The objective of this
session of Dr. Mandi was TEAM WORK. We were given an assignment which was an
exercise of “3 Idiots crossing the valley" which had the following agenda:
- What is TEAM WORK?
- Designing the work in such a way that it becomes
"Team Based"
- Comparison of TEAM WORK with INDIVIDUAL WORK
What is Team Work???
A team is one wherein
all team members work towards a common goal. The communication between the team
members should be free from any barriers. It should be well channelized and
directed towards team building.
It’s a process of
working together in order to achieve a goal. It forms a business part of day to
day business as it is necessary for the colleagues in a company to work together.
In a team, individuals cooperate using their individual skills and provide
constructive feedback.
One piece of log creates a small fire, adequate
to warm you up, add just a few more pieces to blast an immense bonfire, large
enough to warm up your entire circle of friends; needless to say that
individuality counts, but team work dynamites. - Jin Kwon
Why Is Team Work Important?
·
Achieving Goals:
It is a widely understood concept, that united we stand and divided we fall. Collective team activities are very important if the company or a process wants to reach its goal. There are some tasks that cannot be done individually, but can be easily accomplished by working in a team.
It is a widely understood concept, that united we stand and divided we fall. Collective team activities are very important if the company or a process wants to reach its goal. There are some tasks that cannot be done individually, but can be easily accomplished by working in a team.
·
Increasing Individual Learning:
In simple terms, a team is a group of people who have come together for achieving a common objective. Therefore, in a group of people, there are many intelligent minds and brains working. When team members work together as a team, they can learn the skills and capabilities of each other and advance their knowledge. This certainly can be beneficial in your professional as well as personal life.
In simple terms, a team is a group of people who have come together for achieving a common objective. Therefore, in a group of people, there are many intelligent minds and brains working. When team members work together as a team, they can learn the skills and capabilities of each other and advance their knowledge. This certainly can be beneficial in your professional as well as personal life.
·
Resolving
Conflicts:
There are many types of conflicts that may arise in the company, which may in turn have an adverse effect on the collective output. In order to resolve business conflicts; the knowledge, understanding and expertise can be used efficiently for determining solutions to the problems. This significantly helps the business to grow.
Good Communication:
Communication is an inevitably important factor in teamwork. When employees work in a team, they are able to pass on their ideas clearly. This rules out the possibilities of miscommunication due to complex hierarchy in the company. And due to ideas and concepts passed clearly, there is no scope for misunderstanding.
Generating New Business Improvement Ideas:
If a manager encourages team members to participate in collective decision making, he will be able to reach a good strategy by considering views and suggestions from all members. The business can also think of incorporating ideas suggested by the team members. Employee participation in the management is a very effective tool in meliorating business strategies.
There are many types of conflicts that may arise in the company, which may in turn have an adverse effect on the collective output. In order to resolve business conflicts; the knowledge, understanding and expertise can be used efficiently for determining solutions to the problems. This significantly helps the business to grow.
Good Communication:
Communication is an inevitably important factor in teamwork. When employees work in a team, they are able to pass on their ideas clearly. This rules out the possibilities of miscommunication due to complex hierarchy in the company. And due to ideas and concepts passed clearly, there is no scope for misunderstanding.
Generating New Business Improvement Ideas:
If a manager encourages team members to participate in collective decision making, he will be able to reach a good strategy by considering views and suggestions from all members. The business can also think of incorporating ideas suggested by the team members. Employee participation in the management is a very effective tool in meliorating business strategies.
The Activity – 3 Idiots crossing the valley
We can see that three people were able to cross
the valley without much trouble. At each point of time when one of the team
member is in trouble (crossing the valley), the other 2 team members support
the one at risk. Following observations have been made from the activity:
·
Every Team Member has
equal distribution of different kind of risk :
Fully Safe – 5 times
Half Safe – 2 times
Fully Unsafe – 1 time
·
All the three members
have the same role in terms of effort and risk. Nobody is overloaded or relaxed.
·
Every team member is indispensable in completing the task
·
At equal instances, individual
needed support of the other two.
The activity was an
example of how we can make the work “TEAM BASED”. Team based work is process
oriented and not person oriented.
This is how team work
becomes very important and can benefit entire team as well as the individual. To
tell you the importance of Team Work and how if not implemented can have bad
outcomes, let me narrate a story .....
A little mouse living on a farm was looking through a crack in the
wall one day and saw the farmer and his wife opening a package. The mouse was
intrigued by what food the package may contain. He was aghast to discover that
it was a mousetrap. The mouse ran to the farmyard warning everyone “there is a
mouse trap in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house”.
The chicken raised his head and said “Mr. Mouse, I can tell you
this trap is a grave concern to you, but it has no consequence to me and I
cannot be bothered with it.”
The mouse turned to the pig, “I am so very sorry Mr. Mouse, but
the trap is no concern of mine either.”
The mouse then turned to the bull. “Sounds like you have a
problem, Mr. Mouse,” the bull said, “but not one that concerns me.”
The mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected that no
one would help him or was concerned about his dilemma. He knew he had to face
that trap on his own.
That night the sound of a trap catching its prey was heard
throughout the house. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the
darkness she could not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had
caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife.
The wife developed a bad fever and the farmer knew the best way to
treat a fever was with chicken soup. He took his hatchet to the farmyard to get
the soup’s main ingredient.
The wife got sicker and friends and neighbors came by to take
turns sitting with her round the clock. The farmer knew he had to feed
them, so he butchered the pig.
The farmer’s wife did not get better, however. In fact she
died. So many friends and family came to her funeral that the farmer had to
slaughter the bull to feed them all.
The story beautifully
suggests that in an organization, if problem comes it’s not the problem of an
individual, it is the problem of entire organization and each individual should
contribute to solve the problem.
In my previous blog, I
mentioned about how we at workplace faced problem initially due to lack of team
skills and then we employed TEAM WORK and solved the difficulties.
In previous blogs I have
talked about INDIVIDUALISM through “Tower Building” activity and here we have talked
about TEAM WORK through “3 idiots crossing the valley” activity. Below chart
presents the advantages of team work over individualism:
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