Team is understood as a number of people acting as a group with the intention of achieving the same goal. Teams can be formal and informal, the use of a team is especially important for those who want to achieve long and short range goals, and this is why we find them in different areas of our life: Work, Sports, School and in the political or medical field. There are many factors that influence the success of a team and it is important for a good team that respects what the bases are to ensure that their work is successful. (Cambridge Dictionary 2019)
The importance of a team
it is important to understand the need for teamwork in different areas. In the past, above all in the industrial age, people dedicated themselves to a manufacturing line doing one thing all day, but nowadays it is much more common to find groups of people working together. A team is able to offer that feeling of unity, the possibility of seeing different perspectives, efficiency and productivity, and the possibility of learning experiences (Wehbe,2017).Quoting a famous phrase by John J. Murphy: 'Each individual has unique gifts, and talents and skills,'; 'When we bring them to the table and share them for a common purpose, it can give companies a real competitive advantage.' This means that everyone has their own particularity or skills that mixed with someone else's offers an advantage and an improvement to all the team. (Middleton, 2019)
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Roles in a Team
Meredith Belbin is a researcher and management consultant who has studied the functioning of a team. One of his studies is that of roles in a team. (Wikipedia) He proved that a team need to follow his structure to become a high performing team. The roles are: Monitor/evaluator, Plant, Team worker, Completer/finisher, Shaper, Coordinator, Implementor, Resource Investigator and Specialists. In this way a member have a confidence of what the role and goal is, which leads to more effective communication. (Kallis, 2019).
Leadership
“Leadership is the creation of a vision about desired future states which seeks to enmesh all members of an organization in its net”( in here citation of the lecturer or the person who wrote the sentence). (Beverley, M 2019) In every team, it is important that there is a leader. The team leader is the figure who in the company has the task of coordinating the group for the resolution of a problem, for the development of a project or to achieve a goal. He must ensure that everyone's attention is placed on the goal, that each of the members is favored in the generation of ideas, that everyone can identify their own alternative solution, leaving the opportunity to express themselves freely (Joseph, 2019). Confidence, Vision, Consistency, Conscientious and Communication, are the Leadership Qualities. Teresa May who was the prime minister of the British government between 2016 and 2019 is an example of leadership. At some point in her career, she became an unelected Prime Minister of Great Britain but despite the particular situation in which she found herself, she was able to take control of the situation and demonstrate adapting to the situation, thanks to the way she was communicating, by telling, selling, participating and delegating. This It is considered essential for a leader who can make a difference in different contexts leading to the success or failure of a goal. (Beverley, M 2019)
Social loafing
Social loafing refers to the concept that people are inclined to exercise less effort in a task if they are part of a group than when they work alone. The idea of working in a group is generally seen as a way to improve the accomplishment of a task by sharing the skills and talents of the people in that group. But, in some groups, there is a tendency on the part of the participants to contribute less to the group's goal than they did the same task. the consequence of this type of behaviour causes a situation of 'in' group (those members that are working hard) and an 'out' group (those members that are not contributing as much). reason why a group can get to points like these are various, for example when there is a high number of members in the group, it is common that some who are less motivated than others do not put the same effort into it. Low Levels of Motivation is also a reason that causes a team to malfunction, there are various reasons to chase in this situation, but it is possible to connect it with the concept of leadership and the right way to do it. A leader who allows one of his to express all his abilities by putting him at ease and showing him how to apply them to favour himself and his team avoids falling into this type of situation (Gilles)
How does culture affect team performance
Today's world compared to the past has made it possible and easier to bring people from different countries together which is a beautiful thing because it allows what is called a multicultural world. This situation has consequently influenced the teams in different areas, which happens from situations such as Increased International Trade, Cross Border Mobility, Cross ethnic marriage and IT - Virtual Teams. In a multicultural team, the situations that could be encountered are the following: Ability/willingness to persuade and negotiate, Discussion on shared values, Brainstorming ideas, Time to listen and understand different perspectives and Self-awareness of one's own cultural biases. But it is also possible that there are conflicts in a multicultural team. (University of Westminster, 2020) Conflict for definition refers to “Conflict on teams is defined here to mean a struggle, or state of disharmony or antagonism, or hostile behaviors, resulting from contradictory interests, needs, or beliefs, or mutually exclusive desires”. the conflict is natural in human nature and its existence and is a reality in the workplace and beyond. The source for this situation, Personality, and interpersonal relations: ego-centered, personality differences or those caused by prejudice or stereotyping; Communication: poor communication flow between manager and team members. This situation requires the presence of a leader who is able to handle different strategies to manage sensitive situations this throw negotiation, third-party mediation, systematic conflict transformation, and peacebuilding.