Collaboration Is Success

Week – 3 Importance of Teams Murugareddy Pattiputtur University of Phoenix HCS/325 Dawn Sienkiewicz November 10, 2012 Abstract Teams are formed when individuals with a common taste, preference, liking, and attitude come and work together for a common goal. Teams play a very important role in organizations as well as our personal lives. Teamwork is essential for competing in today’s global arena, where individual perfection is not as desirable as a high level of collective performance.

In knowledge based enterprises, teams are the norm rather than the exception. A critical feature of these teams is that they have a significant degree of empowerment, or decision-making authority. There are many different kinds of teams: top management teams, focused task forces, self-directed teams, concurrent engineering teams, product/service development and/or launch teams, quality improvement teams, and so on. Importance of Teams Introduction: “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success-Henry Ford” The above proverb by Henry Ford highlights the importance of working together in teams. Team work is very essential as every employee will be dependent on his fellow employees to work together and contribute efficiently to the organization. No employee can work alone; he has to take the help of his colleagues to accomplish the tasks efficiently. It has been observed that the outcome comes out to be far better when employees work in a team rather than individually as every individual can contribute in his best possible way.

In organizations, individuals having a similar interest and specializations come together on a common platform and form a team. Teamwork is essential in the provision of healthcare. The division of labor among medical, nursing and allied health practitioners means that no single professional can deliver a complete episode of healthcare. In healthcare, where patient outcomes are dependent on effective interdisciplinary teamwork, there is need for better preparation of health professionals in teamwork.

To improve the efficiency and customer service in my department, I would first identify and define the problem; secondly I would try generating and evaluating alternate and possible courses of action to understand in which areas they would need help on, thirdly based on a situation choosing a preferred and a relevant solution will be given, fourthly the solution will be implemented and finally to evaluate the results to see the outcomes.

Teams are essential to health care because it has been suggested that “each team member’s abilities, skills experience, attitudes, values, role perceptions and personality – all the things that make a person unique and they also determine what they are willing and able to contribute, their level of motivation, methods of interaction with other group members and degree of acceptance of group norms and the organization’s goals”

Teamwork is important in industries like aviation to ensure flights land safely, the military uses it to protect the country, finance professionals need to practice it to keep the nation’s economy running smoothly, the auto racing unit teamwork is essential to change all 4 tires by a team. Overall, in any industry that requires reliable human performance, teamwork is a necessity. Lessons from other industries in healthcare: Teamwork in industries like aviation, healthcare, military and other industries is extremely important and crucial as reliability of human erformance is needed. It is important because the consequences of an error is very severe in those industries. A major chunk of errors is because of communication and teamwork problems. Teamwork is not only effective at saving lives but also to ensure the organization does well and is competitive , if not you lose the competitive edge overtime and eventually disappear from the market. Planning is an important organization process required for problem solving. Successful managing requires thorough planning.

Planning is the process of deciding exactly what you, your team, or your department wants to accomplish and how to best go about meeting your goals. Planning is the foundation on which all other managerial responsibilities rest. Health care organizations face pressures and challenges from many sources, all of which increase the importance of good planning. In today’s ever-changing work environment, good planning offers a number of benefits and advantages for your employees, your teammates, and even your own career.

The 5 steps to planning which supports problem solving are: Step 1: Identify and define the problem – Problem symptoms usually signal the presence of a performance deficiency or opportunity. During this step, it’s important to assess the situation properly by looking beyond symptoms to find out what is really happening. Step 2: Generate and evaluate possible courses of action – At this stage, Involving others during this planning stage is critical in order to develop a range of solutions, get the most out of available information, and build future commitment for the plan.

Step 3: Choose a preferred solution – At this stage, its important to make a decision and select a particular course of action. Exactly how you make a decision and who may need to weigh in on the decision varies for each planning situation Step 4: Implement the solution – At this stage, it’s important to establish and implement appropriate actions to meet your final goal. This is the stage at which you finally set directions and initiate problem-solving actions. Step 5: Evaluate results – And finally at this stage, it’s necessary to compare the accomplishments with the original objectives.

If the desired results are not achieved, the process must be reviewed and renewed to allow for corrective actions References Lombardi, D. N. , & Schermerhorn, J. R. (2007). Health care management: Tools and techniques for managing in a health care environment. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Farrington, J. (2008). The importance of working together with your team. Retrieved from http://www. projectsmart. co. uk/the-importance-of-working-together-with-your-team. html Kotelnikov, V. (2010, November 22). Team building & teamwork. Retrieved from http://www. 000ventures. com/business_guide/crosscuttings/team_main. html Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology, Inc (2012) Retrieved from http://www. siop. org/Media/News/teamwork. aspx Salas E, Rozell, Drew, Mullen B, Driskell JE (1999). The effect of team building on performance: an integration. Small Group Research.. Knight D, Durham CC, Locke EA (2001)- The relationship of team goals, incentives, and efficacy to strategic risk, tactical implementation and performance. Academy of Management Journal. *************************