Guilherme Oliveira

M1: Compare the roles of different members of a team.
A way of doing this task efficiently would be to keep a log setting out of the roles that you and the other members of the team have within the team in which you are working as a part of.

When teams are performing at their best, you are likely to find that each team member has cleared responsibility. You’ll also see that every team member needed to achieve their own personal goals in order for the team’s goal to be fully met to an adequate level. Dr Mereditch Belbin studied team work for many years and he mainly observed that people in teams tend to assume different roles within the team. He defined a team role as a “tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way” and after named eight team roles identified by Belbin which are: The Plant, Resource Investigator, and the Co-ordinator, The Sharper, The Monitor Evaluator, and The Team worker, The Implementer, The Finisher and The Specialist. Belbin argued underlie team success. Belbin identified eight major roles and argued that teams work particularly effectively when they consist of members who can play all these eight roles. An individual in the team may also play more than one team role. It is very important to have all the eight roles covered. The eight different roles include the following:

The Chair and the Shaper: The role of the chair is different from the role of the shaper. They both have different priorities but work to achieve the same goal. The role of the chair is to coordinate the team’s effort and to ensure that all the resources needed in achieving the team’s goal is used effectively while the role of the sharper is to seek pattern in the team, push team towards and decisions made the sharper also challenges others in the team. The sharper is a dynamic team member who loves a challenge and thrives under pressure. This member possesses the drive and courage required to overcome all forms of obstacles. One of my team members named Paulo played the role of the chair, his main responsibility was to ensure the team had all the necessary resources needed in order to complete the task. Additionally he also co-ordinated the team’s effort, on the other hand Diego who played the role of the shaper and he had the duty of pushing the team towards decisions that were made.

The Plant and the Monitor: The major role of the plant is to be creative and imaginative and most especially to be able to solve any difficult problems that is hard to solve by other members of the teams while the role of the monitor is to analyse problems and complex issues; monitor progress and prevent mistakes and Assess the contribution of other team members they, have to see all options available to them and then make final decision based on the situation he finds the team in. In my team I played the role of the plant and for me to have completed the task successfully I had to be creative, imaginative and flexible as they were required to solve difficult situations for instance deciding where to place the computers in order for us to make the library more presentable and open. In contrast Akram who played the role of the monitor duty was to monitor the members of the team and see how they are moving along with the task while also analysing any issues.

The resources investigator and the Co-ordinators: The resources investigator is the team members who go out of the group and bring ideas, information and developments back to it. They have an ability to think on their feet and to probe others for information. They make friends easily because of their own outgoing and very amiable nature. They are rarely in their offices, and when they are they are probably on the telephone. They are the teams’ salesmen, diplomats and liaison-officers; always exploring new possibilities in the wider world outside. Their ability to stimulate ideas and encourage innovation by this activity would lead most people to mistake them for ideas people, but they do not have the radical originality that distinguishes the PLANT. They are, however, quick to see the relevance of new ideas and are frequently instrumental in introducing sound ideas from an external source, these team members should not be confused with Co-ordinators They are distinguished by a preoccupation with objectives. You would expect them to be at least normally intelligent, but not in any sense brilliant, and not outstandingly creative thinkers; it is rare for any of the good ideas to originate from them. They are much more remarkable for what used to be called “character”.

Their approach is disciplined, and founded on self-discipline. They often have what is called “charisma”, amounting to authority. They are dominant, but in a relaxed way – they are not domineering. They have an instinctive trust in people unless there is strong evidence that someone is untrustworthy, and they are singularly free from jealousy. Mature and confident, they delegate readily. They see most clearly which member of the team is strong or weak in each area and focus people on what they do best. They are conscious of the need to use the team’s combined human resources as effectively as possible. This means that they establish the roles and work boundaries of others and also the ones who see gaps and take steps to fill them.

They perform better in dealing with colleagues of near or equal rank than in directing junior subordinates. In my team Bemvindo was given the role of the resource investigator in which he had to have external communication in order to communicate with people outside the team for instance, communicating with teachers in various departments in order to find out what books to bring into the library to help students with a specific subject. The information he gathered was shared will the team. Abdul played the role of the company worker, he had to be aware of external obligations and be able to discipline himself and have good self-image. The reason why we picked Abdul to be the company worker is because he is a tough minded person and can do jobs that other team members may not want to do such as disciplining other team members.

The Team Worker and The team finisher: The role of the team worker is concerned with helping people that are frustrated in the team. They give personal support and help to others. They are socially oriented and sensitive to others, resolves conflicts between other team members and serve as a group diplomat while the team finisher is the detail person within the team who has a great eye for spotting flaws and gaps and for knowing exactly where the team is in relation to its schedule. Team members who have less preference for detail work may be frustrated by the team finisher’s analytical and meticulous approach. But the work of the finisher ensures the quality and timeliness of the output of the team. In my team the team worker was Kira as she had good personal skills.

This was essential as he had to be able to motivate other team members and help them when they find their selves in a frustrating situation or having personal problems that may have affected their performance in completing the task. While the finisher of the team was Monteiro, the team picked him to be the finished as he gave good and constructive criticism and this was essential as he was responsible for identifying flaws and mistakes in the team. He also had to make sure the team was working on schedule and also ensure the quality of the work produced by the team was up to standard.

M2: Compare the effectiveness of different teams: Team effectiveness refers to the system of getting people in a company or institution to work together effectively. The idea behind team effectiveness is that a team of people working together can achieve much more than if the individuals of the team were working on their own. An effective team can help an organization achieve incredible results, In order to do this part of my assignment, I will talk about the team situations I have been involved in, I am going to be comparing the different types of teams which are formal informal, temporary and permanent.

Formal teams: A formal team is more structured than an informal team. In this team there are many rules and regulations. An example of this is in my work place. We were advertising a group of new products. My role was to distribute leaflets, pamphlets and posters to customers. We had rules and regulations which we were expected to follow. This project task was really suitable because it allowed everyone in the team to use their skills and qualifications to their best use. This is usually called specialisation as it divides certain tasks to each member so that everyone is involved in and works as a team. We all worked together for a particular purpose which is to make the public know about our new services and products. This team was really effective because we all worked together and followed the rules and regulations. The goal of the company was clearly stated and the communication delivered was really excellent.

Informal teams: This team is similar to the formal team but they also have their differences. The informal team is less structured. An example of this is when my basketball coach told me and my colleagues that we had a match to play with Mosbourne. This was optional and people could drop out if they wanted. We were relaxed. We see any weekdays to train for the match. There were no rules or regulations set in this team. When comparing both Formal and informal teams, Formal teams are teams that are clearly structured with focus on specialty. By “structured” I mean that everyone has a rank; team members in a formal team are not thought of as equal: so you have a manager, you have the team leader; you have the developers (senior and junior).

The manager distributes the tasks to the team members based on their specialty, so advanced developers will get complicated tasks, and junior developers will get easy tasks. Informal teams have not structure whatsoever and they do not focus on specialty. There is no manager/leader; team members are completely equal in informal teams. Since there is no specialty, it means that any task done by one team member can be done any other team member as well. Informal teams are common in start-ups, where all the people involved are equal and have the same skills.

Temporary teams: This type of team is only for a short period of time. They come together to complete a task or project and once the task has been accomplished then the team is separated. An example of this was on my mother’s surprise birthday party which was organised by me, my dad and siblings. Every member of the family came together to organise this party in order to make it a successful. My primary role in this team was to decorate the hall we were going to use for the party and also to distribute invitation cards to friends and relatives. Everything went as planned and my mother was really surprised. My mother was short of words and said we really make a good team. This team was really effective because we had all the necessary materials needed to organise this surprise birthday party. After the birthday party, we all went our separate ways because our task was complete.

Permanent teams: This type is for a long period of time. Members of the team do not split up after they complete their task. An example of this is my work place we have set teams of four and we always have to complete task together. And when one member of the team can’t their task the team comes together to solve this problem. We were known for doing things together. This team is really effective. When comparing these two different times of teams is that unlike permanent teams, temporary teams lose their importance, once the task is accomplished. Such teams are usually formed for a shorter duration either to assist the permanent team or work when the members of the permanent team are busy in some other project. When organizations have excess of work, they generally form temporary teams which work in association with the members of the permanent team for the accomplishment of the task within the stipulated time.

Conclusion: I have explained the types of teams I have been involved in. they were all very effective. There are many obstacles involved when establishing a high performance team these obstacles can be overcome. Also, in any types of team, different roles are always assigned to different people who can perform them well.

D1: Evaluate the teams overall effectiveness in meeting objectives making recommendations for improvements.

Building an effective team is a process that requires all the team members due attention and care. In order to build, lead or participate in a team requires an understanding of the stages of team development. Two factors that significantly increase our team’s chances of being effective are having a well thought out team orientation process and developing a clear team agreement. Both of these helped us to establish clear guidelines and set clear expectations. When the individual on the team all knew what they are supposed to be doing and how they are to go about doing it, it gave the team a good start on maximizing performance.

Communication

The communication between team members was excellent because the team communication processes increase team motivation, foster trust and respect between members, greatly improve decision making processes and contribute substantially to the overall productivity and performance of the team. Mostly importantly, communication contributed to the team overall effectiveness because we had a regular communication within and between teams which helped members to maintain focus, keep up to date with team progress and ensures that difficulties or setbacks were dealt with promptly and collaboratively. Likewise, having a clear communication processes provide all team members with the same information where possible and keep all members adequately informed. As a result of having a clear interaction helped us to focus and relate to team goals as the team members were encouraged to equally remain goal focused and outcome directed.

Planning

The planning process was good because we were given straightforward instructions about the task which allowed us to plan clearly regarding how each individual should carry out their task, the assigned roles each of us had play. Planning the task also contributed to the overall effectiveness of the team which is very important because it enabled us to fully understand what was required of us as a team, the tactics we needed to employ in the team so as the ensure that we were able to meet the deadline.

Time Management

having a clearly laid out timeline with goals and objectives was vital to the success to our team. Each team members were given a copy of all relevant deadlines and expectations to stay on schedule. This included the target dates so that the entire team understands the expectations and each member can be held accountable for their part of the task. It was important that we had a good time management in the team because it allows specific timeframes for members to share findings, discuss relevant topics, or review progress which help facilitate a timely and productive meeting.

Creating Equity

it is important to encourage all members of the team to participate and contribute equally. Fostering initiative in team members in vital. Equity in participation and initiative are important implement that helped us to achieve successful team assignment. By employing equality during the work process help to boost up the team self-confidence to be creative thinkers, bring to the team their innovative ideas which were used as a tool to attain success.

Higher commitment

Finally, the most important aspect which I believe contributed mostly to the overall success of the team is that we had highly committed members in the team who were all willing and prepared to ensure that the team task was carried out and done appropriately. When the team goals were agreed it gave a common purpose to the team members, within which motivated everyone in the team to gain a feeling of self- determination and recognition through their contribution. All of us contributed to finding a solution as to how the task should be done by providing hard work, bring in our own ideas and creativities and as well as our dedications to the team in order for us to achieve greater commitment to the successful of the team as a whole.

Recommendations for improvements

In terms of my team work was presented there are many ways in which the teams members could have improved the task; firstly I think that the presentation could have been improved by all the team members by creating more time for us to be prepared for the presentation, because by doing so, the presentation could have been presented In a more professionally secondly, all members should have turned up to the meetings which would have helped them in understanding their task straight away rather than having to call some of the team members to give explanation for regarding the task. Also asking for more feedback from the team could have helped improved the presentation work because it would have made it easier for us to have cleared idea of how good the work they produce was, and helped them to be more creative in their thinking.

Also by asking for more feedback on the work that some of the term member produced could have helped in preventing the unnecessary conflict that arise from working as a team and introduced a clearer better communication and understanding amongst team members. Overall the team’s effectiveness in achieving the task was mentioned excellent as every team member worked hard on their specific task in order to achieve the best possible result.

Conclusion

Overall I have to understand and learn a lot about how teams should work together in order to achieve a specific task. I also learnt about ways in which the task could be perfected and realise how minor details like giving feedback can be so effective in the process.