Abstract
Cohesiveness is vital in a team. Team members should connect with
each other not only to increased productivity, but also to understand and
respect each other. Without team cohesiveness, the objectives and goals of the
team may not be met and failure will ensue if something is not done to rectify
this issue.
This reflection will explain on how to develop team cohesiveness
and my experience in building relationships with my fellow team members.
1 Introduction
According to Richard Daft, Team
Cohesiveness is defined as the extent to which members are attracted to the
team and motivated to remain in it (Daft, 2015 p 302). Members in a cohesive
team are committed to team activities, attend meetings, and are happy with the
team’s success (Daft, 2015 p 302).
Regardless of the industry that we are in,
developing team cohesiveness is important in order to facilitate collaboration
within the team. When a team is united, they have the ability to function effectively
to achieve their objectives and complete the task at hand without any hitch.
Even if there are difficulties in achieving
their goals, they will be able to work it out together as a team and resolve
any issues in their way.
2 Developing Team Cohesiveness
There are processes in which a leader can
develop a cohesive team. The leader needs to identify the objective from the
beginning and made it clear to his team members. This way, all members know
what is expected of them and can function properly.
Communication needs to be open, so that
leaders and team members can comfortably share their ideas, concerns, and
feedback. Open communication promotes trust among each other’s, so any issues
that may occur can be minimized.
The team should also set a small amount of
time occasionally to socialize by celebrating any accomplishments achieved by
the team outside of work. For example, having a celebratory dinner when the
team exceeds their sales target for the month.
3 Team Cohesiveness at My Workplace
Personally, I believe that the cohesiveness
between my colleagues and me are great. We understand what is expected from
each of us, and we helped each other to achieve it. There are busy periods
where we will sometimes irritate each other, due to deadline and urgency of the
work at hand. However, we understand that this is normal and did not take it to
heart. I can’t really explain this. Maybe it’s the chemistry between all of us.
Apart from work, we have this tradition
where we will get birthday presents for the “birthday babies”. We don’t fork
out a huge amount on them though, as to avoid from the tradition being a
burden. Occasionally, we will go out for dinner after work. This gives us the
chance to talk anything other than work.
4 My Experience In a Non-Cohesive Team
A few years ago, I was working as a service
provider for a telecommunication company. For some reason, the team doesn’t
really speak much to each other. They only spoke when it is necessary.
Communications were not open, so there were a lot of misunderstanding and
arguments between all of us.
What made it worse though, was that it
affected our customers as well. Customers were frustrated for the lack of
details with regards to their services. Each time there were complaints, the
office will go into frenzy and chaos ensued. This happen on an almost daily
basis, and it’s really affecting productivity.
There were not attempts to fix this gap
either by the managers, so the problems persisted. I eventually resigned after
18 months.
5 Conclusion
Developing team cohesiveness is not an easy
task, but necessary if the team wants to achieve their objectives. It also
helps to build good understanding and rapport between team members to minimize
issues.
There are bound to be misunderstanding once
in a while. But if a team in cohesive, any problems that arise can be resolved
quickly without the need for drastic measures.
Reference
Daft, Richard L. 2015, The Leadership Experience, 6th edn, Cengage Learning,
Connecticut
