Teamwork in the company is of great importance for more than one reason. Companies that have embraced the concept have reported increased performance in producing work, solving problems, and spurring new growth. This group project approach has improved employee morale and increased input when managed correctly. The benefits of teamwork can have a positive effect on the company that incorporates this type of teamwork approach. The resources must be available within the company or be outsourced by companies that will come and train the company’s employees to make the effort more effective.
A teamwork format used by the company is the Self-Directed Team. Within this group, a leader is assigned by management or elected by the group. The team leader must be effective from the start if the group project is to be completed on time. He/she must be intuitive as to each team member’s knowledge and skill strengths and weaknesses when assigning the work needed to start and progress to complete projects. Group projects can be short or long term. An example of a short-term project would be designing a new marketing presentation for the debut of a new product that is added to the list of products manufactured by the company. A long-term project would be continuous testing of the products sold by the company to develop cost-saving improvements.
As each new project is started, a new team leader can be assigned. The reason for this is that with each new project, the area of expertise required may change. These teamwork groups are helpful to the manager. By delegating responsibility for a project to the designated group, you lighten your workload with the confidence that the group project will be done correctly and on time with only a minute of necessary input from you. The high performance of these teams makes the use of group teamwork an important part of the company’s work ethic.
The attributes an employee must have to be a productive member of a team are the ability to be a team player and possess the knowledge and skills necessary to complete the assigned portion of the job task. After completing part of it, the employee must be willing to help other team members complete all job tasks until the project is completed. Without these core attributes, the team will be overwhelmed and less productive. This is the main reason teamwork is so important to business success, because a business is only as qualified and serviceable as the employees it hires and trains.