An example of a time when I have worked in a team and we were successful was the recent organisation and task we carried out at university to help raise money for a chosen charity - Save The Children (Haiti). I feel this team worked successfully to raise money for charity by organising a student night in the S.U and a sponsored walk. This team was successful because the five people involved all knew one another, therefore we did not need to go through all the (Tuckman's 1973) stages of team development. Tuckman 1973 suggested all teams develop through the following stages of Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. During the forming stage, people are watchful and guarded so this is a testing time. As we were already comfortable with each other we did not need to go through this stage. If we go by Tuckman's theory we also missed out on the third stage of storming because we felt comfortable telling each other what we all had to do to achieve the task, therefore there was no conflict. We went through the stages of norming and performing only. This theory was more relevant to us as a team compared to Belbin's team roles (1993) of Co-ordinator , Shaper, Plant , Teamworker , Implementer , Resource investigator, Monitor , Complete finisher and Specialist. The reasons for this team success was that we all knew one another. We had clear aims and objectives, there were no personality clashes and we communicated well with everyone being co-operative and their was no imbalance of roles. All these things helped to make the team successful.
Review Of Group 1st Assignment For People & Organisations
Going by Tuckman's theory although our group progressed through all of the key stages, we did not spend much time getting to know each other in the forming stage. This did not help the team to be totally successful. When we got together as a group we did not know each other very well. According to Tuckman this stage is know as the time when people gel together. However we did not spend much time on this stage and by the time we got to this storming stage we still did not feel totally comfortable with each other so people did not want to create conflict. In the norming stage we just accepted what each person was going to do to complete the task. This then led to the performing stage.
We were not totally successful as a group because it takes time for teams to develop and we did not spend enough time in the forming and storming stages. Had we done this we would have all communicated better with each other and would not have felt uncomfortable saying what we wanted to say in case we upset someone. Communication is important for any team task and this was another reason why our team was not successful.
Review Of Two Companies From "The Times Top 100 Companies to Work For"
Microsoft IT/internet services - staff at this company say that working in teams gives them a buzz. Team mates go out of their way to help each other, and this company is one of two firms to feature in all 10 of The Sunday Times best companies annual lists. Managers are given a "morale budget" to spend on events and employees say that managers regularly express their appreciation when staff do a good job. This company spends about £1,500 a year on each employee to help in their professional development. Employees think highly of their managers who talk openly and honestly caring about job satisfaction. A mentoring programme encourages staff to learn from each other and flexible working options are available for all staff. All this contributes to the success of the company because 78% of people working for Microsoft enjoy their work and are excited about the future of the company.
Admiral Group - This company believes that people who enjoy what they do, do it better. Admiral employs 2,850 people at offices in Swansea, Cardiff and Newport where they have a dedicated ministry of fun to make work a happy place for its young staff. Each month a department and senior manager are given a budget and asked to come up with ideas such as office golf, pumpkin carving or cake baking competitions. This company achieved a score of 87% for staff having a good time with each other and it ranks 6th in the my team category with employees saying colleagues go out of their way to help them and they feel a sense of family within their team. Managers keep morale high by appreciating their staff and rewarding them with team nights out to celebrate birthdays, good work or just because people fancy going out together. Managers sit alongside their employees. Managers are also open and honest with their staff to help them meet their potential and motivate them to give their best everyday.
Both these companies show that team work is a major contributory factor to their success.
References:
TIMES ONLINE [online]. Available from: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/ [Accessed 15 April 2010].
Dr Meredith Belbin Team Roles [online]. Available from: http://www.belbin.com/rte.asp?id=5 [Accessed 15 April 2010].
Performing team-development model [online]. Available from: http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingforming.htm [Accessed 15 April 2010].
Tuckman's theory [online]. Available from: www.infed.org/thinkers/tuckman.htm [Accessed 15 April 2010].
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