Team+Work

Why is Team Work So Important?
Team work have become very important element in our society. One of the reasons is that "teams create the potential for an organization to generate greater outputs with no increase in inputs." (Langton 201). Also, many studies show that, in order to remain competitive, many companies start to choose team works (Chansler and Schraeder). However, teamwork can only benefit the company if it is effective and successful; otherwise it could cause a lot of harm. The question is, "when do teams work better?" This question is not easy to answer because teams are different just like every individual is different; however, through some general research, it was quite clear that teams are better for tasks that require "multiple skills, judgment, and experience" (Langton 202). Since each member in the team is assigned to certain task, they can focus on their individual part and achieve their maximum potential in that task. Like the saying goes two heads are better then one. Individuals in teams work better in teams, only if their personalities and goals match. This aspect is evident in our own class, we have too work in groups and if our personalities clash then it could lead to a disastrous project. This paper will discuss how teams are formed, and the types of teams, and how do we make better team works.

Differences Between Groups and Teams
According to Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, a group is "two or more people with a common relationship"; while a tem is "a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable." (qtd. in Langton 201). Therefore, a team could be a group but not every group are teams.



Group Formation
The initial step in working in a group is to devise a group. Basically there are two models of group development (Langton 212):
 * The five-stage model - describes the standardized stages of group formation.
 * The punctuated-equilibrium model - describes the temporary groups with deadlines.

The Five-Stage Model
According to Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, there are five stages of group formation that groups have to go through:
 * 1) Forming - This is usually the first time that team members meet and this stage is characterized by a great deal of uncertainty about the team's purpose, structure, and leadership (Langton 213).
 * 2) Storming - Once members have met and start to recognize each other as team members, they will start to get to know each other. At this stage, some people will find themselves not getting along with the other group members. There will be conflict about who take the leadership role. When this stage is complete, there will be a clear set of hierarchy (Langton 213-214).
 * 3) Norming - Team start to build on team identity and camaradship. They start to build on cohesiveness. Some solid structure will be shaped, and a common set of expectations will be defined.
 * 4) Performing - Team members start to perform their tasks (Langton 214).
 * 5) Adjourning - Projects are completed at this stage, and the team has to wrap up things that they have been doing (Langton 214).

The storming stage is critical. Many teams move back and forth through storming and the other stages; while some never leaves the storming stage, which could be problematic (Langton 214). Teams that remains in the storming stage will be constantly fighting over leadership roles, members may not be getting along with each other, and they may be having problems with the tasks that are assigned to them. All of these could lead to low performance as the team cannot concentrate on the tasks that was assigned to them.Some people like Narelle Marr, there is no fifth stage, once team finish their performance, then the team is over.

Cohesion
So do team workers have to like each other in order to succeed?

To answer this question, we have to understand what cohesion means.

A successful team is confident and believe that they can succeed, and this is what we called team efficacy. Cohesion is one of the factors that helps team to build team efficacy. According to William R. Forrester and Armen Tashchian from the Kannesaw State University, cohesion is defined as "the tendency of a group to stick together and remain united in the pursuit of the instrumental objectiveness and the satisfaction of members' affective needs" (Forrester and Tashchian).

Cohesiveness influence both the efforts of the team members and team effectiveness (Forrester and Tashchian). As group members begin to bond with each other, understanding each other, recognizing themselves as a team, they will start to want to make it a better team in order to compete with others and achieve better performance so that they don't let down on their team members. Understandably, a team that consider itself as a tightly knit unit will allow the leader of the group have better control over the team, there will be less conflicts, and people will try to compromize as they see the overall team as a representation of themselves and where they belong.

Forrester and Tashchian further divide cohesion into "task cohesion" and "social cohesion" and did a study on business students to see which affect team effectiveness, team effort, and team satisfaction. According to Forrester and Tashchian, "task cohesion" is "the motivation toward achieving the group's goals and objectiveness", and the "social cohesion" is "the motivation to develop and maintain social relationships within the group" (Forrester and Tashchian). Their study shows that social cohesion was a predictment for effectiveness, and that task cohesion has a stronger effect than social cohesion on work performance outcome in the context of business students.

On the other hand, many other studies showed that the relationship of cohesiveness and productivity depends on the performance-related norms established by the group. In the book that Nancy Langton and Stephen Robins wrote, they explained the concept in the following: "if performance-related norms are high (for example, high output, quality work, cooperation with individuals outside the group), a cohesive group will be more productive than a less cohesive group. If cohesiveness is high and performance norms are low, productivitiey will be low. If cohesiveness is low and performance norms are high, productivity increases - but less than in the high cohesivenss-high norms situation. Where cohesiveness and performance-related norms are both low, productivity will tend to fall into the low-to-moderate range" (Langton 228).

Langton and Robins also point out that team efficacy is related to each individual member's self-confidence, which will be discussed below.

Self-Confidence
In Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, self-efficacy "refers to believes in one's capability to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action needed to meet given situational demand" (qtd. in Chowdhury, Endres, and Lanis). Researches have shown that self-efficacy is a valid predictor for self satisfaction, effort, and persistence (Chowdhury, Endres, and Lanis). In team environment, self-efficacy is influenced by the performance of the team. Chowdhury, Endres and Lanis' study showed that, in a high performed team, self-efficacy will improve; however, in a low performed team, self-efficacy will influence individual satisfaction and performance. In a low performance team, teams with high self-efficacy will be most likely to remain satisfied and to continue to work hard and perform a better job than teams with low self-efficacy (Chowdhury, Endres, and Lanis).

So, how do we increase our self-confidence and therefore increase self-efficacy? Both Langton and Chowdhury's studies showed that achieving small success and skill training could increase our self-confidence and help us building self-efficacy (Langton 228; Chowdhury, Endres, and Lanis). Small success could gives people a sense that they can succeed in the future task. They will start to believe in themselves and in their team. Skill training will increase the abilities of the members and making the success rate higher when performing tasks.