DREAM Science & Technology College

MODULE TITLE: Working in Team Environment

LO1: Describe team role and scope

TEAM is A group of people with different skills and different tasks, who work together on a
common project, service, or goal, with a meshing of functions and mutual support.

A team is different from a group. A group can achieve its goal through independent individual
contributions. Real-time coordination of tasks between individuals is not required. A team,
however, consists of two or more people who interact dynamically, interdependently, and
adaptively toward a common and valued goal, have specific roles or functions, and have a time-
limited membership. During the temporal life of a team, the team’s mission is of greater value
than the goals of the individual members.

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE TEAMS

1. The purpose, mission, or main objective is known and understood by all team members.

2. Communication in the team is open, direct and honest.

3. Sufficient leadership is available in the team.

4. There is regular review of how well the team is performing toward achieving its purpose.

5. There is an agreed organizational structure to the team.

6. Adequate resources are available to permit the team to perform it’s function, including skills,
tools, facilities, and budgets.

7. Synergy exists, so the team performs in a way that is greater than the sum of its parts.

ON-THE-JOB ACTIONS OF SUCCESSFUL TEAMS

1. Seeking opinions and input before finalizing decisions or plans.

2. being available to help teammates.

3. Volunteering information to teammates who need it.

4. Providing contributions on time.

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5. Acknowledging other team members contributions to those outside the team.

6. being non-defensive and receptive to ideas, opinions, and needs of teammates.

7. Considering the impact of the team’s plans on the rest of the organization (administration,
accounting, etc.).

8. Not criticizing teammates when they are not present.

9. Coming to meetings prepared.

10. Expressing appreciation for helpful teamwork extended by another.

11. Identifying and helping with loose ends, even in someone else’s area of responsibility.
12. Keeping teammates advised of changes, developments and new information.
13. Being supportive of the team’s objectives, once they are set.
14. Pitching in when the whole team needs help in meeting a deadline, even if it is outside of
your area of responsibility.
15. Trusting the team to be able to develop consensus, even though it takes extra time.

WHY USE TEAMS

1. More knowledge and skill is brought to the problem.

2. Information flow is more effective.
3. More people are aware of the full breadth of the problem.
4. Meetings are more productive and goal-oriented.
5. Better decisions are made.
6. Team problems are identified sooner and more clearly.
7. Team members learn from each other.
8. The team becomes more cohesive and develops a stronger sense of belonging to the
organization.
9. Overall morale improves.
10. More is accomplished than is possible by equivalent individual efforts.
11. Productivity and time savings are achieved by eliminating duplication of efforts.
12. Absenteeism and missed deadlines are reduced.
13. Team members understand organizational issues better.
14. Management work is shared. 15. Teams set and achieve tougher goals than individuals.

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS

1. Teams don’t need leadership.

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2. Teams must have a say in all decisions.

3. Some groups cannot be teams.

4. “Talking teamwork” will make it happen.

5. Managing teams is more difficult than traditional management

TEAM DEVELOPMENT STAGES

1. Forming

2. Storming

3. Norming

4. Performing

FORMING
1. People are cautious, guarded, wondering.
2. Little visible disagreement.
3. Lack of identity.
4. Little investment in the group.
5. Watching to see what is expected of team members and what is acceptable from team
members.

STORMING

1. Conflict occurs.

2. Work is in fits and starts and not very productive.

3. High level of frustration and/or confusion.

4. Pairing and cliques develop.

5. Beginning development of identity, purpose, and interest.

6. People take risks and get to know one another.

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NORMING

1. Developing goals, roles, and relationships.

2. Learning to appreciate differences in people.
3. Conflict is about issues, not egos or people.
4. Communication is open and clear.
5. Sense of belonging develops.
6. Progress is beginning to be made.
7. Work becomes enjoyable.

PERFORMING
1. Team acts on common goals, with synergy, high morale, and high productivity.
2. Easy shifting of roles from one to another.
3. Differences are valued.
4. Team members look out for one another’s interests.
5. Spontaneous, collaborative efforts.
6. Sharing of all relevant information.
7. Conflict is frequent, but leads to problem solving.

TEAM DEVELOPMENT TASKS

1. Define team purpose.

2. Review performance against purpose.
3. Define a team vision, a long term view of where the team wants to be in the foreseeable
future.
4. Discuss the team’s work norms and traditions.
5. Assess the current stage of team development and identify barriers to further development.
6. As a group, define the roles of team members.
7. Create team plans.
8. Evaluate performance to the plans.
9. Develop a process to obtain useful feedback from outside sources (customers, management,
other groups).
10. Participate as a team in a team skill learning event.
11. Participate as a team in a challenging or enjoyable experience (cruise, bike trip, outdoor
challenge, charitable fund raiser, etc.).

TEAM DEVELOPMENT DON’TS

1. Over talk
2. Sing your own honor
3. Power plays
4. Use authoritarian communication
5. Public criticism

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6. Preoccupied with the pyramid

TEAM DEVELOPMENT DO’S

1. Straight talk
2. Manage conflict
3. Honor commitments
4. Permeable work boundaries
5. Affirm and celebrate
6. Apply collective wisdom
7. Appreciate differences

TEAM MEETING GROUND RULES

1. Start on time.

2. Only one conversation at a time.

3. Listen for understanding.

4. Be open to new ideas.

5. Ask “Why?”

6. Don’t repeat points already made.

7. Everyone participates.

8. No rank.

9. Only process owners vote.

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LO 2 Identify own role and responsibility within team

Roles and Responsibilities of Team Members

A team normally consists of Team leader, Facilitator, Recorder, Timekeeper and Members. Each
and every member have their own responsibilities. They play their role for the welfare of the
team. Some of the roles and responsibilities of team members are briefly explained below.

Role

Team members are selected because they have particular skills that are required to complete
project tasks. Examples include specialists in business or technical disciplines, or an outside
supplier.

The Team Member’s role is to successfully perform the tasks that have been allocated, keeping
the project manager informed of progress as well as any issues that may arise.

The role often requires team members to work on their own initiative in areas where they are the
‘experts’. This places the responsibility on them to manage their own day to day work, recognise
the authority of the Project Manager and report to the Project Manager as appropriate.

Team membership often changes as a project moves through its development. This means there
are frequently two types of team member:

 Core Team Member - a full time role on the project but not necessarily for the duration of
the project.
 Extended Team Member - a part time role on the project . These team members will
usually have their regular job to do, or they may be from an outside company.

1. Role and Responsibilities of Team leader

A team leader is selected by the quality council, sponsor or the team itself.

1. Team leader ensures smooth and effective operations of the team.

2. He ensures that all members participate during the meetings and he prevents members from
dominating the proceedings unnecessarily.

3. He serves as a mediator between the team and the Quality Council.

4. He implements the changes recommended by the team.

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5. He prepares the agenda of all meetings and ensure necessary resources are available for the
meeting.

6. Team leader ensures that team decisions are taken by consensus rather than unilaterally.

2. Role and Responsibilities of Team Recorder

1. Team recorder is selected by the team leader or by the team and may be rotated on a periodic
basis.

2. He documents the main ideas of the team’s discussion.

3. He presents the documents for the team to review during the meeting and distribute them as
‘minutes of the meeting‘afterwards.

4. He participates as a team member.

4. Role and Responsibilities of Time keeper

1. Time keeper is selected by the leader or by the team and may be rotated on a periodic basis.

2. He monitors the time to maintain the schedule as per agenda.

3. He participates as a team member.

5. Role and Responsibilities of Individual Member

1. understanding the purpose and objectives of the project

2. ensuring a correct balance between project and non-project work
3. working to timescales and within cost constraints
4. reporting progress against plan
5. producing the deliverables/products to agreed specifications
6. reviewing key project deliverables/products
7. identifying issues
8. identifying risks associated with the project
9. working together as a team
10. contributing towards successful communication
11. contributing towards positive motivation

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Team structure
Team structure refers to the composition of an individual team or of a multi-team system. Team
structure is an integral part of the teamwork process. A properly structured team is an enabler for
and the result of effective communication, leadership, situation monitoring, and mutual support.
Proper team structure can promote teamwork and ensuring that all team members commit to their
roles in effective teamwork. It is important to identify and recognize the structure of teams,
because teamwork cannot occur in the absence of a clearly defined team.

Group planning and decision making

Planning is the process of thinking about the activities required to achieve a desired goal. It is the
first and foremost activity to achieve desired results. It involves the creation and maintenance of
a plan, such as psychological aspects that require conceptual skills. There are even a couple of
tests to measure someone’s capability of planning well. As such, planning is a fundamental
property of intelligent behavior. An important further meaning, often just called "planning" is the
legal context of permitted building developments.

Also, planning has a specific process and is necessary for multiple occupations (particularly in
fields such as management, business, etc.). In each field there are different types of plans that
help companies achieve efficiency and effectiveness. An important, albeit often ignored aspect of
planning, is the relationship it holds to forecasting. Forecasting can be described as predicting

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what the future will look like, whereas planning predicts what the future should look like for
multiple scenarios. Planning combines forecasting with preparation of scenarios and how to react
to them. Planning is one of the most important project management and time management
techniques. Planning is preparing a sequence of action steps to achieve some specific goal. If a
person does it effectively, they can reduce much the necessary time and effort of achieving the
goal. A plan is like a map. When following a plan, a person can see how much they have
progressed towards their project goal and how far they are from their destination.

The planning process is the steps a company takes to develop budgets to guide its future
activities. The documents developed may include:

 Strategic plans (long-range, high-level company goals)

 Tactical plans (shorter-term, specific plans to work toward goals in the strategic plan)
 Operating plans (detailed plans for a specific department to implement)
 Project plans (plans to implement projects such as launching new products or building a
new plant)

Although the specific steps differ slightly from company to company and depend on which type
of plan you're developing, there are general steps that should be taken in order to ensure a good
result. The steps in the planning process are:

 Develop objectives
 Develop tasks to meet those objectives
 Determine resources needed to implement tasks
 Create a timeline
 Determine tracking and assessment method
 Finalize plan
 Distribute to all involved in the process

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LO 3 Work as a team member

Nine Ways to Contribute to Team Success
1. Understand the end goal. Since a project has a defined ending, it is important that each
contributor to the effort knows the desired end result. Stephen Covey teaches to "begin
with the end in mind." This is clearly important to project team members. By
understanding the desired result, you can make better individual decisions and reduce
confusion and re-work.
2. Identify clear roles. Each person is an important piece in the overall project puzzle.
Know your role and the roles of others. If you are a project leader, take the time to clarify
these roles for everyone. If you aren't a leader, ask until you really understand how you
can best contribute.
3. Collaborate. Project work is often fluid and free flowing. Once you understand your role
and the roles of others you are in a position to collaborate with them more successfully.
This collaboration isn't just a nice thing for you to do. It is imperative to the ultimate
success of the project. Look for ways and be willing to collaborate.
4. Recognise interdependencies. The bigger the project, the more linked and
interdependent are the people and the tasks. Certain steps need to be done before others
can be completed. If you see only your small piece of the project, you may not realise
how you finishing two days sooner might have a huge impact on several other things
staying on track. Conversely if you fall two days behind on one of your tasks, the effects
on the end results could be much longer delays. You aren't an island. Your work
products, decisions and efforts affect many others. Recognise and work with the
interdependencies between you and the others involved in the project.
5. Ask questions. Projects can be complex. Don't be afraid to ask questions to know more
about any of the things mentioned above.
6. Communicate. Asking questions is communicating, but so is giving updates. Checking
in with others. Co-ordinating schedules. If you are a project leader the importance of
communication can't be overstated. If you are any team member other than the leader,
communication is just as important. You can't leave it to the leader. Check in with others.
Get their input. Find out when the pieces you will need will be completed. Update people
on your progress. Communicate!
7. Break it down. Take the big project steps and break them down into definable tasks that
you can get your hands around. By breaking the tasks down the work won't feel so
daunting, you will find the interdependencies and you will be able to stay on track much
more successfully. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Break down the
overall project, and your individual steps into bite sized pieces.
8. Look at the past. If a version of this project has been done in the past, look for the
lessons learned to improve your results this time.
9. Look to the future. Take a little time to document the best practices and ideas that work
for you during the project. Whether this is a formal task for everyone on the project, or
just your own notes to help you to continuously improve, investing a little time now will
make your contributions to all future projects more valuable and efficient.

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Work procedures and practices

Companies should establish Safe Work Practices/Safe Job Procedures for addressing significant
hazards or for dealing with circumstances that may present other significant risks/liabilities for
the company. They should reflect your company's approach to controlling hazards.

Some regulations require employers to have written procedures/instructions for specific

activities/conditions. The number of practices/procedures and the degree of detail will depend on
the range of work activities your company performs. It is important that management and
supervision are involved in the development of safe work practices and that they provide
adequate training for workers likely to follow these practices.

Safe work practices

Safe work practices are generally written methods outlining how to perform a task with minimum risk to
people, equipment, materials, environment, and processes.

Safe work practices should be developed as a result of completing a Hazard Assessment and should
closely reflect the activities most common in the company's type or sector of construction.

All safe work practices should be kept in a location central to the work being performed and readily
available to the workforce. Some safe work practices will require specific job procedures, which clearly
set out in a chronological order each step in a process.

Safe job procedures

Safe job procedures are a series of specific steps that guide a worker through a task from start to finish
in a chronological order. Safe job procedures are designed to reduce the risk by minimizing potential
exposure.

Safe job procedures are usually developed by management and workers as a result of a Hazard
Assessment, accident investigation and/or as a supplement to a safe work practice.

Safe work procedures should be included in the company's "Worker Orientation" program. All workers
should be aware of the fact that safe job procedures have been established, are in effect, are written
down and must be followed.

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