Module 3 Self-Improvement

Teams are an integral component of organizational success. They take on many forms and functions and can have various structures. Teams also conduct a wide variety of projects with goals of innovation or mitigation. An example, from my experience, of a project that required the execution from a team was the establishment of a finished goods inventory program within a paper manufacturing company. A project of this magnitude required that a diverse and multifaceted team be assembled.

Information Architect - Provides engineering, testing criteria, technical goals, works closely with Programmer, Technical Lead, and Network Admin.

| “The top 10 features of an effective team are: * clear purpose; * open communication; * constructive conflict; * effective problem-solving and decision making; * defined roles, responsibilities and accountability; * strong relationships; * systems and procedures; * experimentation and creativity; * measurement and self-assessment; * shared leadership.” For a team to be effective, they need to have clear

Roles and responsibilities – It is possible that during the project development some staff may have difficulty in defining their roles within the team or were not part of the role development process that takes place during the forming stage of Tuckman’s team development model. It is also likely within the project team to have duplication of roles/function, even though Belbin’s Team roles model may have been used. However it is not a pre-requisite that all team must have the nine roles specific by Belbin. ‘Team members can take on more than one role and some roles are not necessary in certain teams’. (Horn 2009:13)

Creating Effective Teams: a Guide for Members and Leaders is a book by Wheelan (2013) designed to do as the title states; guiding members and leaders to create effective teams. Wheelan (2013) begins the book by highlighting the reasons that groups are important. Wheelan (2013) states that throughout history, “Groups have played a major role in both the survival of human beings and the development of human culture” (p. 1). The majority of the book is based on 4 stages that create a group of individuals into an effective team. The first stage is called dependency and inclusion. According to Wheelan (2013), the first stage of the group is

Teamwork is one of the greatest skills I’ve learned here at WWTC, I have learned to trust others as well as myself, I have learned to depend on others as well as allow others to depend on me.

During the 1970’s, Dr Meredith Belbin and a team of researchers conducted research on a number of teams in an attempt to discover what aspects of a team’s dynamics can contribute towards the teams overall success or failure. They discovered that the success or failure of a team was not dependent upon the individual team members intellect but upon their behaviour. Following Belbin’s publication in 1981 of Team Role Analysis he concluded that there are nine key roles that are aligned to an individual’s behaviour that can contribute to the make up of a team. It is essential that as a leader I am able to understand the possible behavioural role that an individual may exhibit when

My team has a number of strengths. First of all, it is the flexibility of majority of team members, thereby creating an effective team. The team members, although they come from different units, they are capable of accommodating each other’s views resulting in a strong team.

Ethan will be the communicator. The communicator’s job is to make sure everyone stays informed about new aspects of the project. They also will reach out to people if they haven't responded in a reasonable amount of time

Understanding the nature of teams and the features of the team roles and responsibilities including advantages and disadvantages.

Whilst it is important to know and succeed in your own role within the school it is also beneficial to have knowledge of others roles within your team and how you all can work effectively together.

The identification and understanding of an individual’s role and that of the other team member’s roles is crucial as is the recognition of how the different roles complement each other and work together.

2. Skilled influencer. Able to gain commitment from different quarters in order to benefit the organisation.

This theory is a combined of two influential theories on group behavior, which Kenneth Benne and Paul Sheats have wrote in article of ‘’Functional Roles of Group Members’’ in 1940. This theory worked in some teams that are effective in some but for some it isn’t. Their work influenced other earlier research and thinking about the function of group. The have researched more recently and have refined many ideas. Group roles are extremely useful and interesting in the way of looking at the behavior of the team. 26 different group role have been defined which can be played by one or more people within a group depends on that person’s skill.

To fully discuss this topic, we must start with a simple definition of a team. Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith define a team in their best-selling book The Wisdom of Teams (Harper Business Essentials 1994), as