Research paper on
REAL TEAMS
Sagar. Ashok. Kulkarni
MBA – 151202084
07/12/2015

REAL TEAMS

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to review the research on how real teams are formed within an organizational environment and what challenges are faced during its formation and various other issues.

Methodology/approach

Douglas Smith there are basically five types of teams, each with a different level of performance and effectiveness and a real team is among those five types of teams.
These five types of teams namely:
1. A working group/team
2. The Pseudo-Team

A wide range of published works by

3. Potential Team

renowned scholars which have analysed

4. Real Team

the concept of real teams in excessive

5. High Performance Team

detail and how effectively the team works in the current business scenario even though the concept of teams has been around us since ancient times of monarch to the current democratic form of working.

These are the various types or we can also say how a team develops over a certain period of time.

Performance Impact
High performance team

Keywords
Real teams, Team task, stability of

Real Team

membership, impact of real teams, real teams and enabling conditions of team effectiveness. Introduction:
As we know that a team consists of two or

Working Group

Potential

Team

-------------------------Pseudo Team

more people with a common purpose or goal to achieve. A real team is just not formed out of nowhere, there are certain steps which result in a team being called a real team. As per renowned Organizational research psychologists Jon Katzenbach and

TEAM EFFECTIVNESS

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REAL TEAMS

In this way, an organization can have any

Types of Teams: (Sherri Hartzell)

number of functional teams to achieve the

A working group/team

desired results irrespective of its size.

As the saying goes, ‘two heads are better than one’. This adage explains precisely

Cross-Functional teams

how a group works. Formation of efficient

In these teams, the members are brought

groups is the result of merger of thoughts

together from various functional areas to

and

work

experiences

of

multiple

team

cooperatively

towards

an

members. This is because team members

organizational goal. These members are

can complement each other with their

experts in their fields. Hence, they are

diverse skills. This enables them to achieve

empowered to make their own decisions.

a common goal. Further, this creates

Therefore, they need not consult the

mutual accountability, cooperative and

management in decision making. Cross

collaborative

an

functional teams are believed to improve

organization. Working groups can be

coordination between two interdependent

categorised

activities of two specialised subunits.

atmosphere

as

in

Functional/Operational

teams, Cross functional teams and self-

Self-directed teams

directed teams.
A Self-Directed Work Team (SDWT) would
Functional/Operational teams

have somewhere between two and twenty

These are composed of members from

five members. And an optimal SDWT

different levels of an organization. They

consists

are

specific

Therefore it is clear that the SDWT, even

organizational functions. These teams will

though it is made to look like the skunk

have certain number of subordinates who

works, is not a temporary team and the

will be guided by a team leader or a

team is not limited to a single product.

manager.

(Sherri Hartzell)

The subordinates, even after being from

The Pseudo-team

different departments and having different

After the assembling of the working group

responsibilities, will work to perform the

to

single objective of the organization.

regarding the task, group members have to

made

to

perform

of

share

five to

the

nine

required

members.

information

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REAL TEAMS

evolve for the best practices. This helps

possible because of some level of trust and

them coordinate their individual efforts.

faith amongst the team members. This is

But in a pseudo team, there is a performance benefit that results from working as a team. However, but there would be less focus on the collective performance, nor do they try to achieve it.
The

consequence

of

team

oriented

interactions within the group will be quite distinct from

performance

that

of

individual

how the real team takes shape. This requires development of team member mindset. Further, team members should get to know each other in their team.
Mutual understanding in real teams transforms them into high performing teams. However,

these

requirements

and

without delivering joint

experiences would come about only after a

benefit and that is why for this team to

reasonable period of time during which

achieve a higher level of performance

team members would have interacted

output it should start operating as a

among

working group or develop in to a real team.

interaction leads to mutual coexistence,

Potential Team

themselves.

Such

prolonged

which is imbued with lack of discomfort and clash.

A group becomes a team if there is a common purpose before all the members

Characteristics of a Real Team

of the group. Then alone would there be

Building a team is like a jigsaw puzzle. It

teamwork. However, lack of common fixed

does not become perfect until all pieces

goal doesn’t enable a team to unleash its

are placed properly. However, it is not

true potential. This is because common

enough to get along with capable people.

goal creates mutual accountability.

That alone doesn’t lead to team work

REAL TEAM

effectiveness. This requires team members to fulfil certain minimum expectations.

Once the members of a group know each

Mere possession of skillsets doesn’t give

other well, they become well acquainted.

rise to team effectiveness. Immense

They become equally committed to

mental balance, ability to develop good

organizational goals. Accordingly, they

interpersonal

hold themselves accountable to all their

understanding of how human mind

collective actions as a team. This becomes

functions in varying situations – these are

relationships,

and

an

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REAL TEAMS

the fundamental requirements for the

enough as to where team members have

effective team functioning.

to display introversion or extroversion

If this is attained by every member of the

qualities.

team, they can be termed as a highly

Humour: Humour isn’t an obvious factor

effective team.

for the team effectiveness. However, little

Further, there are few more requisites and capabilities that team members should

do we notice that we exhibit humour only to those persons whom we trust and that is why humour does inspire trust. Just a

cultivate. They are discussed below.

pinch of humour can have a positive
Emotional intelligence (EQ): In today’s

impact on several aspects of team

world emotional quotient of an individual

effectiveness. Accordingly humour does

is

exercise its effect on group efficiency

given

more

organizations

importance

than

his

in

any

Intelligence

Quotient (IQ). Studies have revealed that

Proactive communication

those who have high intelligence quotient

Communicating isn’t just about speaking

do not necessarily succeed.

good English. Producing information even

Social Sensitivity: if team members have an aptitude to understand feelings and thoughts of others, intellectually inferior team becomes far more effective than a team that contains great intellects. If team members are socially sensitive, they avoid ego clashes.

before others ask for it, lending support and giving assistance and providing required level of awareness to team members –

these

constitute

the

ingredients of effective communication.

Stability of Membership:
Once a highly effective Real team is

Mix of Introverts and Extroverts: Just

formed, the next big challenge everyone

claiming ourselves to be a doer and a go-

faces is to have stability in team over the

getter and calling oneself as a self-

course of time. When people start working

proclaimed superior team player and an

together the natural process of bonding

extrovert individual doesn’t help in an

between members begins. This process

organization. Today teams need a fairly

can be better understood by knowing the

good balance of introverts and extroverts.

stages of group development,

It is also necessary to train the mind well

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REAL TEAMS

FORMING:
This is the initial stage where team members interact for the first time.
Generally, team members hold back their views about each other as they are beginning to know each other. At this

teams. This depends on team composition also. Some teams spend very little time at the storming stage whereas the other teams can be stuck for a long time at the same stage before they can really start performing as a team. (Waters, 2011)

stage, members develop opinions about

EFFECTIVENESS (Delgado Pina and Romero

their other associates through their initial

Martinez, 2007)

introductory communications. However, these are restricted to the extent to which they can contribute to the team.
STORMING:
In this stage we can notice that members realize their differences. Further, they are eager to assert themselves. Everyone in the team now begins to express views.

The results of this paper can help in future research on

real

teams

and

their

formation. Though considerable progress has been made in study of real teams, there are many things that still need to be done. The paper shows that a better measure of effectiveness has to be developed. Moreover, those small time arguments

Understanding the effectiveness is a major

begin to take shape. However, it is

issue in the research. Many models have

completely normal as long as they are

been developed based on studies and the

under control or supervision. This provides

objective

a recognition to the team. Furthermore, it

effectiveness and success (Kirkman et al,

boosts confidence of team members. It

2001)

gives them a feeling that they have many

is

to

identify

factors

of

Variables & measures

ideas among themselves.
Many theories by researchers have
PERFORMING

identified the way a real team functions.

It is only after the team has passed through

These were done using criteria such as task

various stages over a course of time that it

characteristics, self-management, team

can actually start performing to its best.

composition and the complexity of the

However, the speed at which a team

skills required (Dunphy and Bryant, 1996).

reaches this stage varies from across

Depending on these factors of different

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REAL TEAMS

types of teams, measures and variables will

Conclusions. The increasing use of teams

be different (Cohen and Bailey, 1997;

in

Hackman and Walton, 1986; Sundstrom et

institutions answer the requirements of

al, 1990). To obtain a few results about the

the environment flexibility. This has

variables and measures, a review of the

resulted in awakening of great interest

real team research was done. The results

among academicians and professional’s.

are:

Over the decades intensive studies have

Work teams. The studies use objective measures of team performance. These are specific to the task and the type of team.
Example, technician, repairmen (Cohen and ledford,

1994).

The

objective

organizations

and

various

other

been conducted. And most of them have given conclusions saying that teams play a fundamental role in organizational success in global,

client

oriented

economy

(Mathieu et al, 2006).

measures are gathered through various

The most analysed question has been team

data collection methods focused on team

effectiveness in real teams. The researches

performance of team members in a real

have focused mainly on identifying team

team (Doolen et al, 2003; Hyatt and Ruddy,

effectiveness factors and other variables.

1997; Tata and Prasad, 2004).

An added problem that has been faced is

Project teams. The frequently used measure for a project team effectiveness is the external observations gathered by managers and supervisors. This is followed by internal observation by team members and then

external

observations

by

customers (Rickards et al, 2001)

that, in all the teams studied all the teams were completely different from each other in terms of working. Different -work teams, parallel teams,

project

teams,

management teams. Additionally, all the team procedures have not been studied enough. The importance of each one of the teams will depend on particular values and

Management teams. The research on

activities or tasks of the teams. Although

management teams defines effectiveness

considerable progress has been done. The

and performance as objective measures.

paper shows that a more complete

The most common variables are return on

measures of effectiveness in a real team

equity and assets, sales growth, total

must be developed, It is necessary to shape

return to shareholders and change in

the future research methods and measures

profitability (Simons, 1995)

to the phenomena that we are studying.

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REAL TEAMS

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