All for One.. One for All!

Nowadays, teams have been widely used around different organizations since they provide better organizational effectiveness. Teams, according to Ian Brooks from the prominent University College Northampton, may have a stronger sense of a shared commitment more than groups. They possess synergy which is developed when a group's efforts become greater than the sum of the efforts of its individual members. Teams, in general, should consist of two or more members. While the number of members may be a decent indicator of its effectiveness, there are still other factors present which can alter a team's overall performance.

For this essay, I will focus more on defining self-managed teams. This kind of team works with little or no supervision from a superior. From the term itself, the team's members manage themselves accordingly as to what they prefer which aims for the common goal each of them shares. Of course, with self-managed teams, the members will most likely have various set of skills. This advantage is utilized through the complexity of tasks. However, not all self-managed teams are better than an individual in terms of working process. Brooks provided three factors to assemble a good self-managed team, namely stability, size, and expertise. In short, teams should be stable, small, and smart. Without understanding and trust amongst each other, a team's effectiveness will surely diminish since individualism will result in differently oriented goals between the members. Keeping a group small is a must for avoiding social loafers, more often known as free riders. People considered to be free riders in a team give little to no contribution at all but want to take credit after the team achieved its goal. In terms of expertise, an effective team does not really require great wisdom from each of its individual members. Rather, this factor means that the team as a whole must be knowledgeable of its task. A team must be independent since self-managed teams do not have a superior to coordinate their work process and problems.

Today, different organizations who evidently utilize teams have successfully made their own unique names in the business world. This goes to show that teams have developed through out the years. Whichever kind a team may be, however, it should always take the heat as a whole, make decisions as one, and work en masse!

Brooks, I. (2008) Organisational Behavour: Individuals, Groups, and Organisation, USA, Financial Times Press