The success of any organization relies a lot on teamwork. Consequently, almost all employees within an organization look forward to joining a properly functioning team. However, this is not always the case and at times, we may find ourselves in dysfunctional teams (Biech, 2007). The current essay aims to examine the experiences of the writer with a dysfunctional team and the factors that might have contributed to this. Also, the essay shall endeavor to explore the experiences of the writer with a highly effective team, along with the associated factors.
In dysfunctional team participants lack focus and as such, it becomes difficult for them to achieve a common goal (Lencioni, 2002). A dysfunctional team could also be due to failure by team members to contribute to the common goal. I was at one time part of a dysfunctional team and my experience with the group is that we did not support one another in our endeavor to achieve the goal at hand. Some of the members did not even realize that we needed to work as a team to achieve the set goal.
It is important for team members to feel committed to one another. Also, team members should feel interdependent. I believe one of the main reasons why we ended up with a dysfunctional team is because some of the team members were intent on dominating the group. This resulted in personal attacks on some of the members. On the other hand, some of the members were unwilling to compromise and as such, we lacked a common direction. As such, most of the time meant for discussing serious issues was spent settling personal scores. Eventually, we ended up not achieving our goal.
On the other hand, my experience with a highly effective team was quite different. Unlike the dysfunctional team, this team consisted of members who were willing to compromise on issues that affected the group. The main driving force for this group was our able leader who also led by example.
He was fully aware that the only way we were going to achieve our goal is if we consolidated our efforts. To start with, he ensured that all our team assignments were planned and that duties were allocated to the different team members. When assigning duties and responsibilities to team members, the leader fairly did this taking into consideration individual competencies and skills. We also did not set unrealistic expectations, as this was bound to demoralize us if we failed to achieve the goal.
Besides, our leader encouraged us to cooperate as this was the only way we were going to succeed. Whenever conflict s erupts in a successful team, a conflict management system helps to settle such differences amicably (Oakley et al, 2004). In our case, we did not let our differences get in the way of the team. We normally held brainstorming sessions where we anticipated possible dysfunctional behaviors in the team, and the right strategies to adopt to avoid them. Our team leaders would also monitor the group progress periodically, not to mention that we had in place feedback systems once the team had been assessed.
Reference List
Biech, E. (2007). The Pfeiffer Book of Successful Team-Building Tools: Best of the Annuals. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Lencioni, P. (2002). The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Oakley, B., Felder, R. M., Brent, R. & Elhajj, I. (2004). Turning Student Groups into Effective Teams. Journal of Student Centered Learning, 2(1), 9-33.