What Are The Disadvantages Of Team Work

An increasing number of organisations around the globe are using teams in their business structures, with the aim to improve decision making processes, productivity and ultimately profitability. Although becoming the norm in most workplaces and educational institutions, teams still face many drawbacks and those, as well as possible solutions, will be discussed in this essay.

A team can be defined as ‘two of more people working together’ (Oxford Dictionaries | English, 2017) towards a common goal. This specific goal that motivates the individuals in a team is what also differentiates ‘a team’ from ‘a group’. Both terms relate to a cluster of people, however one cannot be substituted for the other as teams are created mindfully, and groups may

In general, team members can highly benefit from the large pool of knowledge within the team. In college, team members may be from various backgrounds and cultures, which can bring different perspectives to the discussions and result in a varied output. Furthermore, by studying together and discussing topics examined in class, team members may benefit from improved learning and understanding of complex concepts. Team work is also highly beneficial in work, especially when team works well together. Some of the main benefits include, but are not limited to, increased efficiency, greater problem solving and improved work satisfaction. Employers may see increased efficiency as projects may be done to a higher standard. Also, a great team may possess great team spirit which may encourage employees to participate more in work, and in turn increase work satisfaction.

Although team work may lead to several potential benefits it also faces many drawbacks. Currently the majority of colleges in Ireland require students to complete group assignments, where students are required to

Bruce Tuckman argued that once individuals join in a group, that group must go through certain stages to become an effective team. Tuckman designed a model which portrays that each team will have to go through the stages of ‘forming, storming, norming and performing’ to become effective. Moreover, none of the stages can be skipped, as the team would then drop down to the previous stage. Each stage is characterised, for example forming is associated with politeness and storming with potential arguments and conflicts. Once a team reaches performing stage is thought to be the most effective, although it should be noted that this may only happen after some time (Thomas, Paul and Cadle, 2012). Tuckman’s model can be beneficial to groups within college or work, as it urges individuals to consider that it may take some time for them to truly bond and become effective. One of the drawbacks of teamwork previously noted was dominating personalities that may clash and overconfident individuals. This drawback can be overcome if these personalities can express themselves freely during the storming stage. Furthermore, to overcome poor time management the group could set ground rules, where specific roles and responsibilities would be assigned. In order to deal with disagreements, team members should agree on