The influence of interdependence and a stronger sense of collectiveness on organizations performance Essay

Katzenbach and Smith, 1993, a small number of people with complementary skills dedicated to a common objective, set of performance goals and manner for which they hold themselves mutually accountable is referred to a team. Similarly, Rabey (2003) defines team as a group of people with either mixed or complementary skills working together for an agreed purpose. Instead, (Johnson et al., 1986) defines work group as a collection of individuals performing as a whole in order to accomplish something (Ceschi et al., 2014). (Shaw, 1981, p. 8) refers to a group as two or more people who are interact with each other in such a way that each person is influenced by the other (Lumsden et al., 2009). Generally, greater interdependence and a stronger sense of collectiveness are developed among team members than members of work groups (Lumsden et al., 2009). Work groups and teamwork are a necessity in todays companies and management for right coordination of divisions in organizations, as the performance of the whole unit cannot be the responsibility of one department (Nurmi, 1996). Therefore, groups and teamwork are an essential and integral part of the work organisation as it leads to improvements in the performance of individuals and organisations (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993). Consequently, this essay will discuss the role of groups and team in work organisation, characteristics of effective team and groups and how they impact an organisations performance.

Currently, there is a recognition that a greater part of the work accomplished in business and industry is the result of team work (Batenburg et al., 2013) team performance within organisations is, therefore, an important factor in the performance of the organization as a whole (Senior, 1997). Thus, considerable attention has to be given to team member diversity in terms of roles played in a team to achieve highperforming teams. Team role is defined as behavioural patterns of team members which is characterised by the way in which one interacts with another in order to help the team progress as a whole. Belbin supports the notion that a balanced representation of all team roles yields high performance (Aritzeta et al., 2007). Belbin (1981) posited that for a team to operate optimally there is the need for eight team roles to be deployed within a team. He devised special names for the team roles as Resource Investigator Shaper Monitor/Evaluator Team Worker Implementer Completer/Finisher and Coordinator. In 1988, a ninth role Specialist was added (Fisher et al., 2001). Each role is clustered within three team roles arch types actionoriented, peopleoriented and thinking/problemsolving oriented roles, varying in personality characteristics and in group behaviour (Batenburg et al., 2013). Schutzs FIRO (fundamental interpersonal relations orientation) theory, peoples team roles are dependent on their interpersonal needs in relation to other team members interpersonal needs. This theory proposes that all individuals have three interpersonal needs inclusion (initiating direction of interaction and association) control (initiating direction of control and power) and affection (initiating direction of love and affection) (Schutz. 1958) (Liddell and Slocum, 1976).