Team Working

Successful team work:
A time when i worked in a team which was successful was when i was doing A levels. We had to do a presentation in economics about macro and micro economy. This presentation was very successful. the reason for this is because every one did what they had to do on time, communication was perfect as we were seeing each other at school every day and issues could be discussed during free periods. When we were first assigned this presentation, we didn't know each other and got to know each other very fast. We then concentrated on the main objectives and started to organise to who does what. We were in a group of four and therefore splitted the research and the writing between us. When every one had done their tasks we regrouped together to put what we had found out together and to start creating the presentation. it took us two days to do create the presentation. when all this was finished we had 4 days left ti rehears our presentation, and when the time came every one did their bit and everything went well. in order to build confidence we rehearsed in front of other friends during our free periods.


Tuckman's Theory:
This theory explains how a team works together to complete objectives step by step, from the start to the end. This model was developed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965.

Tuckman's theory includes five stages: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning. The fifth stage was added to the model later. (teambuilding (2009) Forming - Storming - Norming - Performing)


All the stages:

Forming:
This is the start where the team is created and their task is allocated to them. At this stage team members may not know each other and therefore they will start to get to know each other when planning their task.

Storming:
This is the phase where the team will bring out ideas and may have different opinions from other team members which could lead to conflicts between the team members. It could also be the opposite where team mates support each others ideas and become more close as a result of working together. At this phase there is a risk of ongoing conflicts which may never recover, and at the worst some teams are stuck at this phase and therefore may try something quick and improvised of low quality, just for the sake of of the team.

Norming:
At this stage team members will be more focused towards their objectives and and will try to put everything together. In order to reach this stage, team members will have to understand that working together and contributing towards everything is vital for their success. Hard leadership is needed in between the storming and norming phase.

Performing:

This stage is very hard to reach. In order to reach this stage, communication between team members should be very good, all decisions should be made together with minimum conflict. At this phase team members would be performing their task at a very high and professional level

Adjourning:

This is the stage where the project is finished and the team can break up. This is meant to be depressing where the team members have to leave each other, but it could also be a happy moment as not all teams get along and therefore some may be relived that they finished working with a more team members they didn't like. Now days team members often celebrate at the end of a project, probably in my point of view, to the success they gained for the hard work they did.

(teambuilding (2009) Forming - Storming - Norming - Performing)

In my own experience i would say that the group i was in managed to get to the norming phase. At the start we planned things, and started to get ideas on how to get past our tasks and got to know each other better, we passed to the storming stage quit quickly. However we did spend some time at the storming stage due to communication problems and in my experience this was a very long and frustrating phase; but we managed to sort things out and moved to the norming stage where we we sat together with all the ideas and every one understood that the task needed to be completed and therefore they got on with the work. unfortunately we didn't make enough effort ti get to the performing stage, however we managed to pass our assignment.

2 Companies where team work has highly contributed towards the success of a company:

One company that has been successful using team work is Rackspace Hosting. Rackspace Hosting is a IT company company that delives IT services. They mainly use team work, and care about each other. their colleagues are like family and their work place is enjoyful.

"An 81% My Team factor score ranks the company seventh. Opportunities to have fun and relax together build team spirit as colleagues swing through the tree tops at an outdoor adventure forest or jet off for a weekend abroad. There is a sense of family in teams (78%), colleagues are fun to work with (86%) and really care about each other (84%)."

(business.timesonline (2009) Rackspace Hosting)

Denplan is another company that uses team working for its success. Denplan is is a dental care service and says "Staff give a top 10 factor score of 81% for the My Team category and say that colleagues really care for each other (84%)." In dental practice u see the use of team working now days and by looking at the review, it can be seen that this company has a great team enthusiasm which helps it towards its success.

(busines.timesonlin (2009) Denplan)

Conclusion:

Team working is a really easy way to get tasks completed, however it doesn't always go as good as people say. Conflicts will arise within a team and if these conflicts are not resolved in the interests of the team members involved this may gradually escalate and team members will stop co operating with each other and start to do things their own way and this may bring the team down to a point where they may fail their tasks. On the other hand if the team manages to sort their issues out and get to a level where they co operate with each other, then this will only make their task easire. In conclusion team working gives a real advantage towards the success of a task, however, if not properly done the team may fall giving very bad results.

Reference:

(teambuilding (2009) Forming - Storming - Norming - Performing [online] available at: http://www.teambuilding.co.uk/Forming_Storming_Norming_Performing.html [accessed: 25/01/10])

(business.timesonline (2009) Rackspace Hosting [online] available at: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/article5703349.ece [accessed: 27/01/10])

(busines.timesonlin (2009) Denplan [online] available at: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/article5702590.ece [accessed: 27/01/10])