Team Dynamics
Team Dynamics
What is a team? In school, teams are formed in the classroom when assigned projects or outside of the classroom in sports. Teams are also created at work. For example, your boss gives a specific task and even in television, such as Survivor or Amazing Race. “A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they are mutually accountable” (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993,p.112). When a team accomplishes a task there is excitement knowing teamwork and effort was put forth. Teams always have their ups and downs but working together can accomplish anything when the mind is put to use. Some aspects of team dynamics are communicating effectively, team roles and responsibilities and the characteristics of having effective teams.
One of the hardest tasks for teams to accomplish in a workplace is communication. Team members should communicate fully and openly to all team members and welcome all questions. Panse (2008) notes the following:
Communication is about expressing and conveying your thoughts, feelings, opinions and ideas to another person or persons. Good communication skills can help you keep your head and confidently take charge of unfamiliar situations. People are more likely to listen to you, whatever you have to say, if you can express yourself well, and this is particularly useful in influencing and negotiating important personal, social or business matters (¶4).
In the team, recognizing and addressing nonverbal clues is important. For instance, the rolling of the eyes, tapping of the hands on the desk, avoiding eye contact, and folding of the arms. Sometimes by doing one of these nonverbal clues, teammates might get offended. When communicating with team members, members can use the phone, electronic communication or face to face. Some problems will occur using the different types of communication. When using the...
Please login to view the full essay...