Team building

Last updated
The US military uses lifting a log as a team-building exercise. US Navy 040518-N-9693M-015 A squad of Midshipmen work with a log as part of teamwork training during Sea Trials.jpg
The US military uses lifting a log as a team-building exercise.

Team building is a collective term for various types of activities used to enhance social relations and define roles within teams, often involving collaborative tasks. It is distinct from team training, which is designed by a combine of business managers, learning and development/OD (Internal or external) and an HR Business Partner (if the role exists) to improve the efficiency, rather than interpersonal relations.

Contents

These teams have built small ocean-going rafts as part of a team building exercise. Monts-merveilles.fr teambuilding.jpg
These teams have built small ocean-going rafts as part of a team building exercise.

Many team-building exercises aim to expose and address interpersonal problems within the group. [1]

Over time, these activities are intended to improve performance in a team-based environment. [2] Team building is one of the foundations of organizational development that can be applied to groups such as sports teams, school classes, military units or flight crews. The formal definition[ which? ] of team-building includes:

Team building is one of the most widely used group-development activities in organizations. [3] A common strategy is to have a "team-building retreat" or "corporate love-in," where team members try to address underlying concerns and build trust by engaging in activities that are not part of what they ordinarily do as a team. [4]

Of all organizational activities, one study found team-development to have the strongest effect (versus financial measures) for improving organizational performance. [5] A 2008 meta-analysis found that team-development activities, including team building and team training, improve both a team's objective performance and that team's subjective supervisory ratings. [1] Team building can also be achieved by targeted personal self-disclosure activities. [6]

Four approaches

Team building describe four approaches to team building: [7] [8]

Setting goals

This emphasizes the importance of clear objectives and team goals. Team members become involved in action planning to identify ways to define success and failure and achieve goals. This is intended to strengthen motivation and foster a sense of ownership. By identifying specific outcomes and tests of incremental success, teams can measure their progress. Many organizations negotiate a team charter with the team and (union leaders)

Role clarification

This emphasizes improving team members' understanding of their own and others' respective roles and duties. This is intended to reduce ambiguity and foster understanding of the importance of structure by activities aimed at defining and adjusting roles. It emphasizes the members' interdependence and the value of having each member focus on their own role in the team's success.

Problem solving

This emphasizes identifying major problems

Interpersonal-relations

This emphasizes increasing teamwork skills such as giving and receiving support, communication and sharing. Teams with fewer interpersonal conflicts generally function more effectively than others. A facilitator guides the conversations to develop mutual trust and open communication between team members.

Effectiveness

The effectiveness of team building differs substantially from one organization to another. [9] The most effective efforts occur when team members are interdependent, knowledgeable and experienced and when organizational leadership actively establishes and supports the team.

When teams are assembled, team dynamics are huge in terms of creating an effective team. Dr. Frank La Fasto identifies five dynamics that are fundamental to team effectiveness. [10] The five dynamics of effectiveness within teams are given below.

1)      Team Membership

·        Team Membership is the members that make up the team.

2)      Team Relationship

·        Team Relationship is the relationship team members have with each other and how they interact and coexist.

3)      Team Problem Solving

·        Team Problem Solving is the members within a team coming to a conclusive yet innovative solution to the problem at hand.

4)      Team Leadership

·        Team Leadership is the leader of the team and the qualities and traits they must possess to lead a team effectively.

5)      Organizational Environment

·        Organizational Environment is the environment from which a team works in and can directly correlate to team effectiveness.

Effective team building incorporates an awareness of team objectives. Teams must work to develop goals, roles and procedures. As a result, team building is usually associated with increasing task accomplishment, goal meeting, and achievement of results within teams. [11]

Effects of team building strategies on all four outcomes, with 10% and 90% credibility intervals Team building strategies as described by Klein.png
Effects of team building strategies on all four outcomes, with 10% and 90% credibility intervals

Some research indicates that team building is not as effective as it seems, and despite causing people to feel closer initially, that is often short-lived. This research indicates that starting with individual motivation is a better starting point than team building (focus on relationships and trust) when seeking to improve the level of quality collaboration. [13]

Effect on performance

Team building has been scientifically shown to positively affect team effectiveness. [14] Goal setting and role clarification were shown to have impact on cognitive, affective, process and performance outcomes. They had the most powerful impact on affective and process outcomes, which implies that team building can help benefit teams experiencing issues with negative affect, such as lack of cohesion or trust. It could also improve teams suffering from process issues, such as lack of clarification in roles. [3]

Goal setting and role clarification have the greatest impact because they enhance motivation, reduce conflict [15] and help to set individual purposes, goals and motivation.

Teams with 10 or more members appear to benefit the most from team building. This is attributed to larger teams having – generally speaking – a greater reservoir of cognitive resources and capabilities than smaller teams. [16]

Challenges to team building

The term 'team building' is often used as a dodge when organizations are looking for a 'quick fix' to poor communication systems or unclear leadership directives, leading to unproductive teams with no clear of how to be successful. Team work is the best work.

Teams are then assembled to address specific problems, while the underlying causes are not ignored.

Dyer highlighted three challenges for team builders: [17]

The International Journal of Management and Entrepreneurship highlights the point of groupthink being another challenge within team building. A group thinking or making decisions in a way that discourages creativity or individual control creates potential for increased conflict over decision making. [20]

Another challenge to team building include three types of conflict that can occur which are task conflict, process conflict and relationship conflict.

Application of team building

Schools

Instructors can motivate students to develop teamwork skills and provide a guideline on how professors can help students build effective study/project teams. [22] This approach emphasizes examples of job situations that require teamwork skills.

Organizations

Team building in organizations is a common approach to improving performance.

Fun is an important component to team building, but the intent is to become productive, focused, and aligned. Purely recreational activities can be helpful, but must be timed and consider the capabilities of team members (e.g., sports are not for everyone). Other activities geared toward creating a learning environment, exceeding results and engaging employees must be present.

Employee engagement and Team-building exercises allow teams to create solutions that are meaningful to them, with direct impact on the individuals, the team and the organization. Experiential learning and ramification methods are effective ways to engage millennials in the workplace. Employee engagement is effective because:

Outdoor activities can be an effective way to engage the team, but there are many different types of team building activities possible.

In 2011, senior Human Resource leaders at Mars Inc. conducted a study on their global workforce to better understand team collaboration and team effectiveness, as they like many companies, had spent large sums of money on team building activities without much return on these investments of money and time. [23] Their study, published in the Harvard Business Review, determined that employees are motivated by a sense of accountability for their work and strong relationships and trust are forged outcomes of dedicated people striving together. Putting success-minded people together is what unlocks productive teamwork more so than offsite, company directed teambuilding activities. [24]

Sports

Team building was introduced in sports in the 1990s.[ when? ] A 2010 study that analyzed the effects of team building [25] found that team building activities increase group cohesion.

According to Yukelson, "In sports, teams are made up of a collection of interdependent individuals, coordinated and orchestrated into various task efficient roles for the purpose of achieving goals and objectives that are deemed important for that particular team". [26]

Team building in sports develops behaviors and skills that “result in improvements in team effectiveness.” [27] A basic tenet of team building is when team members foster a sense of unity, or togetherness. This creates a catalyzing function bolstering the individual members' efforts through increased motivation. This directs them towards their common goals, and improves team performance outcomes. [27]

A study examined whether a team building intervention program that stressed the importance of goal setting increased cohesion: [28] 86 high school basketball players were studied. The hypothesis employed season-long goal setting. Participants were asked to individually assign targets for the team and negotiate with other team members to finalize a goal score for the team.

In the control branch, the coach occasionally encouraged participants to cheer for and support other team members. The research concluded that at the beginning of the study, all the teams had the same level of cohesion, but the team with the season long goal setting intervention program performed better.

The level of team cohesion did not increase as a result of ceiling effect with the intervention program, but the level decreased significantly for the control group. This was attributed to the lack of emphasis on team goals.

Core components for building a successful sports team:

Benefits of team building in sports include;

Modes of Team-Building

Team building exercises are majorly of 3 types:

Virtual Team-building

Virtual team-building refers to the practice of organizing team-building activities or events in an online or remote setting, where team members collaborate and engage in various exercises virtually. This approach has gained prominence in recent years, especially with the rise of remote work, as organizations seek effective ways to foster teamwork and camaraderie among distributed teams. In the contemporary post-pandemic era, the significance of virtual team-building persists, particularly within the context of increasingly globalized teams comprising members dispersed across the globe.

Onsite Team-building

Onsite team-building refers to the practice of organizing team-building activities or events at a physical location, typically the workplace or a designated venue. These activities are designed to enhance collaboration, communication, and overall cohesion among team members, fostering a positive and productive work environment. Onsite team-building plays a crucial role in cultivating a positive team culture and improving overall team performance. Organizations that invest in these activities are likely to see long-term benefits in terms of increased productivity, employee satisfaction, and a more cohesive and resilient team.

Hybrid Team-building

Hybrid team-building represents a dynamic approach to cultivating teamwork and camaraderie within organizations that adopt a blended work environment, combining both onsite and remote work arrangements. This innovative strategy acknowledges the diverse needs of modern teams, where some members work on-site, while others contribute remotely. By embracing a combination of onsite and remote elements, organizations can create a cohesive team culture that adapts to the dynamic needs of their workforce, ultimately enhancing productivity and employee satisfaction.

See also

Related Research Articles

Industrial and organizational psychology "focuses the lens of psychological science on a key aspect of human life, namely, their work lives. In general, the goals of I-O psychology are to better understand and optimize the effectiveness, health, and well-being of both individuals and organizations." It is an applied discipline within psychology and is an international profession. I-O psychology is also known as occupational psychology in the United Kingdom, organisational psychology in Australia and New Zealand, and work and organizational (WO) psychology throughout Europe and Brazil. Industrial, work, and organizational (IWO) psychology is the broader, more global term for the science and profession.

Virtual management, is the supervision, leadership, and maintenance of virtual teams—dispersed work groups that rarely meet face to face. As the number of virtual teams has grown, facilitated by the Internet, globalization, outsourcing, and remote work, the need to manage them has also grown. The following article provides information concerning some of the important management factors involved with virtual teams, and the life cycle of managing a virtual team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Team</span> Group linked in a common purpose

A team is a group of individuals working together to achieve their goal.

Team management is the ability of an individual or an organization to administer and coordinate a group of individuals to perform a task. Team management involves teamwork, communication, objective setting and performance appraisals. Moreover, team management is the capability to identify problems and resolve conflicts within a team. Teams are a popular approach to many business challenges. They can produce innovative solutions to complex problems. There are various methods and leadership styles a team manager can take to increase personnel productivity and build an effective team. In the workplace teams can come in many shapes and sizes who all work together and depend on one another. They communicate and all strive to accomplish a specific goal. Management teams are a type of team that performs duties such as managing and advising other employees and teams that work with them. Whereas work, parallel, and project teams hold the responsibility of direct accomplishment of a goal, management teams are responsible for providing general direction and assistance to those teams.

A virtual team usually refers to a group of individuals who work together from different geographic locations and rely on communication technology such as email, instant messaging, and video or voice conferencing services in order to collaborate. The term can also refer to groups or teams that work together asynchronously or across organizational levels. Powell, Piccoli and Ives (2004) define virtual teams as "groups of geographically, organizationally and/or time dispersed workers brought together by information and telecommunication technologies to accomplish one or more organizational tasks." As documented by Gibson (2020), virtual teams grew in importance and number during 2000-2020, particularly in light of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic which forced many workers to collaborate remotely with each other as they worked from home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teamwork</span> Collaborative effort of a team to achieve a common goal

Teamwork is the collaborative effort of a group to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in an effective and efficient way. Teamwork is seen within the framework of a team, which is a group of interdependent individuals who work together towards a common goal.

Participatory management is the practice of empowering members of a group, such as employees of a company or citizens of a community, to participate in organizational decision making. It is used as an alternative to traditional vertical management structures, which has shown to be less effective as participants are growing less interested in their leader's expectations due to a lack of recognition of the participant's effort or opinion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Workforce productivity</span> Concept in economics

Workforce productivity is the amount of goods and services that a group of workers produce in a given amount of time. It is one of several types of productivity that economists measure. Workforce productivity, often referred to as labor productivity, is a measure for an organisation or company, a process, an industry, or a country.

High-performance teams (HPTs) is a concept within organization development referring to teams, organizations, or virtual groups that are highly focused on their goals and that achieve superior business results. High-performance teams outperform all other similar teams and they outperform expectations given their composition.

Organizational conflict, or workplace conflict, is a state of discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests between people working together. Conflict takes many forms in organizations. There is the inevitable clash between formal authority and power and those individuals and groups affected. There are disputes over how revenues should be divided, how the work should be done, and how long and hard people should work. There are jurisdictional disagreements among individuals, departments, and between unions and management. There are subtler forms of conflict involving rivalries, jealousies, personality clashes, role definitions, and struggles for power and favor. There is also conflict within individuals – between competing needs and demands – to which individuals respond in different ways.

Training and development involve improving the effectiveness of organizations and the individuals and teams within them. Training may be viewed as related to immediate changes in organizational effectiveness via organized instruction, while development is related to the progress of longer-term organizational and employee goals. While training and development technically have differing definitions, the two are oftentimes used interchangeably and/or together. Training and development have historically been topics within adult education and applied psychology but have within the last two decades become closely associated with human resources management, talent management, human resources development, instructional design, human factors, and knowledge management.

Job performance assesses whether a person performs a job well. Job performance, studied academically as part of industrial and organizational psychology, also forms a part of human resources management. Performance is an important criterion for organizational outcomes and success. John P. Campbell describes job performance as an individual-level variable, or something a single person does. This differentiates it from more encompassing constructs such as organizational performance or national performance, which are higher-level variables.

Workplace relationships are unique interpersonal relationships with important implications for the individuals in those relationships, and the organizations in which the relationships exist and develop.

Team composition refers to the overall mix of characteristics among people in a team, which is a unit of two or more individuals who interact interdependently to achieve a common objective. It is based on the attributes among individuals that comprise the team, in addition to their main objective.

Employee motivation is an intrinsic and internal drive to put forth the necessary effort and action towards work-related activities. It has been broadly defined as the "psychological forces that determine the direction of a person's behavior in an organisation, a person's level of effort and a person's level of persistence". Also, "Motivation can be thought of as the willingness to expend energy to achieve a goal or a reward. Motivation at work has been defined as 'the sum of the processes that influence the arousal, direction, and maintenance of behaviors relevant to work settings'." Motivated employees are essential to the success of an organization as motivated employees are generally more productive at the work place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astronaut organization in spaceflight missions</span>

Selection, training, cohesion and psychosocial adaptation influence performance and, as such, are relevant factors to consider while preparing for costly, long-duration spaceflight missions in which the performance objectives will be demanding, endurance will be tested and success will be critical.

The task-relationship model is defined by Donelson Forsyth as "a descriptive model of leadership which maintains that most leadership behaviors can be classified as performance maintenance or relationship maintenances". Task-oriented and relationship-oriented leadership are two models which are often compared, as they are known to produce varying outcomes under different circumstances. Task-oriented leadership is a behavioral approach in which the leader focuses on the tasks that need to be performed in order to meet certain goals, or to achieve a certain performance standard. Relationship-oriented leadership is a behavioral approach in which the leader focuses on the satisfaction, motivation and the general well-being of the team members.

Psychological safety is the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. In teams, it refers to team members believing that they can take risks without being shamed by other team members. In psychologically safe teams, team members feel accepted and respected contributing to a better "experience in the workplace". It is also the most studied enabling condition in group dynamics and team learning research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Team effectiveness</span> A teams ability to accomplish their goals or objectives

Team effectiveness is the capacity a team has to accomplish the goals or objectives administered by an authorized personnel or the organization. A team is a collection of individuals who are interdependent in their tasks, share responsibility for outcomes, and view themselves as a unit embedded in an institutional or organizational system which operates within the established boundaries of that system. Teams and groups have established a synonymous relationship within the confines of processes and research relating to their effectiveness while still maintaining their independence as two separate units, as groups and their members are independent of each other's role, skill, knowledge or purpose versus teams and their members, who are interdependent upon each other's role, skill, knowledge and purpose.

Team diversity refers to the differences between individual members of a team that can exist on various dimensions like age, nationality, religious background, functional background or task skills, sexual orientation, and political preferences, among others. Different types of diversity include demographic, personality and functional diversity, and can have positive as well as negative effects on team outcomes. Diversity can impact performance, team member satisfaction or the innovative capacity of a team. According to the Input-Process-Output Model, team diversity is considered an input factor that has effects on the processes as well as on the team outputs of team work.

References

  1. 1 2 Salas, E., Diazgranados, D., Klein, C., Burke, C. S., Stagl, K. C., Goodwin, G. F., & Halpin, S. M. (2008). "Does Team Training Improve Team Performance? A Meta-Analysis". Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. 50 (6): 903–933. doi:10.1518/001872008X375009. PMID   19292013. S2CID   7213546.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ "Creative Team Building Activities and Exercises". Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  3. 1 2 Klein et al. (2009)
  4. ↑ Thompson, Leigh (2000). Making the team : a guide for managers . Prentice Hall. ISBN   978-0130143631.
  5. ↑ Macy, B. A., & Izumi, H. (1993). "Organizational change, design and work innovation: A meta-analysis of 131 North American field experiments, 1961–1991", pp. 235–313 in W. Pasmore & R. Woodman (Eds.) Research in organizational change and development. Greenwich, CT: JAI.
  6. ↑ Pollack J., Matous P. (2019). "Testing the impact of targeted team building on project team communication using social network analysis", Journal of International Project Management 37, 473–484 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2019.02.005.
  7. ↑ Salas, E., Priest, H. A., & DeRouin, R. E. (2005). "Team building", pp. 48–1, 48–5 in N. Stanton, H. Hendrick, S. Konz, K. Parsons, & E. Salas (Eds.) Handbook of human factors and ergonomics methods. London: Taylor & Francis.
  8. ↑ Salas, Eduardo; Priest, Heather A.; DeRouin, Renee E. (2004-08-30). "Team Building". In Stanton, Neville Anthony; Hedge, Alan; Brookhuis, Karel; Salas, Eduardo; Hendrick, Hal W. (eds.). Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics Methods. CRC Press (published 2004). pp. 465–470. ISBN   9780203489925 . Retrieved 2015-09-22.
  9. ↑ Sanborn, Lee O. & Huszczo, Gregory E. (2007). Encyclopedia of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. pp. 788–90. doi:10.4135/9781412952651. ISBN   9781412924702.
  10. ↑ Fapohunda, Tinuke. (2013). Towards Effective Team Building in the Workplace.
  11. ↑ Shuffler M. L., DiazGranados D., Salas E. (2011). "There's a Science for That: Team Development Interventions in Organizations". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 20 (6): 365–372. doi:10.1177/0963721411422054. S2CID   145635591.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. 1 2 Salas, E., Diazgranados, D., Klein, C., Burke, C.S., Stagl, K.C., Goodwin, G.F., & Halpin, S.M. (2008). "Does Team Training Improve Team Performance? A Meta-Analysis". Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. 50 (6): 903–933. doi:10.1518/001872008X375009. PMID   19292013. S2CID   7213546.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Valdes-Dapena, Carlos (September 11, 2018). "Stop Wasting Money on Team Building". Harvard Business Review.
  14. ↑ Shuffler, M. L., DiazGranados, D., & Salas, E. (2011). "There's a Science for That: Team Development Interventions in Organizations". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 20 (6): 365–372. doi:10.1177/0963721411422054. S2CID   145635591.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). "Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: a 35 year odyssey". American Psychologist. 57 (9): 705–717. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.126.9922 . doi:10.1037/0003-066x.57.9.705. PMID   12237980.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ Halebian, J., & Finkelstein, S. (1993). "Top management team size, CEO dominance, and firm performance: The moderating roles of environmental turbulence and discretion". Academy of Management Journal. 36 (4): 844–863. doi:10.2307/256761. JSTOR   256761.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ↑ Dyer, W. G., Dyer, W. G., & Dyer, J. H. (2007). Team building: Proven strategies for improving team performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bas
  18. ↑ Fapohunda, Tinuke (April 2013). "Towards Effective Team Building in the Workplace" (PDF). International Journal of Education and Research. 1 (4).
  19. 1 2 Oertig, M., & Buergi, T. (2006). "The challenges of managing cross-cultural virtual project teams". Team Performance Management. 12: 23–30. doi:10.1108/13527590610652774.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ↑ Ozigbo, Ada-Mac; Idegbesor, Maryam; Ngige, Chigbo Donatus; Nwakoby, Nkiru Peace (2020-04-05). "TEAM BUILDING AND PERFORMANCE IN ORGANIZATIONS: AN EXPLORATION OF ISSUES". International Journal of Management and Entrepreneurship. 2 (1): 184–199.
  21. ↑ Martínez-Moreno, Edurne; González-Navarro, Pilar; Zornoza, Ana; Ripoll, Pilar (2009). "Relationship, task and process conflicts on team performance". International Journal of Conflict Management. 20 (3): 251–268. doi:10.1108/10444060910974876.
  22. ↑ Page, D., & Donelan, J. G. (2003). "Team-building tools for students". Journal of Education for Business. 78 (3): 125–128. doi:10.1080/08832320309599708. S2CID   62570653.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ↑ Valdes-Dapena, C (2018). "Stop Wasting Money on Team Building". Harvard Business Review.
  24. ↑ Valdes-Dapena, C (2018). "Stop Wasting Money on Team Building". Harvard Business Review.
  25. ↑ Ravio, E., Monna, A.B., Weigand, A.D., Eskolar, J., & Lintunen, T. (2010). "Team building in sport: a narrative review of the program effectiveness, current methods, and theoretical underpinnings". Athletic Insight Journal. 2 (2): 1–19.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ↑ Yukelson, D. (1997). "Principles of effective team building interventions in sport: A direct services approach at Penn State University". Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. 9 (1): 73–96. doi:10.1080/10413209708415385.
  27. 1 2 Beauchamp, Mark R; McEwan, Desmond; Waldhauser, Katrina J (1 August 2017). "Team building: conceptual, methodological, and applied considerations" (PDF). Current Opinion in Psychology. 16: 114–117. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.02.031. PMID   28813332.
  28. ↑ Senécal, J., Loughead, T. M., & Bloom, G. A. (2008). "A season-long team-building intervention: Examining the effect of team goal setting on cohesion" (PDF). Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology. 30 (2): 186–99. doi:10.1123/jsep.30.2.186. PMID   18490790.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ↑ Martens, R. (1987). Coaches guide to sport psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics
  30. 1 2 3 Bloom, Gordon A.; Loughead, Todd M.; Newin, Julie (November 2008). "Team Building for Youth Sport". Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance. 79 (9): 44–47. doi:10.1080/07303084.2008.10598246. S2CID   144666850.
  31. 1 2 Scudamore, Brian. "Why Team Building Is The Most Important Investment You'll Make". Forbes.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.