Team Dynamics & Collaboration

Define and Describe the Competency

Groups are central to our lives, in work, society, and family.  Groups can be source of inspiration and can even help shape our own identities through our admiration and own involvement.  From an organizational standpoint, teamwork is becoming more important, especially due to the complex nature of the modern world (Levi & Askay, 2020).  Organizational teams exist to accomplish a purpose, which in turn forms a collective identity (Raghupathy, 2019).  Within the team, the team members will form relationships and assume specific roles.  The interplay between the team members, their roles, and the behaviors they exhibit will determine how effective the team will become and form the central theories behind team dynamics (Levi & Askay, 2020).

Contribution to Leadership Ability

Members of effective teams will exhibit specific behaviors and assume specific roles.  Together, the team will be able to accomplish better work in more complex environments than single individuals would be able to handle alone.  However, teams require leadership, and they specifically require leaders that can implement vision while being emotionally intelligent (Raghupathy, 2019).  My leadership has significantly improved once I began to understand the task and social behaviors and roles of team members and recognize their importance to the overall purpose of the team’s goals.

Importance Towards Organizational Leadership

In the past, teams have largely been used as a means to an end.  Groups of employees working on assembly lines or fast food restaurants conformed to processes and systems in order to produce the goods and services the company required of them.  The requirements of modern business requirements have resulted in organizations turning to teams in the pursuit of more effective and innovative work.  Teams are also better equipped to handle ambiguous and complex problems and provide organizations with better operational and financial outcomes (Levi & Askay, 2020).

Demonstrating My Growth and Development

My previous view of team dynamics was extremely basic.  I had believed that good teams were ones which were friendly and productive.  However, I now understand team dynamics is much more than friendly and productive, it is an intricate balance of social and task oriented roles.  Diverse groups of team members offer unique skills and viewpoints that become something greater than their sums when combined.  My role as a leader has changed from someone who keeps the team at peace and on task, into someone who can motivate the team to accomplish the shared goals with emotional intelligence.

Project Management Artifact

Group work is often characterized by independent work that is later collated to form a final product.  However, teamwork is collaborative and interdependent work which forms a final product.  Team members that collaborate are much more likely to demonstrate creative and innovative solutions and products.  Below is a sample of interdependent and collaborative teamwork to highlight the environmental issue of industrial agriculture and the benefits of regenerative agriculture.  Throughout the project, the team members regularly met and collaborated on nearly ever aspect of the project.

References

Levi, D., & Askay, D. A. (2020). Group Dynamics for Teams (6th ed.). Sage.

Raghupathy, S. (2019). Leadership and team dynamics in the new millennium. Pmi.org. https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/leadership-team-dynamics-new-millennium-9371