Research Article Review: Enhancing Work Team Effectiveness

Research Article Review: Enhancing Work Team Effectiveness

Summary

A project, whether in science, construction, or project management, needs a team. Team management is important to ensure there’s effectiveness and hence, maximum productivity from each member of a team. NAS (2015), in his literature research, highlights the crucial factors in a team process that ensure the effectiveness of a team, plus the interventions and actions that can be used to shape the process quality. Despite the focus on science teams, NAS (2015) explains that the team dynamics in project management teams inform other teams outside their contexts; hence, this research can be extended to other fields.

The article begins by highlighting the theoretical framework behind understanding team effectiveness. He suggests two considerations to be the multilevel unfolding of teams overtime and comprehending the team’s structure of workflow. Teams are composed of different individuals that need to coordinate resources. Team processes are ways that these teams coordinate resources. There are cognitive processes that mostly deal with how information is shared among the team members. The team process can be behavioral, including how individual competencies enable them to work with others and also team self-regulation and motivation. The process can also be affective, including team solidity, team efficacy (individual perceptions to the completion of a goal), and team conflict that is not necessarily negative but contributes to problem-solving and information sharing. NAS also suggests the interventions that help in shaping the processes mentioned to ensure team effectiveness. First, the individual team composition should be considered- capable individuals with ability, skill, and knowledge in line with task requirements. Secondly, the team needs to be continually empowered for professional development, and this is through training programs. Lastly, it is the team leader that shapes these processes.

There is new research of increased effectiveness with an integrated team capacity, that is, a holistic and wide range comprehension of factors that influence this integrative team’s processes, outcomes, and contexts. However, this will result in big teams that will pose a challenge of misalignment, high physical distribution, and increased interdependence for some organizations.

Personal/Professional Application

I work with sick kids’ foundation. The foundation would not be where it is now without the team effort of the human resource, the volunteers, the health practitioners, the Non-governmental organizations, and procurement officers. Our work has been to help sick children who do not have insurance and medical funds by giving free healthcare. Donations are made to institutions that in dire need of research, equipment, and supplements.

When starting this foundation, beginning with a human resource manager and a team of volunteers was easy management because, as the organization’s head, one would only deal with the head of the units. When the scope of the program was set to expand, there was a need for team expansion and also integration. Expanding the team to include health professionals such as counselors, nutritionists, psychologists, and pediatricians, came with its challenges. The teams were separated geographically, decreasing face to face interactions. The application of digital media was essential to facilitate information sharing. Interdependence also increased the need for transactive memory as one needed to remember the relevant expertise of each team member (NAS, 2015).

However, despite the implementation of technology to enhance communication, the team performance appraisals showed otherwise. An audit of team effectiveness suggested that individuals often conflicted, leading to personal disagreements, and individuals never knew the names of individuals they worked with. Therefore, sitting down with the departmental heads, we came up with a strategy to improve how the team interacts and bring alive the team chemistry.

An assessment of individual competencies was the start of this journey. After evaluation, everyone passed the test. We asked all the individuals how they felt about a program in Africa to gauge their self-motivation. Self-regulation impacted the allocation of resources as well as engagement. Motivated individuals proceeded to the next step. They went for a hike and given tasks to complete in a team. By the end of the trip, each individual got to know another better and influenced perspective. After, there was team training on how to interact with colleagues and use conflict to gather different problem-solving suggestions. The transformation witnessed was the achievement of objectives and goals without relationship conflicts.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The article is literature research based on a team’s effectiveness. Team management is crucial, and processes exist to influence their interactions. Processes may be behavioral, affective, or cognitive. Enhancing these processes is what leads to effectiveness, for example, through training programs.

In light of the research article and my personal experience, an integrated team is essential. However, without proper interactions for the allocation of resources, the team is no good. Therefore, it all goes back to the processes and interventions that enhance these processes…