Obstacles in Team Dynamics
Abstract
Students face obstacles on a daily basis. These may include personal, financial obstacles or obstacles at work. There are many ways to deal with them, and due to human nature, they are dealt with uniquely. Working within a team environment brings its own obstacles. This paper will discuss obstacles in team dynamics and how to overcome them.
Obstacles in Team Dynamics
By the time people reach adulthood, they have gone through many obstacles in their lives. Perhaps an individual has been passed over at work, had someone close to them die, lost a job, or just lost direction. Those are some of life's many obstacles. As part of a group, there are obstacles that have to be overcome in a team environment. What are they and how does an individual get past the issues that arise in team dynamics? The prevalence of obstacles inserted into a team dynamic increases the likelihood that a team will fail in its mission.
What is Team Dynamics?
First, we will answer the question, "What is team dynamics?"
"A team is defined as a group of two or more individuals engaged in some joint action with a specific mission or goal. Team dynamics are defined as the motivating and driving forces that propel a team toward its goal or mission." (Six Sigma Team Dynamics, The Elusive Key to Project Success).
There is usually much diversity in a group. We have different ethnic backgrounds, intelligence, goals
. Humans in general are non-trusting. Building up trust in a team is not easy. No matter how hard he works, grades could still be low due to poor performance of another team member. Taking individual responsibility for everyone's grades is not an option. I have heard there is no "I" in t...
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A team or group is a collection of people who are associated and interdependent in their tasks, share obligation regarding results, and view themselves as a unit inserted in an institutional or organisational framework which works inside the established boundaries of that system.(H.Kristin,2013)Teams and groups have shown a similar relationship within the bounds of the procedures and research identifying with their effectiveness(K.Steve, 2006) (i.e. group cohesiveness, cooperation) while as yet keeping up their freedom as independent units, as gatherings and their individuals are autonomous of each other's part, aptitude, information or purpose versus groups and their individuals, who are reliant upon each other's part, ability, learning and
Thompson, Leigh L. “Making the Team” A Guide for Managers. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc, 2011. Print.
A group of people working on a team means a group of different sets of minds working together. Thus, it is inevitable that there may arise conflicts on a certain topic within the team, as certain viewpoint may seem right for the circumstances for some teammates and may different for others. However, it is not that they are not solvable.
Seven tasks must be included in consideration of team dynamics and structure. The first of which is defining the goal, mission or function of a specific team. The team must know what it is being asked to accomplish. The second area of consideration is assessing what skills, abilities, knowledge or potential to acquire such would be needed amongst selected team members. Identification of potential team members should include an assessment of the skills, knowledge and abilities or the potential to acquire such so that ultimately the team has the building blocks with which to succeed in its mission, goal or function. This assessment must include an understanding of realistic potential contributions by potential team members with the included assessment of whether or not the acquisition of skills and knowledge can be made available through research and analysis.
An effective team typically develops through several stages. Tuckman and Jensen developed a model for how teams should develop that includes five stages: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (as cited in Martin ,2006 and Fulk, Bell,& Bodie ,2011). In forming, the first stage in team development, team members are introduced to the team’s purpose and goals(Martin, 2006 ; Fulk et al. ,2011). Fulk et al. (2011) explain that members are usually motivated and excited about working together to accomplish the specific goal, but they point out that interactions among team members can be affected by uncertainty about purpose, anxiety, mistrust ,and reluctance to share ideas and opinions. Nevertheless, despite such uncertainties, team members usually avoid conflict and move on to the next stage, storming(Fulk et al.,2011). Unlike the forming stage, the storming stage is marked by conflict (Martin...
As the processes and systems used in business have become more complex, teams, not individuals, have become popular in many organizations. Teams are made up of individuals from an organization brought together to solve a problem, improve a process or implement a new process. “A major advantage that a team has over an individual is its diversity of resources and ideas” (Burns, 1995, p. 52). However, this diversity can cause conflict within the team. The success of the team is strongly influenced by the team’s ability to recognize the causes of, manage and resolve conflict.
For a team to be successful there are several factors that have to be addressed in order for a fluent, functioning group of individuals combined to achieve a certain goal. This goal can be a variety of different endings from producing minor results to making decisions that create a major impact on a large scale. Within a team environment conflict is always presence. Conflict is essential to the advancement of teams and must be managed in a proper way to avoid destruction and division amongst the group of individuals. From sports, to education, and the workplace teamwork is present in everyday life. As a human race we all work in different team oriented situations in order to accomplish a variety of tasks.
Larson, C. and LaFasto, F. (1989), Teamwork: What Must Go Right/What Can Go Wrong. Newberry Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Team Dynamics is how a group of two or more that works together for a common goal. One definition of a team is: two or more individuals associated in some joint action. (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1976). In the business & education world, these joint actions should have some mission or objective that achieves results like a research paper. My Team C has come together with a common goal: Writing a successful paper for week 5 on “What safeguards exist currently to ensure academic honesty & are they working?” For this to be possible we must learn how to work as a team.
pp. 406-441. Parker, G., (2003). Cross-Functional Teams: Working with Allies, Enemies, and Other Str
McComb, S., Schroeder, A., Kennedy, D., & Vozdolska, R. (2012). The five Ws of team communication. Industrial Management, 54(5), 10-13.
Here we discover that teams aren’t necessarily a Zion on earth and that the best teams are often constructed of diverse groups of people who may not have many similar characteristics.
Working in teams provides an opportunity for individuals to come together and establish a rapport towards others within a group. Teamwork is classified as people with different strengths and skills who work together to achieve a common goal. When a team works well, specific objectives are fulfilled and satisfied. Teamwork plays a crucial role in implementing and fulfilling a common goal in a team project. Each member plays a role and takes on different responsibilities combined together. In different stages of teamwork, conflicts and arguments may occur for as members have different standpoints which need to be harmonized within the team. The key to having an effective teamwork is to explore each member's unique abilities to motivate them.
When we think of the word team, individually many different ideas may come to mind about what a team really is. Some may think of an NFL team (Tennessee Titans), an NBA team (Sacramento Kings), or a NASA astronaut team with such pioneers as Edwin Aldrin, Jr. and Neil Armstrong as members. You might even think of the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, or Marines as teams. In fact they all are, and they have a great deal in common as teams. However, for the purposes of this paper I will examine the characteristics of work teams, as they apply to organizations and I will supply answers to the following questions: What is a team? Where did the team concept come from? What are the types of teams? What are the advantages and disadvantages of having teams in organizations? What does it take to make a team effective?
Teams are a major source of companies in these coming years. Teams are Heroes (Collins, 2009-08-27). Everyone wants to be a hero, therefore we need to build, follow, and be effective team members and effective team leaders.