The Effective Implementation Of Teamwork Rather Than Individual Work

Teamwork is defined as the process of properly delegating responsibility and developing a plan to achieve the goal (Hughs & Jones, 2013). Teamwork can also be regarded as an adequate way to achieve goals and targets, improve performance, group cohesiveness and sustaining a proper culture (Reddy, 2018). Teamwork challenges are innately present in the workplace, I believe it’s presence is a direct consequence of a diverse workforce (Mohammed, 2017).In this context, an assignment has been developed that focuses on the different challenges to teamwork in the workplace and provides factually based recommendations on how to overcome it.

One of the major teamwork challenges which exist as a consequence of having a workforce comprised of people from different upbringings, is a lack of effective communication (Bigpicture, 2018). Employee engagement researcher Marcel Schwantes supports the above-mentioned statement by saying, “three of the top five errors made by managers are issues relating to the failure of addressing ineffective communication” (Schwantes, 2018).There are many issues contributing to the workplace challenge of Ineffective communication. The lack of clarity and the sole reliance on impersonal communication channels like technology to distribute messages are one of the many challenges faced in the workplace. The most appropriate solution would be to eradicate communication challenges and consequently lessen teamwork challenges in the workplace by getting rid of jargon, physically communicating with your employees, workforces and/or co-workers face to face and by communicating concisely in an unpatronizing way (Bigpicture, 2018).

According to (Mohammed, 2017) another challenge hindering effective teamwork within the workplace is diversity. Workplace diversity refers to a variety of differences between people in an organization, it encompasses race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure, organizational function, education, background and more (Esty, et al., 1995). The negative effect of diversity in the workplace can be an increased tendency of the workforce to interpersonal conflicts. Culturally diverse workers have different opinions, thoughts, beliefs, norms, customs, values, trends, and traditions. There are a wide variety of ways to solve issues relating to diversity in the workplace. The workforce can be empowered by means of giving them diversity awareness training, which will equip them with the necessary knowledge to create and sustain a culture of tolerance and respect for each other’s differences (Young, 2016).

Groupthink is defined as “a mode of thinking that persons engage in when concurrence seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive ingroup that it tends to override realistic appraisals of alternative courses of action” (Janis, 1982). The above mentioned term explains for example a team who decides to make an irrational decision just for conformity. Knowing groupthink and its dreadful consequences, teams would be able to adapt and take preemptive action. The solution to minimize group thinking is first and foremost to make people aware of group thinking. To achieve this, companies and institutions must systematically provide short but developing instructions for all employees involved in important group decision-making.

We now know that teamwork is an effective approach for the completion of work in a manner that is effective and also improves the performance of all the members in the team. The challenges which acts as obstacles to teamwork are ineffective communication, diversity and groupthink. The before-mentioned needs to be resolved to maintain cohesiveness and achieve cooperation from the whole workforce. The above mentioned resolutions are recommended for the challenges analysed and will result in goals and objectives being reached.