Teams

A team comprises any group of people or animals linked in a common purpose. A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team. There are however many components that make up a team like manager and agents.

Thus teams of sports players can form (and re-form) to practice their craft. Transport logistics executives can select teams of horses, dogs or oxen for the purpose of conveying goods.

Theorists in business in the late 20th century popularized the concept of constructing teams. Differing opinions exist on the efficacy of this new management fad. Some see "team" as a four-letter word: overused and under-useful. Others see it as a panacea that finally realizes the human relations movement's desire to integrate what that movement perceives as best for workers and as best for managers. Still others believe in the effectiveness of teams, but also see them as dangerous because of the potential for exploiting workers &mdash; in that team effectiveness can rely on peer pressure and peer surveillance. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks.

Compare the more structured/skilled concept of a crew, and the advantages of formal and informal partnerships.

Large teams can sub-divide into sub-teams according to need.

Many teams go through a life-cycle of stages, identified by Bruce Tuckman as: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.

Independent and Interdependent Teams
Of particular importance is the concept of different types of teams. A bright line is usually drawn between "independent" and "interdependent" teams. To continue the sports team example, a football team is clearly an interdependent team: no significant task can be accomplished without the help of essentially all team members; team members typically specialize in different tasks (carrying the ball, kicking the ball, blocking opposing players), and the success of every individual is inextricably bound to the success of the whole team. No quarterback, no matter how talented, has ever won a season by playing alone.

On the other hand, a tennis team is a classic example of an independent team: matches are played and won by individuals or partners, every person performs basically the same actions, and whether one player wins or loses has no direct effect on the performance of the next player. If all team members each perform the same basic tasks, such as students working problems in a math class, or outside sales employees making phone calls, then it is likely an independent team. They may be able to help each other &mdash; perhaps by offering advice or practice time, by providing moral support, or by helping in the background during a busy time &mdash; but each individual's success is primarily due to each individual's own efforts. Tennis players do not win their own matches merely because the rest of their teammates did, and math students do not pass tests merely because their neighbors know how to solve the equations.

Coaching an 'interdependent" team like a football team necessarily requires a different approach from coaching an "independent" team. An interdependent team benefits from getting to know the other team members socially, from developing trust in each other, and from conquering artificial challenges (such as offered in outdoors ropes courses).

Independent teams typically view these activities as unimportant, emotion-driven time wasters. They benefit from more intellectual, job-related training. The best way to start improving the functioning of an independent team is often a single question, "What does everyone need to do a better job?"

A virtual team consists of members joined together electronically, with nominal in-person contact. Virtual teaming is made possible with technology tools, especially the Internet. This allows teams to be formed of players otherwise unavailable. Research can be performed using input from the best minds around the world. Work projects can be completed by spreading the workload among long-distance players. Many businesses build their competitive edge on the capabilities and efficiencies of virtual teams.

A team used only for a defined period of time and for a separate, concretely definable purpose, often becomes known as a project team. Managers commonly label groups of people as a "team" based on having a common function. Members of these teams might belong to different groups, but receive assignment to activities for the same project, thereby allowing outsiders to view them as a single unit. In this way, setting up a team allegedly facilitates the creation, tracking and assignment of a group of people based on the project in hand. The use of the "team" label in this instance often has no relationship to whether the employees are working as a team.

Some people also use the word "team" when they mean "employees." A "sales team" is a common example of this loose or perhaps euphemistic usage, though interdependencies exist in organisations, and a sales team can be let down by poor performance on other parts of the organisation upon which sales depend, like delivery, after-sales service, etc.. However "sales staff" is a more precise description of the typical arrangement.

Self-managed Teams
Interdependencies between different parts of an organisation can often not be well satisfied by hierarchical models of control, and the idea of self-managed teams operates in many organisations to manage projects involving research, design, process improvement, and even systemic issue resolution.

The leadership style in a self-managed team is distinct from traditional leadership and operates to neutralize the issues often associated with traditional leadership models, but a team-based organisation needs support from senior management to operate well.

The main idea of the self-managed team is that the leader does not operate with positional authority. Instead of the leader providing instruction, conducting communication, developing plans, giving orders, and disciplining employees, the self-managing team leader delegates responsibility to the team itself to make decisions by consensus, which then gain general support. The self-managing team leader does not make independent decisions in the delegated responsibility area, and the team is accountable for the outcome of its decisions and actions. As the team develops, more and more areas of responsibility can be delegated, and the team members come to rely on each other in a meaningful way, much like the interdependent members of a football team (mentioned above). (Reference: http://www.leader-values.com/Content/detail.asp?ContentDetailID=1004)