Group Development and Teamwork - Essay Example

The development of teams in any given organization helps foster teamwork within organizations. Teamwork is important because it allows individuals within the organizations to become familiar with one another on the goals of the organizations. Teamwork builds trust and reduces conflicts within an organization. It therefore, leads to effective performance and smooth running of an organization. The development of teams is considered a very crucial aspect of the organizational structure. It is an important development that enables employees to grow as a team, tackle problems together by finding solutions to them, and most of all enhance their performance and provide results. The development of groups occurs in phases which are necessary and have to take place and the first phase is the formation. This is a phase associated with the coming together of the members expected to be a team. It is associated with knowing and understanding each other as far as strengths and weaknesses are concerned and also know the challenges of the organization. It is also formed for the purpose of coming up with the goals and objective of the group. It is a phase that requires the members to relinquish their aspects of individual thinking and incorporating thinking for the team.

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The next phase after forming is storming, and this is a crucial phase associated with the questioning and settling of conflicts between members of the group. In this stage members develop opinions about other members as well as their leaders, they then question them and disagree with them. They then bring them up so as to be resolved early enough before they can move to the next phase. It is an important stage that opens up peoples vulnerabilities to the rest of the members and provides a better understanding of one another to develop a solid relationship.

The next phase is norming, and this is a phase associated with taking up responsibilities of the group and working towards achieving success of the group. It takes place after the resolutions of the disagreements of the previous phase and the members now understand the need to put individual effort for the success of the group. It is also associated with the development of ambitions, culture and norms of success for the group. The last phase is associated with performing and occurs after the group has already developed its own norms as a means to focus towards collective group development and in this phase, the members focus on success and providing results for the organization. The members are now fully capable, competent and can make decisions for the group as well as perform efficiently.

Stronger team skills mean that a team is effective in meeting the needs of its goals and objectives and is related to the ultimate success of the team and organization in general. These are skills that allow teams to make decisions as effectively as possible for the success of the the organization. It also means that a team has a stronger cohesion in terms the relationship between members, trust and knowledge of each other. Understanding each others weaknesses is an aspect of strong team skills and this is because it allows people to easily criticize one another and develop effectively in the storming phase. Some of the team skills include great interpersonal relations with others that enables a person to have effective communication and the ability to consult when faced with challenges (Root, 2017).

Virtual meetings versus face to face meetings

Virtual meeting is common in the corporate world. It is associated with participating in meetings while on different locations and can involve employees of the same organization, same organization but in different locations or people from a different organization. It allows people to conduct meetings from different parts of the world. It usually occurs through the use of video conferencing, teleconferencing technologies or web based and can be conducted in real time. Virtual meetings provide an experience associated with the advanced form of the use of the internet for the purpose of connectivity. It allows people to connect with others from different parts of the world and allows businesses to evade the limitations of distance and reduce costs associated with transportation. Virtual meetings save a lot of time and also have great impacts on the environment by reducing traveling. However, virtual meetings are not always preferred, and there are many instances where face to face meetings are considered over them. Some of the instances include when handling sensitive information such as company secrets, grievances, and this is because of the risks involved with virtual meetings. They are most of the time associated with the lack of privacy which may undermine secrecy. In such instances, face to face meetings are more preferred because privacy is guaranteed and crucial information is protected from access by third parties. Virtual meetings can also be limited when it comes to aspects of descriptions and presentations whereby people use whiteboards and projectors to illustrate their visions. However, this is usually very effective during a face to face meeting. Communication is also effective when it comes to face to face meetings because a varied form of communication can be expressed effectively through the use of body language, nonverbal cues and gestures (Virtual meetings, 2017).

References

Root, G. N. (2017). Teamwork at Work. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-teamwork-work-11196.html

Virtual meetings. (2017). Retrieved from http://meetingking.com/face-to-face-meetings-vs-virtual-meetings/