Team Work, Group Efficiency and Performance Essay

Team Work, Group Efficiency and Performance - Essay Example This research will begin with the definition of a team as a group of people working together in an organization. This definition is too general and does not do justice to the functioning of a team in an organizational setting. In purely organizational sense, team is defined as â€Å"a group of workers functioning together as a unit to complete a common goal or purpose†. It is best defined by West as â€Å"groups of people embedded on organizations, performing tasks that contribute to achieving the organization’s goals†. Teams work towards achieving the overall organizational objective and have the necessary resources, autonomy and authority to achieve those objectives. Team and teamwork in an organizational setting can be best understood by the following explanation by Woods and West. The following is a direct quote by Woods and West and has been used directly for better understanding: A team is a relatively small group of people working on a clearly defined, cha llenging task that is most efficiently completed by a group working together rather than individuals working alone or parallel; who have clear, shared, challenging, team level objectives derived directly from the task; who have to work closely and interdependently to achieve these objectives; whose members work in distinct roles within the team (though some roles may be duplicated); and who have the necessary authority, autonomy and resources to enable them to meet the team’s objectives.... They are different types of teams in an organization (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011) but they can be grouped into the following types based on their nature: Problem Solving Teams: These are the most common type of teams and in some cases are used temporarily. Problem solving teams brings together employees with different knowledge backgrounds in order to tackle a specific problem. These teams consist of highly talented and skilled individuals who are brought into the team in order to induce and bring about a specific change (Boone & Kurtz, 2011). Self Managed Work Teams: these are teams with groups of employees who have the skills as well as the authority to manage themselves. Many experts in the field argue that the employees in such teams are the most satisfied and motivated. This is because they have greater job control and task variety (Boone & Kurtz, 2011). Cross Functional Teams: Cross functional teams are the latest trends in the business world. Earlier, teams were formed on the ba sis of specific speciality or functionality. But in today’s dynamic business world this is not enough. Projects are more complex today and need employees with different skill sets and abilities to be working on the same project. Hence, cross functional teams have been formed which consists of individuals with varying skills, expertise and specialities working to achieve a common goal (Robbins, 2009). Virtual Teams: There is no need for teams to be geographically close as developments in communication technology have made it possible for team members to be geographically separated but still work as a single unit. Hence, virtual team is one wherein team members are