effective teamwork

Despite the warmth and fuzziness of the "effective teamwork" concept, many companies have found that implementing a team-based organizational model is not as easy you might expect.

Why? Consider the reason for the meteoric rise in popularity of the team-based approach - primarily the widespread adoption and use of new technologies and integrated information systems. Their extensive introduction in the '90s has changed organizational focus from standardization, coordination and control to creativity and innovation. To achieve the former, management "policed" the system, where the latter requires a radically different management philosophy and style - and therein lies the challenge , effective teamwork article.

The benefits of the team model are significant. Increased pressures from global competition, the need to reduce costs, restructuring, downsizing and outsourcing have all led to reduced numbers of "core" employees. Lower head counts necessitate greater flexibility within the remaining workforce, so teamwork provides an ideal vehicle for efficiency gains and productivity improvement, effective teamwork article.

In addition, the empowerment in work teams gives individuals and teams the ability to better manage both their work and their immediate environment. For many, this has been a welcome change in quality of work life, and has increased problem-solving and innovative capabilities for businesses, effective teamwork article.

To achieve results in a team-based organization, management supports people and new technologies by creatively problem-solving. They manage events and transactions "by exception" (meaning simply those transactions or events that fall outside the parameters of "normal" thus cannot be handled by "the system"). This means that problem solving is more complex, and, thanks to automation, management faces a barrage of issues in rapid succession on an ongoing basis, effective teamwork article.

Not surprisingly, a number of problems associated with team-based organizational models have emerged. For example, teamwork can introduce its own inefficiencies such as requiring more meetings that take up more time. And research has shown that seven out of every ten teams fail to produce the desired results, effective teamwork article.

Another issue is that senior managers may opt to focus on team building to achieve performance improvement rather than adopting more immediate solutions to company problems. These efforts often do not result in improvement, as research has also shown that a combination of changes to both technology and social organization is necessary to move toward best-practice standards, effective teamwork article.

Finally, typical implementation problems include the difficulty of defining clear team objectives, the tendency toward "group think", conflict between teams and worsening tensions across functional areas. This is exacerbated by failure to change reward systems focused on individual achievement to those that are aligned with the strategic direction of a team-based philosophy, effective teamwork article.

So, can team-based business models work? Absolutely. Are there strategic advantages to be gained with a team approach? Definitely. Do they have the potential to help organizations make the most of their people and other resources? Without question. How can your business reap the rewards of a team-based approach? By ensuring that management and employees at every level are committed to the direction, operate within the new team structure and are rewarded for doing so.