1 The Team and the Organization
What Is a Team? How Does Teamwork Work?
A team (or a work team) is a group of people with complementary skills who work together to achieve a specific goal.[1]
Teams Versus Groups
Every team is organized around a shared objective … there is something to accomplish.
“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” – Andrew Carnegie
A group is different. A group of department-store managers, for example, might meet monthly to discuss their progress in cutting plant costs. However, each manager is focused on the goals of his or her department because each is held accountable for meeting those goals.
Some Key Characteristics of Teams
To put teams in perspective, let’s identify five key characteristics.
Teams:[2]
- Share accountability for achieving specific common goals
- Function interdependently
- Require stability
- Hold authority and decision-making power
- Operate in a social context
Why Organizations Build Teams
Why do major organizations now rely so much on teams to improve operations? Executives at Xerox have reported that team-based operations are 30 percent more productive than conventional operations. General Mills says that factories organized around team activities are 40 percent more productive than traditionally organized factories. FedEx says that teams reduced service errors (lost packages, incorrect bills) by 13 percent in the first year.[3]
Today it seems obvious that teams can address a variety of challenges in the world of corporate activity. Before we go any further, however, we should remind ourselves that the data we’ve just cited aren’t necessarily definitive. For one thing, they may not be objective—companies are more likely to report successes than failures. As a matter of fact, teams don’t always work. According to one study, team-based projects fail 50 to 70 percent of the time.[4]
The Effect of Teams on Performance
Research shows that companies build and support teams because of their effect on overall workplace performance, both organizational and individual. If we examine the impact of team-based operations according to a wide range of relevant criteria, we find that overall organizational performance generally improves. The following figure lists several areas in which we can analyze workplace performance and indicates the percentage of companies that have reported improvements in each area.
| Area of Performance | Firms Reporting Improvement |
| Product and service quality | 70% |
| Customer service | 67% |
| Worker satisfaction | 66% |
| Quality of work life | 63% |
| Productivity | 61% |
| Competitiveness | 50% |
| Profitability | 45% |
| Absenteeism | turnover | 23% |
Adapted from Lawler, E. E., Mohaman, S. A., & Ledford, G. E. (1992). Creating high performance organizations: Practices and results of employee involvement and total quality in Fortune 1000 Companies. San Francisco: Wiley.
