team
(noun)
A group of people linked in a common purpose.
(noun)
Any group of people involved in the same activity, especially referring to sports and work.
Examples of team in the following topics:
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Types of Teams
- Depending on its needs and goals, a company can use a project team, a virtual team, or a cross-functional team.
- Teams may be permanent or temporary, and team members may come from the same department or different ones.
- Common types of teams found in organizations include project teams, virtual teams, and cross-functional teams.
- Software development is most commonly done by project teams.
- It is common for an organization to have many teams, including teams of several types.
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Defining a Team
- A team is a group of people who work together toward a common goal.
- Each member is responsible for contributing to the team, but the group as a whole is responsible for the team's success.
- Sports teams are a good example of how teams work.
- Organizations typically have many teams, and an individual is frequently a member of more than one team.
- Some teams are permanent and are responsible for ongoing activities.
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Choosing Team Size and Team Members
- Team size and composition affect team processes and outcomes.
- The optimal size and composition of teams depends on the scope of the team's goals.
- Research shows that teams perform best with between five and nine members.
- Meredith Belbin did extensive research on teams prior to 1990 in the UK that suggested that the optimum team size is eight roles plus a specialist as needed.
- The mix of knowledge and expertise on a team is also important.
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Team Building
- Team building is an approach to helping a team become an effective performing unit.
- Team building refers to a wide range of activities intended to help a team become an effective performing unit.
- Team-building activities require the participation of all team members.
- A team can also benefit from team building after its work has begun.
- Identify how to achieve team success and the underlying value of team building from a broader organizational perspective
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Constructive Team Conflict
- Teams may use conflict as a strategy for continuous improvement and learning.
- Recognizing the benefits of conflict and using them as part of the team's process can enhance team performance.
- Team members may feel more valued when they know they are contributing to something vital to the team's success.
- Team members and others can follow a few guidelines for encouraging constructive conflict.
- Explain how conflict can be used as a strategy for improving team performance
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Virtual Teams
- Similar to task forces and cross-functional teams, networked teams frequently bring together people with different expertise to bring broad perspectives to discussing an issue or problem.
- Project development teams work on complex sets of activities over a long time period.
- The geographic dispersion of team members and the lack of regular face-to-face meetings present three challenges to the success of virtual teams.
- Coordination of tasks: A virtual team needs a clear set of objectives and a plan for how to achieve them in order to focus and direct collaboration among team members.
- Team-member skills: Beyond their functional expertise and experience, virtual team members need to be effective users of technologies such as video conferencing and other collaboration tools.
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Team Roles
- Team roles define how each member of the group relates to the others and contributes to the team's performance.
- Roles are part of a team's structure, and having a role defines each team member's position in the group relative to the others.
- Team roles establish expectations about who will do what to help the team succeed.
- Team roles are not necessarily linked to specific work tasks and may even include responsibilities that do not directly contribute to the team's output.
- Identify types of team roles and how they contribute to team performance
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Shared Leadership
- Rather than having a single designated leader, two or more members of a team with shared leadership influence the others and help drive the team's performance toward its goals.
- Team members must be willing to extend their feedback to the team in a way that aims to influence and motivate the direction of the group.
- Shared purpose means team members have a similar understanding of the team's objective and collective goals.
- Voice refers to the degree to which team members believe they have input into how the team carries out its activities.
- Coaching can also nurture collective commitment to the team and its objectives, increasing the possibility that team members will demonstrate personal initiative.
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Self-Managing Teams
- A self-managing team has considerable discretion over how its work gets done.
- Self-managing teams are distinct from self-directed teams.
- Organizations in various fields use self-managing teams to boost productivity and motivate employees.
- Members of self-managing teams plan, coordinate, direct, and control their activities.
- There are also potential drawbacks to self-managing teams.
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Team-Based Structure
- The team structure is a newer, less hierarchical organizational structure in which individuals are grouped into teams.
- Some teams endure over time, while others—such as project teams—are disbanded at the project's end.
- Teams that include members from different functions are known as cross-functional teams.
- Critics argue that the use of the word "team" to describe modern organizational structures is a fad; according to them, some teams are not really teams at all but rather groups of staff.
- One aspect of team-based structures that will likely persist indefinitely is the integration of team cultures within an broader structure (e.g., a functional structure with teams interspersed).