A requirement of this project ‘The Benefits of Working in a Group’ employs me to locate an article about the benefits of working in a team. I have chosen “The Hidden Benefits of Keeping Teams Intact”.
The Summary
The power of familiarity
Familiarity helps to drive the performance for effectiveness of the working of a team. The orthopedic surgeon increased his efficiency by creating two dedicated teams. He had worked with this team for 18years, which implies that he had been familiarized with them since they have to work together every day.
Despite the fact that familiarity drives performance of a team, many managers do not believe in familiarity within a group. They consider the disadvantages such as office politics, cost pressures, travel limitations and developmental needs. These are not encouraging the use of familiarity, but these disadvantages can be surmounted.
The Advantage of the Learning Curve
Based on researches, it has been investigated that teams like individuals experience a learning curve. More researches from Oxford University also shows that team familiarity promoted cooperation reduced defects in efficiency, adherence to deadlines and budget and of course high performance. More study at Wipro established that teams with low familiarity experience challenges but not with teams with high degrees of familiarity. Further study from Harvard Business School shows an increased percentage improvement in performance. In view of these, researches have suggested five factors for team familiarity effect.
Coordinating activities:
When a team is made up of diverse experts who do not familiarize, then there will be poor communication, disagreement and conflicts. This will definitely slow down the progress of the team’s goal most especially when a large number of team members can’t communicate with each other effectively.
Learning where knowledge lies:
When team member work together for a long while, they become familiarized with each other leading to knowledge share between team members.
Responding to change:
Stress developed from competitive pressures or shift projects can lead to flexibility for change, most especially when teams are asked to pivot through mid-projects.
Integrating knowledge in order to innovate:
Team familiarity helps members to share information and impart one another through communication which would lead to knowledge integration and the urge for better innovation.
Capturing Value:
Team familiarity helps organization create some levels of competition most especially when they develop great innovations their counterparts cannot develop. This is because a team that has existed for long depends on each other to carry out a unique goal and this therefore can’t make any other organization hire any part of a familiarized team.
Create Better Teams
Gaining awareness is the first step in creating a better team as it is important that a team with some level of familiarity is better than a team with none.
The second step is to systematically measure and reports on the previous excellence members have working together. Other huge firms have to add team familiarity to their record employees’ work histories and performance.
Finally, the management of team familiarity measurement is necessary. The most familiarized team must be assigned to carry out tasks. This is to consider the pitfalls that can be obtained from not utilizing the familiar teams.
In view of these, team familiarity will develop trust and people who have worked cooperatively before will work better than those who haven’t.
How this material can help me work in my team
This material discusses the familiarity of a team for effectiveness and efficiency of working in a team. Since this is a new team, the material has sufficiently provided me with qualities team familiarity is made of and I intend to make use of these qualities in my team. These qualities include; better communication with my team members, knowledge share to enhance impartation and experience, adaptability for change, through knowledge integration, we would be urged to be innovative, and in order to create great values amongst counterpart teams, we would ensure we take every speedy measures in team familiarity for competition sake.
Aligning my course performance goal with my team goal
My performance scores are;
- Extroversion-10
- Agreeableness-10
- Conscientiousness-13
- Emotional Stability-13
- Openness to Experience-6
In achieving the best goal in my team, each of these performance scores has an effect. These effects will show my strengths and productivity of working in my team and it will give me a chance for improvements.
Extroversion: The level of my performance score will help in giving attention to my team environment and focus on the directions we intend to trade on since we are a team to work cooperatively.
Agreeableness: I am no island of knowledge, but I also would have my opinions about every matter relating to my team. My performance score will perfectly align with my team’s goal and I will agree with everyone’s views as long as it will further improve our desire to achieve success.
Conscientiousness: I naturally pay attention to carrying out tasks effectively and I meticulously ensure all tasks are perfect. My level of performance score in this quality will help my team achieve an organized and efficient task.
Emotional Stability: My emotional stability has a stronger level of affecting my team positively, because I tend to be calm and keen even when I’m faced with pressure.
Openness to Experience: I have little experience about many operations, the level of my performance score here wouldn’t affect my team because, I will use the team familiarity quality to enhance my need to earn more knowledge from others my team members and get better experiences as I learn more.
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