Introduction
Team building is a very important organizational practice and behavior that is highly recommended for any organization seeking to boost its performance. The essence behind any team-building strategy is that when employees work or pull together towards achieving a common goal, it is more likely that the organization will realize a much faster growth compared to when they pull in different directions. Hence, the concept of team building can be described as organizational behavior and practice that attempts to bring employees together as one cohesive team that works to achieve a common objective or goal (Maddux & Wingfield, 2003). This essay discusses a Case Study of the team-building strategy adopted by Seagate Morale-Athon.
Category of team-building strategy applied by Eco-Seagate event
To begin with, it is imperative to note that Seagate Technology employs a fun-activity-based team-building strategy for its employees. The Eco-Seagate event organized by the company on an annual basis is a retreat organized for staff members and is aimed at improving team-building skills by having fun games like kayaking and mountain climbing. Throughout the week, the 200 staffers are organized into small manageable teams which participate in a myriad of fun games that are also competitive. Some tokens of appreciation for successful teams that win certain games are also offered. Throughout the week-long team activities and exercises, members bond together, learn to solve problems from a common front and generally appreciate the value of pulling towards one direction in order to attain quick success.
This type of team-building can also be broadly classified as a problem-solving or decision-making team-building strategy (Midura & Glover, 2005). This is owing to the fact that during the entire week, each team carries out activities that require common critical thinking for solutions to be found. Although team members happen to enjoy the whole exercise, in the end, the problems to be solved in the fun games are apparently complex and unless they seek the solution as a team, it may be cumbersome to attain any success. As a result, each of the members in the respective teams is supposed to contribute creative ideas that will yield positive results. For instance, the Friday event required members to not only paddle their kayaks for about one and a half miles, trek and bike for long-distance but also navigate their way through the unknown routes using a compass (Max, 2006). This is an exercise that definitely required the mutual contribution of all team members for a successful end.
Effectiveness of the strategy
This type of team building event is effective especially when applied to team members who are still youthful and energetic (Michels, 2001). As earlier noted, the week-long event involves a lot of physical activities as well as fun. Such attributes of team building can best work in cases where each of the team members appreciates not just the fun derived from each other but is also ready to engage the physical part in team-building exercises (Dyer & Dyer, 2007). Nonetheless, the Eco-Seagate event has been a success since it was incepted and is definitely the reason behind the upward growth and strong market presence of Seagate Morale-athon.
Conclusion
One outstanding reason why this type of team building strategy is effective lies in the fact that during the whole week, each event assigned to teams requires critical thinking, has no direct solution and consequently, each member needs to participate to resolve the challenge. Hence, it is not just an outing or vacation for staffers but a real learning experience for participating teams.
References
Dyer, G.W. and Dyer, H.J. (2007). “Team building: proven strategies for improving team performance”, San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Maddux, B.R. and Wingfield, B. (2003). “Team Building: An Exercise in Leadership”, New York: Crisp Publications Inc.
Max, S. (2006). Seagate’s Morale-athon: Inside the tech giant’s $9,000-a-head team-building blowout in New Zealand. Web.
Michels, R. (2001). “Team building: the road to success”, Leeuwarden: Uitgeverij Eismabv.
Midura, W.D. and Glover, R.D. (2005). “Essentials of team building: principles and practices”, MN: Sheridan Books