The process of working together with a group of people in order to achieve a goal.
The team work is often a crucial part of a business as it is often necessary for colleagues to work well together, trying for the best in any circumstances. Team work often means people will try to cooperate, using their individual skills and providing constructive feedbacks, despite any personal conflicts between the individual.
Why Team work is important?
Well its one thing to create a team but quite an another to create teamwork in the workplace. Just its one thing to join a team, quite another to perform as a team member. To put it in simple words, teams doesn’t work without teamwork.
What is teamwork?
There are several ways to define team work but for some color why not think as French do. The French have an excellent term for team work “espirt de corps ”. This means a sense of unity, of enthusiasm for common interest and responsibilities.
Let’s have a look at the below picture
We can see that there are three people crossing the valley without much of a trouble. It has been possible only due to teamwork had made this impossible task possible. This is the beauty of team work, the MAGIC works in this way.
We have the following observations:-
1.All three members have equal distribution of different kinds of situation :
High Risk 01 times
Half Risks 02 times
Fully Safe 02 times
2.All three members have the same role in terms of effort and risk. Nobody was overloaded or relaxed.
3.Communication and feedback is essential while working in a team.
4.Every member is indispensable in completing the task.
5.There were equal instances when one needed each other.
Five Stages of team work
Pshychologist bruce teckman came up with five key stages through which team moves. They are
“The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.” - Jim Rohn.
Goal Setting forms an integral part of all the practices carried out in organisations in today's world. Goals represent in a quantitative/qualitative form the various expectations managers have of their subordinates. It's an effective tool for making progress within the organisation as well as helping the organisation itself to grow. Which is why managers at all levels in the industry are aware of the importance of effective goal setting to propel their organisation to the top and make the workplace a better place to live.
Organisations need to flourish, need to grow. The sole means of doing so is the presence of employees who are happy and motivated enough to work. The onus is on the managers to ensure that the employees working under them remain motivated to the level to help the organisation to excel. A very important point to be highlighted here is that there are no good or bad employees - it is the managers who have the responsibility of driving their team and getting the best out of their employees(More on this here). Goal setting is a means to achieve that end.
How to do it?
Goal setting is often done following the SMART criteria whereby objectives are set keeping the following in mind:
S-Specific - Goals mentioned were clearly chalked out and the expectations properly set to us.
M-Measurable - No form of ambiguity in terms of measurement exists in the goal being set. In our goal set, we would have clearly stated goals like "2 Certifications mandatory in Java/J2EE". This way, we knew exactly the level we had to reach.
A-Attainable - Goals were set keeping in mind the level of potential of each individual as well as the expectations of the organisation from the individuals. In our goal sheet, all goals were properly planned and only the attainable ones were then retained.
R-Relevant - This I believe is one of the most important components of goal setting. All our goals were chosen on things that matter. Those things which were beneficial to the organisation and to the team find place as my goal.
T-Timely - All goals set for me had a target date as they were put forth on a quarterly basis and targets had to be strictly met in that period. Established a proper sense of urgency and responsibility in me, depsite the day-to-day hurdles which existed.
What to do?
As elementary as it might sound here, the goal setting process is an elaborate process and something that has baffled managers for quite some time in an effort to get it right. With the mix of different company policies and a mix of employees from different strata and backgrounds, there is no single uniform flowchart that can be followed in an effort to set the right goals.
Positioning your Goal Set
Legend: A - Attained/Past Performance
B - Achieved Performance
C - Goal Set
D - Potential
Aligning to the above diagram, in TCS, it was believed employees had enormous potential to excel and help the organisation to prosper. The goal set designing was done keeping this in mind always. Goals would be set by the management keeping in mind my past performance and the level till which I was expected to scale upto. So in the First Quarter(denoted by I above), I would be set a goal of "Resolve 10 tickets on a daily basis". This would be done keeping in mind that in the past I had solved only "6 tickets on a daily basis". The goal set would ideally have a pull effect and help to inspire me to achieve greater heights. Automatically, due to the challenge imposed in front of me, I would pull up my socks and try to attain the goal. Here is where the manager comes into play. He would effectively help me to attain the goal set and thus realise my potential. My new achieved performance would then settle at say "8 tickets on a daily basis". Effectively, the ambitious efforts of my manager had helped me to attain a higher level of performance! Going ahead, in the Second Quarter(denoted by II above), my goals were scaled up to "resolve 15 tickets on a daily basis" and thus again, it bore the same effect.
Thus what we observe here is how effectively, the manager has been able to utilise the potential of his employee and through successive iterations, scaled him up to be a better performer and a better contributor towards the success of the organisation. I had seen this personally in my work where it made me a better and effective employee over the days.
Tower Building - Lessons in Goal Setting
The tower building exercise was held in the class to demonstrate several management qualities and attributes, one being the importance of goal setting. I will discuss not what the exercise is, but the learning we had out of it in its due course.
The goal setting in this case was to set the number of blocks that a person can put one over the other. Section A students estimated that 30 blocks could be put one over the other and they achieved 28. However the importance here is if the goals were set on the lines of the S.M.A.R.T. approach as discussed above and the lessons from it.
Specific - The goal set was well-defined and clear to all.
Measurable - A quantifiable quantity was set as the goal.
Achievable - This is the most important part of the goal setting exercise. Since the historical performance was 27 blocks, the team had to set a higher goal to motivate and inspire themselves to perform better. A higher goal of say 30 blocks here would have pushed up the performance of the team as the expectations would have been clear and maybe in that case, the team's performance would have also scaled up beyond 27 blocks, thus achieving excellence.
Relevant - Pertaining to the tower building exercise, the goal was absolutely relevant.
Timely - A specific time period was indeed set for them to achieve the goal.
A second part of the exercise illustrated another important trait of goal setting. The student was blindfolded and then the rest were asked to estimate the number of blocks he could arrange. The fact that he was blindfolded resulted in the class average of estimation going down, with only one student believing that he could exceed his previously achieved performance. A handful believed he could reach the same heights whereas majority back-folded on their previously decided number. In an organisation, for a healthy growth, it is important that we scale up on the previously achieved performance, no matter what the situation is. A good management always overcomes situations at hand and uses it for their own good. That is what was required here, that the budding managers set a higher goal for greater performance.
Interesting to note here is the Pygmalion Effect, often used as a tool to explain the principles of organisation and management. Following the same case here, management needed to put greater expectations and needed to invest enhanced confidence in their employees to achieve better performance. To inspire the student to reach beyond his previously achieved 17 blocks, the rest had to act as good managers and set a higher target. That is what will distinguish the best from the rest. And make excellent organisations grow and prosper even further.
Before I proceed to explain the management lessons learnt from the
3 monks’ story, I suggest you watch the video.
The
movie is based on the Chinese proverb - "One monk will shoulder two
buckets of water, two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one
will want to fetch water". The plot of the movie involved the
problem of fetching water by three monks . The movie illustrates the process of
evolving the best possible method to do this work and we get to learn important
organization management lessons.
A. Efficient Utilization of
Resources
In most organizations, resources
are not the problem. The problem is the utilization of the resources in order
to achieve high process efficiency and productivity. When the number of monks
in the story increased from 2 to 3, it appeared as if the process to bring
water was over manpowered and nobody took the ownership.Even when the number of
monks were increased to 2, they faced initial difficulty to carry out the
process until they came out with a solution.
Event
Output
(No. of buckets)
Input(Worker
Energy units)
Productivity
= Output/Input
1
Man – 2 buckets
2
2
1
2
Men – 1 bucket
1
0.5
2
Importance of Manpower Planning
Key to
managerial functions- The
four managerial functions, i.e., planning, organizing, directing and
controlling are based upon the manpower. Human resources help in the
implementation of all these managerial activities. Therefore, staffing
becomes a key to all managerial functions.
Efficient
utilization- Efficient
management of personnels becomes an important function in the
industrialization world of today. Seting of large scale enterprises
require management of large scale manpower. It can be effectively done
through staffing function.
Motivation- Staffing function not only
includes putting right men on right job, but it also comprises of
motivational programmes, i.e., incentive plans to be framed for further
participation and employment of employees in a concern. Therefore, all types
of incentive plans becomes an integral part of staffing function.
Better human
relations- A
concern can stabilize itself if human relations develop and are strong.
Human relations become strong trough effective control, clear
communication, effective supervision and leadership in a concern. Staffing
function also looks after training and development of the work force which
leads to co-operation and better human relations.
Higher
productivity- Productivity
level increases when resources are utilized in best possible manner.
higher productivity is a result of minimum wastage of time, money, efforts
and energies. This is possible through the staffing and it's related
activities ( Performance appraisal, training and development,
remuneration)
Need of Manpower Planning
Manpower Planning is a two-phased process because manpower
planning not only analyses the current human resources but also makes manpower
forecasts and thereby draw employment programmes. Manpower Planning is
advantageous to firm in following manner:
Shortages
and surpluses can be identified so that quick action can be taken wherever
required.
All the
recruitment and selection programmes are based on manpower planning.
It also
helps to reduce the labour cost as excess staff can be identified and thereby
overstaffing can be avoided.
It also
helps to identify the available talents in a concern and accordingly
training programmes can be chalked out to develop those talents.
It helps in
growth and diversification of business. Through manpower planning, human
resources can be readily available and they can be utilized in best
manner.
It helps the
organization to realize the importance of manpower management which
ultimately helps in the stability of a concern.
B. Continuous
Improvement & Breakthrough Innovation:
The two monks, when faced with the challenge
to balance the bucket due to difference in their heights, came up with the
solution to mark the stick in proportion to their height. This not only eased
the operating procedure, but it also aided in faster execution of the process
and brought higher effectiveness.In a day to day work, we might also face
circumstances, where execution becomes difficult or we are forced to bring in
changes for improvement. Therefore, daily work management for continuous
improvement becomes essential . A major portion of our daily work should be
devoted to making these small but useful contribution towards improvement.
In the story, the three monks devised the
pulley methodology to draw water and transfer it to the temple. This brought
out a drastic improvement in their process and saved a lot of time and effort.
This can be classified as a breakthrough improvement. Similarly, in an
organization, when there is the requirement of a major shift in operating
procedures, the senior management must encourage innovations and bring about
breakthrough improvements.
C.Prevention
Better than Cure
The three monks never took ownership to fill
the jar with water, which could perhaps have mitigated the magnitude of the
damage caused due to the fire. The mouse was also allowed in the monastery ignoring
the possible damages. Similarly, most of the employees in an organization are
busy in fire fighting and focus less
on preventive measures. Occurrence Prevention
rather than Recurrence Prevention
should be the focus area of an organization. Each system, process and be
thoroughly investigated to eliminate any possible failure mode and make it
robust.SDCA/PDCA cycle have to be followed at each level of management to prevent future failures.
