Team Dynamics

Team dynamics are the unseen forces that operate in a team between different people or groups. (Team Technology, 2006.) Each team member should not only be committed to the team but also fully participate into the daily activities of the team in order to "create a product through a collective effort that exceeds the quality of any individual endeavor or the collective efforts of several individuals." (University of Phoenix, 2004) Team cooperation builds trust and respect among team members. Team members should be able to feel free to share their opinion and expertise. The sharing of information and ideas enhance communication within the team and also between the team and the organization that they represent. Therefore, team communication plays a vital play in team dynamics. Teams should never depend on just one team member. It's a teamwork endeavor and is grounded in words and action of each team member. The effectiveness of team communication is necessary to produce successful teamwork.

The quality of the team's work, to a large extent, depends upon the quality of the information shared and the ability of team members to understand and communicate information enabling them to work together collaboratively. (InterLink Training & Coaching, LLC, 2006 ) "In order to have full team participation, and for the team to learn and develop, it is essential that team members do not embarrass, reject, mock or punish someone for speaking up and sharing ideas and perceptions." (University of Phoenix, 2004) Successful teams require effective communication among team members. Communication between team members needs to be open and positive. Communication may take effort among the members but it also takes empathy, understanding, listening, openness, honesty, reliability and trust. Teammates need to get to know one another, be able to trust each other and feel comfortable expressing their opinions. Team leaders should encourage open communication to promote effective teamwork and also the commitment to the team's project. Each team member roles should be discussed along with each team member responsibilities. Each team member's schedule and their availability to fully participate on the team should also be discussed. Effective team communication relies on listening, explaining perceptions, and acknowledging and discussing the differences and similarities in views. (GITT Core Curriculum 2001, 2001) Team members should be able to speak up and encourage others to open up. Teams should also be able to give and receive feedback with grace. This is a very critical part of good communication within a team. Without effective feedback within the team, little can be accomplished. Some advantages of successful team communication include: improved efficiency, speed and team productivity; effective and productive team meetings; reduction in errors, mistakes and team misunderstandings, and greater collaborations in work teams. When there is a lack of effective team communication, many problems can arise. Having unclear messages and misunderstandings among team members, missed work objectives, non-productive team meetings, and poor listening and defensive reactions are a few of the problems due to lack of team communication. (The York Consulting Team, 2006) Many factors can play into a lack of effective team communication such as: team being too large or too small, lack of appropriate mechanisms for the timely exchange of information, role and leadership uncertainty, and lack of clearly stated, shared and measurable purpose. (GITT Core Curriculum 2001) In businesses, some situations where team communication is lacking, the team members not only have different roles but they also differ in management levels. Due to this reason, open communication may be limited. The team members who are lower level employees may feel afraid to speak or share their ideas. They may have feelings that if they say something wrong, it will embarrass them. They