The Myths and Realities of Teamwork

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The Myths and Realities of Teamwork

Teamwork is essential for any organization because it enables team players to share responsibilities and ideas, reduce stress, enhance each team member’s productivity, and improve the overall performance of an organization. Working as a team promotes innovation and enables employees to gain perspectives on their roles and tasks (Baker, 2006). As much as teamwork promotes the performance and growth of an organization, it is also quite challenging to operate and maintain to completion of tasks and projects. The journey to a higher performance of an organization is quite challenging for both team members and the organization altogether. Many myths and realities surround the concept of teamwork, especially in workspaces. It is necessary for an organization to comprehend its objectives, teamwork significance, and setbacks to counter the myths regarding teamwork. This paper will discuss the myths of teamwork experienced in workspaces.

The book The Myths and Realities of Teamwork by David Wright addresses the six myths and realities of teamwork experienced in most organizations. According to the author, managing teamwork in the most challenging manner is likely to yield a positive income for leaders of organizations (Wright, 2013). Various teamwork myths compromise the operations of an organization. Each myth has a reality to it, and the sooner an organization discovers the reality, the better for it. It will be much easier to run or work in an organization that acknowledges the existence of these myths and devise effective measures to counter them.

The first myth is most people like teamwork. Most organizations assume that their employees value teamwork, hence assigning duties in teams rather than individual work (Sewell, 2001). The truth is that only a third of employees like teamwork, the other third is neutral about the idea while the rest reject teamwork altogether. Companies should consider the working preference of their employees because not all of them share the same team spirit. The productivity and performance of employees rely on their comfortability and passion for a common goal.

The second myth is team conflict is unhealthy. When team players embrace a common objective of an organization, conflicts are bound to arise. They all come with different opinions and approaches regarding the objective or task at hand, which is likely to cause conflict. Disagreements within an organization should be taken positively as a learning opportunity for team members (Illife, 2008). Organizations should also incorporate the habit of preparing rules and regulations that will govern the operations of a team. A team should also be assigned a team leader to facilitate and oversee all the team’s activities. These actions will minimize or eliminate conflicts among employees.

The third myth is teams are harmonious people who compromise their needs for the sake of others. This statement is a myth because the strongest teams in an organization diversify in selecting team players. They bring extensive and different ideas altogether to aid an institution’s progress and improve its performance (Wright, 2008). To better the relationship among diverse team players, it is essential to establish operating rules, identify the members’ strengths and weaknesses, and encourage them to share their talents with team members.

The fourth teamwork myth state that senior managers encourage teamwork. This statement is false because most managers like to manage projects or tasks assigned. Teamwork does the exact opposite of that. It distributes the power of handing tasks to group members, leaving managers with little or no tasks at all. However, if a manager decides to view themselves as an individual who brings people together to facilitate decision-making and resource sharing in projects, teamwork is highly unlikely to affect their security or threaten their position in the organization (Wright, 2013). Team managers should strive to promote positivity among the team members and encourage teamwork spirit.

The fifth teamwork myth is teams are easy to manage and influence. It is essential to understand that team players have different personalities and skillsets. Grouping people into a team is quite challenging because it means making them agree on most of its initiatives (Iliffe, 2008). Therefore, team leaders experience a hard time leading and influencing the team members into agreeing and meeting on common ground. For this to happen, team leaders should be courageous, assertive, and fully aware of themselves and the position they hold as far as the team is concerned. They should understand that they are in control, not necessarily to harass or push team members around but to reinforce order, motivate members, foresee operations and ensure tasks and projects are completed within the stipulated period.

The final teamwork myth is teamwork is essential for business success. Teamwork is vital in any workspace, especially when handling huge tasks. However, it does not apply to every aspect of a business. Small tasks that require fast decision-making and implementation will not be successful if placed in the hands of a team. Organizations should evaluate their tasks and distinguish those that need teamwork from those that could thrive if handled by an individual (Wright, 2013). This action will yield a positive outcome in an organization and improve its overall performance.

The most common teamwork myth is team conflict is unhealthy. Most people are convinced that team members should be neutral and have good relationships to allow easy task management. It would be difficult to convince people that sometimes conflict is suitable for an organization or team members. Society believes that conflict is the downfall of an organization because it will bring mistrust among team members. People focus so much on the conflict instead of the healthy ways to resolve it and learn from it. They fail to understand that conflict is inevitable among team members. The only way is to approach it positively and tackle it appropriately with the help of the team leader.

References

Baker, D. P., Day, R., & Salas, E. (2006). Teamwork as an essential component of high-reliability organizations. Health services research, 41(4 Pt 2), 1576–1598. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6773.2006.00566.xIliffe S. (2008). Myths and realities in multidisciplinary team-working. London journal of primary care, 1(2), 100–102. https://doi.org/10.1080/17571472.2008.11493220 Sewell, G. (2001). What Goes Around, Comes Around: Inventing a Mythology of Teamwork and Empowerment. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 37(1), 70–89. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886301371005Wright, D. (2013). The myths and realities of teamwork, 1st ed. Retrieved from http://bookboon.com/en/the-myths-and-realities-of-teamwork-ebook