Problems and Conflicts in Teamworking - Essay Example

Overcoming Challenges, Problems and Conflicts That May Occur in Teams Table of Contents Introduction 2 Introduction 2 1. Effectiveness of teams as decision makers 2 1.2. Dysfunctions of team work 3 2. Reflection of Experiences with Team Management Issues 3 2. Reflection of Experiences with Team Management Issues 3 2.1. Cross cultural issues 4 2.2. Conflicts during discussion 5 2.3. Coming late for meetings 6 2.4. Leadership issues 7 2.5. Timely contributions from team members 8 2.6. Overcoming conflicts 9 2.7. Success factors for teams 9 3. Conclusions 10 3. Conclusions 10 References 10 References 10 1. Introduction Team working is "a work practice that uses groups of people with shared objectives who interact and cooperate with each other to complete a set of activities that are needed to achieve the objectives" (CIPD, 2013). Team working in modern organisations allows each member to make a distinctive contribution and individual performance can then be tracked and awarded (CIPD, 2013). However, smooth running of a team needs adequate cooperation among the members and each member must contribute and complete the tasks assigned to them. Therefore, a smooth and successful team management must overcome a number of challenges and obstacles before success is achieved (Karau and Williams, 1997). This paper examines the challenges that our team faced when completing an exhibition activity on organisation change. This paper first briefly discusses the literature on effectiveness and the dysfunctions in the team before evaluating the conflicts that arose in our team. 1.1. Effectiveness of teams as decision makers Teamwork succeeds because the power of many brains is harnessed and a diversity of opinions and multiple perspectives to problem solving are available, and this aids in better decision making. However, the quality of teamwork and the decisions that the team generates depends on the collaboration between team members, coordination and communication between them, balanced contributions from all members, mutual respect, and support and cohesion among them (Hoegl and Gemuenden, 2001). 1.2. Dysfunctions of team work Dysfunction of a team is about the various problems and pitfalls that teams face when they seek to work in a cooperative manner. Some of the issues that create dysfunction in teams are absence of trust among members, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoiding accountability and inattention to results. These issues create discord, mistrust and a breakdown in communication and team members indulge in politics and fighting with each other rather than thinking constructively (Lencioni, 2002). 2. Reflection of Experiences with Team Management Issues In this chapter, I will reflect and narrate the experiences in working in a team. Our team had five members, so a cross-cultural diversity was present since me and another person is from Qatar while the rest are from Egypt, Seychelles and China. Next sections provide a discussion of various issues that we faced when we had to work together and participate in an exhibition for organisation change. One of the first tasks for the team was to distribute various duties and activities that each had to take up individually, and contributions from each individual would form the contents for the exhibition. Thrust (2012) speaks of the importance of having a clear structure for the team, identifying resources and tasks and the need to have a team leader. Some of the identified tasks were appointing the team leader, schedule meetings, writing down the minutes of meeting, identifying resources needed for the exhibition, taking up research to collate the content and integrating all the results from the individual efforts. I was elected as the team leader, and we decided on various subjects and themes needed for the exhibition. Since conducting research was the main activity, we distributed the research topics among ourselves. The team member from Seychelles was given the task of writing down the meetings while the member from Egypt was given the task of coordinating with other members. Next sections present my reflections on different issues and challenges. For each issue, a brief literature review is first provided and the theory applied to analyse the issues. The solution and method used to resolve the issue are also given. 2.1. Cross cultural issues Cross-cultural teams would have members from different nationalities, ethnic origins or those who speak a different language and such teams often face barriers and challenges in achieving objectives. The problems are compounded when team members do not speak a common language fluently and this leads to communication problems, misinterpretations and in extreme cases, a total breakdown in communication can result. These problems are aggravated in academic teams when students from different countries are educated in their native language and the level of comprehension, expression, and even cognitive skills show a high level of variance (Covey, 1999). Some of these problems manifested in our team, particularly with the team member from China who could not speak English with clarity and spoke with a highly accented Chinese style. As a result, we had difficulty in understanding what the person was saying. Another issue was work ethics and method of working and in the first meeting, we decided that each one of us would keep notes about the activities they carried out, problems they encountered and the work that was still pending. Some members did not see any reason for taking this extra burden and preferred to give their status verbally, and they expected the person tasked with maintaining the minutes of meeting to write it down. The theory of team cognition helped us to resolve this problem (Entin and Serfaty, 1999). We solved these problems in discussions, speaking slowly to make the Chinese team member understand the deep problem that faced us unless we completed the tasks, or else we would lose one year. We sorted out this problem by aggressively reminding each person about the importance to keep notes and come prepared. 2.2. Conflicts during discussion Arguments and debates in team meetings add vigour and encourage participation among team members besides allowing generation of new ideas. In many cases, individuals that are reticent and not willing to speak feel the urge to speak out, and they lose their shyness when the discussions pick up-tempo. While debates and arguments are a sign of an effervescent team, the arguments should not get personal or end up in conflicts (Cappozzoli, 1995). As an example, if a team member presents an idea, the good and bad points of the idea and the extent to which it is tenable should form the basis of the arguments. The arguments put forth by the team members against the idea should not be misconstrued as personal attacks, as it creates a situation where feuds and politics break out (Alessandr and Hunsaker, 1993). We faced this problem in our team, and cultural differences lead to polemic differences between team members. One or two team members would find that others would speak in a derisive manner when they put forth some ideas, and this created disputes. The theory of 'Directability and Mutual Adaptation' helped us to resolve this problem (Sycara and Lewis, 2004). We sorted out this problem by getting assurance and undertaking that only arguments about the idea would be allowed and the pros and cons debated while personal attacks on the ethnic and national origin of the team members were not to be raised. 2.3. Coming late for meetings Lack of punctuality is often a major cause for disruptions in team meetings. When members play truant or fail to present themselves at the appointed time, this lackadaisical attitude indicates negative aspects of an individual's personality. When the team size is small, a missing member creates a gap and break in the proceedings since other members cannot proceed unless all other members are present. Unfortunately, lack of punctuality is infectious and other team members assume that coming late is not an infraction, and since it is tolerated and the defaulting member is not censured, they can become indolent and come late for the meetings (Kouzes and Posner, 2012). We faced this problem of latecomers, and some meetings broke up since individuals in the meeting who had come on time felt frustrated and angry and walked away. Two members were habitual latecomers and they always had an excuse for their tardiness. The theory of Human-Agent Teamwork helped us to resolve this problem (Sycara and Lewis, 2004). We sorted out this problem since it was vexatious, by drawing certain rules for punctuality. When meetings were arranged, the venue, date and time were informed through SMS, and it was binding on each member to attend on time. If team members had genuine reasons for abstaining, they had to tell in advance about their problems, prepare a status report of their activities and hand it over to a team member. These methods brought some discipline into the team. 2.4. Leadership issues Appointing a formal leader for the team is very important since the leader manages the team, guides and motivates bashful team members to participate and contribute. A leader needs to understand individual team members, help the laggards, keep track of activities and ensure that they are completed on time. It may often be necessary for a leader to cajole, request and speak firmly with team members, and the leader needs to visualise the road map to achieve the objectives. Unless the leader is firm and strong, the team falls into disarray and the team becomes a motley group of disorganised individuals (Kotter, 2003). In the early stages, we decided to appoint a leader and the other members selected me to serve as the leader. I had some issues in the initial stages since I had to instruct and give orders to others, and a couple of members seemed unwilling to accept my authority. The issue was settled after I offered to step down and let them take over the team, and this action forced them to recant and I resumed leadership. 2.5. Timely contributions from team members One of the main definitions of team is that each member contributes by taking up an activity to achieve the objective. This requirement, however, faces problems when team members do not work as per the plan and do not present their findings as per the schedule. Contributions from each team member are bricks that help the team to achieve the set of defined objectives. When information is missing or when an activity is incomplete, there is a risk that the whole project will become undone (Kotter, 1990). Our team faced this problem since a few activities remained incomplete as team members did not contribute on time. We had set a schedule for contributions from members. When the schedule was missed, it created further delays for other tasks. The theory of team coaching helped us to resolve the problem (Hackman and Wageman, 1999). We handled this problem by calling up members who were lagging in their contributions, and realised that some of them could not cope with the work while the others were lazy. As a leader, I helped them to complete the tasks on time. 2.6. Overcoming conflicts The previous sections explained various methods to overcome conflicts, and these are revisited in this section. The issues of cross-cultural communication were solved by increasing the interactions and speaking in a manner that all team members understood. Conflicts during discussions were resolved by defining the rules for team meetings and agreeing that only ideas would be argued upon while personal attacks would not be permitted. Latecomers were warned to come on time since their tardiness caused problems to others. Timely contributions were obtained by following up and motivating the laggards to work efficiently (Alessandra and Hunsaker, 1993; Entin and Serfaty, 1999; Hackman and Wageman, 1999). 2.7. Success factors for teams Critical success factors (CSFs) are important elements that help teams to achieve their objectives. Important CSFs are setting SMART goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic and follow a schedule. A committed leader is important, and the leader must motivate the team to focus on the mission and goals. The leader must engage the members and help the laggards, and should not be a bystander but be bustling with whim and vigour. Another CSF is mutual trust among members, and the trust and acceptance should transcend cultural differences. Active collaboration and committed engagement in the team activities are very important. The team members should willingly exhibit personal accountability and responsibility, and such merits should not be forced out of them. The team leader should not be authoritarian but democratic and at the same time, the leader should be firm towards laggards and members with a lackadaisical attitude. Disputes and arguments should focus on ideas and work methods and should not degenerate into personal vendettas (Thrust, 2012). 3. Conclusions The paper has discussed several important issues related to team working: the importance, challenges and barriers faced, as well as the methods available to prevent conflicts. The paper was a personal reflection on the problems that our team faced when we participated in an exhibition on organisational change, and the solutions we implemented to overcome the challenges. References Adair, J., 2009. Effective Teambuilding: How to Make a Winning Team. 14th ed. NY: Pan Books. Alessandra, T. and Hunsaker, P., 1993. Communicating at Work. New York: Fireside Publishers Cappozzoli, T. K., 1995. Resolving conflict within teams. Journal for Quality and Participation, 18(7), pp. 28–31. CIPD, 2013. What is team working? http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/teamworking.aspxAccessed 25 May 2014 from. Covey, S. R., 1999. Principle-centered Leadership. NY: Simon & Schuster Ltd. Entin, E. and Serfaty, D., 1999. Adaptive team coordination. Human Factors, 41, pp. 56-61 Hackman, J. R. and Wageman, R., 1999. Toward a theory of team coaching. Department of Psychology, Harvard University Hoegl, M. and Gemuenden, H. G. 2001. Teamwork quality and the success of innovative projects: a theoretical concept and empirical evidence. Organization Science, 12(4), pp. 435–449. Karau, S. J., and Williams, K. D., 1997. The effects of group cohesiveness on social loafing and social compensation. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 1(2), pp, 156–168. Kotter, J. P., 1990. A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs from Management. NY: The Free Press. Kotter, J. P., 2003. Leading Change. MA: Harvard Business Review Press. Kouzes, J. M. and Posner, B. Z., 2012. The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations, 5th Edition. NY: Jossey Bass. Lencioni, P., 2002. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. NY: Jossey-Bass. Sycara, K. and Lewis, M. 2004. Integrating agents into human teams. American Psychological Association, 109(6), pp. 193-198 Thrust, R., 2012. Effective Teams – Building Teams that Work. 3rd ed. NY: Lulu. Read More