Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences

Teams :An Overview

Module-III
. Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences

A team is a group of individuals, all working together

for a common purpose. The individuals comprising a
team ideally should have common goals, common
objectives and more or less think on the same lines.
Individuals who are not compatible with each other can
never form a team. They should have similar if not the
same interests, thought processes, attitude, perception
and likings.
 Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences
Difference between Group and Team -

A group is not necessarily a team. A group can have

individuals with varied interests, attitude as well as
thought processes. It is not necessary that the group
members would have a common objective or a common
goal to achieve.
A team must have individuals with a common
objective to achieve. They should all work together and
strive towards the achievement of a common goal.
 Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences
Internal factors -
Task Structure:
•Is the team task clear, consistent with the team’s purpose, and aligned with important
organizational goals?
•Does the team have a meaningful piece of work to do for which members share responsibility and
accountability and that provides opportunities for the team to learn how well it is doing?
•Is the outcome that the team is seeking clearly understood by each of the members?
Core Norms:
Expectations of what is “acceptable” team behavior tend either to be “imported” to
the team by members or established very early in the team’s lifespan.
Articulating these “norms” ahead of time via a “team charter” or “team vision
statement” can be very helpful, and should cover areas such as how the team will
make decisions, communicate and evaluate itself.
 Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences
Team Composition:
1. Is the team well staffed?
2. Is it the right size, given the work to be done?
3. Do members have the expertise required to perform the task
well?
4. Do they have sufficient interpersonal skill to function
collaboratively?
5. Are team members so similar in background and perspectives
that there is little for them to learn from one another?
6. Or are they so different that they are having difficulty
communicating and coordinating with one another?
Decision Making: Does the team have an appropriate
process in place for Amity
making decisions,
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fact adhere to that process?

External team factors

Reward System:
[Link] the company’s reward system provide recognition, reinforcement
and compensation that are contingent on team performance?
[Link] rewards administered to the team as a whole or to individuals within
the team?
[Link] the reward system truly encourage team members to work
collaboratively?
 Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences
Educational System: Is training or technical assistance
available to the team for any aspects of the work for which
members do not already have adequate knowledge, skill or
experience?
Information External and Internal factors effecting team
System: Does the team have ready access to the data, tools and other
resources that enable superior performance?
Organizational Culture:
1. Does the company for which the team works have a collaborative culture that
genuinely fosters and supports teams?
2. Is it a culture that still promotes and recognizes individual achievement? Do the
company’s top leaders really “buy-into” the concept of teams?
 Building Effective Teams (Twelve Cs for Team
Building)
Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences

In a team-oriented environment, you contribute to the overall success of the organization. You work with fellow members of
the organization to produce these results.
If your team improvement efforts are not living up to your expectations, this self-diagnosing checklist may tell you why.
Successful team building, that creates effective, focused work teams, requires attention to each of the following –

1. Clear Expectations: Has executive leadership clearly communicated its expectations for the
team's performance and expected outcomes? Do team members understand why the team was created?

2. Context: Do team members understand why they are participating on the team? Do they
understand how the strategy of using teams will help the organization attain its communicated business
goals?
 Twelve Cs for Team Building….
Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences

3. Commitment:
1. Do team members want to participate on the team?
2. Do team members feel the team mission is important?
3. Are members committed to accomplishing the team mission and expected outcomes?

4. Competence:
4. Does the team feel that it has the appropriate people participating?
5. (As an example, in a process improvement, is each step of the process represented on the team?

5. Creative Innovation:
6. Is the organization really interested in change?
7. Does it value creative thinking, unique solutions, and new ideas?
8. Does it reward people who take reasonable risks to make improvements?
 Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences

Twelve Cs for Team Building….

6. Charter:
7. Has the team taken its assigned area of responsibility and designed its own mission, vision
and strategies to accomplish the mission.
8. Has the team defined and communicated its goals; its anticipated outcomes and
contributions; its timelines; and how it will measure both the outcomes of its work and the
process the team followed to accomplish their task?
7. Control:
1. Does the team have enough freedom and empowerment to feel the ownership necessary to
accomplish its charter?
2. At the same time, do team members clearly understand their boundaries?
3. How far may members go in pursuit of solutions?
 Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences
Twelve Cs for Team Building….

8. Collaboration:
1. Does the team understand team and group process?
2. Do members understand the stages of group development?
3. Are team members working together effectively interpersonally?
4. Do all team members understand the roles and responsibilities of team members? team leaders? team recorders?
5. Can the team approach problem solving, process improvement, goal setting and measurement jointly?

9. Communication:
9. Are team members clear about the priority of their tasks?
10. Is there an established method for the teams to give feedback and receive honest performance feedback?
11. Does the organization provide important business information regularly?
12. Do the teams understand the complete context for their existence?
 Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences
10. Consequences:
1. Do team members feel responsible and accountable for team achievements?
2. Are rewards and recognition supplied when teams are successful? Is reasonable risk respected
and encouraged in the organization?

11. Coordination:
1. Are teams coordinated by a central leadership team that assists the groups to obtain what
they need for success?
2. Have priorities and resource allocation been planned across departments?

12. Cultural Change:

1. Does the organization recognize that the team-based, collaborative, empowering, enabling
organizational culture of the future is different than the traditional, hierarchical organization it
may currently be?
 What is consensus building?
Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences

• Led by an unbiased facilitator

• All members contribute resources, ideas, and opinions
• Everyone has a chance to share their feelings
• Everyone can paraphrase the issue
• Involves a longer time-frame
• Compromise is reached
• All share in the final decision
 Rules for Consensus Decision-Making
Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences

• Avoid arguing for your own position

• Don’t assume someone must lose and someone must win at
stalemate (A situation in which further action is blocked) positions.
Look for the next most acceptable alternative.
• Don’t change your mind just to avoid conflict.
• Avoid conflict-reducing techniques like majority vote, averages,
coin toss, or bargaining.
• Seek out differences of opinion.
 Consensus means that every member can say…
Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences

“I believe that you understand my point of view and that I understand yours.”
“Whether or not I prefer the group decision, I support it because it was
• Reached fairly and openly
• The best decisions at this time.”
 Consensus building does not mean that…
Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences

• Someone loses and someone wins

• The final decision is the first choice of everyone
• A unanimous vote is attained
• Everyone agrees
• You change your mind just to avoid conflict
 Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences

Collaboration is an act executed by an organization, company or group of people to reach a common

goal, which typically takes place on a larger scale than teamwork.

Effective collaboration and teamwork require communication technology, definition of responsibilities

and an encouraging culture.

Teamwork and collaboration are most effective when team members are expressive and open to positive
competition. A professional sports team that wins a championship is an example of well-executed
teamwork. The benefits of collaboration and teamwork outweigh the productivity of a single individual or
company's effort.
 Benefits of Collaboration and Teamwork

Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences

Teamwork Increases Productivity

A team environment facilitates the accomplishment of one goal (winning a championship, for example) increasing
productivity and efficiency. Team members combine their talent and support each other when attempting to achieve the
same result. As a result, productivity is increased because of clearly defined responsibilities distributed among each
member.

Collaboration Increases Profitability

Seventy percent of 300 businesses surveyed reported increased profit because of collaboration in the supply chain industry,
according to SME Collaborate. Collaboration is teamwork on a larger scale in that companies collaborate and more than one
business may participate in the partnership. Organizations and businesses meet larger goals when collaboration is
considered a priority. Consequently, collaboration has several benefits including shared risk, resources and knowledge.
 Benefits of Collaboration and Teamwork

Amity Institute of Behavioural & Allied Sciences

Teamwork and Collaboration Foster Diversity

The very nature of teamwork and collaboration require large groups of people from
varying backgrounds to come together and share their experiences. As a result, this
environment nurtures diverse opinions, approaches and problem-solving techniques.
This level of diversity promotes cultural understanding, increased communication
through diverse knowledge of language and a larger group of ideas. Conversely, when a
company or group of individuals lack teamwork or collaboration, thinking may stagnate,
limiting solutions and ideas.