Dr. Khin San Yi - Management Questions and Answers

Q: What are the important factors when working in a team environment? Please explain the importance of these factors.

Answer - A team is a group of two or more people who work together to achieve a specific goal. Everyone is a member of a team, not a team. For example, everyone is a member of a family. A student is a member of a course. A soccer player is a member of a soccer team. At work, an employee is a member of a management team and a project team. Formal teams and groups are formed in organizations. A department or a group of departments is a team.

When it comes to teamwork, what makes it different from ordinary work groups is that it is not just about completing tasks assigned by others, but also about deciding what should be done, what to do, and how to do it, and everyone in the group agrees to work together to achieve the set goal.

In business organizations, there are generally two types of teams: entrepreneurial teams and self-managing teams. Entrepreneurial teams are made up of people with different backgrounds and expertise, and members work together to generate ideas, innovate products and processes. Self-managing teams are tasked with accomplishing a set of goals and work independently, without close supervision.

Cooperation is the most important thing in any team. Just as athletes need to be connected to each other to win a game, in order to complete a task, members of a team need to be connected and work together. The result of the collective effort must be greater than the result of each individual. In other words, the total result is greater than the sum of the individual results. It is easy to break a stick, but it is not easy to break a bundle of sticks. There is also an example of a branch supporting a tree, and a tree supporting a branch. This mutual benefit and the result, or strength, that cannot be achieved when they are separate is called Synergy. If the results or strength of cooperation are greater than the original, it is called Positive Synergy, and if the results or strength are less than the original, it is called Negative Synergy. It is important to achieve Positive Synergy when working with a team. But forming a team is not just about getting other people to do their jobs, it is also about how each person in the team will do their jobs in an organizational setting. When you are alone, you can live and work as you wish, but when you work in an organizational setting, you have to make adjustments and negotiate with your team members. There may be disagreements, but if you can negotiate to achieve the goal, the team will become a working group.

When working in a team, trust is also very important. From the beginning, working in a team, and believing that being part of the team will be more beneficial and workable, you can cooperate with other members. If there is doubt in each other, there will be conflict and it will not work. The team must trust and respect each other and work together to make it work. Teams can have differences of opinion and competition, but when someone explains their point of view, the other person needs to be able to listen carefully and present their own point of view, and a new third point of view that everyone can agree on needs to be developed together. If there is tension, competition and conflict in the team without this coordination and trust and respect, negative synergy can be set back.

Every team has a leader and members. An effective team can be assessed by: The leader must be able to make clear decisions. He must be able to take risks. He must be able to set plans systematically and support the team, and he must be able to work together. He must be able to inform the members of the issues that need to be informed. He must be fair, courageous, and able to encourage the members, and give them freedom. Each member must also believe in the group and want to participate actively. He must be able to cooperate and be trustworthy. He must be proud of being a member. The team as a whole must have challenging goals. Each member must have a voice. He must recognize the contributions and successes of the members. There must be training for the development of the members. There must be open and good relationships between the members.