Team Building Between Students

Abstract

The instability of the economic, social, political and production environment, the rapid development of scientific and technological progress, high competitiveness and riskiness puts teams and organizations before the need to adapt to the changing context of managerial activity. The increased intensity, intellectual intensity, emotional intensity of work have discussed the relevance and effectiveness of teamwork. This legitimately raises the question of what is management or management efficiency, what are the types and principles of efficiency. Rationalism implies a search for the most convenient and productive methods of performing work; efficiency is the best result comparable to the cost of efforts or resources to achieve this result.

However, the main thing is often not how many times the result is greater than the cost, but whether it is more valuable. Since today’s information overload has placed a premium on competitiveness, team members must be concerned with productivity, management, and public value. In this regard, students need to learn how to assess the level of management, the capabilities of the organization and they will always be faced with the task of choosing the most beneficial management option. The example of the student group examines exactly how different people can come together to form an effective team, and what problems may arise.

What Does Team Mean

Having a strong team is one of the prerequisites for the success of people who have a common goal. The most important condition is the extent to which people know how to work with each other, share a common vision, know how to make decisions together, and are willing to go in the same direction. Students cannot organize teamwork and create a sense of commitment if they ignore and do not pay attention to each employee (Keengwe & Bull, 2019). Only when everyone feels part of a winning team and understands the benefits of teamwork can students speak of a successful organization (Dipboye, 2018). Each team’s success depends on its competence, its professionalism, namely the abilities of each team member, the skills they possess, and the willingness of all team members to work with full dedication, both in their own interest and in the interest of the entire team. It is the presence of teamwork that gives many organizations an advantage over their competitors. A work team consists of people who learn from each other and share common goals, but are not interdependent in nature, and do not work toward a common goal.

Key Parameters of the Student Team That Will Ensure Its Effectiveness

Practice shows that knowledge of the basic processes occurring in a social group and influencing its effectiveness helps to avoid many possible mistakes. It is possible to single out the following key parameters of a team that ensure its effectiveness:

• Size. The average size of teams in the USA and Canada is 8-10 people, in some cases up to 18 (Keengwe & Bull, 2019, p.60). A group of students does not have to meet this numerical criterion, but it is important to have enough people to perform each function assigned. It makes the most sense to have a team that is as small as possible, but large enough so that the competence of the students meets the requirements of the task at hand. In larger teams, members are prone to indiscriminate communication, which leads to disorganization and conflict. It is difficult to reach consensus among all team members, so discussions sometimes only include the opinions of key team members, which can contribute to a sense of aloofness and indifference towards team members and/or their opinions (Keengwe & Bull, 2019). With a small team, it is difficult to ensure interchangeability, and in some cases, it is simply impossible to ensure a complete production process.
• Composition. Composition refers to the various characteristics of the team members. It is recommended that the group have sufficient diversity. The students under consideration fully fall under this criterion, it is necessary to turn differences into an advantage. This ensures that there are different points of view, looking at the problem from different angles (Dyer & Dyer, 2019). To increase the effectiveness of the group, it is recommended to involve employees with different characteristics, but on the condition of socio-psychological compatibility.
• Cohesion. Group cohesion is a measure of the attraction of group members to each other and to the group. A highly cohesive group is a group whose members have a strong attraction to each other and consider themselves similar. A high level of cohesion can increase the effectiveness of the entire organization if the goals of both are aligned with each other. Cohesive groups have fewer communication problems and less conflict (Karandashev, 2019). Group unanimity is the tendency of individuals to suppress their actual views of a phenomenon so as not to disturb the harmony of the group. Group members feel that disagreement undermines their sense of belonging, and therefore disagreement should be avoided. In order to maintain what is understood to be agreement and harmony among group members, the group member decides that it is better not to express his or her opinion (Karandashev, 2019). When there is group unanimity, there is an increased likelihood of a mediocre decision that will not hurt anyone. To ensure that this criterion is met, students need to identify a leader, one of whose main functions will be to set up communication.
• Conflict. Difference of opinion usually leads to more effective group work. However, it also increases the likelihood of conflict. Although an active exchange of opinions is useful, it can also lead to intragroup arguments and other manifestations of open conflict, which are always detrimental. Therefore, it is the task of managers to find ways to reduce conflict.
• Status of group members. The status of an individual in an organization or group can be determined by a number of factors, including factors such as seniority in the job hierarchy, job title, education, social talents, awareness, and accumulated experience. Research has shown that group members whose status is high enough are able to exert more influence on group decisions than group members with low status (Zúquete, 2020). This does not always lead to greater effectiveness, so efforts should be made to ensure that the opinions of higher status members do not dominate.

Stages of Student Team Building

• Start. At this stage, students need to decide what will be the form of organization of their activities. After identifying the directions, a focused educational process begins. The positioning of the team in order to adapt for them the full cycle of creation of the final product is made. A plan for transition to working teams is formed, taking into account the step-by-step transfer of authority for specific teams (Dyer & Dyer, 2019). The system of management of the organization practically does not undergo changes at this stage.
• A state of uncertainty. The process of redistribution of functions, responsibilities, and authorities begins. Work flows and processes are redesigned, the basis for consumer feedback is established. The father students, whose functions are similar to managerial ones, control almost the entire transformation process, help in achieving the goals set and in solving arising problems, manage team development, explain new roles and responsibilities, coordinate team efforts, and assist in establishing connections with the external environment. In fact, the aforementioned students can be called managers who can lead the team in the adaptation process at this stage. Teams and team members at this stage have many challenges related to new roles and responsibilities (Dyer & Dyer, 2019). After the initial enthusiasm comes a stage of some disarray, uncertainty. At this stage, the process of transition to working teams usually meets the strongest resistance from the opposition to change, and the likelihood of conflicts within the team is high. This is one of the most time-consuming stages.
• Leadership orientation. The measurement, cost analysis and ranking systems are redesigned. In this stage, managers typically identify a common leader based on certain attributes. Successful leaders have the makings of an outsider’s perspective with all the characteristics that go with it, they communicate easily, negotiate and build communication bridges, and are trusted by group members. A successful leader makes decisions based on the situation as a whole (Iszatt-White & Saunders, 2020). But if there are no such inclinations for some reason, they can be developed and successfully cope with the duties of a leader-leader. Leadership qualities develop and come to the fore in specific situations, when a person is directly confronted with the sphere of management or decision-making, communicating with his subordinates. It turns out that outside of society a person cannot develop leadership qualities in themselves, even if they have the makings of a leader (Iszatt-White & Saunders, 2020). If people are given a book on leadership development and asked to study it, it will not lead to instant transformation because their knowledge will only be theoretical (Iszatt-White & Saunders, 2020). In a group the qualities of a leader will appear if the individual has the following tasks:

  • To increase the effectiveness of the work of the group, if the deadline for the project is very small and lead to a positive result in the end;
  • To gain the trust of the team and maintain communication with them and motivate everyone;
  • Work as a team;
  • Resolve disputes among team members and when approached by customers, know the environment of the organization;
  • To track changes, to look for something fresh, progressive, unusual, to come up with new ideas and their solutions;
  • Organize the work process and use resources optimally, correctly distribute authority among colleagues and subordinates (Hiriyappa, 2018).

The Main Conditions for Success and the Causes of Failure in Team Building

For team building to be effective, the following conditions must be met. The goal of the team’s activity should be formulated in a clear, focused and sufficiently detailed way. The process of achieving the goal can be broken down into individual tasks. The boundaries of the team’s competence required to achieve the goal are defined and authority is delegated. The results or planned outcomes of the team’s work meet the specifics of the customer, in this case, the teacher.

The next area of the team is problems, and the development of problem-solving technology. Continuous development of the knowledge and skills of the team members under the improvement of technology is planned. It is important that the students have all the necessary knowledge in the field of the project (Dipboye, 2018). Otherwise it is fraught with discord, the relevance and perspective of the work to be done should be clear to the members. Everyone feels the importance of the task at hand.

• Possible reasons for failures and inefficiencies in team building are:
• Lack of trust among team members and in leaders toward the team.
• Unclear definition of the boundaries of competence of each of the students.
• Existence of strict time limits.
• Lack of resources.
• Lack of a value system.
• Competitiveness within and/or between teams.
• Lack of a problem-solving culture.
• Identification of a task or function as the main task.
• Egocentricity of work team members (team members are predominantly leaders).
• Excessive responsibilities for one team member.
• Differences in status and authority among members of the work team (Dipboye, 2018).

The first step in eliminating these causes is to identify them. This consists of conducting a sociological study in the form of interviews or anonymous questionnaires and identifying the levels of competence and skills of each member of the work team. The next step is to set clear goals and objectives. For a team to work effectively, all team members must be aware of the connections between goals, working methods, and objectives (Northouse, 2021). Goals must be clear, focused, and create a vision of the ways of working and the tasks that will lead to success. Goal setting should be done by the participants themselves, whether it’s at the personal, team, or organizational level. The goals must have a sound, realistic basis for the objectives and the methods and must not just be a list of prescriptions that are logically derived from the organization’s profile.

References

Dipboye, R. L. (2018). The Emerald review of industrial and organizational psychology. Emerald Publishing Limited.

Dyer, J. H., and Dyer, W. G. J. (2019). Beyond team building. How to build high performing teams and the culture to support team. Wiley.

Hiriyappa, B. (2018). Development of leadership skills. PublishDrive.

Iszatt-White, M., and Saunders, C. (2020). Leadership. Oxford University Press.

Karandashev, V. (2019). Cross-cultural perspectives on the experience and expression of love. Springer International Publishing.

Keengwe, J., and Bull, P, H, (2019). Handbook of research on innovate digital practices to engage learners. IGI Global.

Northouse, P.G. (2021). Leadership theory and practice, 9th ed. eBook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Zúquete, J. P. (2020). Routledge international handbook of charisma. Taylor & Francis.