U01A1

u01d1 – Establishing the Right Work Environment

Teams are perhaps the most studied, if not the most prevalent, form of business collaboration. I would present that successful teams are achieved through the 1) design, 2) management, and 3) work processes. It is important to remember that teams are simply the forum for the collaborative processes, and not the process itself. Teams can be effective or ineffective at collaboration, both within the team and between the team and other individuals and teams inside and outside of a respective organization.

Today teams are central for businesses to accomplish their work goals and manage the complexity of their work. Since there are many misunderstandings about teams, I admire the following definition:

“Teams are defined as a group of individuals who work together to produce products or deliver services for which they are held mutually accountable” (Mohrman, Cohen, & Mohrman, 1995, p. 2).

Now for something from the “Hmmm, that’s interesting” pile.

I’ve wondered if the qualities needed for successful collaborative team building might also make collaboration difficult. The good news is that leadership traits can go a long way to correcting the problem. The many qualities that include team size, distance, diversity, and high levels of education, seem to be factors crucial to a team’s success, which might also undermine it.

So why not just avoid those qualities in teams? Because it’s not always possible. The volume of team composition may be necessary if a business is trying to engage the stakeholder group, coordinate activities, or leverage a broad skill base. Can we compare the team dimension of today as opposed to a decade ago? Today, individuals are rarely collocated, however, often spanning countries. Hoefling (1958) noted “when a team is virtual, it has a more difficult time seeing itself as a whole that is moving together toward a common goal” (p. 28). The diversity of cultures can often spark creativity...