Conflict management

The paper “ Essential Skills for Teamwork” is an affecting example of a term paper on human resources. Learning to work in a team environment is essential for corporations to achieve high levels of success. Teamwork is one of the most important aspects of an organizations working environment. Many minds working together can achieve things one particular person could not accomplish since a united effort helps ignite creativity and innovation. This essay will study and analyze how innovation and creativity are developed in a team environment. It will also examine how people develop new skills by working in a team environment and the team development process.

Group creativity can be enhanced by forming teams with members with various types of personality. The Myers Briggs test is a tool to determine the type of personality a person. Among the different personality types, there are thinkers, feelers, intuitive, and sensors. The conjunction of all the different preferences of people of a variety of personality types brings a unique and valuable perspective to the problem-solving process (Allen, 2006). Open communication is always important within team settings in order to avoid misunderstandings and achieve a faster transfer of information. Providing feedback to another member about ideas and work realized is a good practice which can be used as a quality control mechanism and as a learning tool. Once a team has formed the work to be performed has to planned in a manner to stimulate creativity and innovation. Individuals usually are inclined towards particular types of tasks which they find more motivating. It is wise to find out what those preferences are and assign work according to these criteria if possible.
Motorola is an example of a company that implemented measures to enhance the creativity of the researchers within the organization in group settings. The company traditional strategy was to place researcher in workshops to solve business cases which were followed by group brainstorming sessions to ignite creative thinking. The company was not getting the desired results. “ They didn’t always explore all the possible applications and ideas were not always focused or organized around the potential impact on Motorola and its end-users” (Inventables). The solution the company utilized was purchasing an advanced educational package in the form of Inventables Design Aid issues. The new information had a larger scope and exposed the researchers to scenarios from different industries.
Team formation has become a process for companies seeking to increase collaboration and higher work outputs. In the 21st century, the reality of a global environment is revolutionizing the ways teams are created. The new platform which is being selected is the creation of virtual teams. There are basic concepts which enhance the functionality of a team and the development of its members which apply to onsite or online teams. Five important concepts which enhance the productivity of a team and its members are:
– Clarity and alignment on purpose
– Shared responsibility and leadership
– High communication
– Mutual respect for people and ideas
– Focus on process and results (Treffinger, 2004).
There are different abilities and skills which professionals need to improve in order to become more productive workers inside of a team. Seven specific skills that enhance teamwork are listening, questioning, persuading, respecting, sharing, helping and participating (Bellnigham Schools, 1999). The managers responsible for leading a team need to master all these skills, but particularly the art of listening and helping team members. A person that listens can identify ideas better and recognize who the key players are within the team. Helping out your fellow team members accelerates the process of creating team synergy.
A virtual team is one of the preferred methods of team formation in today’s corporation because they offer great advantages such as uniting people across the world, faster transfer of information among its members, diverse workforces and access to specialized talent that otherwise might be hard to locate. The creation of virtual teams is possible due to virtual software or artifacts which allow people to communicate and transfer data instantaneously from distant locations. Among the different characteristics of the virtual environments which allow productive output from professionals include: awareness, privacy, trust, knowledge sharing, collaboration and coordination (Zwang & Weiss, 2004).
Technological advances have changed the way business is realized. These organizational changes required people to adapt to new ways of performing business. Teamwork is a practice that brings great benefits to companies. Businesses must continue to find ways to enhance creativity and innovation from their workers in order to stay ahead of the competition.