We have a group of people who are individual entrepreneurs, who work for themselves, and according to Forbes (2024), there are around 27.1 million workers in the United States. However, in the course Business and Society, we saw that, even for evolutionary reasons, to help the survival of the species, people tend to work together. Our current work system, in a way, rescues our ancestral past. Even for those who work alone, the person probably has contact with suppliers, customers, investors, etc. We have the fact that most people live with coworkers and are part of groups/teams.
Robbins and Judge (2022) show that there is a difference between a group and a team. While a team involves collaboration, it has a positive synergy towards coordinated efforts. When teams are effective, they generate high performance due to collective efforts, however, a group is when there is only the sum of individual contributions. A team can be in different formats, problem-loving, self-managed work, cross-functional, virtual and multiteam systems (Robbins & Judge, 2022).
An effective team has to have a context (adequate resources, strong leadership and a sportive climate), composition (choosing members with the right skills and making the right balance between the skills of each member) and a process (clear goals, sense of purpose) (Robbins & Judge, 2022).
The paper of Shi and Xie (2024) emphasizes the critical role of effective team leadership in facilitating the sharing of ideas among team members, which can enhance project success. Effective team leadership is described as the ability of a leader to guide, motivate, and inspire team members toward defined goals. This type of leadership can foster a positive team culture and encourage collaboration.
The leader can create an environment that fosters open communication, trust, and psychological safety. Sharing experiences is important for personal insights, and in addition to team coherence, effective team leadership can enhance decision-making, problem-solving, and overall project performance. (Shi & Xie, 2024).
References
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2022). Essentials of Organizational Behavior (15th ed.). Pearson.
Shi, W., & Xie, Y. (2024). From knowledge to success: understanding the crucial role of governance, tacit knowledge sharing, and team leadership in project outcomes. Current Psychology, 43(9), 8219-8229. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-023-04994-3Links to an external site.
Small business statistics. (2023, October 28). Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/small-business-statistics/Links to an external site.
