Is defined as a group of people working together to achieve a common goal via?
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Collaboration and cooperation are not at odds with each other. Rather, they’re two ways of making teamwork happen. And although this article focuses more on collaboration, I want to be clear that these two are often occurring in tandem, depending on the stakeholders involved. A collaborative environment is also simultaneously a cooperative environment. Show
Teamwork is the collaborative effort of a group to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way.[1][2] This concept is seen within the greater framework of a team, which is a group of interdependent individuals who work together towards a common goal.[3] The four key characteristics of a team include a shared goal, interdependence, boundedness and stability, the ability to manage their own work and internal process, and operate in a bigger social system. [4] Basic requirements for effective teamwork are an adequate team size. The context is important, and team sizes can vary depending upon the objective. A team must include at least 2 or more members, and most teams range in size from 2 to 100. Sports teams generally have fixed sizes based upon set rules, and work teams may change in size depending upon the phase and complexity of the objective. Teams need to be able to leverage resources to be productive (i.e. playing fields or meeting spaces, scheduled times for planning, guidance from coaches or supervisors, support from the organization, etc.), and clearly defined roles within the team in order for everyone to have a clear purpose.[5][6][7][8] Teamwork is present in any context where a group of people are working together to achieve a common goal.[1] These contexts include an industrial organization (formal work teams), athletics (sports teams), a school (classmates working on a project), and the healthcare system (operating room teams). In each of these settings, the level of teamwork and interdependence can vary from low (e.g. golf, track and field), to intermediate (e.g. baseball, football), to high (e.g. basketball, soccer), depending on the amount of communication, interaction, and collaboration present between team members. E. g. Team work coordinates the work as early as possible History[edit]The Oxford English Dictionary records the use of "team-work" in the context of a team of draught animals as early as 1800.[9] Even though collaborative work among groups of individuals is very prominent today, that was not the case over half a century ago.[timeframe?] The shift from the typical assembly line to organizational models that contained increasing amounts of teamwork first came about during World War I and World War II, in an effort[by whom?] for countries to unite their people.[citation needed] The movement towards teamwork was mostly due to the Hawthorne studies, a set of studies conducted in the 1920s and 1930s that suggested positive aspects of teamwork in an organizational setting. After organizations recognized the value of teamwork and the positive effects it had on companies, entire fields of work shifted from the typical assembly line to the contemporary High Performance Organizational Model.[10][need quotation to verify] Effective teamwork characteristics[edit]There are certain characteristics that a team must have to work effectively. These characteristics are interrelated. It is imperative that group cohesion is strong within the team. There is a positive relationship between group cohesion and performance. Communication is another vital characteristic for effective teamwork. Members must be able to effectively communicate with each other to overcome obstacles, resolve conflict, and avoid confusion. Communication increases cohesion. Communication is important within teams to clearly define the team's purpose so that there is a common goal. Having a common goal will increase cohesion because all members are striving for the same objective and will help each other achieve their goals. Commitment is another important characteristic for teams. It occurs when members are focused on achieving the team's common goal. Accountability is necessary to ensure milestones are reached and that all members are participating. Holding members accountable increases commitment within team relations. Basic team dynamics[edit]Basic team dynamics include:[11]
All these teamwork conditions lead to the team turning in a finished product. A way to measure if the teamwork was effective, the organization must examine the quality of the output, the process, and the members' experience. Specifically, the teamwork can be deemed efficient if: the output met or exceeded the organization's standard; if the process the team chose to take helped them reach their goals; and if the members are reporting high levels of satisfaction with the team members as well as the processes which the team followed. Processes[edit]Specific teamwork processes have been identified fall into three categories:[13][14] Transition processes[edit]These processes occur between periods of action. In this period, the team members can evaluate their overall performance as a team as well as on an individual level, give feedback to each other, make clarifications about the upcoming tasks, and make any changes that would improve the process of collaborating.
Action processes[edit]These processes take place when the team steps to accomplish its goals and objectives. In this stage, team members keep each other informed about their progress and their responsibilities, while helping one another with certain tasks. Feedback and collaborative work continues to exist in high levels throughout this process.
Interpersonal processes[edit]These processes are present in both action periods and transition periods, and occur between team members. This is a continuous process, in which team members must communicate any thoughts and/or feelings concerning either another team member or a manner in which a task is being performed. Furthermore, team members encourage and support each other on their individual tasks.
Teamwork performance generally improves when a team passes through these processes, since processes like these enhance coordination and communication between the team members and therefore increase teamwork and collaborative work. Training to improve teamwork[edit]Overall, teamwork and performance can be enhanced through specific training that targets the individual team members and the team as a whole.[2] Bruce Tuckman proposed a team developmental model that separated the stages of a team's lifespan and the level of teamwork for each stage:[16][17]
Enhancing teamwork[edit]A manner in which organizational psychologists measure teamwork is through the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA) Teamwork Test.[18] The KSA Teamwork Test was developed by Michael Stevens and Michael Campion in 1994 and it assesses the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) of people wanting to join a team. Specifically, the KSA is a 35-item test that is designed to measure 14 individual KSA requirements for teamwork, especially within formal teams (i.e. those with per-designated tasks), since self-managing teams have a need for high levels of teamwork. Overall, the KSA is separated into two main categories: The Interpersonal KSAs that contain items such as Conflict Resolution and Communication, and the Self-Management KSAs that include items such as Goal Setting and Task Coordination. The fact that the KSA focuses on team-oriented situations and on knowledge of appropriate behaviors instead of personality characteristics makes the test appropriate to assess teamwork and team-specific behavior. Furthermore, it makes it appropriate for organizations to figure out their personnel's level of teamwork, and ways in which they can improve their teamwork and communication skills. Drawbacks and benefits[edit]Utilizing teamwork is sometimes unnecessary and can lead to teams not reaching their performance peak. Some of those disadvantages include:[19][20] What is defined as a group of people working together to achieve a common goal via a process of feedback and iteration?Define Collaboration. group of people working together to achieve a common goal via a process of feedback and iteration.
Is defined as a group of people working together all doing essentially the same type of work to accomplish a job?A team is defined as a group of people who perform interdependent tasks to work toward accomplishing a common mission or specific objective.
Is the activity of two or more people working together to achieve a common?Collaboration (from Latin com- "with" + laborare "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation.
What are the two processes used in collaboration?What this implies is that collaboration requires two important collective communication processes: information synthesis and knowledge negotiation. Within these two processes there exist a collection of smaller patterns that can lead to better or worse collaborative activity.
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