Psychology

Cohesion and Decision-making

Cohesion refers to the state of people sticking together in unity with a view of achieving the same goal. A team is a group of the right people, in the right place doing the right thing and receiving the right support in order to achieve a common objective. A team involving the appropriate people is important, as they will uphold the management functions of the organization. When the relevant people are integrated in the team, planning, goal setting, problem solving and decision-making will be correctly done giving the junior staff a clear-cut direction towards the organization’s goal (LEADERSHIP, 2006). Decision-making is the process of analyzing the possible solutions to a problem and selecting the best course of action to solve a particular problem.

Workplace teams are normally faced with a number of dynamics. Conflict is one of the major challenges of an ill-defined team. The “Go Be Teamish” Syndrome may be the main cause of conflict. Delegation of responsibility and working guidelines normally lacks in such teams. They put those folks in a room, give them a pep talk, wave the teamwork banner, and cheer, “Go be teamish!” (RISI, 2003). The clash of values, interests and direction ignites conflict in the ‘team’ and since there are no supervisors, the conflict is hardly resolved. The element of teamwork cannot work efficiently without the moderation of the supervisors. However, upon forming the team, conflict is greatly suppressed as most of the members act in pretence and denial of their personal deferences. “The members attempt to be an instant community by being extremely pleasant to one another and avoiding all disagreement… The essential dynamic of pseudo community is conflict avoidance… The basic pretence is the denial of individual differences.” (Gordon, 2002).

Cohesion in teamwork means that people working in the same organization have both interactive and complementary skills that help them to achieve their core objective with ease. Each team member should know his or her role, and how he or she can work best within the interest of other members, in order to get the desired result. Cohesion can be enhanced through forming a good team of the top management in order for the organization to have confidence in its leadership. Key decisions should be made by the team and not single-handedly so that necessary support is acquired from the entire top management staff (Gordon, 2002). Cohesion cannot be achieved until all the team members trust, respect and appreciate the importance of each other. However, there must be integrity in work for members to have confidence and trust.

Whenever there is any problem in the team, the matter needs to be addressed with urgency. The process should involve the entire team members especially those affected by both and solution. The members should air their views and experiences and listen to the others. Disagreement should be considered crucibles from which ambiguity and dishonesty can be resolved. All the suggestions should be challenged to be backed by facts but they should spark arguments to realize their individual contributions. Every team member should contribute towards success of the problem solving process rather than hindering discussions. The leader should not arbitrarily overrule the team’s decisions. Each member must respect views from other members. However, on the event that a jointly satisfactory decision is not forth coming, the leader can be trusted to give the best decision.

For a team to achieve its goals, first it must comprise of the right people, in the right place, with the right objective and getting the right support. They should also have a clear-cut way of how they function, what they do and avoid. Developing a vision and strategy is also mandatory for any team to succeed. They should describe what exactly they want to achieve factoring in the different behavior of the members before discussing how to get there. The measures of determining readiness should also be put in place before instigating the team. This can be done by selecting an area where it is most likely to get success and determine the criteria of measuring the success (RISI, 2003).

The right kind of a team should also be chosen because teams are of diverse types. According to the specific purpose, each type of a team requires different methods of selection and support. To build a good plan, define the time, place and the expectation or desired out come of the team. Authority and accountability should be defined to specify the extent to which the team can make decisions and the person to take the decision on behalf of the team. For the team to be powerful, it needs to be empowered with the relevant operational skills through training on business operations inter-personal and technical skills.

At the workplace, leaders used to have a funny perception of teamwork “It seems so easy, so natural. We just roll up our sleeves and pitch in, with each person carrying part of the load. We all contribute and get along well. The job gets done quickly, and everybody goes home tired but happy” (LEADERSHIP, 2006). This notion contributed to the formation of an ill-defined team without proper management, motive nor moderators. After a short period, the leader was up and down trying to find a remedy to the conflicts within the team. The team members fell out due to their conflicting interests, values and actions and they no longer had respect for their colleges. All the blame for the conflict was directed to the team as it had too many leaders, without designated duties and responsibilities. They were collectively charged with the responsibility of solving the problems that had been ailing the organization for ages and they were not provided with any support.

The team did not have any outline strategies on how they planned to achieve their unspecified goal. The leader did not seem to know of the measures of resolving the conflict and this is when a team was seen to be detrimental to the whole organization’s success. The only viable solution was to do away with the team, as it was not formed in the right procedure in terms of visions, mission, readiness to perform and conflict resolution guidelines. It is therefore important to follow the proper guidelines when forming a team at the workplace as it may end up being more of a burden than an asset to the organization. A good team will steer the organization towards its ultimate success especially when it comprises a group of the right people. Team leaders should be trained on conflict management and resolutions in order to keep he team together and in a teamwork spirit.

 

References

Beagrie, S. (2006, May 23). How to improve your decision-making. Personnel Today, 33.

Gordon, J. (2002). A Perspective on Team Building. Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, 2(1), 185.

n.a. (2008, March). Pulling in the same direction. Director (00123242), 61(8), 40.

n.a. (2006). L EADERSHIP: How to Manage Difficult `Breeds’ in the Workplace. HR FOCUS -NEW YORK, 83(4), 5-6.

n.a. (2003). Go be teamish! Pulp & Paper Magazine, 77(8), 19. RISI. Retrieved from

http://www.risiinfo.com/magazines/August/2003/PP/pulppaper/magazine/august/2003/11000.html