Building Effective Teams

Running head: BUILDING EFFECTIVE TEAMS 1

Building Effective Teams

Sitara Monnappa

Capella University

BUILDING EFFECTIVE TEAMS 2

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According to Katzenbach & Smith (2004, p. 5), a team “is a small number of people with

complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and

approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable” (as cited in Bertland, 2012, p.

2). Every business plan that involves people from different functional areas of an organization,

working together as a team, has to address many considerations in order to achieve the desired

goals. These considerations range from selecting team members to measuring the team’s

performance.

The Functional Areas to Include within an Organizational Team

Employees selected for a team should have the right combination of skills and personal

attributes (Winston, 2016), in order to ensure amicable relationships among team members and

to meet the goals (Alencar & de Almeida, 2010). For a firm deploying a team to develop a

proposal for a new business model and growth strategies, the team members will be selected

from different functional areas. They will work together for close to a year to develop a business

model that supports the growth plan. The three functional areas from which employees will be

selected for the team include the following:

• Sales and Marketing: This area is usually involved with developing and marketing products

at prices that can guarantee an appropriate return on the investment for the firm. Team

members from this area will be able to provide inputs about customer preferences (Engelman,

2007) and competitors’ products and marketing strategies. Thus, their inputs will help create a

business model that considers the interests of external stakeholders like customers and

competitors.

Comment [HM1]: Sitara, please review the format for citing indirect sources in in text citations.

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• Finance and Accounts: This is the functional area that helps plan the budget for different

sectors of the company and manage the cash flow for the project proposed in the business

plan (“Roles and Responsibilities,” 2011). Team members from this area will provide inputs

about investors, dividends, and other financial policies that can help the team create a

business model that is financially feasible.

• Production: This area, which is concerned with the manufacturing of products, will ensure

that production proceeds as economically as possible, while maintaining the required quality

standards (“The Functional Areas,” n.d.). Team members from this area will help in the

implementation of the proposed business model and the growth strategies by suggesting the

best production techniques and methods based on their expertise.

When people from different functional areas are brought together, their interests and ways of

working could conflict. Therefore, identifying and selecting people with characteristics that

make them good team players is crucial.

Characteristics of Effective Team Members

• They understand and are committed to team objectives.

• They are problem solvers who do not blame each other, but discuss and collaborate to form

solutions and action plans (Garfinkle, 2016).

• They discuss different opinions to reach a common consensus and actively involve other team

members while making decisions.

• They trust other team members and are respectful and tolerant of individual differences.

• They understand that they are responsible for their individual duties in a team and accept

feedback for their work and behavior (Collins, n.d.).

BUILDING EFFECTIVE TEAMS 4

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In sum, attributes that make a good team are empathy, flexibility, trust, leadership, and

initiative (Mole, n.d.). When team members have such attributes, the team will function

cohesively. Team members should also have common goals for team achievement, and there

should be clear communication about individual goals (Scholtes, 1988).

Tools to Ensure that the Team Understands its Objectives

Drafting a team charter which includes the team’s purpose, project duration and plan,

names of team members, the desired end result, and a reporting plan stating how frequently the

progress of the team should be recorded and reported. It will provide the direction in which the

team will go forward to achieve its goals (Butler, 2013). The new team members can be asked to

develop mission and goals statements as a team-building task (Scholtes, 1988).

In addition, clear communication between the team members allows better understanding

of the team objectives. An initial team meeting can be organized in which the objectives and the

agenda of the team can be explained to team members. Online collaboration platforms

(collaborative workspaces) such as TeamWorkLive.com, teleconference tools, and chat tools can

improve communication among team members (“Online Collaboration Tools,” 2016).

Failure to communicate the team’s objectives to the members may result in conflict.

Team members may not understand what roles and responsibilities they must assume. There

might be an overlap of tasks, and some tasks could be completely overlooked, leading to

confusion (Joseph, 2016).

Strategies for Delegating Tasks

Comment [HM2]: What does this mean? What is an example of such a goal? As the team’s leader how would you facilitate the development of such goals.

Comment [HM3]: Carefully proofread to ensure the sentence structure enables you to convey the meaning that you intend. For example, removing the word “which” would enable your sentence to be complete and effective.

BUILDING EFFECTIVE TEAMS 5

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To improve the efficiency of the team, team members will be delegated tasks according

to their skills and expertise (Sohmen, 2013). Since people feel more committed to their duties

when they are part of the decision-making process, the delegation process will be discussed with

team members (Zwilling, 2013). Team members will be informed about what resources,

including human resources, they can use to complete the tasks delegated to them. Each team

member should be held accountable for the work delegated (Williams, n.d.).

Building Trust and Respect among Team Members

Since members are going to be deployed from different areas, trust and respect are crucial

for the smooth working of the team. Clear and concise communication between team members

will build trust. If the employees are from different cultures, training them to be culturally

sensitive will help build tolerance and respect within the team. Team members should feel like

they are a part of the larger organization, not alienated from their team leaders and managers.

Open and multi-directional communication must be encouraged (Compton, 2008). Good

nonverbal communication such as eye contact and appropriate body language will allow the team

leaders to gain their teams’ trust and respect (Chhay & Kleiner, 2013).

Resolving Conflicts among Team Members

Differences among team members in terms of power, values, and attitudes could lead to

conflicts (Carole, n.d.). The problem-solving approach, which can be used to resolve intergroup

conflict, involves the collaboration of all team members to optimize results by merging the

insight, experience, knowledge, and perspective of each team member. In tougher situations, the

compromise approach, which involves negotiation between conflicting parties to reach a

common resolution, will have to be used.

Comment [HM4]: With whom will they discuss the delegation process? Will you as the team’s leader discuss this with them? What is your role?

Comment [HM5]: Will a structure be put into place to facilitate such accountability? Again, what is your role?

Comment [HM6]: Excellent! This is very important.

Comment [HM7]: What is the means by which such a process occurs? For example, regular meetings? One-on-one coaching?

Comment [HM8]: How will this process be facilitated? Will you as the team’s leader facilitate such a process?

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If conflicts between team members are not successfully resolved, it could demoralize

people and weaken relationships. A work team that is unsuccessful in resolving conflict will not

be cohesive and innovative. It could also result in damaged communication channels, leading to

project cancellation and failure to reach the planned goals (Sikes, Gulbro, & Shonesy, 2010).

Measuring the Success of the Team

Once a team has been put together and starts performing, measuring its performance and

outcome is vital. The synergy and cohesiveness in the team will reflect the success of the team as

these factors indicate how well members from different functional areas coordinate their work so

as to maximize productivity. The amount of innovation is another measure of team success since

it implies that people in the team appreciate and respect each other’s ideas and work together to

make those ideas materialize. The 360-degree-feedback method can help measure each team

member’s contribution to the team by taking into account the opinions of employees at all levels

of the organization (“The Top 8 Methods,” n.d.).

Conclusion

Building an effective team requires training and preparation, active listening, open communication, and a knowledge of the behaviors, perceptions, and personalities shared among

the members. The vision and integrity of team leaders should motivate employees to work in

collaboration to reach the plan’s goal. An effective team is one in which the different ideas of

individuals are respected and collaborated, leading to innovation.

Comment [HM9]: How is innovation measured?

Comment [HM10]: How might such a process be actualized within the context of the entire organization level? Is this realistic? How would such input be solicited from such a broad scope of participants?

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Comment [HM11]: Use “sentence case” when writing titles in a reference list. This means that the first word is the only word capitalized, unless there is a colon in the title. In this instance the first word after the colon is also capitalized.

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Copyright ©2016 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document is prohibited.

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