Teamwork Makes a Dream Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Teamwork Makes a Dream Work - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that team working/interpersonal skills is one of the seven skills listed by the Chartered Management Institute as essential for business management. Traditionally, management exercised control over the organization through planning and control, solving problems, making decisions and giving orientation, all by itself.   Problem-solving used to be the prerogative of the management. In modern times, the above mastership culture has transformed into team leadership characterized by empowered individuals. The team oriented management has come to be known as the second industrial revolution which the Fortune magazine calls as the great discovery of the 1990s. Management through teams has proved to be the cornerstone for many organizations to realize enhanced organizational effectiveness and productivity. Thus, traditional individualistic functioning has been replaced by team functioning in modern times. Team oriented management is a flexible or ganizational model with â€Å"laminar and flattened structure† as opposed to the traditional organizational structure wedded to top-down (hierarchical) functioning. This flexibility of approach towards problem-solving envisages participation of all the team members at the same time in the decision making and problem-solving processes. Due to the underlying commitment, the team members would never overlook the common objective and most importantly, the team-based functioning is a morale-booster, cost-cutting technique, means of improving quality and productivity, leading to the highest possible organizational performance.... The functional role is drawn from the role theory which emphasizes the role as a part of social structure in that everyone has a role to play in a given activity. The functional role theory is explained in two perspectives of behavioural perspective and expectancy perspective. The former is manifested in an individual who is given or who has assumed a certain position in a community. The latter is manifested as an expected behaviour of an individual occupying a definite position in a society. Belbin states that while functional role is for survival, team role consists of roles required for the pursuit of the common objective (Gunduz, 2008). Self-managing teams The concept of self-managing teams has been discussed as early as 1997. Organisations have embraced the practice of self-managing teams for the sake of flexibility, decision making at the front-end and exploitation of employees’ capabilities to the fullest extent. The rationale behind self-managing is to make employees f ully accountable for their actions/performance rather than being dependent on their managers. This practice of day-day to management has been found to improve organisational performance for reasons of closeness between the front end people and the customers, the potential to improve ‘organisational learning and adaptability’ enabled by the freedom with which the teams can experiment with their work so as to formulate their own unique methods of problem-solving and the employees’ commitment made possible by their wider participation (Belbin R. M., 2012) (Wageman, 1997). Mixed Results Self-managing team concept has its own drawbacks in spite of the promise it holds for