careernav.

By Anne Parker

"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organisational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." - Andrew Carnegie ( 19th century Scottish American, rags to riches, industrialist and philanthropist)

The ability to work cooperatively and effectively in a team is one of the key employability skills that employers are looking for. Why is teamwork so valuable, and what can get in its way?

Career Advice - Teamwork

What good teamwork can achieve

1. Efficiency: working in a team promotes efficiency and faster work as the group has a purpose in being together. Time therefore is used more productively, and as we all know, “time is money”.
2. More ideas: it stands to reason that more ideas will be generated if there are several brains at work on the same project or issue. This too is a good thing.
3. More input: with several people putting their minds to something there will be a greater amount of knowledge and understanding to draw on, so a more complete and thorough job will be the result.
4. Better understanding: How often do you receive an instruction or topic to work on and sit back wondering what it means, what is required here? More brain cells on a job leads to better understanding of what the job or issue is really about. Better understanding will also lead to a better finished project.
5. Communication: having to work with others develops your communication skills, as you have to express yourself clearly and accurately to get your ideas across to others. This is also a direct benefit to the organisation you work for, as clear communication and understanding is essential to the successful operation of any business or organisation.
6. Accuracy: greater accuracy will be achieved with more brains at work. No one person knows it all, so having a team of people will ensure greater accuracy of the project.

Threats to good teamwork

There are a few obstacles that you have to continually get over when working closely with a team.

1. Conflicting personalities: of course, you have conflicting personalities. Some people are morning people, while some people take a while to get going in the morning. Maybe you get two people that are very self-centred, so they clash all the time. Some prefer to work alone and simply don’t like having to work in a team environment.
2. Negative attitudes: another problem that might occur is the negative attitudes of co-workers. When you encounter an employee who is unhappy with their job, the tiniest little problems will become the rant of the day.
3. Too many opinions: sometimes there are too many opinions to consider and everybody promotes their own. This will slow down the work and may promote conflict among some members of the team.
4. Political behaviour: self interest and conflict may arise when one or some in the team use it to promote themselves to look good in the eyes of the bosses to the detriment of others.
5. Poor leadership: every team needs a leader to coordinate it so it runs smoothly. If the leadership is too weak, too domineering or too disorganised, the team will not function well.
6. Social loafing: there is a psychological phenomenon called “social loafing” which occurs when one or more team members may not do their fair share of the work, leaving it to the group. This will lead to conflict and counter the benefits of team work.
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