Importance of teams - Essay Example

Importance of Teamwork With increasing development in the healthcare sector, it has become that much important to provide the best available care topatients. The growing expectations of patients along with procuring guidance from other industries have led to increased focus on teamwork and the chemistry between team members. In healthcare sector, a team is an assembly of health professionals who remain committed to planning and providing patient care. For proper collaboration between health professionals who form a team in healthcare sector there needs to be three criteria which are clarity of team’s functions, shared goals, and individual responsibilities (Ezziane et al., 2012, p.429).

The following section will focus on importance of teamwork in other sectors like aviation, auto racing and military and the lessons that healthcare industry can learn. Teamwork is extremely important for any sector that is highly reliant on human performance. In a team two aspects are equally important – taskwork and teamwork. While the former means the skills needed by the members to execute their tasks, the latter means the approach needed by the members to complete the tasks. In aviation, both of these are required.

The importance of effective task performance by crew members in the cockpit cannot be denied. At the same time, there should be strong teamwork for harmonization and communication between the crew members. Records have shown that 68 percent of air mishaps occur due to poor coordination between aircrew (Salas & Maurino, 2010, p.254). According to Salas et al. (2005) there are five requirements for a team’s efficiency. First, strong leadership since it is through a team leader’s guidance the members can perform in a coordinated manner.

Second, members need to monitor the activities of each other to keep track of errors or lapses to ensure perfection in overall performance. Third, backup behavior like members with less work load should share the burden of those who have excessive work load. Fourth, adaptability which means members should be able to adjust their work in case of unexpected difficulties. Fifth, team orientation indicates that each person should have compatible approach to work with other individuals. All the five elements are required in aviation in order to handle any emergency situation in the cockpit.

In auto racing, teamwork between pit crew and race is considered as exemplary. The process underlying auto racing itself requires high level of team work, and it is said that no other industry promotes teamwork as highly as auto racing. There are various stages – first assembling of car, then drawing of the appropriate parts, then making the parts, and finally testing by mechanics and engineers. Therefore, the importance of teamwork is undeniable even before the car reaches the first race (Pritchett, 1992, p.7). In military, teamwork significance is even more enhanced.

Teams in military are based on complete trust, allegiance and surrender all of which are instilled in soldiers during their intense training period. Although these elements are valued even in civilian life, the experiences of soldiers as team in military are rarely found among civilians (Zayfert & DeViva, 2011, p.191). From the above discussion it can be concluded that teamwork is essential in many sectors since in all the above sectors interdependency, mutual trust and commitment are necessary traits.

These values cannot be undermined in the healthcare sector where the objective is to extend care to the sick and save lives of serious patients. Hence, healthcare sector can learn the virtues of intense teamwork from other sectors. ReferencesEzziane, Z., et al. (2012) Building Effective Clinical Teams in Healthcare. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 26(4), 428-436Pritcett, P. (1992) The team member handbook for teamwork, PritchettSalas, E. & Maurino, D. (2010) Human Factors in Aviation, Academic PressSalas, E., Sims, D.E.

& Burke, C.S. (2005) Is there a “big five” in teamwork? Small Group Research, 36(5), 555-599Zayfert, C. & DeViva, J.C. (2011) When Someone You Love Suffers from Posttraumatic Stress: What to Expect and What You Can Do, NY: Guilford Press