17. Teams and Teamwork

According to Stoner, a team is defined as two or more people interacting and influence each other, with the purpose of achieving a common goal.

Formal teams are created by managers for the purpose of assigning them specific tasks that help the organization achieve its goals.

About informal teams we have that arise when several people meet and interact regularly. Informal team activities can strengthen their links to the organization. For example, soccer games can strengthen relationships between players.

Continuing with the theme, according to Stoner, in high performance teams the traditional “pyramid hierarchy” is ignored, with managers at the top and workers at the bottom. These well-led teams manage themselves, arranging their work schedules, setting their productivity quotas, ordering their equipment and supplies, improving product quality, and interacting with customers and other teams. Those teams that are managed without formal supervision are called self-managed teams.

It is important to consider leadership, norms and cohesion as part of the characteristics of the teams.

Here are the stages of team development:

• Formative: the group learns the type of behavior that is acceptable to the group.

• Integration: individual personalities are reaffirmed.

• Regulations: goals, norms and rules are established.

• Active: the group begins to function as a unit.

It should be noted that highly cohesive teams may have less tension and hostility and less misunderstandings than less cohesive groups (they have communication and cooperation problems).

Finally we have that Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith presented a logical explanation of the elements that make teams work.

APRIL 2023