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Workforce and effective team building. Assessment of the effectiveness of teamwork Effective teamwork

Team effectiveness factors

There are a number of factors that most strongly influence the success of a team's action.

  • 1. The team leader must occupy a sufficiently high position in the team (in some cases, he may not be the formal leader, but be the chairman). Its characteristics are similar to that of the coordinator.
  • 2. A successful team needs a good idea generator. If there are more than one such people, then the probability of success of the whole team decreases, as competition and criticism will begin.
  • 3. Good distribution of intellectual abilities. The team should have at least two smart people who can stimulate each other. Some of the team members may be of intermediate (or higher) intellectual level - their inability to compete with smarter colleagues will force them to seek alternative roles in which they can excel. In general, the team will have a more complete range of merits.
  • 4. Variety of personal characteristics, allowing full coverage of command roles. A team that can assign most or all of the team roles to its members will perform better than others. In such a situation, there will be not only less friction, but also a greater chance for everyone to get the role that may be needed.
  • 5. A good balance between the relationships and responsibilities of the team members. In most successful teams, the functional responsibilities of the participants fit into the system of their inherent interpersonal relationships.
  • 6. Recognition of team imbalances and ability to correct. A team that is aware of its challenges and is willing to adapt or change their roles in order to make the best of their traits or compensate for their weaknesses is in an advantageous position.

The best team composition can vary depending on the task at hand. Even a small team needs to have most of the team roles. Everyone can take on at least one secondary role.

How to improve team efficiency?

In practice, there is often a situation where there is no way to choose a team. In this case, you should use what is. The manager has several ways to improve the performance of the group.

Restructure. This can be an outlet for two or more team members: exchange roles or the main part of the work. If this gives them a role in which they are likely to do better, they are more likely to welcome change.

Redistribute responsibilities. Determine what tasks each team member likes. Then consider redistributing them. This is different from a full exchange of responsibilities.

Separate conflicting team members. Divide the team into several smaller groups, each of which will be responsible for different projects.

Hire a new employee. This is not always an option, but if the opportunity arises, you need to hire a good representative of exactly the type that you need.

How to recognize a leader?

Recognition of a potential leader is only possible for a person who himself has leadership qualities.

Michelangelo's answer to the question of how he managed to create such a brilliant work as the statue of David remained in history.

He said that the sculpture was always in this stone, all that remained was to cut off the excess.

Leaders must have the same vision to determine future leaders in their team.

The list of essential leadership qualities below will help you do just that.

  • 1. Leaders are characterized by a positive attitude towards reality, manifested in a positive perception of the current situation, themselves and other people.
  • 2. A leader should not be selfish. He is always interested in a common cause, ready to defend common interests, for the sake of which he is able to obey the one who is currently the leader, and is ready to follow him, to actively participate in the work of the team.
  • 3. The leader always strives for the development of his personality, its improvement due to the rich growth potential, which allows him to cope with increasingly complex tasks.
  • 4. A very valuable leadership quality is the ability and ability to complete any business.
  • 5. Devotion to the common cause, to your leader and to the organization is important for managing other people, when their interests are put above their own desires.
  • 6. The quality required for a leader is flexibility to cope successfully with unexpected situations.
  • 7. In no team will a dishonest leader enjoy authority. The team respects people whose strong and reliable character guarantees consistency in deeds and words.
  • 8. Not the last place among the leadership qualities is occupied by the breadth of outlook, which allows you to see the state of the organization as a whole with its needs and requirements.
  • 9. Discipline, readiness to fulfill requirements, regardless of personal problems and mood - a guarantee against unpleasant surprises and the basis of authority.
  • 10. The ability to be grateful is a positive characteristic of any person. Showing deserved gratitude towards both those you depend on and those who depend on you is the last but not the least leadership quality on this list.

Having analyzed the characters of all employees for the presence of the listed qualities, it is not difficult to identify real leaders among them. Having identified such people, you need to take care of their development and training in line with the prospects for the further promotion of the company. The benefits of this strategy are obvious. An experienced leader who will be able to bring up a worthy change for himself, thereby protects his business from collapse in the future, and also makes it easier for himself to work in the present at the expense of an intelligent assistant. The presence of a sufficient number of leaders is a guarantee of the successful fulfillment of the tasks facing the company. The young leader himself wins the most by realizing his potential and ensuring his career growth.

This list can be considered the minimum set of qualities required for a true leader. And all of them can be developed and improved if such people are identified in a timely manner. If a leader does not turn his attention to an employee with leadership competencies, he may lose him, since strong personalities are not afraid to change jobs in search of a place where they can fully realize their potential.

The key to the success of any business is team involvement. Executives dream of employees who take initiative, help each other, develop every day, and be as loyal to the company as possible. Everyone dreams, but not everyone gets it. What needs to be done for this, what nuances to observe, how to act correctly?

Change happens when you start with yourself

Taking the department to a new level, it is important to determine whether the manager himself is falling short in terms of competencies. How often do executives stop to analyze their growth zones?

There is simply no time for this, and if “the fish rots from the head,” the little head should be clear and light.

IN key competencies outputting a command, there are two directions.

1. Strategic.

Maintenance and implementation of corporate values, long-term planning (annual, semi-annual), analytical activities.

2. Practical.

They include the ability to implement the planned: motivation, coordination, control, correction, short-term planning (daily, weekly), development.

Formal execution of procedures, especially the practical part, is a huge mistake; You can set great goals, but the implementation process raises a number of difficulties: do people believe in achievability, can they implement it, and how does the manager manage it.

Successful team

Those who burn with it and love it easily reach the heights in business. One has only to think about how people strive to improve in their hobby and are ready to spend every free minute on it, and you get masterpieces! That is why it is important to assess how well employees are suitable for the tasks being implemented, with what interest they perform them, how they strive to work.

There are criteria for involvement in work, by which it is possible to understand whether a person works in his place:

1. Openness to new projects, ideas and readiness to improve work;

2. The manifestation of initiative within the framework that is not related to the direct functionality;

3. Willingness to help colleagues, even when the job description does not oblige;

4. The desire to share experience and knowledge, with their successful application, is sincerely happy;

5. Willingness to spend additional time performing duties: to come to work earlier, and leave it later, when the situation requires, but the management did not set such a task.

When people work according to their strengths, employers get the ideal employees, as described above. Sometimes you have to remove a person from office, when you understand, no matter how hard he fights, there are no changes. Often this decision is difficult, but only it can help to realize the potential and flourish for a colleague on other functionality, giving more money, bringing tremendous benefits to the company.

Identify the strengths of employees

There are many techniques, but each contains key success factors, which are discussed below.

Stage 1. Ask about his interests by asking questions:

- What did you like to do most in childhood?
- What do relatives and friends often praise for?
- Ask to remember the most cherished achievements and find out what qualities helped to achieve them?
- What abilities does he consider outstanding?

Stage 2. Determine on which functionality the identified qualities can be used in the best way.

The key to success will be the ability to change the path of a subordinate in time; on negligent functionality, he will bring much less money or any other benefit than a more capable person could.

Stage 3. Striving for control

Control and development are in fact the main activities of managers. Going too far with control is like signing a contract for non-initiative, inert, withering workers.

An experienced leader finds a balance between these two management tasks. For example, using the technology of delegation, with the help of which it will not only enable a colleague to rise and develop, but he himself will be able to do more. They delegate various things, initiative, authority, instructions, which may seem routine.

As a result, for the employee it is an opportunity for self-realization and an increase in importance in the eyes of the boss. And when someone is praised for something, you want to repeat it better and better.

To implement changes in the organization, you can create a team. To build a team, you need to know how they are created and shaped. You need to choose the right way to create the team. Team building by itself is not a sufficient condition for making changes. The team must act effectively - this is the key to the success of change, and it is the responsibility of managers and managers to monitor and improve efficiency.

When is using commands more efficient than using groups?

Teams and groups are overlapping concepts. In some cases, it is advisable to pay closer attention to the team building processes, rather than being limited to the group's work.

The commands are most effective when:

  • developing strategies in a highly uncertain environment;
  • vagueness and plurality of criteria for selecting strategic options;
  • simultaneous implementation of several strategies;
  • the need to coordinate complex work;
  • a wide range of expert opinions regarding the assessment of strategic alternatives;
  • conflict of interests of interested parties;
  • a high degree of resistance to strategic change.

From general considerations, it is clear that the more uncertain the task, the more effective the team approach, especially in cases where it is necessary to meet the different expectations of stakeholders. This is obvious when making government decisions or when developing technology and innovation policies, when the choice between alternative development options is based on a detailed study of a variety of data. In such situations, the facts alone are not always sufficient to determine the final version of the policy or strategy for innovation, support and development, therefore, the opinions and personal vision of the parties involved are taken into account when making a decision. If the expertise does not allow to come to a satisfactory solution to the problems, then compromises between alternative perspectives and the legitimate interests of the parties can be found as a result of teamwork.



When can using commands be ineffective?

There are conditions where teamwork can be ineffective, including the following:

  • teams can work out what suits everyone, but not optimal solutions to problems;
  • decisions may depend on the level of innovative thinking of team members;
  • teamwork can be unacceptable when you need to find a solution quickly.

The reasons for the decrease in the effectiveness of the team are determined by the fact that when a solution to problems is sought in the process of joint discussion, it is likely that extreme solutions, including, possibly, optimal solutions, will be excluded.

The result of teamwork is determined by how progressive the team is in its composition, norms and value orientations. A team that cultivates a spirit of inventiveness and originality strives for innovative behavior.

It takes more time to develop a team decision than to make an individual one, since mutual contacts and finding a consensus on the decision to be made are assumed.

What are the main factors determining the effectiveness of a team's work?

There are three main factors for effective teamwork. These include:

  • meeting the individual needs of team members;
  • successful teamwork;
  • solving the tasks assigned to the team.

These elements are interdependent. For example, personal satisfaction depends not only on successful problem solving, but also on the quality of team relationships, as well as on the social aspects of teamwork. Lonely businessmen who combine an owner and a manager in one person are deprived of the opportunity to exchange ideas with their colleagues. Working alone can reduce their productivity over time. The effectiveness of the team also depends on the next step, i.e. on what happens after the goals are achieved.

Internal elements of team effectiveness

The model of the internal elements of team effectiveness is as follows. The three elements discussed above are represented as icebergs, most of which are under water. Observing the work of teams in organizations, you can make sure that most of the energy, if not all, is directed to the exact solution of the problem (what needs to be obtained, when, with what budgetary funds and with what resources). Naturally, this is important, but we must not forget about the process (how the team will work) and that it is possible, as in the case of real icebergs, shipwrecks. For example, even a team that has achieved its goals can hardly be considered effective if its members have conflicting views and are so frustrated with their organization that they intend to look for another job. Therefore, as additional characteristics of the team's effectiveness, one can consider the degree of readiness of its members to perform new tasks and their desire to continue working together.

How to improve the efficiency of the strategic change team?

The effectiveness of the strategic change team depends on:

By managing these types of teamwork, you can monitor the effectiveness of the teams, increasing the effectiveness and achieving success in the implementation of changes.

How can you influence the efficiency of a team by managing its size?

From general considerations, it is clear that the effectiveness of very small and very large teams will be less than when reaching some optimum in size, although the desire to both reduce the number of team members and increase it is justified. In the first case, the speed of intra-team communication increases and, consequently, the speed of task execution. In the second case, the inclusion of more specialists in the team will ensure an increase in the quality of the task. It would be most sensible to have a team as small as possible, but large enough so that the competence of its members meets the requirements of the task.

It is easiest to work in a team of two because of the ease of communication. In larger teams, team members are prone to disordered communication, which leads to disorganization and the feeling that a lot of time is wasted. With the increase in the size of the team, the number of interactions between its members increases dramatically.

Bearing in mind that every interaction contains a potential conflict between its participants, as the team expands, it becomes obvious that organizational difficulties are more likely.

If there are more than twelve people in the team, it would be reasonable to split it into two subgroups, giving each of them an integral part of the overall task and retaining the overall leadership of the group. If this is not done, the team will be divided into informal groups in an arbitrary way (for example, based on the sympathy of team members for each other), which will complicate the coordination of the task and reduce the effectiveness of teamwork. Therefore, the process of dividing a large group into subgroups, with a view to achieving team goals, is best managed consciously and carefully.

How can managing team members' responsibilities affect team performance?

The effectiveness of a team is largely determined by the personal qualities of its members and the relationship between them. Everyone should be ready to use all their abilities and knowledge to solve a team problem.

Competence level, which includes knowledge, understanding, skills and personal qualities that team members should have is determined by the objectives and methods of achieving the goal.

It is important to assess the relationship between the team's work results and the requirements for the level of competence as often as possible in order to timely detect emerging problems and make the necessary rearrangements, organize appropriate trainings, etc.

How can you improve the efficiency of teams by distributing functional and team roles?

When selecting people for a team, we, as a rule, make our choice based on their skills, knowledge and experience. But to achieve team effectiveness, not only skills, knowledge and experience are important, but equally the personal qualities and personal characteristics of team members.

When people work as part of the same group or team, each of them performs two types of roles: functional, based on professional skills and practical experience, and team, based on personality traits. The team role can be viewed as a characteristic of the quality of the application of individual skills and experience that make up the content of the functional role performed.

There are nine team roles. Research has shown that each team member plays not one, but often two, even three or four team roles. It should be noted that they can be considered equally important to the effectiveness of teamwork, provided that they are used within the team at the appropriate times and in the best possible way. For example, at a time when a team is just starting to consider a problem or develop a project, first of all, innovative ideas are required (a thinker is needed), followed by the need to assess how these ideas can be translated into practical actions and feasible tasks (performer) ... In these phases, success is achieved if the team has a good coordinator (chair) who is tasked with ensuring the best possible input from team members at the right time. The team gains driving forces and incentives thanks to the activity of an energetic shaper. When the need arises to conduct complex negotiations with other groups, the qualities that a resource researcher have are of great importance. To contain excessive enthusiasm that distracts from the main activities of the team, there should be an evaluator in the team.

All sorts of sources of friction and misunderstanding between team members are eliminated by the collectivist, and thanks to the presence of a specialist, the team has at its disposal rare skills and knowledge, which periodically arise. The role of the closer is not to lose sight of even the smallest details of the implementation of the decisions made and to achieve the consistent implementation of all planned actions.

Clearly, in order for a team to derive the maximum benefit from the diversity of team roles, each team member must be aware of the specifics of the team roles of their colleagues. Only in this case it is possible to establish whether there are any among these nine roles that do not belong to natural strengths team members. If this is the case, then those team members for whom the missing natural team roles are secondary will have to try to fill the gap. Obviously, this will require an atmosphere of frankness and trust. Sometimes managers speak out in the sense that, they say, they are entrusted with leading teams that are imbalanced in terms of team roles, and they have to deal with what is. Most modern organizations there is a constant turnover of staff. When recruiting and hiring new employees, managers who have adopted the concept of team roles will purposefully recruit their own personnel.

Team Roles

Team role Necessary personal qualities and contribution to the team's activities Permissible disadvantages
Thinker Creative focus, rich imagination, extraordinary thinking. Commitment to innovation. Source original ideas for the team Lack of interpersonal experience Psychological instability May be delayed for a long time under consideration " interesting ideas»
Executor Turns ideas into action. Turns solutions into easy-to-do tasks. Brings order to the team's activities Lack of flexibility. Rejection of fantastic ideas Dislike of frequent changes in plans
Door closer Diligence and conscientiousness. Ensures that the tasks are completed in full. Tracks the timeliness of assignments Excessive concern about the state of affairs. Inclination to inner experiences. Reluctance to outsource responsibilities. Aversion to being frivolous about his responsibilities by others
Appraiser Professes an impartial critical analysis of the situation. Strategic approach and discernment in assessments. Accuracy of judgments, the desire to consider everything possible options solutions. Underestimating the factors of stimulation and excitement Lack of inspiration and creative imagination... Ability to suppress the initiative of others
Resource Explorer Possession of the art of negotiating, a variety of contacts. Talent as an improviser, explores opportunities. Enthusiasm, sociability Loses interest as enthusiasm fades. Jumps from one task to another. Needs external pressure
Shaper Constant focus on solving the task; stimulates the work of the whole team. Contributes to the implementation of the decisions taken; encourages employees to work harder. Energetic, striving for excellence and working with full dedication Easily becomes irritable and frustrated Impulsiveness and impatience Intolerance of vague wording and indecisive behavior
Collectivist Promotes the harmonization of team relationships and the elimination of disagreements. Listens carefully to the interlocutor; relies on the opinions of others. Sensitivity, lack of overconfidence Indecision in crisis situations. The desire to avoid exacerbation of situations. Can prevent action from being taken at a crucial moment
Chairperson Formulates goals clearly; performs well as a moderator during discussions. Promotes effective adoption solutions. Has good communication skills; social leader May give the impression of being manipulative. The tendency to shift their responsibilities onto others. Can credit the entire team to himself
Specialist Has rare skills and knowledge. Purposefulness and ability to concentrate efforts. Initiative and the ability to fully surrender to work Useful only in a narrow professional field. Often has poor communication skills. Often "does not see the forest for the trees"

The ability to listen and hear others is much more important than the ability to use your own knowledge, and the ability to ask the right questions it is much more important to be able to give direct and clear instructions. Intra-team effectiveness is based on emotional intelligence team members and several other specific codes. Let us briefly characterize these criteria.

Concept "intelligence" (from Lat. intellectus - understanding, understanding, comprehension) does not have an unambiguous definition, however, it is recognized that the level of ability inherent in each person to use mental operations is one of the fundamental characteristics of intelligence.

According to psychologists, creative people are characterized by divergent thinking: a "fan-shaped" search for a solution is carried out, which allows them to find a very unusual solution to a problem or offer many solutions where a common person can only come up with one or two solutions.

Back in 1912, the German psychologist William Stern proposed measuring a person's intellectual abilities using the now widely known IQ coefficient. 83 years later, Daniel Goleman made a splash, saying that more important role than IQ, the EQ coefficient plays - an emotional indicator of intelligence, since control over one's own emotions and the ability to correctly perceive other people's feelings characterize intelligence more accurately than the ability to think logically. According to his research (1998) for efficiency management work EQ is critical - 85% of its success is determined by this ratio and only 15% is determined by IQ.

Comparison of zones of influence EQ and IQ is given in the table.

Table. EQ and IQ zones of influence

IQ

EQ

Contracts

Contacts

Justice

Advice to yourself

Mindfulness of others

Your findings

Understanding others

Own knowledge

Expression of others

Speak

To ask

Goleman's study confirmed the idea that being able to listen and hear others is much more important than using one's own knowledge, and that being able to ask the right questions is much more important than being able to give direct and clear directions.

Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee argue that understanding the role of emotion in a team distinguishes successful leaders from the average, and many people mistakenly perceive emotions as personal and not measurable.

Emotional leadership motivates team members and fosters dedication and cooperation. Leadership, based on weak cues from the emotional leader, strengthens, rather than destroys, team-mate cohesion.

Without a doubt, the leader's "stardom" and broad outlook go hand in hand. But when determining the relationship between the special knowledge and cognitive abilities of leaders, on the one hand, and their emotional intelligence, on the other, it was found that the higher the leader's rank, the more emotional intelligence is laid in the foundation of success.

Research by experts suggests that any group, even one with truly outstanding professionals, will make inadequate decisions if it is fragmented due to quarrels, personal rivalries or ambitions, i.e. groups perform better than singles only when they demonstrate high emotional intelligence.

Emotions are contagious. Especially team members carefully monitor the feelings and behavior of their leader, since it is the team leader who sets the tone and helps to form its emotional attitudes and norms of behavior.

Team leaders play an important role in setting group norms, who are able to fully use the positive emotions of employees and are able to create teams with high emotional intelligence.

Group intelligence requires from the team the same skills that individual individuals endowed with high emotional intelligence display: self-awareness, self-control, social sensitivity, and the ability to manage relationships.

Self-management in a team is a manifestation of the responsibility of each of its members. To practice self-control in a team (especially if the team is not accustomed to managing their emotions and habits) requires a strong leader endowed with high emotional intelligence.

Assessment of the effectiveness of the team

At one time, E. Mayo showed that the main task of management is to create conditions conducive to the effectiveness of the work of groups, and K. Levin's model, describing the field of forces acting in a group, made it possible to present a mechanism for increasing the effectiveness of teams.

American psychologist R. Likert in the 60s of the XX century. found that less successful managers are focused on work, while the most successful are focused on employees. In his opinion, an effective team has the following characteristics.

  1. Group members have the skills to perform all roles and functions in the group (both leadership and rank-and-file) necessary for interaction in the group.
  2. The group has been around for a long time, building and developing calm working relationships for all members of the group.
  3. The group is attractive to its members, they are loyal to each other.
  4. Relationships between group members and leaders are highly confidential and trust each other.
  5. The values ​​and goals of the group meet the requirements of integration. Group members help shape these values.
  6. As group members perform interrelated functions, they try to develop harmoniously interconnected goals and values.
  7. The more important the value appears to the group, the more likely the members of the group will accept it.
  8. Group members are highly motivated by the group's shared values. Each member of the group will do all they can (spend time and energy) to help the group achieve its main goals. Everyone expects others to do the same.
  9. Any interaction, decision making, etc. take place in a supportive atmosphere. Judgments, comments, ideas, information, criticism are help-oriented. Respect is shown both in providing assistance and in receiving it.
  10. The leader of each team has a great influence on shaping the tone and atmosphere of the group in accordance with their principles and practices, so in high-performing groups, the leader adheres to accepted principles of leadership and seeks to create an atmosphere of support and cooperation, rather than competition among group members.
  11. The group strives to help each of its members develop their abilities and use their potential.
  12. Each member of the group voluntarily and without indignation accepts the goals of the group and expects that the group will create favorable conditions for him too.
  13. The leader and team members are confident that everyone can achieve the “impossible”. These expectations maximize the mobilization of efforts and increase personal growth. If necessary, the group lowers the level of expectation so that the person does not experience feelings of failure or rejection.
  14. If necessary, group members help each other to successfully achieve personal goals. Mutual help is a characteristic of highly effective teams.
  15. The supportive atmosphere of high performing groups stimulates creativity (creativity).
  16. The group knows the value of "constructive conformism" (submission), understands when to use it and for what purposes.
  17. Group members are highly motivated to interact fully and sincerely, sharing information relevant to the group's values ​​and activities.
  18. The group effectively uses the communication process to achieve the goals of the group.
  19. Group members are also highly motivated to receive information. Everyone is really interested in any information relevant to the problem.
  20. In highly effective groups, there is a high level of motivation for the influence of group members on each other.
  21. The group process in high-impact groups allows for greater influence over the leader.
  22. Group members are able to influence each other's work, flexibility and group adaptation.
  23. In high-performing groups, people feel safe in coming up with solutions that seem appropriate to them, because the goals and philosophy of the operation are clear to everyone and provided with a solid basis for making decisions.
  24. The leader of the high-performing group is selected. His leadership abilities are so obvious that he only shows himself as a leader in unstructured situations.

Intra-team effectiveness, according to the American psychologist K. Arjiris, is based on the emotional intelligence of team members and positive norms, to which he attributed sincerity of ideas and feelings, openness, experimentation, helping others to be sincere and open about their ideas and feelings, helping others to experiment , individuality, reflection, interest, inner commitment.

The role composition of the team as a factor of efficiency, established by M. Belbin, gives an idea that a group in which there are performers of all roles will effectively work on the performance of any task. It was also established that the effectiveness of the group depends on the profile of the team - on the balance of roles in it. The composition of the group must meet the requirements of the task for which it was created. However, it should be remembered that a person in a team is more than just a representative of one type or another performing a task.

In order to achieve sustainable efficiency, Belbin recommends ensuring the interchangeability of team members in terms of role composition, which increases the efficiency of achieving the set goal in the face of changes in both external and internal environment teams.

J. Hackman built three-dimensional concept of group efficiency, based on three criteria and gave a transcript of their content.

1. Services (products) that must exceed existing standards:

  • taking into account the requirements of internal evaluators of performance results;
  • taking into account the requirements of external consumers.

2. Group support:

  • conflict-free communications;
  • trust in each other.

3. Needs of group members:

  • taking into account the needs of group members;
  • meeting the needs of group members.

When it comes on the standards for assessing the performance of the team, then it is necessary to be based on the requirements of both internal controllers of results and clients located outside the organization.

Intra-group support also provides better performance, since effective communication and trusting relationships reduce the cost of interaction and ensure that the tasks assigned to the team are solved.

Taking into account and meeting the needs of team members increases motivation, focusing on maximum performance and reducing management costs.

Based on the conceptual model of J. Hackman, R. Schwartz formulated factors influencing the effectiveness of the group... Their structure is presented below.

1. Group process:

  • problem solving;
  • making decisions;
  • conflicts;
  • communications.

2. Group structure:

  • goals;
  • tasks;
  • roles;
  • time;
  • norms.

3. Organizational environment:

  • vision;
  • mission.

According to the Schwartz model, group effectiveness is influenced by three factors:

  1. group process;
  2. group structure;
  3. organizational environment.

Group processes include not only problem solving and decision making, but conflict management and communication.

Group structure means clear goals, motivating tasks, clearly defined roles, sufficient time, effective group culture, group norms.

Among the elements of the organizational environment, first of all, it is necessary to highlight: a clear mission and a vision accepted by all; supportive culture; system of motivation, reward for achieving the goal; information and feedback; training and consulting; technological and material resources.

Schwartz considered working with the model in the following sequence: first, you need to determine the structure of the team, then establish how each of its elements affects the efficiency of collaboration, then identify the elements that work ineffectively, and finally make the changes necessary to increase efficiency.

The effectiveness of group work is determined by the nature of the interaction of subjects and objects of leadership, interaction in the group and the content of the established rules of interaction. Let us briefly characterize the criteria for the effectiveness of the group's work.

The age of the group indicates the stage of development of the group, its objective ability to work effectively.

The formation and maintenance of group procedures (rules, norms) are necessary to meet the needs for the discussion of all issues of interest, such as:

  • achievement of group goals;
  • maintaining working relationships and exchanging views.

Group norms define quality and quantitative indicators group work, as well as the satisfaction of group members with the conditions of activity and its final result.

Consent testifies to unity in understanding the goal of group activity, methods and ways of achieving it, and satisfaction presupposes awareness of the close connection of activity with a specific need or interest.

The degree of cohesion and interdependence of group members determines their willingness and ability to effectively interact with the task.

Positive interdependence is the perception by team members of interpersonal communications that ensure the success of everyone's activities. Interdependence is characterized by the fact that each individual is confident that:

  • the rest of the group is trying for the common benefit;
  • other members of the group will share a common destiny in the event of achieving a joint goal and gaining benefit from it, as in the case of defeat and loss;
  • the achievement of group goals is due to the efforts of all team members;
  • colleagues share a sense of identity based on group membership.

The criterion for the degree of team cohesion can be mutual trust and respect for each other.

Yuri Lapygin, Doctor of Economics, Professor, Rector of the Vladimir Institute of Business

So, to make changes in the organization, you can create a team. To build a team, you need to know how it is created and shaped. You need to choose the right way to create the team. Team building by itself is not a sufficient condition for making changes. The team must act effectively - this is the key to the success of change, and it is the responsibility of managers and managers to monitor and improve efficiency.

The commands are most effective when:

Developing strategies in a highly uncertain environment;

The vagueness and plurality of criteria for the selection of strategic options;

Simultaneous implementation of several strategies;

The need to coordinate complex work;

A wide range of expert opinions regarding the assessment of strategic alternatives;

Conflict of interests of interested parties;

A high degree of resistance to strategic change.

It is clear from general assumptions that the more ambiguous the task, the more effective the team approach, especially in cases where it is necessary to meet the diverse requirements of stakeholders. This is obvious, for example, in the development of technological innovation policy, when the choice between alternative development options is based on a detailed study of various data. In this case, there is not always enough evidence to determine the final version of the policy or strategy for innovation, support and development, therefore, when making a decision, the opinions and personal vision of the parties involved are taken into account. If the expertise does not allow to come to the necessary solution of problems, then compromises between alternative perspectives and the legitimate interests of the parties can be found as a result of teamwork.

The conditions under which teamwork can be ineffective are as follows:

Teams can come up with satisfactory rather than optimal solutions to problems;

Decisions may depend on the level of innovative thinking of the team members;

Teamwork can be impractical when there is limited time to select solutions.

Team effectiveness is the degree to which the team achieves its goals, how close the team is to achieving them.

Overall performance in organizations is difficult to measure, and many managers find it difficult to measure performance as these methods are based on measuring characteristics that cannot be quantified.

The main reasons for the decrease in team effectiveness can be determined by the fact that when the solution to problems is determined in the process of joint discussion, it is likely that extreme solutions, including, possibly, optimal solutions, will be excluded.

The result of teamwork is determined by the degree of progressiveness of the team in terms of its composition, norms and value orientations. A team that prioritizes the spirit of inventiveness and originality strives for innovative behavior. The innovative type of behavior of an organization is its important competitive advantage; its resource is practically inexhaustible. If price competition is faced with many restrictions, both from the state and business associations, then the possibilities of offering new products and services, changing their quality are constantly supported by the achievements of scientists, engineers, managers, and non-standard thinking activities of gifted professionals in various fields of knowledge.

It takes more time to develop a team decision than to make an individual one, since mutual contacts and finding a consensus on the decision to be made are assumed.

There are three main factors for effective teamwork. These include:

Meeting the individual needs of team members;

Successful teamwork;

Solving the tasks assigned to the team.

These elements are interdependent. For example, personal satisfaction depends not only on successful problem solving, but also on the quality of team relationships, as well as on the social aspects of teamwork. A high level of cohesion can improve the efficiency of the entire organization. Highly cohesive teams have fewer communication problems, fewer misunderstandings, tensions, hostility, and mistrust, and are more productive than non-cohesive teams. However, a negative consequence of high cohesion is the team like-mindedness.

The effectiveness of the strategic change team depends on the following types work:

Management of the quantitative composition of the team;

Management of functional responsibilities of team members;

Distribution of functional and team roles.

By managing these types of teamwork, you can control the effectiveness of teamwork, increasing efficiency and achieving success in the implementation of change projects.

It is clear from general concepts that the effectiveness of very small and very large teams will be less than when a certain optimal number is reached, although the desire to both reduce the number of team members and increase it is justified. In the first case, the speed of intra-team communication increases and, consequently, the speed of task execution. In the second case, the inclusion of more specialists in the team will ensure an increase in the quality of the task. It would be advisable to have a team as small as possible, but large enough so that the competence of its members meets the requirements of the task.

The effectiveness of a team's work is largely determined by the personal qualities of its members and the relationship between them. Everyone should be ready to use all their abilities, experience and knowledge to solve a team problem.

The level of competence, which includes the knowledge, understanding, skills and personal qualities that team members must possess, is determined by the objectives and methods of achieving the goal.

It is necessary to assess the relationship between the team's performance and the requirements for the level of competence as often as possible in order to detect possible problems in time and carry out the necessary changes, organize training, etc.

An effective team can also be characterized by generally accepted criteria for the effectiveness of any organizational structure, however, there are specific features that are unique to the team. Distinguish between efficiency in terms of professional activity according to the project and the organizational and psychological climate of the activity.

In a professional sense, efficiency is, first of all, the focus of the entire team on final result, initiative and creative approach to problem solving. High performance and focus on the best option solutions, active and interested discussion of emerging problems complement its characteristics.

From the standpoint of the organizational and psychological climate, an effective team can be called such in which:

Informal atmosphere;

The task is well understood and accepted;

Its members listen to each other;

Discuss tasks in which all members are involved;

It is expressed by both their ideas and feelings;

Conflicts and disagreements are present, but expressed and centered around ideas and methods, not individuals;

The group is aware of what it is doing, the decision is based on consent, not on a majority vote.

Subject to these conditions, the team not only successfully fulfills its mission, but also satisfies the personal and interpersonal needs of its members.

The model of the team formation process (Fig. 39) includes a description of the characteristics of the task, work structure, individual characteristics, team characteristics, team processes, team formation processes, changes in the team, team activities, individual changes.


Rice. 39- Formation of an effective project team

The immediate output is a completed project with planned characteristics as an indicator of team activity. There are also other intra-team results, which can include team changes (for example, the emergence of new norms) and individual changes (for example, the acquisition of new knowledge, abilities, skills), which in turn can affect the improvement of team performance.

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