A team can be described as a group of individuals organized
to work together to accomplish an objective (Westcott & Duffy, 2014). Teams
can also be described as a small number of people with complementary skills who
are committed to a common purpose. Teams can also be a group of two or more
people who are equally accountable for the accomplishment of a task and specific
performance goals. No matter the
definition two main concepts are present.
First multiple personnel, and second working toward the accomplishment
of specific goals or tasks. Within teams
there are two main types of goals which exist.
They are task-facilitating roles and relationship building roles
(Whetten & Cameron, 2016). These
goals focus on enhancing team performance.
Both types of roles are important however, it is difficult for members
of a team to exhibit both types of goals equally. Team members tend to favor one or the other
while participating in team activities.
There are several different roles a task-facilitator can fill. These roles include: direction giving,
information seeking, information giving, elaborating, urging, monitoring, process
analyzing, reality testing, enforcing, and summarizing. These different roles all tend to focus on
accomplishment of the mission or objective.
They are the roles which drive a team forward. Task-facilitators help teams become more
efficient and effective. If a team lacks
a task-facilitator they tend to take longer as well as lose focus easily. The flip side of this is
relationship-building roles. These roles
focus on the interpersonal aspects of teamwork.
Personnel who fill these roles tend to help others feel good about
themselves as well as others on the team.
They tend to enjoy the work the team is trying to accomplish and create
and maintain a tension free environment.
Some of the relationship-building roles include: supporting roles, harmonizing,
tension relieving, confronting, energizing, developing, consensus building, and
empathizing. Those who fill these types
of roles in a team make the work more enjoyable. They are humorous and create great chemistry
within the team. These people are
attractive (not in a physical sense) to be around and people tend to follow
them. They create a collaborative
environment where team members try harder and normally come to consensus
easier.
These two different roles are both equally important to a
team accomplishing its mission or goals.
To begin with task-facilitator roles help keep the train moving
forward. If there is nobody on the team
who fills these roles then you may never get to your desired outcome. Whetten and Cameron state that task-facilitator
roles are important when your team is slow to progress towards its goal, the
team has a hard time staying on task or is deflected easily, when time is a
factor and things need to be accomplished by a certain time, when the task is
complex or ambiguous, and when everyone seems to be doing their own thing and
nobody is moving the team forward (2016).
Relationship building roles are important because of the human
factor. Anytime you have people working
together there is the possibility of conflict.
Those who focus on these types of roles have empathy and incorporate
humor and support into the team. They
focus on the individual and keep the environment light and positive.
When it comes to me working in a team I think I am pretty
balanced and can play both roes well.
Spending the last 17 years of my life in the US Air Force has taught me
how to focus on mission accomplishment.
So when the time comes and something needs to be taken care of I know
how to get a team of people to focus and get the job done. On the other side of the coin I enjoy life
and like to make things as fun as possible.
So if the stakes are low and there is not a time sensitive situation I
can very easily switch to a more relationship role mindset. As a task oriented person I think I am good
at letting the team wander down a rabbit whole long enough to explore some
different ideas. However, when the
conversations or ideas start to get way out into left field I can get the group
to re-focus and get back on track. This
also goes for sidebars and tangential conversations. I would love nothing more than to sit around
all day and talk sports or politics however, when we are working in a team I
highly doubt the end goal is to discuss last night’s game or what the president
is up to today. It is very easy for a group to get sidetracked on these types
of conversations and it takes a task-facilitator to get everyone back in line
with the objectives. This is a good
example of urging type role. When it
comes to my relationship building I love to develop younger Airmen. When I was an Airman there was nothing I
hated more than being told that I did not know the big picture. Those who were senior felt this answer was
good enough when I would ask questions trying to learn why we did things the
way we did. I always told myself if I
ever was in a supervisory position where I knew the big picture I would let as
many people know as possible. Because
the way I look at this is if I die tomorrow and I am the only one who knows the
big picture well than I have just done the US Air Force a huge disservice. I make it a point to take the most junior
person I have on the team and show them exactly why and how we do what we
do. I like to show them the guidance and
all the different things they would need to know if they happened to be the
only one around and the task needed to be accomplished.
I feel that teams are very important in organizations
today. This is especially true due to
the changes in generations within the workforce. The younger generations are being taught
about teamwork and the importance of being in teams. Schools are now focusing on teamwork and doing
group projects. The need for leaders and
managers to be mindful of the importance of teams and teamwork is vital in my
opinion to the success or failure of your organization.
Westcott, R. T. & Duffy, G. L. (2014). Team Organization
and Purpose. The Journal for Quality and
Participation. 37, 3; ProQuest
Central.
Whetten, D. A. & Cameron, K. S. (2016). Developing
management skills, 9th ed.
Boston, MA: Pearson.
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