Contextual Factors Affecting Team Effectiveness, Essay Example

Evidence Based Report on Contextual Factors Affecting Team Effectiveness

Teams may be evaluated according to their effectiveness and performance. Performance involves the process the team undergoes to and the members’ capability to complete the said procedure. However, performance is not a basis of the effectiveness of a team because it can either be good or bad. Thus, performance may refer to the process a team undergoes to while effectiveness refers to the product achieved in the end (Science and Technology Organization, 2004). The objective of this paper is to provide an evidence-based report on the impacts of contextual factors including cross-training, favoritism, organization resources and goal and process clarity on team effectiveness would be determined. This paper shall consider a scenario of a struggling organization that has concern on its work teams. Initial assessment revealed that teams are composed of talented and well-motivated individuals. However, the contextual factors have been affecting the effectiveness of these teams. This paper will also provide recommendations and solutions for the abovementioned contextual factors affecting team effectiveness.

Team Effectiveness Defined

The success of a company can be predisposed by many factors and one of these is team effectiveness. According to Cantu (2007), organizations seek the performance and contributions of a team because compared with individuals’ performance and outputs, teams can do better. In addition, teams have more capability of providing better decisions compared to individuals. Another advantage of teams in an organization is that they are able to commit in a solutions whenever they face problems. Thus, it can be stated that teams benefit both employees and employers through the improvement of output quality and establishing productivity in the workplace. However, the author added that teams may not work due to several factors such collaboration, experience, compensation system and many others.

Cross Training and its Impacts

Cross training refers to an instructional method wherein the members of the team are trained in the duties and roles of their other team mates. The objective of this strategy is to improve the interpersonal activities and knowledge of members through introduction of these people to new responsibilities and roles. In fact, this method improves communication, control of regulations and coordination among team members. According to recent studies, cross training has two impacts on team effectiveness. First impact was according to Volpe et al. (1996) finding stating that positional rotation has impacts on team procedures; for instance, members of a team who underwent cross training volunteered more knowledge and information prior to a request. The second impact was based on Cannon-Bowers et al. (1998) findings stating that team members who underwent cross training volunteered details and have better performance (Marks et al., 2002). Thus, it can be assumed that the absence or lack of cross-training in a team may result to poor communication, coordination and minimal knowledge on other types of roles and duties in an organization.

Favoritism and its Consequences

Favoritism may be correlated with justice or fairness in the workplace. According to Colquitt et al. (2001), justice and fairness in a setting of an organization can be described by considering two kinds of subjective perceptions which are the fairness of allocations and distributions of outcome and the fairness of the processes utilized to determine outcome allocations or distributions. The authors reviewed the most common outcomes that could examine organizational justice. These include outcome satisfaction, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, and trust, evaluation of authority, organizational citizenship behavior, withdrawal, negative reactions and performance. These outcomes influence the performance of a member of a team thus affecting the overall effectiveness of a group. For instance, lack of organizational commitment may cause the slackness of a member which results to unproductivity and inefficiency.

Organization Resources Effects

Organizational resources are very important in attaining success and team effectiveness. In fact, superior performance and competitive advantage of a company depend on the capabilities of workers and the company’s resources (Ismail et al. 2012). One example of organizational resources is technology in the form of devices, programs and equipment. In today’s economy, it is really important that an organization is equipped with technological materials to compete with other existing groups. Lack of these materials may predispose to unproductivity and slackness within the team. For instance, a team that has no materials (i.e. computers) to use for its task may not be able to meet its goals and objectives thus affecting their effectiveness.

Impacts of Goal and Process Clarity

Goal and process clarity is an essential factor that affects team effectiveness. Process clarity is necessary because it keeps tasks running smoothly and workers on track. Once members become familiar of their goals, they can easily find ways to accomplish their tasks following the given procedures. Lack of clarity on goal and processes in a team affect effectiveness because of bigger rooms for mistakes and errors due to vague directions and uncertain objectives (Team Building Portal, 2009). Further, there is a possibility that team members become unsure of their specific roles in the group and may lead to unproductivity, misunderstanding and lack of interest.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Upon determining and defining four contextual factors including cross training, favoritism, organizational resources availability, and clarity of goal and process, it can be concluded that these factors may affect team effectiveness in an organization. These factors are influential because they strengthen or weaken communication, coordination, interpersonal relationships, dissemination of knowledge and participation in an organization. With that, the following recommendations are provided:

1. Positional rotation should be implemented at least every three to six months so that other members of the team can become familiar with their team mates’ duties and responsibilities. At the same time, it will improve coordination and communication within the group.
2. Favoritism should be avoided by the management sector. This can be done by monthly or quarterly evaluations wherein the team members could evaluate their team leaders or management heads regarding their treatment towards their employees. Since in the scenario provided, it was stated that workers are well-motivated, the management should continue this practice in the future.
3. Organizational resources problems can be resolved with the help of team leaders. Evaluation and brain storming should be performed regularly to monitor the needs and insufficiencies within the organization. This can help team members raise problems due to insufficient resources and how it affected their performances. After which, the members should perform proper allocation of resources as a solution to this problem.
4. The clarity of goals and processes depend on the team leader or the management group. Team leaders should make sure that all team members are aware of their duties and responsibilities as well as their goals and objectives. This can be achieved through proper training and regular meetings. Regular meetings will help in monitoring the performance of members and determining whether the members are following the directives or otherwise. With that, members remain guided and on track.

References

Cantu, C.J. (2007). “Evaluating team effectiveness: examination of the team assessment tool”. University of North Texas. Web. Accessed from http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3990/m2/1/high_res_d/dissertation.pdf

Colquitt, J.A., Wesson, M.J., Porter, C.O.L.H., Conlon, D.E. and Ng, K.Y. (2001). “Justice at the Millennium: A Meta-Analytic Review of 25 Years of Organizational Justice Research”. Web.

Ismail, A.I., Abdullah, R.C.R., Uli, J., and Abdullah, H. (2012). “The relationship between organizational resources, capabilities, systems and competitive advantage”. Web. Accessed from http://web.usm.my/aamj/17.1.2012/AAMJ_17.1.8.pdf

Marks, M.A., Burke, C.S., Sabella, M.J., and Zacarro, S.J. (2002). “The Impacts of cross training on team effectiveness”. Web.

Team Building Portal. (2009). “How to ensure process clarity in teams”. Web. Accessed from http://www.teambuildingportal.com/articles/systems/process-clarity-teams