Groups & Teams

Groups and Teams Paper

Wilma Kay Allen

University of Phoenix

Organizational Behavior

MGT 331

Ken Baca

June 30, 2005

One of the most significant changes that have occurred within companies organization behaviors is that they have moved from having heavy vertical management structures, to that of very flat horizontal structures. This change over the past ten year could not have been achieved without a change in management's philosophy from that of direct supervision over their employees to moving toward a team structure. This paper will explain the process of how a group can become a high-performance team. We will examine the impact that personality styles, differences in skills and abilities and values and attitudes found within the team structure can affect the behavior of the group as a whole. Finally, we also address how these various demographic characteristic and cultural diversity contribute to or detract from the high-performance of the team.

So let's now examine how a group of individuals will work together to become a high-performance team. One of the key factors that you should have to establish a strong high-performance team is placing individuals that have different personality styles as well as different skills and abilities within your group structure. When your team is made up of several individuals that possess various personality styles, cultures and skill and abilities you will have a vast pool of knowledge and experience that each individual can experience and learn from. Each member of this group will bring their own individual strengths to the table along with their weakness that will in turn be strengthened by another group. Having this diversity will in the long run give the group a greater creativity capacity than if you had a group that was made up of the same type of individuals that could not think out of their own box as it were.

Once your group of individuals has been established, their must be an open line of communication not only between each group member but also with management. The benefit of allowing your team to become empowered will allow them to shoot for the stars. A high-personal team knows that they are not only accountable to each other but to the company as a whole and that they have to accept responsibility not only for their successes but also for failures.

As this new group of individuals pulls from each others abilities and skills, they will no doubt encounter bumps along their cohesive process of evolving into a high-performance team. The diversity factor found in this type of team will have an infinite number of benefits not only to the company they work for but also, for each individual.

All teams need members who believe in team goals and are motivated to work with others actively to accomplish important tasksÐ'--whether those tasks involve recommending things, making or doing things, or running things. Indeed, an essential criterion of a true team is that the members feel "collectively accountable" for what they accomplish." The sense of collective accountability sets the stage for real teamwork, with team members actively working together in such a way that all their respective skills are well utilized to achieve a common purpose. A commitment to teamwork is found in the willingness of every member to "listen and respond constructively to views expressed by others, give others the benefit of the doubt, provide support, and recognize the interest and achievements of others. The fact is that it takes a lot more work to build a well-functioning team than simply assigning members to the same group and then expecting them to do a great job.

High-performance teams have special characteristics that allow them to excel at teamwork and achieve special performance advantage. First, high-performance teams have strong core values that help guide their attitudes and behaviors in directions consistent with the team's purpose. Such values act as an internal control system for a group or team that can substitute for outside direction and supervision. A high-performance team will set specific objectivesÐ'--such knowing what their joint objectives are and what time frames they must be met in are with having direct supervision to push them to accomplish their goals. This group will also set standards for measuring results and obtaining performance feedback from each other. The individual members of this team have the right mix of skills, including technical skills, problem solving and decision-making skills, and interpersonal skills to get the job done. (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005)

Once a company has set a group of individuals in motion in becoming a high-performance team they can utilize this group diversity to tackle complex problems within the organization to address areas that process and production can be change to increase the bottom-line. A great example of a high-performance team action can be found within the company I work for Zurich American Insurance Company. Five year ago the CEO of our company noticed that the company's financial position was in bad shape,