Benefits and Liabilities of Teamwork Teamwork means cooperation of a group of people using their knowledge, experience, and skills to work together as a team toward the same goals (Bachel, 22). Each member of a team has his or her own assigned roles to make those goals successful. Before operation, teams should have a meeting to develop and set the clear and feasible goals which all members agree with and can focus on. Also, teams should establish rules for collaboration. Members then know what they must do and can help others meet the common goals.
Good members should respect their teammates as everyone is the part of the team; and they must pay particular attention when other members speak or share their opinions. Nowadays, teamwork becomes essential to every organization because it can increase efficiency and effectiveness of organizations. Benefits of teamwork Teamwork plays an important role leading organization to succeed. Working together as a team offers five key benefits as follows. Complex Projects. First of all, teamwork can get the jobs done, especially ones that individual cannot finish alone.
Bachel writes, “Working as part of a team definitely pays off. That is because when it comes to a team, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In fact, team can often do what individuals cannot. For instance, imagine putting on a play all by yourself. How could you possible perform all the roles? How could you handle the lighting, music, costumes, and everything else that goes into a successful production? ” (23). Obviously, teams can make the projects that are too large or too complicated for individual to complete alone become possible.
Satisfaction and Creative Outcomes. Furthermore, working together as a team gives the satisfied and creative outcomes. Since all members have different skills, knowledge, viewpoints, and attributes, the varying capabilities from team members will help team solve the problem efficiently. Also, because of people looking at the same problem differently depending on their background, when asking a group of people for ideas, they use their different inputs to brainstorm, share their opinions, and finally generate ideas. As more ideas are generated, more creative solutions are generated.
These expanded ideas all lead to better results. Consequently, whatever the results, members will not argue about results since everybody involves in the part of final decision. Improved Communication. In addition to getting the jobs done and having better solutions, teams make members develop their communication skills while participating in the group. For example, through teamwork, members will learn how to actively listen to others to understand their ideas and concerns, how to effectively express their own ideas and concerns, and how to provide feedback to team members (Bachel, 24).
Respect and Trust. Moreover, team working adds more respect and trust among colleagues. Monteith states, “We believed that members working collaboratively would develop trust, feel more supported and would interact with peers and their own learning in a more active, participative way” (239). As each member takes on the suitable jobs such as leader, coordinator, analyst (which all members in teams accept and acknowledge), each member is playing the roles with appropriate time and ideas. When working together, each member must communicate and coordinate with each other.
As a result, teamwork can break down barriers between departments and in turn can make the relationship among colleagues in organizations better, so everyone can work smoother. Enjoyment. Most people prefer working with teams to working alone. Then teamwork becomes a good motivation that makes people work. When working as a team, members feel free, comfortable, satisfied, and happy with their duties. Consequently, the best quality and efficiency of work becomes the reward for work teams. Working together makes members and jobs attached and helps members understand each other leading team arrives at purpose easily.
Liabilities of teamwork Although many people only think about the advantages of teamwork, this is not always the case. Several disadvantages come from team working. The Concealment among Members. If members do not exchange data and ideas to each other straightforwardly, teams will make decisions based on partial data. This communication problem probably comes from three main reasons: • The first reason is the anxiety of destroying colleague emotion or scare of the contradiction in the future. The second is that some members prefer to keep quiet and do not want to show their ideas or opinions because they think they would probably get in trouble or make an enemy. • The third reason is that members lack of feeling to be interested in and cooperate with team. They do not follow up or express any idea. This kind of member only takes responsibility for his/her duty but do not concentrate on or work together with partners. Time for Meetings. Second, because teamwork means that team members have to work together, members must attend time-consuming meetings to achieve the best ideas and solutions which all members will accept.
According to estimates, around 50 percent of all meeting time is wasted for some reasons (Teams take lead in achieving results, 12). Personality Disagreements. Third, members may not get along when they work together. The individual difference in background and interest can destroy the cooperation among members. In addition, unequal job contributions and disabilities of members may happen in teamwork. These conflicts will lead to the disputation which will eventually affect the assigned jobs. The jobs might be delayed or might not reach the goals. However, the leader who takes responsibility for this issue can solve this disadvantage.
The leader should assign and allocate clearly function to members as the proverb “put the right man in the right job at the right time. ” Summary As discussed with disadvantages above, the problems that make teamwork fail and cannot reach the purpose can be controlled. The leader and members of teams should always keep an eye on potential obstacles at the beginning level. They should set up the Early Warning System to notify them to solve the problem at the early stage since it is much easier for them to solve that problem early before it becomes complicated and hard to fix.
All in all, teamwork offers both advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, groups are not necessarily teams. Teams differ from other types of group in that each member focuses on the same goals. To work successfully, teams should have well preparation, controlling, and evaluation. The appropriate short motto for teamwork should be “One for all, all for one. ” Bibliography 1. Bachel, Beverly K. “Use the Power of Team Thinking. ” Current Health 1 29, no. 4 (March 2006): 22. 2. Monteith, Moira, and Keith Shelton. “Co-operation and independence: Two sides to learning. Adults Learning 7, no. 9 (May 1996): 239. 3. “Teams take lead in achieving results. ” Health Care Registration: The Newsletter for Health Care Registration Professionals 11, no. 9 (June 2002): 11. 4. Creaghead, Nancy A. “The Benefits of Teamwork. ” ASHA Leader 7, no. 8 (April 30, 2002): 31. 5. Erickson. “The advantages of teamwork. ” Packaging Technology & Engineering 8, no. 7 (July 1999): 58. 6. Mendzela, Elisa. “Effective teams. ” CPA Journal 67, no. 9 (September 1997): 62. 7. Barker, Ann B. “Teamwork counts. ” Adhesives Age 40, no. 10 (September 1997): 4. . Sorine, Andrew J. , and Richard T. Walls. “Collaboration: A cornerstone of successful safety management. ” Occupational Hazards 58, no. 10 (October 1996): 149. 9. Ingram, Hadyn, and Brenda McDonnell. 1996. “Effective performance management – the teamwork approach considered. ” Managing Service Quality. 6 (6):38-42. 10. Insalaco, Deborah, Ozkurt, Elcin, and Digna Santiago. “The perceptions of students in the allied health professions towards stroke rehabilitation teams and the SLP’s role. ” Journal of Communication Disorders 40, no. 3 (May 2007): 196-214.
