Team building refers to the process of establishing and developing a greater sense of collaboration and trust between team members (Wikipedia, 2007). Interactive exercises, team assessments, and group discussions enable groups to cultivate this greater sense of teamwork. Team building is used in many contexts, for example in sport and work organizations.
Need for Team Building
Modern society and culture continues to become more fluid and dynamic. The effect of this environment is that individuals are now required to work with many different groups of people in their professional as well as personal lives. Joining a new group and immediately being expected to get along with them is somewhat unnatural - historically humans have worked and lived in close-knit, stable societies. As such, people have had to develop methods to help people adapt to the new requirements. All kinds of people face the same difficulties. As of yet there are no generally agreed solution to the problem it may not even be possible given the thousands of years of cultural evolution that brought society to its present behavior patterns.
Team Building Ingredients
There are many ingredients that are seen as important to the successful set-up and launch of a team effort. These ingredients are selecting participants, establishing goals, assignment of roles, matching personality types, support
Team Building 3 within the team, and communication between team members and leaders (Lafasto, 2001).
Selecting participants
The first important ingredient for team building is selecting participants to be on the team. The team leader usually looks for specific skills in his or her members in order to ensure success in the project. It is important to have members who have confidence and are able to build trust among the other participants. A participant must also break out of his or her shell and become a leader. Most important, the participant must have a positive attitude at all times
References: Parker, Glenn M. (1990). Team and Teamwork. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Lafasto, F & Larson, C. (2001).When Teams Work Best. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Temme, J & Katzel, J. (1995). "Calling a team a team doesn 't mean that it is: successful teamwork must be a way of life. (teambuilding)." Plant Engineering 49.n1 Retrieved January 30, 2007, from InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. Team building. (2007, January 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia Retrieved: January 27, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Team_building&oldid=104071970 William G. Dyer. (1995). Team building: Current Issues and New Alternatives (3rd Edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall Mallet, Daniel. (2006). Teamwork Handbook. Retrieved January 30, 2007 from: http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~hoover/cmput401-2004-2005-fall/info/references/TeamWorkPapers/Mallett.pdf>.