Today’s working teams are unlike those of the past since they are more dynamic, diverse, and more disseminated. While teams come across new hurdles, their capacity to thrive still depends on a basic set of essentials for group alliance. Teamwork can be rather difficult given the ever-changing trends. However, taking a systemic approach to assess how well a group is set up to succeed and detecting where enhancements are needed can make all the difference.
Creating and Maintaining A Cohesive Team
Whether a team is being built for the first time or s being refined, the need to develop and maintain a cohesive team is vital. New Seasons Market has adhered to this by having a defined mission. The groups work cohesively to handle the environmental and social sustainability concerns of their local community. The teams can determine their goals and focus on how they will attain them when they have an established mission. Case in point, the teams have formulated community projects that are geared towards eliminating waste. Moreover, New Seasons Market has a diverse group of employees. The staff comes from different areas in the local community, and as a result, they have a firsthand experience of the actual preferences of the consumers (Organizational behavior, 2017). The diversity in the group enables a firm to pull from the different experiences of the staff in order to attain the set goals. Besides, the teams have an opportunity to give feedback. This is a blend of individual opinion and the group as a whole. The monthly meetings held to report on the projects are an excellent way for the company to assess what worked well and what did not, as well as the result of the programs. Productive feedback creates a more interconnected team and prepares it for forthcoming projects.
Types of Teams
The Green team could be regarded as a cross-functional type. This is because the employees are picked from different functional departments and brought together to address the company’s goal (Daspit, Tillman, Boyd, & Mckee, 2013). The strength of a cross-functional group resonates with the fact that the members have varied functional experience, education, and backgrounds. Such an assortment of individuals aids in the processes of innovation, decision making, and problem-solving. The green teams are involved in various projects that span over several functions geared towards improving the community, which portrays a cross-functional team. Besides, the teams are competitive on issues pertaining to the initiatives they undertake and, therefore, boost the overall competitive advantage of New Seasons Market.
Success within Green Teams
It is inarguable that a capable team can aid an organization in attaining substantial results. The Green team’s success can be observed from the regular meetings conducted to check on progress. The monthly meetings are an excellent opportunity for the team to voice their opinions regarding different matters, derive ways to counter challenges that they may face, and commend efforts that have been a success. To illustrate, the green team has received immense success, given their accomplishment on numerous initiatives, including planting gardens for the underprivileged and wetland cleanups, among others. Furthermore, given that the employees come from different departments, they can harness this aspect of functional diversity and bring different experiences together, which aids in bridging their departmental roles to those of the Green Team (Daspit et al., 2013). This flexibility has enabled the Green team to reap bountifully as seen by the community service projects which they have initiated and implemented to completion. Besides, the number of staff in the Green Team is optimal for the causes they initiate, which makes it more convenient to apply. Having a large or small team may affect the company’s goals as there may be too many or few people to match the activities undertaken.
Types of Problems Encountered
Collaborating with individuals from several different departments could be quite challenging at times. Some of the challenges that the Green Teams may come across include varying means of communication. For teams, communication is the key to a successful project. Working with people from different departments means communication norms and preferences can vary. People may communicate on different channels or even less than the rest of the members expect, which can impact on the progress of a project. Nonetheless, the diverse command structure may pose a problem. The changing governance platform among the teams where other teams are led by a single chairperson and others with co-chairs may lead to different perceptions on how various processes are to be conducted, therefore limiting sufficient oversight. This means that risks can prompt the occurrence of unexpected issues that may impair project implementation efforts.
Recommendations on Resolving Potential Conflicts
Teams must be equipped to handle conflict efficiently. Conflicts that may be prompted by the use of different means of communication can be addressed by having a more integrated communication platform. In this ever-advancing technological world, there are numerous communication platforms to choose from. Once the teams determine the most appropriate means to use, they can incorporate them so that they can work in unison and in an accommodating setting (Daspit et al., 2013). Nevertheless, conflicts that may spur from differences in command structure can be resolved by having an executive oversight whereby the chairs meet up to formulate a defined declaration on how the processes are to be conducted. Nothing can disrupt a team’s efforts, like an inadequate account of the chain of procedures. In addition, inflexibility may cause some projects to change the route. This may be as a result of reasons like changing organizational agendas and market conditions. Conflicts that may arise due to such circumstances can be solved by establishing the path of a project to include a provision for reviews at reasonably consistent intervals. This will help in determining whether the project’s initial goals are still in force.
Improving the Green Teams’ Performance
Regardless of how competent and dynamic a team is, there are always ways to improve and become better. Some steps that could be undertaken to enhance the Green Teams’ output include knowing the strengths and weaknesses of team members. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses; the more one understands their staff, the easier it becomes for them to pair them with appropriate tasks. For instance, a colleague who likes to deliberate out of the box can apply their vision to pitch new concepts. Furthermore, reducing excess is essential. When employees have small wearisome tasks to handle, they do not put in enough thought and time on more significant tasks. Therefore, the needless small tasks should be avoided so that the members have ample time to focus on the crucial functions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, effective teamwork is what makes a firm succeed. It is imperative to understand how teams perform, each member’s roles, and how they make decisions. Having the expertise of team events makes task allocation more convenient. Organizations formulate their values through history and structure, which are accepted and propelled by team members to accomplish the set goals, as is the case for New Seasons Market.
