Team management is the ability of an individual or an organization to administer and coordinate a group of individuals to perform a task. Team management involves teamwork, communication, objective setting, and performance appraisals. Moreover, team management is the capability to identify problems, and resolve conflicts within a team. Teams are a popular approach to many business challenges. They can produce innovative solutions to complex problems. There are various methods and leadership styles a team manager can take to increase personnel productivity and build an effective team.Business Dictionary. Team Management. [Online]. [Accessed 15 October 2014]. Available from:http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/team-management.html In the workplace teams can come in many shapes and sizes who all work together and depend on one another. They communicate and all strive to accomplish a specific goal. Management teams are a type of team that performs duties such as managing and advising other employees and teams that work with them. Whereas work, parallel, and project teams hold the responsibility of direct accomplishment of a goal, management teams are responsible for providing general direction and assistance to those teams.
Elements of a healthy and successful team
Cohesive leadership In any functional team, cohesion amongst team leaders and decision makers is vital. Cohesive leadership means that team leaders act together as a unit and make decisions as a team instead of each branching off into their own work and operating individually. It ensures that the team will be steered in one direction instead of multiple directions due to team leaders not being concise and consistent with their instructions. Cohesive leadership will require team leaders to have strong communication skills.IESE Business School. 2011. Patrick Lencioni: The Four Traits of Healthy Teams. [Online]. [Accessed 15 October 2014]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KxJop0A0vA Lastly, motivation fosters a sense of purpose, bringing individuals towards a common goal. When team members are driven by a passion, it creates a cohesive environment. Cohesiveness promotes collaboration support, and synergy which brings motivation and strength that can bond the overall group's cohesiveness.
Effective communication Effective communication is the centerstone of successful team management. Ensuring clear goals and expectations opens opportunities that enables a collaborative environment, allowing team members to share ideas and feedback seamlessly. A well communicated team is better prepared to overcome challenges and make informed decisions. There must be an effective channel of communication(or Organizational communication) from the top to the bottom of the chain of command and vice versa. An effective channel of communication will allow messages to be transferred accurately without delay to the intended recipient, which will speed up decision making processes and the operations of the team. Furthermore, effective communication will increase the flexibility of an organization and cause it to be less susceptible to changes in the external environment, as a faster decision making process will allow organizations a longer time period to adapt to the changes and execute contingency plans. The use of social media at work positively influences three team processes, specifically the effective communication, knowledge sharing and coordination.
Common goal In a group setting, common goals act as a binding force. Aligning skills and efforts towards a shared objective provides a cohesive setting. Ensuring everyone is working towards a unified purpose creates common goals that enhance group efficiency, foster teamwork, and contribute to a sense of camaraderie, ultimately leading to success. When team members first come together, they will each bring different ideas; however, the key to a successful team is the alignment of its objectives. It is essential that the team leader sets a common goal the entire team is willing to pursue. This way, all of the team members will put in effort in order to attain the goal. If there is not a common goal, team members who disagree with the objective in hand will feel reluctant to utilize their full effort, leading to failure to achieve the goal. In other cases, team members might divert themselves to other tasks due to a lack of belief or interest in the goal.Abudi, G. 2011. 5 Elements of Successful Project Teams. [Online]. [Accessed 15 October 2014]. Available from: http://quickbase.intuit.com/blog/2011/08/05/5-elements-of-successful-project-teams/
Defined team roles and responsibilities Poorly defined roles are often the biggest obstacle to a successful team.Traxia Partners, Inc. Discovering Your Team Leadership Style. [Online]. [Accessed 15 October 2014]. Available from:http://www.triaxiapartners.com/corp/team/learning-solutions/discovering-your-team-leadership-style If team members are unclear what their role is, their contributions will be minimal, therefore it is the team leader's duty to outline the roles and responsibilities of each individual within the team and ensure that they work together as an integral unit.
In a successful team, a leader will first evaluate the team's mission to understand what is needed to accomplish the task. Then, they will identify the strengths and weaknesses of the team members and assign roles accordingly. Lastly, they must ensure that all team members know what each other's responsibilities are to avoid confusion and to create an effective channel of communication.Human Resource Development Quarterly. 2008. Defining Team Roles and Responsibilities. [Instructor Guide]. Pennsylvania: Human Resource Development Quarterly.
Individuals in a team can take on different roles that have their own unique responsibilities. A task-oriented role occurs when the individual offers new ideas, coordinates activities, or tries to find new information to share with the team. A social-oriented role occurs when an individual encourages the members of the team to be united. They also encourage participation and communication. An individual role occurs when an individual blocks the team's activities. They tend to call attention to themselves and avoid interaction with others. Another occurrence is role conflict, which is a situation where an individual faces divergent role expectation. This means they are being pulled in various directions and hold different roles simultaneously.
Methods of team management
Command and Control The "command and control” method as an approach to team management is based on the concept of military management. It was a commonly used system in the private sector during the 21st century.Plotczyk, P.; Murphy, S. Command and Control is OUT! Create and Engage is IN! [Online]. [Accessed 15 October 2014]. Available from:http://www.wsa-intl.com/278-this-month-s-articles/command--control-is-out-engage-create-is-in/ In this method, the team leader instructs their team members to complete a task and if they refuse, they will punish employees until they comply. The team leader has absolute authority and utilises an autocratic leadership style. There are considerable drawbacks to this team management method. First, morale is lowered due to team members being belittled for the slightest mistakes; punishments lead to a lack of confidence resulting in poor performance. Second, in modern organisations roles are often specialised, therefore managers will require the expertise of the employee, elevating the value of the employee. Implementing this team management method leads to a high rate of employee turnover. In addition, in large organisations managers don't have the time to provide instructions to all employees and continuously monitor them; this will impede an organisation's performance as managers are not spending time on their core responsibilities.Spolsky, J. 2006. Three Management Methods (Introduction).[Online]. [Accessed 15 October 2014]. Available from: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/08/07.html
Engage and Create Due to the limiting nature of the "command and control” method, managers developed an alternative management strategy known as “engage and create”. In this method team members are encouraged to participate in discussions and contribution.This yield better results. Engaged employees are inspiring to be around, excellent at their jobs, and essential to the success. Engagement and creating share similarities as both involve participation and support. When team members are engaged, they are invested in their work and the overall goals of the team. Creating, on the other hand, often involves generating new ideas and solutions. Together, they form a solid combination for team management. Engaged team members are more likely to contribute creatively which can lead to problem solving, productivity, and a positive work environment. Ultimately enhancing overall team performance to reach the team's goals.
Econ 101 In the “econ 101” method of team management, the team leader makes the baseline assumption that all team members are motivated by reward in the form of money, and that the best way to manage the team is to provide financial rewards for performance and issue punishments for failure. This method of team management uses material gains in the place of intrinsic motivation to drive team members. This is similar to Frederick Taylor's theory of scientific management which claims the main form of motivation for employees is money.Riley, J. 2012. Motivation Theory - Taylor.[Online]. [Accessed 15 October 2014]. Available from:http://www.tutor2u.net/business/people/motivation_theory_taylor.asp Hoang, P. 2011. International Baccalaureate Business and Management. Edition 2.IBID Press. The main drawback of this method is that it does not take into account other forms of motivation besides money such as personal satisfaction and ambition. Moreover, using reward and punishment as a method of team management can cause demotivation as everyone is motivated by different factors and there is no one way to satisfy all team members; the negative effect is further compounded by punishment leading to demoralisation and loss of confidence.
Problems in team management
Absence of trust