-the-workplace.html Workplaces That Work. (n.d.). Retrieved from HR Council for the Nonprofit Sector: http://hrcouncil.ca/hr-toolkit/workplaces-team-work.cfm