What are the major factors affecting team functioning?

To make it simple, in order for the team to work effectively and efficiently they need a LEADER! a leader that communicates, cares, and willing to go the extra mile with them, and trust me when I say that the leader's passion will fuel theirs.. they will respect him and respect each other and be loyal and they will work as hard as they possibly can to win together. 

Best, 

Wafa R. 

There is set of factors that effect team functioning. These factors include, but not limited to the nature of group norms, the level of cohesiveness, team leadership, rewards and others. Developing all as a team and understanding of the business involved

A combination of loyalty,trust,leadership,inspiration,socialize.(when job is done ).

Management, Leadership (a combination of the two) and job viability/satisfaction.

They include:

the cohesiveness of the group,

the degree to which individual members conform to group standards,

the roles and norms the group agrees to adopt and function by,

the level and intensity of competition and conflict, and

the style and competence of group leadership.

Cohesiveness may by defined as “sticking together.”  Groups or teams are cohesive when their participants identify with their membership.  Identification means that the participants feel proud to be members, inform outsiders that they are members, and perceive the purposes and goals that the group or team stands for as their own.

Cohesive groups or teams have very little turnover in membership. The longer that the group or team maintains its core membership, the more cohesive it becomes.  When participants retain their membership, they are demonstrating that:

1.     They value their association with the team or group.

2.     They receive benefits from participating in the group which they could not receive elsewhere.

3.     They have made such significant investments (time or money) in the group or team, that they cannot forsake their membership

Significant advantages can be realized when cohesiveness is high:

·         Member satisfaction with the group or team is high

·         Group or team goals are achieved more effectively

·         The quantity and quality of communication is high

·         The group or team exerts more influence over its participants

Conformity means “going along.” Group conformity is realized when participants abandon a particular position contrary to other group or team members in favor of a majority view.  This abandonment, called conforming, happens for many reasons including: pressure to compromise, logical or emotional persuasion, coercion, time constraints, personal frustration, or perceiving the futility of continued argument. 

Many pressures exist in groups and teams for individuals to conform.  Even so, participants should always advocate their positions, politely and articulately, until those positions are disproved by others9or overruled by higher authority).  No idea should be dismissed until tests of evidence, analysis, or reason dictate that the group or team would be better served by finding another alternative.

Several years ago, members of a corporate training department were working on a major team-building program for the company’s fields sales force.  There were many different ideas about where to hold the program.  One employee thought the building’s training center was sufficient, another argued for a hotel., another for an outdoor-type camping facility, and still another for a resort facility.   The advantages and disadvantages of each proposition were argued.  After the discussion, most members agreed that the resort facility was the best choice.  Two members, however, maintained that a hotel was the better choice.  The original advocate of the resort offered additional arguments for his position, and finally persuaded the dissenting members.  Conformity through persuasion ensured an effective decision.

Every member in a group or team plays a role.  These roles are defined by the quantity and quality of communication that participants engage in with the other members.  It is not unusual for some clear roles to develop for each participant within the first few minutes of group or team interaction.

Each role has a label or title.  They usually end in “er” or “or.”  Can you recognize yourself in any of these roles listed in Table1?

Role

Description

Socializer

Emphasizes personal or relationship issues (“When we finish this project, we’ll have to celebrate with a party.”).

Inquisitor

Asks an abundance of questions to every member on every issue; likes to probe for the answer until satisfied (“I’d like to know how often we can expect to get results like you’re projecting.”).

Organizer

The member who brings order to chaos, emphasizes structure, organization, logic, and the agenda for the future (“What are we doing next?”).

Harmonizer

Settles the tension in the group or team; smoothes over differences (“We can disagree with one another without being disagreeable.”).

Facilitator

Sees that everyone gets a fair chance to address a problem or an issue (“Nichole, do you have an opinion about Task Force A’s recommendation?”).

Digressor

Talks about everything except the actual task (“I wish I knew how bonuses will be calculated this year; my car may not make it ‘till spring.”).

In some groups or teams, you hear complaints about how well or how poorly a member is fulfilling a role.  For example, one member mutters under her breath about her leader, “If he’d only think about what we’re going to discuss before we all get here, we’d get finished in half the time.” Comments such as this view roles not from observed behaviors, but from expectations we have for the person who is ascribed by the group to fulfill a particular role.

Productive conflict is also crucial to effective decision making in groups or teams.  Without debating and questioning key issues through productive conflict, groups or teams may make decisions that have not been thoroughly tested or evaluated.

Cooperation and conflict can often go hand-in-hand.  Productive conflict is one of many means by which teams or groups cooperate.  By agreeing to debate, question, test ideas, and evaluate proposals, members engaged in conflict can form a cooperative enterprise.

On the other hand, competition within and between groups and teams is often counter-productive.  Although in the short-term, competition may be invigorating, motivating, or serve as a spark plug for improved performance, it is not healthy for groups or teams to use this strategy in the long-term.

A store manager initiated a contest by which every member of the department with the highest sales would qualify for an all-expense paid weekend at a beach condominium.  In addition, within every department, the salesperson with the highest sales would qualify for a $500 gift certificate.  Results were posted each Friday for six weeks.  Notice that the store manager induced both within-group and between-group competition.

Sales skyrocketed in departments across the store.  Unfortunately, there were complaints that some customers would be approached numerous times by different salespeople in the same department who were all hawking the same sale.  Some customers complained that they felt rushed to make their decisions and get to the register to cash out.  In addition, since everyone was concentrating on sales, the stock was virtually ignored.  New merchandise was piled up in the stockroom, shelves of existing merchandise were in shambles, and returns lay on the counter waiting to be processed and restocked on the shelves.

Employee morale also suffered.  As the differences between contest leaders, middle-runners, and laggards intensified, resentment grew.  The store was no longer perceived as friendly.  Even long-time customers stopped patronizing the company.  Competition does have its merit, but when compared with cooperation, including the use of productive conflict, effective groups and teams are those which avoid internal competition when possible.

Strong groups and teams are supported by strong leadership.  Leadership is a process of influence.  Whenever one individual attempts to influence the behavior of another, he or she engages in leadership.

Shared leadership

There are many approaches and directions to leadership.  Shared leadership is the most important and powerful approach that a grope or team can undertake.  Effective groups and teams share the leadership function among several members.  You may see many leadership behaviors exhibited in a group or team that reflect shared leadership.  Leadership, in turn, depends on effective communication skills.  When you see participants contribute frequently and openly, with different members introducing various topics for discussion, different ideas being challenged and debated, you are witnessing shared leadership.

Being in charge does not necessarily make someone a leader; conversely, you can be a leader without being the designated “chief.” The leadership that a group needs most is often determined by situations that confront it.  Often, one person, regardless of status, cannot provide all the leadership a group needs.

Let’s say that a group you’re involved with is working on budgets and has been inundated with spreadsheets, figures, and revenue and cost projections.  The group certainly doesn’t need someone to lead by providing more information.  What the group needs is someone who can help you and your members organize and understand the information that has been assembled. After a period of working through the information, your group may need an emotional leader – someone who can offer an inspirational line, such as “We’re all tired, so let’s do the best we can, and we’ll all get out of here faster.” In essence, every group, different participants can contribute different leadership functions.  Shared leadership, when played to its fullest,, often results in an all-around effective team.

Intellectual stimulation

Leaders can provide intellectual stimulation by encouraging followers to think about old problems in new ways.  Leaders show more interest in creative ideas than in routine processes.  They are no longer the crutch for the employee to lean on.  When asked a question, leaders in turn ask more questions and give fewer answers, which encourages an employee’s development.

Inspiration

Leaders can also inspire employees by broadening and elevating their interests through excitement for work processes and heightened expectations for group and team members.  Frequently, they serve as the spark for the group’s work on a task.  By doing so, they generate awareness, acceptance, and commitment among their followers to the tasks, purposes, and mission of the group

All too often, managers create self-fulfilling prophecies for their employees on the job.  Most employees work toward the level of their manager’s expectations.  If leaders don’t think a task is important, their employees won’t either.  Employees will not embrace a challenge if they think their leader sees a job as too difficult.  A leader who reveals that a meeting will be boring, will have bored employees at the meeting.  The opposite is also true.  If leaders communicate that a task is exciting, challenging, achievable, and important, employees will likely respond positively.

Charisma

Leaders develop charisma when their followers sense strong feelings of identity and faith in the leader.[1]  Charisma is an exciting and powerful component for developing shared leadership in work units.  It is though charisma that non-active followers are transformed into active leaders.  And it is through charisma that followers become motivated and energized.

Many people view their group or team leader as having charisma.  They will admire their group or team leader so much that they want to be like him or her in many aspects of their lives.  Group or team leaders often exhibit behaviors such as:

·         Emotional expressiveness

·         Self-confidence

·         Self-determination

·         Freedom from visible internal conflicts

·         Strong conviction of beliefs

What characteristics do you see in followers that might indicate their leader exhibits charisma? Followers of charismatic leaders often display these characteristics:

·         Loyalty

·         Trust in the leader’s beliefs

·         Similarity between leader and follower opinions and beliefs

·         Affection and admiration for the leader

·         Emotional involvement in the mission believed in by the leader

·         Perception that the leader takes risks and makes sacrifices to achieve his or her vision

·         Perception that the leader uses unconventional strategies to achieve goals

No group or team can survive without dedicated leadership.  Although many successful groups and teams have been led by one individual dominating that role, involving many members in the leadership role produces the highest level of team effectiveness.

Needs and goals

Leaders convince followers that long-term needs are more important than needs of the moment.  A leader knows the distinction between short-term needs (“I want more overtime”) and short-term investments (“I need a few days off”).  Leaders recognize that some short-term investments result in long-term payoffs.  Allowing more overtime (short-term need) may affect team creativity, worker fatigue, and profit levels.  Short-term investments (vacation time), however, may increase employee morale, resulting in long-term, increased production.

Leaders also align the goals among their followers.  When do you know you have a team?  You have a team when the goals and interests of the group are consistent with and more important than the individuals’ goals and self-interests.  When you have more people asking, “What can I do to help?” and fewer asking “What’s in it for me?” you’ve got a team.