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Teamwork problems in the working environment
Introduction
This was one of the reports I had submitted and it was one of the very first report formats writings I have ever done!
Problem/Scenario
Teamwork makes the dream work.
Vigor recently achieved competitively high sales through combined individual efforts. However, by the end of their 4-year run, Peter had noticed that his division was falling apart as members such as Sandy and Josh conveyed signs of decrease in commitment and therefore failure as a team. It is believed that Peters division should be saved because they have massive potential to achieve greater heights for Vigor. However, there were many evident and underlying issues that were present during their run which caused Peters small organization to wither. In further depth, it will be explored how Peters division worked more as a group rather than a team and lacked goal alignment and commitment. Despite the evident issues that will be outlined, it was caused by underlying factors such as the lack of certain characteristics such as cohesiveness to which led to their downfall. The following report will discuss the issues that are present in depth and provide solutions that can convert his group into a team and prevent further failure.
Team on the outside, but group on the inside (Analysis)
The first issue discovered was that Peter’s division operated more as a group rather than a team. Teams and groups are two similar definitions, however there is a distinctive difference and whilst both definitions have a common characteristic being people working together towards a common goal. Respectively, the distinction originates from whether individuals collaborate and mutually work and plan together to accomplish team goals and outcomes, or work amongst themselves independently towards a common goal (Armstead et al. 2016; Fisher et al. 1997; Johnson 2003; Surbhi 2015). In the case of Vigor, Peter envisioned a team, but in reality, they were just a formal group working independently towards a common goal and coming up with ideas individually to achieve it. For example, Sandy had utilized her specific skill set and “handed Peter a large file containing the marketing campaigns and strategic recommendations” (Heimbouch 2018, p. 2) and Josh utilizing his entrepreneurial skill to distinctively create the name of the product himself. In comparison to a ‘team’, Josh would have collaborated with both Peter and Sandy about the name of the product. According to the findings of Meirink et al. 2010, teams that only trade ideas find it difficult to have goal alignment which is crucial to the team’s collaboration and success. Peter’s division, to a certain extent had goal alignment such as both Peter and Sandy desired to save Vigor, however, Josh on the other hand seemed to have an individual goal instead of a team outcome which was evident as he was showing interest to other divisions and had no further interest in further exceeding Vigor’s success and further showing characteristics of a group rather than a team.
Solution/Recommendations
For the team to be salvaged and ensure that team failure wouldn’t occur again, Peter is recommended to build an effective team by inheriting certain attributes. Transforming his group into an effective team can be achieved by establishing the remaining characteristics the division is lacking and upon inheriting these traits will transform Peter’s group not only into a team, but a team that maximises team performance and therefore achieve great cohesion, further minimizing chances of team failure. Two studies (Mathew et al. 2015; Gilley et al 2010) have researched several important characteristics that effective teams must have and essentially, Peter needs to implement the remaining characteristics to resolve the defined issues mentioned before. The first effective team characteristic that Peter should implement is to establish an aligning, clear and challenging objective for all team members, such as beating the sales achievement of Vigor. Secondly, Peter is advised to implement rewards and recognition to successful efforts of team members and the final trait that Peter is recommended to establish, is to have clear communication and orientation within the team, which can only be achieved by the aspect that Peters team lacked the most being collaboration. Peter is advised to encourage members such as Sandy and Josh to not only collaborate with him about their efforts and plans, but also with each other and for example, utilizing Josh’s entrepreneurial skill to provide feedback and opinion on Sandy’s work and not just Peters. It is recommended that Peter implement the actions mention because the 3 characteristics outlined will result in increased individual satisfaction, motivation, and growth which will in turn increase cohesion within the group and thus preventing the underlying issues uncovered in Peter’s case.
Problems of these extracts:
Ever since I submitted this report, I realised many mistakes that I wish I could have fixed.
- I realised that my citations were wrong and now I wish to fix it.
- The format did require HARVARD style, but tiny things such as the commas between the names and the year caused many problems.
- Back then I never really knew the importance of such as detail, but ever since I have gone through ACBE100, I now see its importance in my writing
- Complex language
- I realise now that my language lacked complexity and one thing I hope to improve in my writing in the future is the use of more sophisticated language.
Positives:
However, on the other hand, I must say that this was one of the best responses I have ever written in terms of an assignment. I was so engaged with the assignments case study that I wanted to keep writing more about the ideas that sprung inside my mind, however I was nearly over the word limit!
But regardless, I felt proud of what I have written here in comparison to the extract I have written!
