Teamwork

Teams consist of a situation where ‘a number of people have a common goal, (Mullins 2010), and are thus interdependent on one another in order to achieve their target aims. As a result, cohesive teamwork is an integral part of working in groups, whereby individuals ‘share responsibility for specific outcomes’ (Thompson, 2004), and must be effective in teamwork in order to ensure required tasks are completed effectively.

One example of where a team I was a member of was successful due to cohesive teamwork was during work experience selling advertising space for a local newspaper. The sales team was required to work cohesively to determine likely target consumers, pinpoint demographic areas to aim at when making sales and to communicate the nature of all sales made in order to track whether proposed targets were being hit – all tasks requiring effective teamwork. In turn, I feel that the team development that took place is effectively summarised by the team working theory devised by Dr Bruce Tuckman (1973).

Tuckman’s theory identifies four consecutive steps which all groups are claimed to follow during their development: ‘forming,’ ‘storming,’ ‘norming’ and ‘performing.’  R D Stacey (1999) effectively summarised these stages: the first stage, ‘forming,’ refers to the hesitant initial phase of a group forming, where members are cautious and unassertive, typically looking for guidance. This was also true of our sales team, whereby, as a new group of students put together to work with staff, there was a lot of uncertainty of what you could and could not do.

In turn, the next stage, ‘storming,’ summarised as ‘expression,’  is where, having acquired a sense of security, group members are said to then conflict over what and how things should be done, and what roles each should person should occupy. This is exemplified by our group, whereby after the introduction phase, group members were confident to share their opinions on the approach to take on making sales, often coming up with conflicting ideas, which allowed the best idea to be debated and developed.

Furthermore, as Tuckman illustrates is the nature of this stage, our group reached the third stage of ‘norming,’ by working through their conflicts and determining common ground, in terms of opinion, in order to create a sales strategy everyone was happy with, and thus created a strong team working environment as everyone felt involved in the decision-making process and thus motivated to complete required tasks specified. This resulted in the group reaching the final stage of ‘performing,’ which R D Stacey illustrates is where teams achieve their initial aims, as by following the strategy put forward effectively, and motivated to complete set tasks to the best of our abilities, we achieved our aim of selling the newspaper space as was required.

However, in terms of teamwork during our first assignment for a module within our university course,   the overall development of our team was not akin to Tuckman’s theory of development occurring through the sequential steps of ‘forming,’ ‘storming,’ ‘norming’ and ‘performing.’ This is due to the fact that although our group went through the initial ‘forming’ stage, whereby there was hesitancy within the initial meeting, with all member cautious to take the lead, the group dynamics proceeded to fall into a state of complacency, with members choosing to follow the instruction of one, without posing conflict or challenges to the ideas put on the table, and choosing to agree to the tasks suggested to them rather than voice their own opinions. Therefore, due to our group not having gone through the ‘storming’ stage of conflict, it is shown that our overall development did not adhere to the model Tuckman presented, illustrating that it is not applicable to all groups.

Alternatively, teamwork is a contributing factor to the success of many companies. One such company is Nandos, named by the Times as the best company to work for in 2010. The Times illustrates that in terms of teamwork, 81% of Nandos employees agree ‘that there is a strong sense of family in their teams, and that 79% feel that managers care about them as individuals. This illustrates that Nandos acknowledge the requirement of cohesion in effective teamwork, and thus focus on creating and developing strong relationships, not only between team members, but with leaders too. This results not only in strong communication, but in workers feeling valued and motivated to complete tasks to the best of their abilities, and allowing Nandos to operate as effectively and successfully as possible.

In turn, similar promotion of teamwork values is seen within the company Goldman Sachs, which placed second on the Time’s Best 100 Companies list for 2010. 71% of its staff were polled to have agreed to feel that they are ‘listened to by senior managers and line managers,’ illustrating strong team communication between managers and workers, thus allowing staff to feel valued and motivated to complete tasks within their job roles to the best of their abilities. This is proven by the fact that 79% of employees are said to feel that they can make a difference to the organisation, thus illustrating with the inclination employees are given to contribute to the success of the company, due to the organization’s promotion of teamwork ethics, and thus resulting in the company operating effectively and with success.

As a result, it has been conclusively shown that teamwork is an integral part of the success of any group or organisation, with strong cohesion and strategy required to ensure that the required tasks are completed as effectively as possible. Conclusively, as said by Henry Ford, the founder of the Global car company, Ford, ‘If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself,’ and as my research has illustrated, shared group values are essential for successful teamwork.

References

Mullins, L J. (2010) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 9th ed. Essex: Pearson

Stacey, R D. (1996) Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics. 2^nd ed. London: Pitman Publishing

Thompson L L. (2004) Making the Team: A Guide for Managers. 2^nd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education Upper Saddle River