BUSINESS LDT: ORGANIZATIONAL TEAMWORK

Name

Organizational Teamwork

Teamwork is one of the most important elements that determine the success of an organization. Driskel et al. (2018) define teamwork as a process in which members of a team work together in unison towards the achievement of organizational common goals. It involves the activities in which team input translates into team output such as team satisfaction and effectiveness. Organizations that practice teamwork create unity and collaboration which helps in solving complex problems within the workplace. In other words, effective teamwork helps retain motivation, save money, and increase efficiency and effectiveness within the organization. However, it is also important to note that ineffective teamwork within the organization creates a toxic working environment which leads to extreme problems such as communication breakdowns, time and resource wastage, and unwillingness to share workloads with others.

Poor communication between employees is one of the major problems that result from ineffective teamwork within the organization. In every organization communication is one of the most important factors towards the achievement of both short and long goals. Through effective communication, organizations are able to promote employee motivation by clarifying and informing employees within different organizational departments about the tasks to be done and the manner in which those should be achieved. However, problematic communication that results from ineffective teamwork usually result to lack of coordination between employees hence leading to the problem of low productivity within the organization (Driskel et al.,2018). Therefore, in order to ensure improved productivity, it is imperative that organizations should adopt strategies that ensure effective teamwork which results to proper communication and coordination within the organization.

Apart from poor communication, ineffective teamwork also causes separation of employees which leads to unwillingness to share workloads (Dinh and Salas, 2017). Normally, this results from lack of trust among the team members which leads to withholding of information and poor communication. As a result, this leads to lack of cohesion which causes poor division of labor among the employees. In general, the lack of cohesion and willingness to share workloads results to delays in completion of task, production, and delivery of goods and services leading to customer dissatisfaction. Bearing this mind, it is therefore important to note that in order to ensure customer satisfaction and proper time management organizations should focus more on teamwork as it is an essential element for the success of the business.

According to Dinh and Salas (2017), lack of self-analysis is another major problem that occurs as result of ineffective teamwork. In many organizations, effective teams routinely analyze systems and processes that are put in place to identify areas of improvement due to the fact that self-analysis plays a major role in helping teams become more self-reliant and strong, requiring less supervision from managers and supervisors. On the other hand, ineffective teams do not monitor their processes and systems for efficiency and hence may not be able to realize how unproductive or inefficient their systems and products are. As a result, this results to poor quality production systems which affect customer’s loyalty to the organization.

Lack of trust among members of the organization is another major factor associated with ineffective teamwork. Dinh and Salas (2017) identify trust as one of the most important factors towards the attainment of organizational goals. It involves the willingness of individual members of the organization to share their ideas with others with an aim of working in unison to improve the success of the organization. In other words, trust is the building block of many relationships, especially in teams. However, a lack of trust between employees within the organization is considered a major problem that results in the creation of a toxic working environment. It threatens productivity, shut downs communication and de-motivates team members, impacting the bottom line of the business. Additionally, it also causes individuals to become protective and guarded on their own interest causing minimum idea sharing which affect areas involving invention and innovation within the organization which depend on the shared ideas of individuals. Availability of effective teamwork results to shared trust among individuals which results to sharing of ideas that leads to increased invention and innovation hence proving that effective teamwork is essential for business success.

Dinh and Salas (2017) suggest that conflict among individuals is a major problem caused by ineffective teamwork within the organization. In every organization, individuals portray different insights and opinions towards the business operations. These differences in ideas are normally healthy due to the fact that they can be used to make useful debates that will help expand the knowledge of team members. However, ineffective teams usually view differences in opinions as arguments that they take personally. This results to conflict and tension between organizational employees which in turn increases employee anxiety, damaged relationship, and decreased job satisfaction. In addition, the conflict and tension also affects team performance which also affect the productivity of the organization.

In order to ensure effective teamwork that is essential for business success, it is imperative for business entities to adopt various strategies that provides for solutions against ineffective team problems such as poor communication, lack of trust, and conflicts. Driskel et al. (2018) identify team training as one of the major approaches to effective teamwork and a solution to ineffective teamwork. It involves a set of tools and strategies that are aimed at enhancing skills performance, teamwork knowledge, and processes. Team training has enabled the achievement of team performance, enhancing cognitive, affective, and performance outcomes. According to Driskel et al. (2018), some of the interventions used to enhance and improve teamwork performance include cross-training which normally focuses on providing members of a team with the exposure to the responsibilities and roles of the positions in the team.

Thompson (2014) also suggests that reassessing and reassigning the roles and responsibilities of team members is one of the major ways of ensuring effective teamwork that is essential for business success. In so doing, leaders are able to doing away with ineffective teamwork problem such as poor communication that are responsible for factors such as time wastage and toxic working atmosphere. Once roles and responsibilities are reassigned, individuals become more proactive, positive and productive contributors and hence Thompson’s saying “It’s not always just one black sheep who needs fixing”.

In conclusion, teamwork is one of the key elements in the success of every business. It is essential in increasing efficiency, saving time and resources while retaining employee motivation within an organization. Therefore, in order to avoid ineffective team problem such as poor communication, lack of trusts, and conflict that lead to time wastage and low productivity in the organization, it imperative that organization adopt various strategies and solutions such team training and reassigning of roles and responsibilities which help rectify these problems.

References

Dinh, J. V., & Salas, E. (2017). Factors that influence teamwork. The Wiley Blackwell handbook

of the psychology of team working and collaborative processes, 13-41.

Driskell, J. E., Salas, E., & Driskell, T. (2018). Foundations of teamwork and

collaboration. American Psychologist, 73(4), 334.

Thompson, L. (2014). News and events: What to do with your problem team member.

Northwestern Kellogg. https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/news_articles/2014/11072014-bad-team-member.aspx