Advantages and disadvantages of teamwork
Every company consists of people who have the same final objective, which has already been planned. Therefore, this group of people need to work together, helping each other sharing their ideas and experiences in order to reach an effective result.
Next, different definitions on teamwork will be mentioned:
- Teamwork is a set of people who cooperate to achieve a single general result ’, according to Luis Riquelme Fritz.
- Teamwork does not only mean ‘work together’. Teamwork is an organizational philosophy, it is a different way of thinking, it is a winning path that companies have discovered in recent years to really make the worker really commit to the objectives of the company ‘, according to Olman Martínez, President of the University of Las Ventas.
- Reduced number of people with complementary abilities, committed to a purpose, a common work objective and planning. Smith.
- Every organization is a single team, where there are no barriers, divisionisms or divergent objectives between the different areas, departments, sections or shifts. On the contrary, the vision of the company, its mission and objectives is the north of all people, is the agglutinating element of efforts to achieve common results, ”according to Alfonso Cruz Novoa (Catholic University of Chile).
Causes of equipment failure
- One of the greatest causes of failure is the lack of dialogues among the members, since, by not communicating, they do not express their ideas, their way of thinking or the direction in which they go.
- Another great cause is not to delegate functions. In order to reach an efficient result, each member needs to be specifically concentrated in a function, in order to complement the final objective.
- If there are negative members in the team, who like to demonstrate their skills without the minimum intention of teaching others, sharing their experiences, or avoiding communication with their classmates, it will make the qualification work in a rough and uncomfortable environment, byWhat cannot be achieved optimal work.
- When one or more members procrastine their work or do not put the necessary commitment, the work is affected, resulting in something improvised and of low quality.
- Another great cause is when the team leader is only dedicated to giving orders, imposes fear and does not provide support to others, so there fails to exist a motivation for others.
Team work advantages
With an approach to generate greater income with the least possible costs, teamwork is necessary. Here we are going to detail the advantages of working together.
• Maximizes productivity and communication in the company
With effective management, teamwork is very beneficial since there will be a better connection between the participants and if the leader emerged, a good one, would know how to solve them.
• There is an organization in tasks and workload
Each member is assigned an activity according to their skills so that the one who develops efficiently in some task continues to do it and no mistakes are made. By dividing the work the workload is divided and thus becomes a lighter activity.
• Effectively develops the individual capacities of the members
When working as a team, the skills and capabilities of the participants flourish in order to be able to assign them in what they perform best.
Disadvantages of teamwork
Due to the mixture of ideals within the company, disadvantages are generated that if they are not resolved would cause time loss and generate new problems.
• Not all workers develop working as a team
There will always be those who wish to impose their ideals because they are not prepared to work as a team.
• Lack of organization that generates discussions
The lack of a leader will lead to the members of the group not reaching an agreement and discussions that will hinder the movement of work will be generated.
• Individuality is lost
There is a risk that individual skills of participants who can contribute much better than a joint work are not developed.
Requirements to work as a team
To work as a team and result in a success, 5 basic characteristics are needed: attitude, solidarity, communication, collaboration and achievement.
• Attitude
We must guide ourselves to contribute knowledge and skills to the achievement of collective goals.
• Solidarity
We must understand others. In addition, take actions to face the weaknesses and needs of the other members of the team.
• Communication
This feature allows the free exchange of knowledge, information, opinions, feelings, reactions, etc. The message that is transmitted must be complete and sufficient to advance decisions. As well as must be concrete. To do this, terms that all the people of the team should be used to arrive for the full message.
• Collaboration
Involves working with others. The objective is to create an atmosphere of mutual help and thus achieve the goals raised.
• Achievement
Any equipment has established goals, objectives to meet. So all members must be oriented to achieve that purpose. Ideally, in addition to achieving the objectives and goals of the team, each member obtains specific achievements that will help him develop personally.
Teamwork examples:
• Cirque du Soleil or Circo del Sol
Circus of the Sun shows have been seen by more than 90 million people worldwide. To have this volume of spectators and success, a professional organization of very high quality is required. Therefore, it is one of the examples of high performance work team. As can be seen on its website, there are at least four keys that can guarantee the success of the company:
- It should be known that a single person does not form a circus. The circus is interdependent. Each component is key.
- Communication, listening and coordination work, understanding how each piece or each note fits into the symphony that they build together.
- It is important to experience the importance of the team when working outside the comfort zone.
- Responsibility: the primary responsibility of each and every one of the team members.
- Respect for the times and talents of the entire team
• The Detroit Pistons
This basketball team won the NBA World Champions titles in 1989 and 1990. It is one of the examples of teamwork that have been studied, due to the high performance that reached between the 80s and 90s. Basically, the collective behavior findings were the following:
- They behave like a family. The Detroit Pistons, along with their coach, behaved like a family. When the tension reached high levels, they protected each other as if they were brothers. No one was alone in the fight, they were supportive in the aid in the game, and they moved and had signs like some families or street gangs that call themselves "the family". The affection, the support in the bad times and to go to the United fight, were some of the characteristics that this group came to.
- They are built over time. The highest level teams need a gear, knowledge, an affection between them, a way of understanding and a love that makes them have a common goal and the same passion.
- They need gear. The Detroit Pistons were putting together a team removing and adding pieces until you get a gear, not only of play, but with a core of people who entered and left until they formed an unparalleled group. Here the work of the main leader, the manager, is basic.
- The leaders. In that team there was not a single leader, but several:
- One of them was the best in the field, which also set an example and to which everyone followed. This character was Isaiah Thomas
- The productive leader: embodied in the person of Dennis Rodman. This player was commissioned "dirty work" but necessary. He was not the most technical, nor the one who scored the most, nor the most neat in his actions, but the sum of everything he contributed was basic for the team’s result. It is one that adds without being brilliant, who is always available to the partner, who helps at all times, and who seeks the common good over personal show
- The silent leader: in the Pistons Rick Mahorn embodied him. It was that partner to support you, who listened to you, that I was always supporting, that you felt his breath, that he was always in the bad times. On the court it was not one of the best, but towards the better the others with their presence
- The motivating leader: although his figure was very controversial at the time, this was Bill Laimbeer. He supported from the bench, intimidated the referees, supported the companions, and was the one who lifted your mood in the worst moments.
- The spiritual guide, which fell to the coach’s person, Chuck Daly. This man knew what he wanted, guided towards the goal, and above all he knew how to place the pieces on each place, guiding the players according to the right time of the season. But, above all, he highlighted his ability to listen. He asked his players opinion, especially his leaders, and that did not lose authority, but rather the opposite reinforced her. Of course, the last decision was always his. It was one who from humility could understand other options and opinions with the point of sight on the objective and not in the egos.
• Google’s formula
Google, the company founded by Larry Page and Serguéi Brin is, for many, synonym for efficiency and productivity, and attribute this success to some particular characteristic of the company. It is one of the classic examples of high productivity teamwork.
This company needed two years of research to study the work dynamics of more than 180 teams;More than 200 employees were interviewed and more than 250 skills of each of the working groups were particularly studied.
The results of this analysis were systematized in the "Aristotle Project". This is a study published by Google whose initial idea was to identify the ideal combination of workers and skills to enhance the performance of work teams.
However, once the study began, the first results obtained changed the focus of the investigation: the secret for group productivity was in the interaction between the parts of the equipment and not in the elements that form it.
5 Google keys to have the "perfect work team":
- Psychological security of its members (absence of fear of the members, ability to risk, share and defend their ideas with respect: it is important that team members do not feel shame, nor are they self-centered in front of the rest.
- self-confidence and competitive skills of their classmates: all team members know that work will be done in a timely manner.
- STRUCTURE AND QUALITY: Each team member is aware of what their functions are within the team.
- Relevance of work: Each activity to be carried out has a personal and professional importance for each of the team members.
- Impact: All work done have a significance within the company. It is not enough only to comply with its allocation in the established time, but each of the team members must be aware of the impact, consequences and changes that each of their responsibilities will have.
Leadership within teamwork
The leader is the person who produces the most effective change in performance in a group. A good leader has to generate confidence to his followers, since trust is related to the cost of an organization. True teamwork occurs when everyone works to achieve common goals. A leader of a group of people or a work team, has to have a clear vision of the future, of which aims to be the good work that was proposed.
Leave feedback