Team Dynamics

Introduction

This report is based on the module Organisations and Behaviour. The report will discuss:

o Team Dynamics

o Management Styles

o Motivational and Motivational Theories

2.0 Team Dynamics

2.1 Definition of a Team

"A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable."

2.2 Definition of Team Dynamics

ÐŽ§Team Dynamics are the unseen forces that operate in a team between different groups of people.ЎЁ

2.3 Theory of Team Dynamics

Team Dynamics is all about good teamwork and relationships. ItÐŽ¦s about each member of a team understanding their role and contribution within an organisation and feeling valued for the part they play in helping the team succeed.

There are five issues to be considered within team dynamics, which are; independence, goal specification, cohesiveness, roles and norms and communication. Within KLAS I have found the following team dynamics:

o Independence „Ñ- the scenario shows that members of the team are capable of working independently. Ward in particular shows the capability of being able to work alone, this can be seen in paragraph five, line 9, where Ward takes several of the reports home to study and identifies a new approach to some of the agencies previous work.

o Goal Specification „Ñ- it is very important for members of a team to have a common goal that they all want to achieve. I think the team at KLAS have a common goal which is to solve the problems that they have and to work efficiently together to do this. I think this as they all get together for team meetings to try and solve the problems as a group.

o Cohesiveness „Ñ- cohesiveness is the state of cohering together or sticking together as a group or team. It is evident from the case that the organisation does possess some team skills and that the organisationÐŽ¦s leaders are working in a hierarchy. With Mr Hopkins as director, Mr Hope as a department manager and a team of workers within the department.

o Roles and Norms „Ñ- members of the team and the organisation definitely have different roles. Mr HopkinsÐŽ¦ role is as the Director of the company, Mr Hope bears the role of department manager, Pearson is the statistician and Dawn and Julia are secretaries. Norms are the rules that govern the behaviour of team members, norms develop in all teams even if they are not openly discussed.

o Communication „Ñ- the communication within the organisation seems to be both restricted and open. Restricted in the sense that Hope, Hopkins and Ward seem to communicated through their hierarchical levels ÐŽV on a boss/employee level and Open as the department holds team/group meetings which involve everyone, including the secretaries, in the departments discussions, problems and work.

2.4 Advantages of Team Dynamics

o Motivation „Ñ- working in a team alongside peers may offer team-members a sense of motivation as they are not working silently alone

o More efficient working „Ñ- if a team works well together then transferring information between them should be a feasible task, therefore minimising the risk of duplicate work being produced by team members

o Better ideas „Ñ- if the team is communicating well together they can feed back on each others suggestions and bring a drive for new ideas and innovation to the group

o More freedom „Ñ- with good team dynamics it should be possible to minimise the impact of a hierarchy and encourage all team members to contribute

2.5 Disadvantages of Team Dynamics

o Focus on individual achievement „Ñ- if this is happening then the team dynamics of a company are not working properly and the overall team may not be successful in the goals

o Hierarchical structure „Ñ- if the organisation is very rigid within its hierarchy team dynamics arenÐŽ¦t going to be successful in having good communication between members

o Lack of common goal „Ñ- if members of a team arenÐŽ¦t working towards one common goal conflict can occur and competitiveness to outdo each other

2.6 How effective are the Team Dynamics

Here we are going to look at BelbinÐŽ¦s Team Roles. Showing how effective the roles are and which roles Ward and Hope work under.

2.6.1 BelbinÐŽ¦s Roles

Belbin came up with nine team roles that are possessed by managers. Below are the nine roles types and the characteristics of each:

o Plant „Ñ- a manager who fits the ЎҐplant roleÐŽ¦ is creative, imaginative, unorthodox and solves problems. Their weaknesses are that they can ignore incidental and can be too pre-occupied to communicate effectively.

o Coordinator „Ñ- a manager who fits the ЎҐcoordinator roleÐŽ¦ is mature, confident, a good chairperson, a goal clarifier, a promoter of decision making and a good delegate. Their weaknesses are that they can often be manipulative and off load personal work onto others.

o Monitor evaluator „Ñ- a manager who fits the ЎҐmonitor evaluator roleÐŽ¦ is sober, strategic and discerning; they see all the options and make accurate judgements. Their weaknesses are that they can lack drive and the ability to inspire others.

o Implementer „Ñ- a manager who fits the ЎҐimplementer roleÐŽ¦ is disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient; they can turn ideas into practical actions. Their weaknesses lie in the fact they can be inflexible and slow to respond to new possibilities.

o Completer/Finisher „Ñ- a manager who fits the ЎҐcompleter/finisher roleÐŽ¦ can be conscientious and anxious. They search our errors and omissions. Their weakness is that they are inclined to worry when itÐŽ¦s not necessary and they can be reluctant to delegate.

o Resource investigator „Ñ- a manager who fits the ЎҐresource investigator roleÐŽ¦ is extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative and explores and develops opportunities. They can be over optimistic and