Unit 7 Assignment
Introduction to Management
By Jill Gazelle

According to our reading, distinguishing between traditional and team environments is pretty easy. Traditional managers plan and determine the work in a team environment both managers and team members jointly determine the planned work. Traditional jobs are narrowly defined and team jobs require broad skills and knowledge. Cross training in traditional roles is viewed as inefficient in a team environment cross training is the normal standard. With the traditional environment most of the information is considered the property of the management in team environment most information is freely shared at all levels. The traditional management environment focuses training on technical skills, the team environment allows continuous learning and requires interpersonal, administrative and technical training for all. Risk taking in the traditional environment is discouraged but the team environment measures risk taking and is encouraged and supportive. Traditional people work alone, team people work together. Traditional jobs are narrowly defined but team environments require broad skills and knowledge. Traditional rewards are based on individual performance, team awards are based on contributions to the overall team along with individual performance. Traditional managers determine the best methods verses the team environment where everyone works to continuously improve methods and processes. (Sayles, Nanette B. (2013) Teams contribute to an organizations effectiveness in several ways. First, team based approaches cause much excitement. Most effective organizations use teams as a building block to structure. Teams increase productivity, reduce costs and improve quality of the organization. Teams satisfy important personal needs such as affiliation and esteem. Team members may receive rewards that they could not achieve alone, providing feedback and identifying opportunities for growth and development. Effective teams can inspire teamwork by facilitating and supporting important decisions. (Sayles, Nanette B., 2013) According to the website there are 12 important things to remember when building your own team. First it is important to understand that teams are cohesive, productive, and efficient. Team members enjoy their work and enjoy working together. Teams share common goals and the resources needed to achieve those goals. Teams are highly efficient because they take into account each members skills and interests. The managers of the teams play an essential role in making sure teams work in these ways. With that being said, there are twelve ways to build an effective team. The first is to clarify the goals and purposes. Managers should take the time to articulate the team’s performance goals along with how they are contributing to the company’s success. It’s important to clarify each person’s role in achieving the common goals. Next, it is very important to put team members in touch with the people who use what they do and to confirm the needs of the team’s external or internal customers or clients on an ongoing basis. They claim this is important to sync all involved with the common goal. Also important is to realize conflict does occur, honest disagreements can become personal and heated. Paying attention to conflicts when they arise can actually produce constructive ideas. Some degree of conflict is normal so working out ways to resolve conflicts is the best approach. Lending a good listening ear to problems is the key to conflict resolution. Setting clear ground rules and encouraging employees to solve problems themselves is also way to resolve conflict. If the problems persist coach them through a problem solving framework for conflict resolution. Each employee should be held accountable for meeting goals and problem resolution. Remembering that you are the leader and encouraging people to own their place in the team will build a healthy team. When developing a team, interaction in meetings will develop a synergy within your team, this can be achieved by understanding collaboration. If your too dominate, this can limit your teams performance. Allowing team member to have input into their jobs gives the employee flexibility in meeting their goals. Always encourage employees to make suggestions regarding the best way to perform their jobs. Avoid group think in teams especially when they are successful. Always make room for minority’s or unpopular viewpoints. The best teams are created by managers that ask specifically for other viewpoints. Reward and praise the team as a whole. This can be done with individual performance reviews and comparing the team’s performance against what is expected. Celebrate the team when achieving important milestones, this can be very motivating. Always appraise and reward each employee individually, including a review of his or her teamwork. This can be done in several ways such as the spirit of cooperation, developing conflict resolution or engaging in good communications with others. Finally, communicating team success can be achieved by letting the whole company know what your team has accomplished while including the challenges that had to be overcome and naming the people who made key contributions. (Twelve ways to build an effective team, 2013)

References
Sayles, Nanette B. (2013). Health Information Management Technology: An Applied Approach. Chapter 14, Fundamentals of Electronic Information Systems
Twelve Ways to Build an Effective Team - Rice University, (2013). Retrieved from
people.rice.edu/.../TEAMS/Twelve%20Ways%20to%20B...