'Teamwork is a method for organising activities in the workplace that Essay

'Teamwork is a method for organising activities in the workplace that offers undeniable advantages'. Discuss this statement - Essay Example The adoption of agriculture and the subsequent rise of farming communities likewise showed the importance of group work, when it comes to planting, irrigating and finally, harvesting the crops. Group work lightens the load as well as hastens the task completion when it is crucial to finish the work before adverse weather conditions set in, such as the coming of winter. Discussion This brief paper explores some of the theories involving teamwork in organizations and provides some examples to illustrate the importance of teamwork to group performance in achieving overall corporate strategy as one of its competitive tools. In this paper, teamwork is discussed within the context of a modern corporate organization. Previous ideas of teamwork entailed mostly primitive activities like hunting and planting, but in the modern setting, it is a teamwork that is anchored in an industrial setting in the post-Industrial Revolution period. In this context, teamwork ideas are anchored on mostly proj ect-based work but it also has other varied applications which are discussed as the paper progresses. Participative management, co-determination, worker representation in management teams, quality improvement circles, and small-group activities, are just some of the fine examples of teamwork (Kandula 124). Organizing activities around teamwork in a corporate setting offers advantages that cannot be attained by someone working individually; some distinct advantages are: Employee involvement – people become more committed when they are involved in the business, when they are consulted, and given a chance to share their inputs. Organizational success is better assured when all people get involved, rather than just a select few or elites. A good way to involve people is to make them join a team for an equitable participation. Conducive to new ideas – people can become more creative when they are exposed to various ideas, suggestions, and comments of other people within a t eam setting. Although it is sometimes the originality and brilliance of one individual which can make a difference, it is more often the case that an exchange of good ideas in a team that produces the most brilliant insights because data, information, knowledge, and wisdom are shared together. Enhances communications and relationships – the nature of group work requires all people within the team to work together, share their ideas, and communicate frequently such that in the process, they become more interdependent and thereby build stronger relationships. Organizational performance is enhanced when there is effectiveness in good teamwork. Improvements in quality levels – whether it is a product or a service an organization is selling, teamwork raises the level of quality because people supplement and complement each other when quality consciousness is embedded in each employee as a team concept. Raises the learning process – teamwork promotes the learning proc ess in socializing, when people are doing a common task assigned to them, and given a group objective. The idea is an entire organization learns in the process, not just the individuals (Marquardt 52). Reinforces individual strengths – most work today is multi-disciplinary in nature, so no one person can be expected to do it all alone. Teamwork can likewise mitigate weaknesses, enables more rapid adaptation to changes, and saves resources by doing more with less. Various theories have