Team Dynamics

Team Dynamics

A proven way of achieving organizational goals is building a successful team that can work collectively. Team dynamics are the psychological forces that guide the direction of a team’s conduct and performance. According to psychologists, team dynamics can be positive or negative. Positive team dynamics occurs when team members work collectively, trust each other, and hold each other accountable. This increases business success and reduces the chances of a conflict. A group with negative team dynamics incorporates individuals who make wrong decisions and disrupt workflow. Such a team is more vulnerable to conflict (Eubanks et al., 2016). In this paper, I will discuss the tactics I would use to maintain trust and performance for a virtual team whose members are located in different cities around the world.

I would maintain trust and performance through establishing multiple communication tools, creating a meritocratic system, and making sure that working hours overlap. Establishing multiple communication tools enables team members to communicate urgent things to the right person immediately. I would choose video calls over emails and chatting because they connect members on a more personal level. A meritocratic system would recognize and reward team members based on their skills and performance. This would help maintain performance by stimulating team members to work harder. I would motivate my team by setting up reward systems that would keep them motivated and help pinpoint team members that can take up more tasks. Besides, regardless of the time zone of each team member, I would have three to four hours every day where the majority of the team members are working at the same time.

This would help build and maintain trust by bringing the team closer together.

In conclusion, positive dynamics are critical to the success of any team. They not only help build and sustain trust among members but also reduce conflicts by minimizing the decline of trust and performance. As the team leader of a virtual team whose members are located in different cities in the world, I would maintain trust and performance in my group through establishing multiple communication tools, creating a meritocratic system, and making sure that working hours overlap.

References

Eubanks, D. L., Palanski, M., Olabisi, J., Joinson, A., & Dove, J. (2016). Team dynamics in virtual, partially distributed teams: Optimal role fulfilment. Computers in Human     Behavior, 61.