I was wondering if anyone could give me a few advantages and disadvantages of developing teams in the work place?

-- John P. Daley (daleyj@wcoil.com), April 09, 1999

Answers

John,

I am also looking for information about the pros and cons of work teams. Do you have any info?

Loring

-- Loring Munson (lmunson@nemaine.com), March 05, 2000.

I am also looking for disadvantages of teams & groups

-- James (tindajih@aston.ac.uk), November 13, 2000.

I am a DM for a Pharma Company and manage as a coach. My team runs the district and I coach them. They have more buy in and self esteem. I have several books I use to teach the team how to and why they should act like a team.

Is this what your asking?

John

-- John R. Daley (coachdaley@hotmail.com), April 02, 2002.

Following are the advantages of working in a team. · More inflow of ideas · Lesser work per person · You can work more efficiently and effectively in a team of people having same mental capabilities as yours. · Time efficiency · Effective decision making · Increased knowledge and experience base · Different perspectives of different people are shared · More total person power · Social bond, affiliation, identification · Willing to take more risk · Synergy- the whole is more than the parts i.e. the more the divisions in a group and the smaller the group, the efficiency is increased · Better employee relations and retention

Disadvantages: · Potential for conflict · May interfere with individual expertise · Takes more people’s time & talent · Some energy goes to social goals · Slow decision making · Danger of groupthink

-- Sharjeel Siddiqui (sharjeel00@yahoo.com), August 27, 2002.

John, you have received some great answers. I would like to add: Teams can give an organization a competitive advantage. This can happen in a couple of ways. Teams that are customer driven, as opposed to management driven, can react to the needs of the customer much faster than a traditional organization. In addition, empowered teams unleash the knowledge of the workers themselves who see things that only they themselves can see. This can lead to improvements (small and large) that a single manager from an office may miss. The real disadvantage of teams is, not knowing how to develop them. If teams do not have the training, support, and effort behind them, they can become a disadvantage for an organization. If you are just starting a new organization and want to start off with work teams, it is much easier than taking a traditional organization and launching teams. The change required for managers and workers when they are accustomed to their ordinary role can be a tremendous challenge to the effectiveness of implementing teams.

-- Mark Vilbert (mark.t.vilbert@boeing.com), August 27, 2002.