Blog 6

Describe and give examples of why team building works as if you were speaking to a community--‐based service club (e.g. Rotary).

            Klein et al. (2009) discusses the efficacy of team building and defines it as formal and informal group level interventions that aim to advance social relations, clarifying roles, and solving task and interpersonal problems. Team building works by helping individuals and groups to observe, identify, and act upon their behavior and relationships. Four major components that make team building work are goal setting, interpersonal relationships, role clarification, and problem solving.

            Goal setting can help encourage group motivation and strengthen group development (Klein et al., 2009). It can unify a group of people with a common cause.

Senécal, Loughead & Bloom, (2008) said that goal setting can help with group cohesion. Athletes have discovered that this is the most effective in team building process and it creates greater team focus.

Good interpersonal relationships build teamwork skills. Through interpersonal relationships, group members can learn to better communicate, support each other, and be more open to sharing feelings or personal information. Group members also develop greater trust in group members and the group as a whole. Teams with good interpersonal skills tend to have fewer conflicts. Interpersonal relationships can also encourage a greater sense of cohesion.

Role clarification helps better communication within groups concerning their role within the group. It also helps group members to have a clearer understanding about their responsibilities within the group and what is expected of them. This reduces uncertainty about what members’ roles and expectations are (Klein et al., 2009). I thought this was really interesting; I had not really thought about how this might influence team building. Aritzeta, Ayestaran & Swailes, (2005) talk about group member’s preference in roles. They found that group member roles can have an influence in resolving conflict with in the group.

            Finally, problem solving skills contribute greatly to team building. These skills involve team members’ ability to recognize task-related problems and improve organizational skills. Also, possession of good problem solving skills can include having good critical-thinking skills. Buller & Bell (1986) discuss how problem solving skills help the team to solve problems more effectively. This also helps encourage group cohesion. All four of these components are crucial to team building.

References:

Aritzeta, A., Ayestaran, S., & Swailes, S. (2005). Team role preference and conflict management styles.International Journal of Conflict Management,16(2), 157-182.

Buller, P. F., & Bell, C. H. (1986). Effects of team building and goal setting on productivity: A field experiment.Academy of Management Journal, 29(2), 305-328.

Klein, C., DiazGranados, D., Salas, E., Le, H., Burke, C. S., Lyons, R., & Goodwin, G. F.  (2009). Does team building work?  Small Group Research, 40(2), 181--‐222. doi:10.1177/1046496408328821

Senécal, J., Loughead, T. M., & Bloom, G. A. (2008). A season-long team-building intervention: Examining the effect of team goal setting on cohesion. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 30(2), 186-199.