Team Building
Team Building
It is not a mystery that individuals form organizations, which make teams, groups, and departments in an organization or a business. Without individuals’ motivations and effectively forming a cohesive team, there will be no sufficient productivity and no organizational growth and profitability. This simple but profound fact makes the process of team building essential to the survival of any business and organization. The team-building change effort is one of the most popular forms of OD change intervention among businesses and organizations.
Definition
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Organization development professionals define team building as implementing a range of activities for developing or enhancing interpersonal relationships between team members while categorizing team members, responsibilities, accountabilities, and functions. Team building is distinct from team training. Team training focuses on developing and improving the team’s productivity, performance, and effectiveness.
(Rothwell, Imroz & Bakhshandeh, 2021)
The 4Cs of Team Building
There are four key aspects in team building that need to be addressed to make sure they are handled, and all their relevant elements are in place to ensure the effectiveness and strength of the team building undertaking.
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The Team Context. This is about the organizational factors, such as organization culture, structure, level of leadership, operational systems, and processes which would establish the circumstances and conditions under which the team would work.
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The Team Composition. This concerns team size, team members’ skills, experience, and motivations which would encompass the individuals who make the team and how they are conducting their team tasks that affect the team’s work.
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Team Competencies. This concerns team members’ abilities and competence to resolve conflicts, make decisions, and deal with problems that are in the way of their success as a team and also about the team’s competencies to collectively work together for their common goals.
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The Change Management Skills. This refers to the team’s capacity, ability, and aptitude to monitor its own performance in making changes and about the team’s learning skills, adjusting to a new work environment, accepting and empowering changes, and predicting what would come next.
(Rothwell, Imroz & Bakhshandeh, 2021)
The Essential Elements of Successful Team Building
The team-building process is comprised of valuable expertise and skills. Its workable and efficient design, professional skills, and competencies in its implementation and management are invaluable assets to any business and organization.
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The following are essential elements to the process of team building and its cohesiveness and success:
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Purpose. Teams need to relate to important facets of a successful and well-operating business or organization, such as individual and team performance, productivity, business procedures, quality products or services, quality control, maintenance, and customer satisfaction levels.
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Team Design. Key facets of solid team design are the team’s clarity about its structure, hierarchy, task division, available resources, and flow of productivity.
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Communication Skills. An effective channel of communication is crucial to the team’s workability and productivity. Without communication skills, there will be no problem-solving, critical thinking, conflict resolution, or maintaining relationships with the rest of the team.
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Resources. The team operation needs to be backed by resources such as clerical, technical, and monetary support, which are essential to the team’s success.
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Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The organization management and their teams need to be aligned and in agreement on a measurable and attainable job performance standard and be able to be evaluated for the team’s effectiveness and progress.
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Role Clarity. It is vital for a team’s success that team members be clear about their specific roles, responsibility, and authority in the team and in their relationship with the other team members.
(Rothwell, Imroz & Bakhshandeh, 2021)
Resource:
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Rothwell, William, J., Imroz, Sohel, M., and Bakhshandeh, Behnam (2021). Organization Development Interventions; Executing Effective Organizational Change. Boca Raton, FL: Routledge; Taylor & Francis Group.