Working in Teams

Working in Teams

Bryan Church

Grand Canyon University: MGT-420

07/24/2016

Working in Teams

        In this paper, we will analyze a group of people, consisting of three Account Managers and a Vice President of Account Management, and how they perform as a single unit. They have been tasked with completing a project, but each member brings with them a unique set of circumstances that is detrimental to the unit’s productivity. We will find that the unit is affected by these circumstances. We will show how the effectiveness, progression, individual roles, communication, conflicts, and motivations of the unit are affected and how to best overcome the many obstacles to production the unit faces.

Effective Teams

To determine if a team or group is effective one must apply three criteria. The first is a simple measure of the team’s Task Performance. Has the team achieved the goals that were set? Second, are all of the team members satisfied. Member Satisfaction is evident when the members of a group are happy with their tasks, the relationships they have with the other members of the team, and believe that their participation and experiences are positive in nature and meet their personal needs. The final measure is the Team Viability. A viable team is one whose members are sufficiently satisfied with working together on an ongoing basis; this satisfaction leads to long-term team productivity (Schermerhorn, Osborn, Hunt 2003). The video clearly shows that this is not an effective team. Although we only see the initial meeting, the lack of cohesiveness leads to the assumption that this group will not either complete the project or will not adhere to the project’s timeline of three to four weeks for completion. Regarding Team Member Satisfaction, the group also falls well short of effectiveness. For example, Jing, an account manager who is transferring to a different department, feels the timeline is too short and that he will not be able to finish his work in the allotted time. He is clearly not happy with the constraints he will experience or how the lack of planning for the works continuation when he leaves the group. Denson, who has a busy personal schedule, is not happy with the workload or the impact her involvement in the group will have on her personal life while Mahoney, the VP of Account Management, appears to think the entire project is a waste of time because it has been attempted before with now results. We do see an attempt by Tanney to energize the group, but his dismissiveness towards Denson and her personal needs alienates her; overcoming Tanney’s attitude toward her will be difficult. This one rift alone will jeopardize the group’s willingness to work together in the future. The group does not meet any of the three criteria; Task Performance, Member Satisfaction, or Team Viability, to be considered an effective team or group.