The Importance of Working Together in Groups and Teams Realizing that a group can become a high performance team is important. Accomplishing this goal is invaluable, advantageous and profitable. Once able to operate from a group to the high performing team is a great step into preparation into the big business world. Leaders and members must also realize not only how to accomplish this but that some problems will and can arise from different demographic characteristics and cultural diversity. That is if one is in such a group, which the probability would be quite high. It is important that members of a group be knowledgeable and skillful in their positions, the degree to which those members can work harmoniously and cooperatively together is equally important and will form into a high performance team. Effective team management plays a high role in building high performance teams. It should always be a question as to what management can do to actively promote successful work teams. Skills and knowledge possessed by every member is also important for a team to become high performance. Although it is among the most important factors, however, it must be coupled with a good working relationship with every team member and good collaboration with every team member. The members who possess the good skills and wide knowledge will be a useful resource to the team if that team member can share their strengths with the other team members and vice versa. It is usually misconstrued that having skillful and intelligent team members is already enough to make a team work right. This kind of thinking is the reason why most teams, despite all of those competent members they have, fail to achieve their goals. A team should establish one common goal, not to think that way and develop a good working relationship with each member. (retrieved from: http://www.strictlysuccess.com, August 18, 2005) This can be done by self awareness exercises, like the DISC assessment and other assessments or any other kind of self awareness exercises regarding communication style differences. Then these factors and important pieces of information should be taken into full consideration before the actual project is begun. These exercise or assessments can be great ice breakers and mark the difference between a group of individuals merely assigned to a team, as opposed to functioning as... ... middle of paper ... ...of the direction of the project is to come. Whenever demographic or cultural diversity issues become array and cause conflicts and start interfering with the work or projects getting done, just like any other problem inducers, it is the client, the customers, the leaders and or the other stakeholders that are going to be dissatisfied with the results and they are the ones who will experience the negative results. All this may seem a little overwhelming and tiresome to some or to all, but do be assured it is not as hard as it seems. Just keep in mind that you have to embrace the differences between all the demographic characteristics and the culturally diverse team members that make up your group. This with an open mind, and a willingness to cooperate, compromise, and the pleasure to collaborate will harvest many great results and have the organization reaping the many great benefits along with a great top of the line fueled to the rim high performance team. References: Wisdom of Teams; Katzenbach & Smith (2003) HarperCollins Publishers The Team Learning Assistant Workbook; Jeffrey G. Miller (2004) McGraw-Hill Companies, The http://www.strictlysuccess.com/
A father fighting for his right, and his family’s respect also does it for his child so they can have a future. We see his love for them as her interacts with his baby, “The chubby fingers fingers immediately caressed his thumb and embraced it tightly. His heart sank, and there was a lump in his throat. He had a strong urge to relieve S’bongile of the child, pick him up in his strong arms and kiss him, but he suppressed the desire.” (45,46) It is after this statement he mentions to her about the love between them much more than he can give. He truly feels and his body is giving all the responses from his throat to his heart sinking. The mother of the child who he’s leaving doesn’t want this to tear them apart, “They stood in silence for a while. She signed deeply and held back the tears. They felt uneasy. It was useless, she thought bitterly. They had gone through with what she considered to be an ill-fated undertaking. (48) She was then told his story as he was a son seeing his father get disrespected in his own home, something he never wants his son to endure. After his story to her she began to see it for what it was, “She sighed, and there were no tears in her eyes now He brushed the back of his hand tenderly over the soft cheeks of the sleeping Gugu and with his dry lips, kissed S’bongile’s brow.” (53) He is doing something for them, when everything that was neutral in the past only
This all started as he rejected several teachings and practices of the Catholic Church. The one thing that erupted his disputes was on his view on indulgences that bypassing any sin could be purchased with money. That was one of the biggest things that Luther challenged the Church and the Pope in what is known as his Ninety-five95 Theses. It was a document that accused the Catholic Church of selling indulgences to people to clear them from sin. It was centered around two central beliefs that the Bible should be and is the central religious authority and that humans may reach salvation only faith and not by works. Martin Luther has had these feelings about these practices for awhile but chose the 95 Theses to start his religious reformation. Resulting from that, this started the division of the Catholic Church, and Luther’s ideas created the religion of Protestantism later resulting in Lutheranism. The 95 Theses and his other writings changed religious and cultural history in the Western hemisphere. His refusal to renounce all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the Pope. The 95 Theses really started the formation of his church, Lutheran. He taught that salvation and eternal life are not earned by good deeds but is a free gift of God's grace through a person’s faith. Faith alone can
There are many characteristics of an effective team. As the saying goes “A group’s efforts will be more than the sum of its parts”.
When composing a team, your ideal team will consist of individuals who have the skills and experience to accomplish the task, as well as, the motivation needed to be successful. (Dyer, 37) Team composition is the configuration of a team, normally based on attributes of the team and the task given. The team leader’s job is to identify those individuals who will benefit the team in completing the task. Effective team leaders set the clear vision of the team’s goal, establish a clear direction towards achieving the goal, motivate team members, include the ideas and opinions of team members in decision making, and coaching those who struggle through to success. Successful teams should include members that have strong technical skills, knowledge
According to our text, Communicating at Work, an effective team has eight characteristics. These characteristics are: clear and inspiring shared goals; a results driven structure; competent team members; unified commitment; collaborative climate; standards of excellence; external support and recognition; and principled leadership. A group goes through four stages in becoming an effective team; forming, storming, norming, and performing (Adler and Elmhorst, 240, 251). Most of the characteristics of an effective team are brought to the team by one or more members, others are formed during the development process.
Anxiety disorders are collectively the most common mental disorder affecting children and adults. Roughly 40 million American adults over the age of 18 suffer with at least one form of anxiety. These disorders tend to run in families and have a biological basis, but may develop due to brain chemistry, personality, or life events. Despite being highly treatable issues, only one-third of adults receive treatment. The commonly used term “anxiety disorders” exemplifies generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder and panic attacks, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, selective mutism, separation anxiety, and specific phobias. (“Understanding the Facts”)
Demographic diversity is necessary for a team to be successful. A high performance team not only has these demographics present within the make-up of the team members, but a high performance team also has the ability to take these distinct characteristics and use these differences for the team's benefit. Each member from a differing demographic characteristic possesses a unique view on various issues. These assorted viewpoints, moral values and beliefs are what help the team broaden their vision and help produce a better result. Creating a team with diverse backgrounds is only the first step to creating a high performance team. If the team's members are not willing to accept differing viewpoints and opinions, than the team is likely to fail.
Groups are defined as two or more people who work regularly with one another to achieve common goals (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005, Chapter 9). For a group to become a high-performance team, the team needs to be able to use their collective skills and behaviors to become an efficient model working towards a common goal. Having a common goal will make each team member accountable for the success and failure of the team. Since each team member is accountable to the team, each member's behavior will have an effect on the team. Cultural diversity and demographic characteristics affect an individual's behavior. Behavior caused by diversity and demographic characteristics will be a determining factor whether or not a group can be a high-performance team.
Martin Luther lived a life devoted to the word of God. While very young, Luther left a traditional education to join a friary in Erfurt, Germany. This fateful decision would ensure Luther’s role in a religious and social revolution. Two major words define the situation that unfolded in front of Luther, Protest and Reform. The growing social changes and bold observations and accusations of Luther made a protest for reform or the Protestant Reformation. Although during this period the culture plunged the Catholic Church into decline, those same Humanism ideals sparked the reformation and break of the corrupt Catholic Church. The ideals of humanism aided Martin Luther to create the 95 Theses, which created a new perspective of religious
According to Holmes, T (2013), “a high-performance team is a group of interdependent individuals who work together in a specific manner to achieve a common objective.” High-performance teams are differentiated according to their knack to operate at high levels for long spans of time and with efficiency and effectiveness. Teams like this can come in different forms and proportions. Also there are no perfect team models that will fit every organization, but there are many basic traits that appear to reinforce most high-performance teams. As stated in the Holy Bible, Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
In this paper, I will discuss how a team/group can become a high-performance team/group, examine the demographic characteristics and cultural diversity and the impact on the team/group behavior. I will also describe how demographic characteristics and cultural diversity contribute to or detract from high-performance groups or teams. What is a team/group? A team/group is a group of people who form together to complete a mutual goal, such as a presentation, paper, discussing a topic, or creating a new design. How does a team/group become a high-performance group/team?
Recent statistics say that anxiety is the most common mental illness. Anxiety disorders are more common in women. A study showed that 40 million adults (18% of the population) struggle with an anxiety disorder. That is important because it shows really how many people anxiety effects in our country. Some recent press about anxiety disorders was an interview with a man who has a disorder. In the article he talks about how he feels and what his life is like living with the disorder. Another recent article that was published about anxiety was written by a doctor. In the article the doctor talked about how to deal with the symptoms and the surprising benefits of
The team members should know how important a project is to the company and stride to achieve the goals in a professional manner. Each member should contribute one hundred and ten percent of their input to the group to make the project the best that it can be. Every member of the team should be rewarded individually for their performance, insights, and total input that is beneficial to the team. Communication is the key to a productive team. Without proper communication with a high performance team, it will be very difficult for the team to be victorious on the project they are trying to accomplish.
The collection of ideas, knowledge, and experience of different individuals is better than that of only one person. From problem-solving to innovation, organizations have relied on the high-performances of groups and teams to set the organization apart from the rest. Having a common goal will make each team member accountable for the success and failure of the team. Since each team member is accountable to the team, each member's behavior will have an effect on the team. To belong to a team requires that each member be clear on the goals and objectives of the team-to share a common vision. (Park, 2005) By doing so, a group can become a high-performance team.
In a team-oriented setting, everyone contributes to how well the group succeeds overall. You work with fellow members of the group to complete the work that needs to be done. Having the right people in the correct roles is an important factor in measuring the success of a team, where you are united with the other members to complete the main goals. Every group is made up of definite strengths and weaknesses. Our team's 3-5 major strengths necessary to work accordingly consist of Informer, Summarizer, Orienter, Piggy-Backer, and Encourager. One of our strengths as a team is that we get input from everyone involved. Every member of our team is a leader in some way. Part of being a good leader is knowing how important it is to receive the best ideas from each member of their team. We attend group meetings where we discuss any challenges, issues, and problems. At these meetings, we often exchange ideas or brainstorm new ones with each other and come up with the best and most creative team solutions as potential answers to those perceived problems.