A team may be defined as a group of people working together to achieve a common objective. The group of people has complementary skills that are utilized in a shared approach to work with a sole aim of achieving performance objectives in a mutually responsible and accountable manner (Raes et al., 2013). Collaboration is critical if every member of the group is to realize optimal achievement and success in their career.
Leadership in a team is important in influencing the members to give maximum effort in a task in order to achieve shared performance objectives. A good team leader is one who concentrates in building their team and puts measures in place to undertake self-assessment too (Vandewaerde, 2011).
The five stages of team development
As a team leader for the team comprising eight workers, three of whom are new while five are male and three are females, team building and development is necessary. It will help address low morale that has been reported, lateness to report to work, disagreements pertaining daily workload, lack of drive and enthusiasm and harassment of workers. Addressing these issues through the five stages of team development will translate into higher employee performance and thus higher customer satisfaction.
The five stages of team development are team formation, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. In the first stage, the three new employees will be introduced to the existing five employees. Understanding and appreciating of the diverse backgrounds from which the team members come from will be important. In the second stage, the team members are expected to start competing among each for recognition and self-esteem. Conflicts arise and with the guidance of the team leader, they learn how to address conflicts once they arise. In the third stage, they start understanding and appreciating each other and thus start working more normally as a team. In the fourth stage, the team is performing effectively as a unit. They recognize and appreciate the shared objective of the task before them and are motivated to achieve it through collaborative effort. Lastly, in the final stage, as the shared objective comes towards being realized, the team leader helps the team celebrate the success and instill the strengths that were observed so that they can be sources of motivation and further success in the future (Stewart " Barrick, 2000).
Scenario analysis
Motivation
Currently, the workers are experiencing low levels of motivation. The issue of low motivation will be addressed during the first stage when the team members, both new and the existing, meet. They will be allowed to introduce themselves to each other, share their likes and dislikes, as well as their backgrounds. The aim of this is to ensure the team members know each other very well and start bonding to form a team.
The objective of the team, which is realizing customer holistic customer service within the organization, will be made known to the team members. They will be told the importance of working together and appreciating each other while at work. Appreciation of those who perform well will be important in ensuring that each team member feels accepted. Listening to the ideas from each member and factoring them in the execution of work will also play an important role in ensuring the team is highly motivated.
Team leadership
Currently, there are issues of workers disagreeing on the daily workload assigned to them. There is also the issue of workers being late for work, leaving work earlier than expected and cases of employee harassment. As a team leader, I will come up with measures to address these issues. These issues mostly arise in the second stage of team development. As such, I endeavor to communicate clearly to the team so that they understand the task will be achieved as a team. The contribution of every team member towards the task will be valued. They will be asked to give opinions on how they think the assignment should be executed in order to realize the best results. Channels for giving feedback will be promoted and the information obtained from the team members will be appreciated (Carson et al., 2007). As the team leader, I will instill trust, focus and courage to the members of the team in order to ensure unity and dedication to work.
Conflict resolution
Still at stage two, conflicts will be expected to rise up. Team members will be expected to start competing against each other for superiority and recognition. Professionalism, respectful communication, diligence, responsibility and integrity will be important in helping the team members understand how to solve conflicts among themselves. I will instill courteous communication to each team member. This will be important in ensuring that the team members become considerate and sensitive to what they say to their colleagues. I will also encourage development of good listening skills. This will be important in ensuring that team members keenly listen to the opinions of each other and respond in respectful and courteous manner. This way, any possible conflicts will be addressed holistically and the chances of conflicts happening will be reduced greatly.
Teamwork
Over the course of carrying out the assignment, introduction of team members, their backgrounds and experiences, what they consider their strengths and weaknesses made known to each other. This will be important in addressing each other will dignity and respect. Introducing the objective of the assignment to them and assigning specific tasks to individual team members will enhance responsibility and accountability. The effect of such an arrangement is enhanced team cohesion and higher team performance (Hoch, 2013).
In conclusion, holistic communication strategies are very important in the development of a team. A team leader should endeavor to understand each member of the team so that they can be able to address their areas of weakness in a manner that is respectful and motivating. A team leader should strive to ensure that they are a positive force of influence in the process of project execution.
REFERENCES
Carson, J., Tesluk, P., " Marrone, J. (2007). Shared Leadership in Teams: An Investigation of Antecedent Conditions and Performance. The Academy of Management Journal, 50(5), 1217-1234. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20159921
Hoch, J. (2013). Shared Leadership and Innovation: The Role of Vertical Leadership and Employee Integrity. Journal of Business and Psychology, 28(2), 159-174. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24709831
Raes, E., Decuyper, S., Lismont, B., Van den Bossche, P., Kyndt, E., Demeyere, S., " Dochy, F. (2013). Facilitating team learning through transformational leadership. Instructional Science, 41(2), 287-305. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23372889
Stewart, G., " Barrick, M. (2000). Team Structure and Performance: Assessing the Mediating Role of Intrateam Process and the Moderating Role of Task Type. The Academy of Management Journal, 43(2), 135-148. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1556372
Vandewaerde, M., Voordeckers, W., Lambrechts, F., " Bammens, Y. (2011). Board Team Leadership Revisited: A Conceptual Model of Shared Leadership in the Boardroom. Journal of Business Ethics, 104(3), 403-420. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41476096
