Groups and Teams: The focus on task and relationship development

In the blog last week, we examined the importance universities place on the development of teamworking skills and attitudes. This week we will explore how working in a team context can significantly enhance both task completion and relationship building abilities.

As we have observed over previous weeks while examining the topic of groups and teams, one of the primary reasons why organisations prioritise teamworking is that they constitute the setting for the acquisition of a wide range of critical soft skills. Two examples are the development of effective task and relationship focused abilities.

Developing more task-focused abilities

Self-evidently, the motivation for setting students or employees in teams is to increase the performance of individual members and the quality of the project outcomes. This has resulted in the formation of eight objectives as listed below.

1. Becoming more focused on the task and sticking to the schedule

2. Becoming more willing to take responsibility for an assigned role

3. Becoming more open to a change when appropriate

4. Becoming more motivated to take a leadership role when required

5. Becoming more constructive when experiencing setbacks

6. Becoming more confident to reflect on problems and develop solutions

7. Becoming more positive when required to make creative contributions

8. Becoming more objective when expressing personal opinions or feelings

Developing a more relationship-focused orientation

Another characteristic of teamworking is that it requires continuous sensitive interpersonal communication including non-verbal signalling. This provides the lubricant for project planning and successful completion. Some examples of key objectives are listed below.

1. Being more able to encourage other members to contribute suggestions

2. Being more able to be diplomatic in the use of language and the expression of opinions

3. Being more able to ensure that all members have an opportunity to contribute

4. Being more able to be open to suggestions however strange they may initially appear

5. Being more able to ensure that all ideas are welcomed

6. Being more able to negotiate actions rather than telling or imposing actions

7. Being more able to be sensitive to the feelings of other members

8. Being more able to exercise patience and allow people time to express themselves

To conclude, in the blog next week we shall examine why many students and employees dislike working in a team context.

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Questions

1. Might teamwork make some people lazy and over reliant on others?

2. Could a team context be the trigger for the breakdown of interpersonal relationships?

3. Why might some students and employees dislike teamworking?

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We shall explore Question 3 in the next blog.