Learning Team Dynamics - Essay Example

?Learning Team Dynamics Organizations are physical and even virtual structures, where humans will function ‘in-group’, accomplishing their allocated task under the guidance and supervision of a leader. In-group in the sense, organizations cannot function or succeed without the contribution of all members or employees, and so the employees will have to coordinate and cooperate as part of team to take the organization into the territory of success. This is the common norm in the case of any large groups. When people join together to accomplish some task, they will constitute under large group. From time immemorial, this has been process for completing many tasks including small ones as well as larger ones. That is, when humans join together, there will be ‘accumulation’ of more minds, hands, output, etc, etc, leading to better completion of tasks. Large groups, irrespective of their domain, will have to work as a team with positive dynamics to achieve their targets. Even if there is dissension from few members or even from a single member of those groups, the activity of that large group may be impeded and will result in failure. Although, all the important processes of large groups or organizations starts and ends with the leader or the management team, the employees will be the crucial cog, who has to optimally work as part of “work teams”. In any organized human activity including that of large groups, the successful work teams with positive team dynamics can be successfully set or established, if the head successfully involves the humans as part of the decision making process. The large groups have to be guided and supervised by leader or leaders. The evolution of leaders could be visible in the childhood itself. In the childhood, he/she will have company of tiny tots of his/her age and all of them as part of large groups or small groups will involve themselves in the group activities, in their school or in their neighborhood. These activities could be in the form of physical as well as mental, and most of the activities will demand a team, which could be even a two-person team. While involving themselves in the team activities, some one from the group will try to guide and dominate the other ones. This is the natural process and everyone’s childhood will be replete with situations like this. Although, a child with a good physical stature and ability to communicate at any moment will try to become a leader, in course of time, any organized activity will need a leader who can productively involve the other members as well, thereby motivating them. To make them more integrated towards their targets, the leaders can productively involve them. The same can be replicated in business organizations as well. That is, the leader or the management team of a business organization can put their thoughts, strategies and also the organizational goals for discussion among the other workers. This way the workers as a form of work teams can be involved productively, with dynamics aiding the process. The workers can input their gained knowledge and experience in the decision making process, and will come up with optimal and path breaking suggestions and ideas. So, involving and making co-workers to play a part as work teams will yield optimum results, as it will optimize the performance of the employees. That is, if the employees are given important responsibilities, they will optimize their mental and physical abilities to complete the given work successfully. As it is a matter of proving oneself among the group of fellow workers, the employees will come up with feasible and effective suggestions, ideas, etc in-group and thereby will incorporate team dynamics, to help the organizations function effectively. This was further supported by Fineman & Gabriel (1996), who state that sound delegation will ensure better productivity from the employees as they will work with clear goals. However, the aspect that should be taken care is, even though the workers can be optimally involved as work teams with dynamics, the head or the management team of the unit should be the final authority. So, if this requirement is fulfilled, successful work teams can be established successfully both in large groups as well as in business organization, by involving the people or employees as part of the various processes in the appropriate stages. Committal attitude from all the individuals is the requirement, which is needed for the creation of work teams and team dynamics among any large groups. That is, the successful work teams cannot be established within the large groups and also within business organizations, if the individuals working or contributing to the group activity shows non-committal attitude towards their targets and process. When the individuals, who are part of the large organized group activity, become lethargic, non-cooperative, problem causing, troublemakers with a lot of negative attitudes, then he/she would not participate in any processes within the organization and thus will not contribute to team dynamics. This exact issue will be visible in business organizations as well, particularly with the senior or experienced employees, who have been working in the same organization for many years, showing this attitude, especially when changes are implemented. These types of employees could be the obstacles in the establishment of work teams. Apart from not making contribution to the decision making process, they will also derail the decisions that have been made as part of the decision making process, and will eventually lead to the destruction of the team and dynamics. That is, they will not work effectively to make the team decisions a success. In those cases, it would be better if the leaders show his/her authority and weeds out these individuals. This way, the organization could be placed on the path of success. “Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate non performing individuals in important jobs” (Drucker). So, the committed attitude of the workers is an important organizational requirement for the formation of work teams, but as discussed above some sections of workers may not involve themselves in the group decision making process all the time, and this lack of commitment will surely impede formation of successful work teams. From the above analysis, it is clear that organizations are nothing but large sized groups, as both have the similar set of issues. Individuals, who are part of large groups, will want their leaders to optimally involve them in the decision making process. This is visible in many successful organizations, as it will motivate the workers to come up with better productivity. On the same lines, non-committal attitude could be exhibited by anyone particularly the senior members of the large group to the change management process, and that can be visible in organizations as well. References Drucker, P, Leadership, viewed on April 13, 2011 http://photos.state.gov/libraries/newzealand/19965/eSpotlite/ESpotlite-Leadership2007.pdf. Gabriel, Y., Fineman, S. & Sims, D 2005, Organizing and Organizations, Sage, London. Read More