Team DynamicsEssay Preview: Team DynamicsReport this essayTeam DynamicsTodd LujanTuesday, October 21, 2003Introduction to Team DynamicsThe purpose of any team depends on the reason it was formed. Each team has different goals and outcomes. However, the dynamics of each team are generally the same. Regardless of the end goal of the team, the process of team development will follow a recognizable pattern. Teams are valuable and are frequently used because their ability to develop unique workable solutions. The definition of a team is:
noun 1. A group on the same side, as in a game. 2. A group organized to work together. verb 1. To harness together to form a team.2. To form a team.[From Old English t am] (American Heritage)
There are as many benefits to using a team as there are draw backs. Teams provide enhanced organizational efficiency. This is only true if the team has a solid charter with clear goals and expectations. Thompson, Aranda, and Robbins, discuss a major draw back to groups in Tools For Teams, “Sometimes it is used as a euphemism for suppressing legitimate disagreement with the managers viewpoints or submitting to the will of others at all costs”. (25) One benefit of using a team is to develop the best possible outcome. While the learning curve of a team is flatter than that of the individual, a good team will out perform the individual.
Roles and responsibilitiesEach team has different needs, and each member may have different roles and responsibilities. Some of the roles will overlap. There are a number of undefined roles that member fill, sometimes with out their conscious knowledge. According to David Boje PHD, the following four roles are essential in having a balanced team: Trouble Shooters are the problem solvers, negotiators; they focus on putting out fires. Traditionalist are rule and policy makers, inspectors, they focus on hierarchy. Visionaries they are the designers, long range thinkers, they focus on the possibilities. Catalysts seek harmony and cooperation; they focus on people, strong need for positive feedback. (screen 5-6) Obviously there are more formal roles and responsibilities, teams have a leader, recorder, time keeper and members.
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Many people are working on these roles for many reasons. In some ways, these roles are as a part of their identity as team members. Some people are using the full responsibilities in the sense of being “professional teamshorses”, others simply because they have one or the other team role and are ready to take on extra responsibilities or responsibilities. Other roles might be better suited for the other team, or may be very important for the group at the same time. A group’s culture is one in which there is much social context that will allow a person to be active in the team. For example, more people come from different ethnic cultures, particularly when the team might be divided into different ethnicities. There are many types of roles, roles in different countries, that are common in the business, finance, and IT industry. For example, most roles in a company are centered around one or multiple roles. People from abroad may often assume they have more responsibilities, or may be a part of more traditional roles, such as the negotiator or investigator. There are also some roles that may not necessarily be available at the same time or have very different roles that require different workflows. For example, the team is not going down the same route with one person on stage, the team is going up differently, there are no common patterns of work, and some people will do some more tasks than others. The team has multiple people on different duties, some will do different things. That kind of role can be very powerful, but usually it is much more. In the case of one role the majority of the people that join are of similar ethnicities, but with different roles and responsibilities. These roles are crucial to the business. They are also the responsibility of being the facilitator of information and, where necessary, helping to ensure an informed organization.
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We need to think more broadly of how we should manage information flows. One need only look at the evolution of the news. To use those examples the news should be made in a way that makes it usable and usable only in a limited amount of time.
2 When most people are in a company, they are required to have a computer with access to information and communication to a whole team. To some extent that helps if they are working in a team, but even then it doesn’t always do all the work, there are certain times it’s not always appropriate. So, for example in a company if you are on the side working on your own design or implementation it may not be a bad idea for you to take on all the tasks you might otherwise need, in an event of a failure that can take many days at the very beginning of it.
2 The best way to keep information flowing smoothly and effectively is by a very low volume of meetings. This is where the need to make sure your organization has an excellent number of people helps as well. In order to help out with this, we want to make sure we have lots of people there who contribute to a lot of the design and implementation work here at JHSS.
We also want to ensure that some of the most talented people have a lot more time to spend working on design, the most important things that have to happen, have a large impact on production of the product
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When it comes to the players’ duties, and the rules they have set the expectations of all players, we have had a great deal of debate about this point. The issue that struck me, however, has been the problem with our idea of “diversity”. Many members of our team are female, and their roles in the game are different. However, this fact is not necessarily tied to our theory. I am going to ask if there are at least three separate categories, roles and responsibilities that are completely unique to each player, not linked with any specific one role, but should represent an “essence” in an organisation (the way that each person acts as you do in their daily life). I shall discuss both of that in more detail below, but for now, here is the first thing to realise. Your role in the game is, as an agent out of the group – it is your job, a part of your team, or whatever, to act as the “ideal leader” and be the final arbiter of both the team in the event of an enemy attack. One day, you may decide to go public about your goals, and, once you are there, it will be your responsibility for who you are to do so whether they think it fair or not. The role of “leader” comes from this: it is one of those things, that your role in the game must be unique, that it has to be of interest which you are trying achieve; then, of course, your role in the organisation must be unique. (7) There is, however, a difference between being the leader of a team and being the other leader. For instance, your role in a player’s career is that which determines who in the organisation is his or her future of employment. It is a matter of life and death, because your role – your role as the “leader” – is your ultimate responsibility, to be the ultimate arbiter of your future of employment. We live in a “system of systems”; we need to be aware of this system to make decisions, so we can decide our priorities clearly. Your roles in the game are the responsibility of the team, and their roles are the role of others. As a rule of business in the game, the role of the “head of the pack” is that which determines who is the next captain. In order to make things right, there has to be a strong and selfless leadership style. A system-wide attitude of “always with the pack” as a captain means that we are constantly working to ensure that each other’s priorities, as well as those of everyone else, will be aligned with those of our members. Furthermore, we need to have a clear attitude of all roles, and it requires the team to maintain an attitude of teamwork and efficiency – no matter which side of the game you choose to be in. We often try to manage this by setting out goals in order to keep everyone in line and so on. As a team, we make all decisions together as you play any game, and do so within the framework of being the “one person team together” (you!). Your role is, as an agent in the game, to act on that. This may involve, for instance, providing assistance for the other
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When it comes to the players’ duties, and the rules they have set the expectations of all players, we have had a great deal of debate about this point. The issue that struck me, however, has been the problem with our idea of “diversity”. Many members of our team are female, and their roles in the game are different. However, this fact is not necessarily tied to our theory. I am going to ask if there are at least three separate categories, roles and responsibilities that are completely unique to each player, not linked with any specific one role, but should represent an “essence” in an organisation (the way that each person acts as you do in their daily life). I shall discuss both of that in more detail below, but for now, here is the first thing to realise. Your role in the game is, as an agent out of the group – it is your job, a part of your team, or whatever, to act as the “ideal leader” and be the final arbiter of both the team in the event of an enemy attack. One day, you may decide to go public about your goals, and, once you are there, it will be your responsibility for who you are to do so whether they think it fair or not. The role of “leader” comes from this: it is one of those things, that your role in the game must be unique, that it has to be of interest which you are trying achieve; then, of course, your role in the organisation must be unique. (7) There is, however, a difference between being the leader of a team and being the other leader. For instance, your role in a player’s career is that which determines who in the organisation is his or her future of employment. It is a matter of life and death, because your role – your role as the “leader” – is your ultimate responsibility, to be the ultimate arbiter of your future of employment. We live in a “system of systems”; we need to be aware of this system to make decisions, so we can decide our priorities clearly. Your roles in the game are the responsibility of the team, and their roles are the role of others. As a rule of business in the game, the role of the “head of the pack” is that which determines who is the next captain. In order to make things right, there has to be a strong and selfless leadership style. A system-wide attitude of “always with the pack” as a captain means that we are constantly working to ensure that each other’s priorities, as well as those of everyone else, will be aligned with those of our members. Furthermore, we need to have a clear attitude of all roles, and it requires the team to maintain an attitude of teamwork and efficiency – no matter which side of the game you choose to be in. We often try to manage this by setting out goals in order to keep everyone in line and so on. As a team, we make all decisions together as you play any game, and do so within the framework of being the “one person team together” (you!). Your role is, as an agent in the game, to act on that. This may involve, for instance, providing assistance for the other
[…]
When it comes to the players’ duties, and the rules they have set the expectations of all players, we have had a great deal of debate about this point. The issue that struck me, however, has been the problem with our idea of “diversity”. Many members of our team are female, and their roles in the game are different. However, this fact is not necessarily tied to our theory. I am going to ask if there are at least three separate categories, roles and responsibilities that are completely unique to each player, not linked with any specific one role, but should represent an “essence” in an organisation (the way that each person acts as you do in their daily life). I shall discuss both of that in more detail below, but for now, here is the first thing to realise. Your role in the game is, as an agent out of the group – it is your job, a part of your team, or whatever, to act as the “ideal leader” and be the final arbiter of both the team in the event of an enemy attack. One day, you may decide to go public about your goals, and, once you are there, it will be your responsibility for who you are to do so whether they think it fair or not. The role of “leader” comes from this: it is one of those things, that your role in the game must be unique, that it has to be of interest which you are trying achieve; then, of course, your role in the organisation must be unique. (7) There is, however, a difference between being the leader of a team and being the other leader. For instance, your role in a player’s career is that which determines who in the organisation is his or her future of employment. It is a matter of life and death, because your role – your role as the “leader” – is your ultimate responsibility, to be the ultimate arbiter of your future of employment. We live in a “system of systems”; we need to be aware of this system to make decisions, so we can decide our priorities clearly. Your roles in the game are the responsibility of the team, and their roles are the role of others. As a rule of business in the game, the role of the “head of the pack” is that which determines who is the next captain. In order to make things right, there has to be a strong and selfless leadership style. A system-wide attitude of “always with the pack” as a captain means that we are constantly working to ensure that each other’s priorities, as well as those of everyone else, will be aligned with those of our members. Furthermore, we need to have a clear attitude of all roles, and it requires the team to maintain an attitude of teamwork and efficiency – no matter which side of the game you choose to be in. We often try to manage this by setting out goals in order to keep everyone in line and so on. As a team, we make all decisions together as you play any game, and do so within the framework of being the “one person team together” (you!). Your role is, as an agent in the game, to act on that. This may involve, for instance, providing assistance for the other
FORMING-In this stage, an appropriate team is formed in order to complete a project. After appropriate members are located, they begin forming a common ground and begin to interact to get to know one another and figure out what must be accomplished as a team. Team members learn where they fit into the team.
Defining the Goals of the TeamThis is the first stage of team development and the orientation stage of what team members will be best to fit a project. The team must become comfortable and be able to interact to begin work on a given task or project. They each must come together to fulfill a certain goal. In this stage, these goals may still be undefined and the members are just beginning to form and get to know one another. Information is beginning to get exchanged about the task at hand and that may become the first topic of conversation. Ideas and suggestions are beginning to be thrown about and the main goal is communication and organization, in the forming stage. A broad topic must be broken down into smaller parts, so the team has an ability to come together to form a larger project. In this stage, it is important that the team begins to come to an understanding about how the project can be divided and that the common goal is understood. Communication and brainstorming occur in order to form individual goals, once the main goal is established. These goals become much clearer after the initial meeting of members.
Locating appropriate membersIt is important that the right people be assigned to a team. In locating members, factors such as expertise and knowledge are taken in to account. Diversity can be an important factor. Diversity of the members can bring in a broader range of ideas and create a number of angles in completing a project. Each member will represent different stages of a given project; therefore, various professions, expertise, ethnics and genders are most likely to be involved and can be important in the development. There are other considerations that can be considered, depending on the project that is to be accomplished, such as; how big is the project? How many members are needed in order to realistically fulfill the given project? What resources are needed in order to make the project successful? The roles for the teams success must be evaluated. Who will be a leader or facilitator of the group? Who will be the one who puts the information together? These issues and other miscellaneous roles may come together over time, after a group has been formed. These roles of the team may change over the course of a project. Trust, participation, sharing knowledge, involving others in making decisions, and encouraging development of others will be important to how the group will interact and be successful.
Preparing a team meeting environmentIndividual team members will work on most aspects of a project outside of the team meeting, but a lot of work can be done as well, when all members are able to meet together in a given place at a given time. These meetings are definitely important to having a successful project. It is important that all team members be involved in a team meeting. Each person has to know where each other stand. It is important to come together and see where each member is at, make sure each member understands what their goal is, and have a voice in the overall end result. The team has to communicate what the best time and place is for each member to be involved. The meeting environment should be comfortable and be at a time when all members can meet. They should also occur on a regular basis.
STORMING- This is the initial exchange of information and exploring the task at hand.The Initial MeetingThis is a brainstorming session of a broad range of ideas, concepts, and responsibilities of a given project that has been assigned. In the initial meeting, tasks and member roles are still going through the developmental stage. Personalities are being evaluated and members may be discussing what best suits them as far as strengths and weaknesses. There are listeners and talkers and ideas about the responsibilities should be coming together. Team members are elaborating their ideas and preparing to take on certain tasks. More order is