Business

The concept of teamwork had gone from the sports arena to the corporate world as firms and organizations begun exploring the benefits of cooperative effort to their operations. Fincham and Rhode (2005) observed that teamworking is based on the idea that the sum is more than the total of its parts (p 276). According to the authors, some view teamworking as the ultimate solution to any organizational defect, a cure to employee-employer conflict and other management and personnel issues. Despite its popularity, teamworking has earned critics which prompted researches on its real impact in the organization, production and even in personnel and management relations.

This paper explores the two sides of the teamwork debate and evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of working in teams in organizations. Possible ways of reducing and avoiding the disadvantages are also identified. To better understand the concept of teamwork in organizations, the following section provides a definition of team and teamwork. This is followed by a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages associated with the application of organizational teamwork.

Team and teamwork defined
Alderfer, et al define team as a social system of three or more people, which is embedded in an organization (context), whose members perceive themselves as such and are perceived as members by others (identity), and who collaborate on a common task (teamwork) (cited in Hoegl and Gemuenden 2001, p. 436). From the definition, teamwork involves cooperation and coordination of tasks among the members assigned in a given group. The members of the team work as a single agent and give priority to the common objective before their own personal motives (Cohen and Levesque 1991). According to Fincham and Rhode (2005), management perceive teamworking as a way of marrying the fulfilment of fundamental individual psychological needs with senior managerial demands ... (p. 306). It addresses the personal needs of employees without sacrificing the goals of the company.

Advantages of teamworking
According to Griffin, Patterson, and West (2001), teamwork is employed to enhance the work atmosphere for the workers. They studied the effect of teamworking in 48 manufacturing companies in the U.K. The study explored the effect of teamwork in job satisfaction. Based on the research, teamworking is associated with job autonomy and job enrichment, both of which are motivating factors that improve job satisfaction.

Another advantage of teamworking is that it eases the exchange of information among members of the group.  Hoegl and Gemuenden (2001) stresses  the advantage of teamwork in improving the communication among members of a team. It encourages the exchange of relevant information and learning between the workers which may not be possible in a different set up.

Workers coordinate their actions and share tasks with the other members of the team. According to Heywood and  Jirjahn (2004), the coordination and allocation is the essence of team production (p. 771). According to Hoegl and Gemuenden (2001), coordination entails the identification of a common goal as well as the division and delegation of task to each individual member. Through coordination, each member is given an assignment, thus maintaining equal task delegation while avoiding interruptions in labour and duplication of work.

Based on a study conducted in a German manufacturing firm, team working was found to reduce absences (Heywood and Jirjahn 2004). Team improve the communication and interaction of employees resulting to better relations, enhanced motivation, reduced absences and increase in job satisfaction.

Teamworking also allows for cross-training of workers (Heywood and Jirjahn 2004). This not only improves the workers but also gives the employees the leeway to deal with an absent teammates job. This reduces the loss in production associated with absenteeism.

The next advantage of teamworking is mutual support. This not only applies in covering for an absent member but also in the coordination of skills and delegation of tasks (Hoegl and Gemuenden 2001). Each member becomes an integral part of the group and they profit more by providing a supportive environment for each other. Instead of the competition associated with the workplace, team members learn to pull each other up. The idea of belonging in a supportive circle of people enhances the experience and quality of work environment, thus motivating workers to perform better.

Lastly, teamwork fosters team effort and like in sports, there are tasks that are best accomplished when performed together as a team. Group success brings better camaraderie and solidarity that makes members want to be a part of the team and even to get involved in a healthy competition with other teams in the organization.

As mentioned earlier, the implementation of teamworking in organizations is not always associated with constructive results. Some critics link negative outcomes with the employment of the teamwork concept in the workplace.

Disadvantages of teamworking

Griffin, Patterson and West (2001) cautioned that teamworking does not always produce the result aimed for. In their article, the authors mentioned that one disadvantage of teamwork is the modification of the role of leaders. In some cases, the supervisory role is replaced by facilitator role which gives employees more autonomy. However, based on their observation, this leads to reduction in leadership support. Since leadership support is directly proportional to job satisfaction, reduction in support results to lower employee job satisfaction.

Another disadvantage of teamworking is that due to its non-hierarchical structure, members are not in the position to punish a member who refuses to cooperate (Arce and Gunn 2005). While productivity lies in the collective effort of the members, there is hardly no reward or punishment associated with personal contributions, thus members are not motivated to improve their teamwork skills. Being a team player is not mandatory and uncooperative workers can pull their team down.

This leads to another destructive effect of teamworking which is moral hazard to achievers. To encourage teamwork, some managers focus on team production and puts less premium on individual contributions. A difficult member in a high performing team is equally rewarded as the top performer. In the same way, a highly productive member in a poorly performing team may be punished with the rest. This could result to the loss of morale of the employee and lead to the decline of personal standard.

Related to this discussion is the inequitable incentive system where low producing member of a team is equally rewarded with the high achievers. According to Arce and Gunn (2005), a team member can be remunerated based on his affiliation to the group regardless of his or her personal contribution in the work. While this practice is not fair to those who work hard, the structure of team production makes it hard to identify individual inputs (Heywood  and Jirjahn 2004). Furthermore, rewarding individuals instead of teams defeats the goal of establishing productive teams.

Batt and Appelbaum discovered that while teamworking is believed to improve job autonomy and satisfaction, it also increases work-related stress which directly results to lower job satisfaction (cited in Heywood  and Jirjahn 2004).

Avoiding and reducing the disadvantages of teamworking
While the disadvantages cannot be discounted, teamworking is probably here to stay. Studies conducted evaluating the impact of teamwork led to some solutions that could reduce if not totally eliminate the negative impacts of teambuilding.

One solution is the Variance theory which states that causes of job satisfaction are subjective (Fincham, and Rhode 2005, p. 220). Based on this theory, individuals are inherently different, and addressing these differences within the group could improve job satisfaction. While team performance is important, each member should be recognized as unique individual with qualities essential to the success of the team. Teams should be treated as a valuable pool of assets and not just a means to an end. Instead of punishing uncooperative members, the leaders should find out what could make them want to participate.

Another theory discussed by Fincham, and Rhode (2005) which is helpful in reducing the negativity of teamworking is the social identity theory. Social identity theory is based on the individuals need for self esteem (p. 299). One of the roles of the facilitator is to see to it that individuals are recognized for their contributions. Team achievement should be promoted as a reflection of individual effort. Individual tasks should be integrated with the larger and common goal to give workers the direction and ability to see themselves in the bigger picture. This will give more value to their contribution as a part of the whole machinery rather than a separate entity.

One of the assumptions of social identity theory is that groups form through through the perception of a shared social identity (Fincham and Rhode 2005, p. 298). Workers will work better with people they can relate with, thus it benefits the team to conduct activities where they could foster better relations, more open communication and establish mutual trust. Each member should invest in getting to know the team and each other in order to facilitate better coordination and integration of tasks. This will help members connect tasks to the right person, giving each member the chance to work on something they are interested with and enhancing the experience of working together.

Arce and Gunn (2005) proposed integrating the principal and agent theory to teamwork. One criticism to teamworking is the elimination of the principal role in favour of facilitator role. Instead of eliminating the principal role, Arce and Gunn  modified the team structure in a way that each member becomes both an agent and a principal. Members are expected to perform their duties as agents but they are also expected to act as principals in monitoring each other. Everybody is accountable to everybody else. To be a reliable principal, one must be a reliable agent, thus encouraging everybody to build up their performance. This promotes accountability, productivity, quality and equality of roles.

Hoegl and Gemuenden (2001) stressed the importance of a balanced member contribution. Each member is not only expected to perform his or her delegated duties but is also expected to contribute for the improvement of the teams work by sharing any knowledge or experience related to the task at hand thereby helping other members in their individual assignments. Through goal of balance contribution is to give members the opportunity to get involved and contribute in the completion of the task. This not only puts premium to the quality of the product but also enhances members self esteem by recognizing their skills and talents.

Conclusion
Teamworking has invaded the organization arena in the past few years. While the main assumption is to bring the power of teamwork in the workplace to encourage cooperation, communication and coordination of workers, studies show that the implications of teamworking can be both progressive and damaging.

Advantages of teamworking include the enhancement of the experience by working together, improved communication and coordination, cross-training, better relations, enhanced motivation, reduced absences, more job autonomy, better camaraderie, solidarity and overall job satisfaction.  However, some disadvantages had been identified with teamworking as well. This includes the modification of the role of leaders which results to reduced leadership support, lack of motivation for members to improve their teamwork skills, absence of reward and punishment mechanism for high achievers and low performers, moral hazard to achievers, incentive system not equitable to performance and the increase in work-related stress associated with higher worker autonomy.

Teamwork experience can be enhanced by employing theories and practices that address the disadvantages of teamworking in organizations. This involves efforts to increase the self esteem of each worker and helping them identify with the team. Members should be recognized as productive and essential part of the process. Another is the increase in accountability by implementing the principal and agent method and ensuring balance in the individual contribution to the given task. Teamwork is a valuable concept in sports and translating it to the corporate world has a great potential to transform organizations of the future.