V. 4. Team Management
Working in a team, accompanied with a proper management
is certainly one of most efficient ways of reaching adequately the proposed
goals of an organization. But the construction of the “perfect
working team” is not so facile, requiring a good combination of
right individuals with a selection of desired abilities and features.
Additionally to that, teams develop while working together;
it takes time, energy and effort, responsibility to develop an efficient
and functional team. As it is underlined in the “Project Management
Manual (1997, p.288), for teams to perform effectively it requires time;
time for team members to be acquainted with each other, to assess each
other’s strengths and weaknesses and to reflect whether they can
identify with the values, beliefs, attitudes and general style of their
colleagues, individuals or the whole group. For describing this process
of developing an effective team, the Human Resources Group at Cranfield
School of Management identified four distinct stages from a group of
individuals to a coherent and cohesive unit:
- Forming the stage when the individuals
need to become acquainted to each other;
- Storming after gaining confidence a certain
desire of leading often induces infighting amongst the members;
- Norming the storm is followed by a stage
of establishment of specific norms;
- Performing the stage when the group becomes
more cohesive and a greater professional closeness begins to emerge.
Another important issue about the efficiency of the teams
is their dependency on the deliberate will of recognizing the diversity
of team members and valorizing this in a better possible way. The determining
factors will be the team's ability to understand diversity, value it,
and manage it. For this purpose it is necessary that each member of
the team „to find his/her place” in the team’s structure,
to receive tasks and reasonability fitting their personality, abilities,
skills.
It is axiomatically that teams need to know and exploit
each member’s skills. One of the starting point for this equilibrated
distribution of tasks relating to personal profile of the employees
is the Margerison-McCann Team Management Wheel, highlighting different
teams types:
| Reporter-Adviser |
Supporter, helper, tolerant; A
collector of information; Dislikes being rushed; Knowledgeable;
Flexible |
| Creator-Innovator |
Imaginative; Future-oriented;
Enjoys complexity; Creative; Likes research work |
| Explorer-Promoter |
Persuader, "seller";
Likes varied, exciting, stimulating work; Easily bored; Influential
and outgoing |
| Assessor-Developer |
Analytical and objective;
Developer of ideas; Enjoys prototype or project work; Experimenter |
| Thruster-Organizer |
Organizes and implements;
Quick to decide; Results-oriented; Sets up systems; Analytical |
| Concluder-Producer |
Practical; Production-oriented;
Likes schedules and plans; Pride in reproducing goods and services;
Values effectiveness and efficiency |
| Controller-Inspector |
Strong on control; Detail-oriented;
Low need for people contact; An inspector of standards and procedures |
| Upholder-Maintainer |
Conservative, loyal,
supportive; Personal values important; Strong sense of right and
wrong; Work motivation based on purpose |
Another important study going in the same direction of
describing specific team’s roles is Meredith Belbin’s
research conducted at Henley Management Centre. After examining patterns
of behavior displayed by group members, he established the following
roles:
- The chairman, presiding over the team and
coordinating its efforts;
- The shaper, the one who can replace the
leader in its absence;
- The plant, the “idea man”;
- The resource investigator, the one who
brings new contacts and developments;
- The company worker, the person who turns
the ideas into manageable tasks;
- The team worker, the one who holds the
team together;
- The finisher, the one who checks the details.
Therefore, the diversity of teams members facilitates their
efficiency and not at all their passive homogeneity. As teams are not
about being the same, and good team work is not about everyone thinking
and operating the same all the time. Additionally, efficient teams respond
to the following views:
- Proper sizing of teams research
on effective teamwork suggests that with more then ten to fifteen
people a group finds it hard to operate as team, being more difficult
to communicate, to share responsibilities;
- Commitment and involvement all
team members understand the goals and are committed to achieving them.
- A climate of comfort and trust
the teams creates a climate where people are comfortable and informal,
are able to take the risks, are sensitive to the needs of others.
- Conflict management conflict and
disagreement are considered natural an dealt with: the emphasis is on
problem resolution, not personalities (Abrignani, Gomes, de Vilder,
2000, pag.80).
A cumulative approach of such conditions can facilitate
the effective work of the team as a whole as well as of the individuals
composing it. In this way, the management of people, together with
the management of time or financial and material resources can reach
an effective and adequate stage of achievement.
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