struggling with Contence page, induction and concultion. referencing not too great on either.
My Name – Danielle Woolner Tutor Name – Dianna Hoodless CIPP Member hip number - M02088989 Title of module – Working in a team In every work environment there are different team processes that occur. To be a successful team a team would need to consist of three successful sectors; communication, team working and team development. Using the work environment at Orion Electrotech which is a recruitment agency for various trades such as, labourers, carpenters, gas engineers and many more this assignment will investigate how the various teams exceed in these areas of being a successful team. Communication: This essay will use Greenberg, J & Baron, R A (2008) communication in organisations structure[footnoteRef:1] defining the communication process to explain how when the payroll team received a new system to input and process timesheets, how the payroll manager (PM) communicated this to the team and the effect on the team and its individuals. [1: Greenberg, J & Baron, R A (2008) communication in organisations structure] This structure has four key constituent parts: The First is Encoding: This can be defined as “Translating an idea in to a form, such as a written or spoken language, that can be recognized by a receiver”[footnoteRef:2] To put this into context, when PM started the process, PM needed to think about what information needed to be communicated, how the information would be presented to the team and how this information would best be received. [2: Greenberg, J & Baron, R A (2008) communication in organisations structure, Page 334] The Second is Channels of Communication. This is referred in the structure as “the Pathway over which messages are transmitted”[footnoteRef:3] PM used visual material to communicate the information by putting together a presentation to explain how the new system worked. PM also used a verbal commentary when explaining the presentation. [3: Greenberg, J & Baron, R A (2008) communication in organisations structure, Page 334] Third is Decoding; this is defined as “the process by which a receiver of messages transforms them back into the sender’s idea”[footnoteRef:4] applying this to Orion’s payroll team, they read and watched the presentation, listened to what PM had to say; They then processed the information provided, having the opportunity to ask any questions that they had. [4: Greenberg, J & Baron, R A (2008) communication in organisations structure, Page 335] The final stage within the Greenberg Structure is Feedback. Defined as “knowledge about the impact of messages on receivers, receiving feedback allows senders to determine whether the message has been understood Properly”[footnoteRef:5] the team feedback to PM that they understood the message and were able to go away and use the new system without additional guidance. [5: Greenberg, J & Baron, R A (2008) communication in organisations structure, Page 335] Team working: There are many different factors that can influence the behaviours of a group and how the team works, an article by Khushboo Sinha[footnoteRef:6] explains what the different factors are, identifying eleven key aspects. [6: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/group-cohesiveness/top-12-factors-influencing-group-cohesiveness/63921] The Similarities of Attitudes and Values within a group can be described as “we enjoy the company of people who hold similar opinions, morals, beliefs and code of conduct, because the person who shares the same opinions as we do provide us with a kind of social validation”[footnoteRef:7] this is demonstrated in the payroll team by team members sharing the same code of conduct, they will let each other do their tasks but help colleagues when asked to. [7: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/group-cohesiveness/top-12-factors-influencing-group-cohesiveness/63921] The Size of the Group; within Sinha’s approach, this is explained as “small groups are effective. The larger the group the less cohesive the group is”[footnoteRef:8] an example of this is that payroll team, which has four members, can discuss and find agreement more often compared to the whole finance team where there are ten members, whereby group agreements can take longer to arrive [8: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/group-cohesiveness/top-12-factors-influencing-group-cohesiveness/63921] Time “in a workplace, people who work near each other are more likely to spend more time together”[footnoteRef:9] to put this into context, two members of the payroll team who both have children and work part time do spend extra time with each other outside of work, their children being a common factor between them, however this is not always the case, the other two members of the team prefer to spend little time together outside of work as they are not interested in anything the same. [9: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/group-cohesiveness/top-12-factors-influencing-group-cohesiveness/63921] Location, explained as “where members of a group are located close together separated from other groups, they will develop greater cohesiveness because of constant face to face interaction”[footnoteRef:10] This can be shown by the payroll and the finance teams have better cohesiveness with each other than within the sales teams, who sit separately in the same office and the Reading team, who are located in a different office [10: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/group-cohesiveness/top-12-factors-influencing-group-cohe http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/group-cohesiveness/top-12-factors-influencing-group-cohesiveness/63921siveness/63921] Status. This can be defined as “a high-status group receives greater loyalty from its members which in turn makes the group more strong”[footnoteRef:11] Within Orion, the payroll team has a high status as the team interacts with everyone within the company and are also the team that other employees of the company comes to with issues such as operational problems and requests for information. The team must stay as a strong group to be able to always give the correct consistent answers. [11: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/group-cohesiveness/top-12-factors-influencing-group-cohesiveness/63921] Difficulty in Entry. This can be shown “as the groups are not easy to join, the selected members feel a sense of pride and accomplishment”[footnoteRef:12]. This can be seen within the payroll team as due to a low rate of staff turnover, this can prevent new talent entering. Many members of the payroll team feel like they have accomplished something due to being able to join the department in the first place. [12: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/group-cohesiveness/top-12-factors-influencing-group-cohesiveness/63921] Inter Dependency. Described within the Sinha structure as “when each member of a group has independent activities, the cohesiveness among the members of such group will be less”[footnoteRef:13]. To explain this the payroll team do have individual activities that are assigned to them to compete; during this time the cohesiveness can be less as they are all focused on their own tasks however as the team are doing tasks as a group - such as chasing invoices or the running of the payroll - there is a lot more cohesiveness. [13: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/group-cohesiveness/top-12-factors-influencing-group-cohesiveness/63921] Management Behaviour. This can be interpreted as “the manager can make close relations difficult by creating unhealthy competition among employees. On the other hand, he can build solidarity by rewarding cooperative behaviour”[footnoteRef:14] Within the payroll team, they are rewarded for targets that are met. Targets are set out for a team and not individuals, however in the payroll team the team decided to split the target into payroll sectors, not only to create a little enthusiasm and inter-personal competition between them, but there is no reward for the individual person but done to ensure the team hit their target. [14: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/group-cohesiveness/top-12-factors-influencing-group-cohesiveness/63921] Another aspect of Sinha’s approach is Previous Successes and shared goals. This can be explained as “When a group achieves a meaningful goal, the cohesiveness of the group increases because the success is shared by all the members and each one feels responsible for the achievement”[footnoteRef:15] to put this into context the payroll team had been working on a collective goal which will activate their summer incentive. By putting goals in place, it helps to recognise good work, and team members feel like they done something to achieve the award. It is the same with the week to week goals of running payroll, every team at Orion feels a sense of achievement once the payroll is done as they all had a part to play from gathering new starter information to collecting timesheets, then the inputting and running of the payroll. With such a small turnaround time from one payroll to the next the team must work together towards the same goal otherwise it would never be achieved. [15: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/group-cohesiveness/top-12-factors-influencing-group-cohesiveness/63921] Threat. This is explained as “a very powerful force which unifies the group”[footnoteRef:16] to show this the payroll team are always under threat because if the payroll is not ran correctly or people are missed off there is the risk of unhappy employees. Due to this the payroll team have to work closely to ensure they are checking invoices and that timesheets are being inputted onto the system correctly. They also ensure that they all follow the same procedures when registering new limited company’s, to ensure that contractors and employees are all treated the same. [16: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/group-cohesiveness/top-12-factors-influencing-group-cohesiveness/63921] Member Turnover. This is important as “To make a group more cohesive, there is need for some degree of stable relationships among members. The higher the degree of member turnover, the less cohesive a group becomes”[footnoteRef:17]. Demonstrating this, the payroll team is a part of the finance department where the turnover for new members is extremely low, most members have been employed for between 10 to20 years. This can be viewed as a benefit to the team, as members have worked together for a long time, however this can on occasion lead to where there is a new team member it does take quite a while for that team member to feel a part of the team and become a part of the cohesiveness. Also, the existing team members get maintain friendships with team members who have left the company and can find difficulty in accepting the new member. It could be concluded that lower staff turnover can lead to a more cohesive team however only to a certain extent because if there is no movement within the team, it could become hard for the team to adapt and grow, as well as management experiencing difficulty in implementing new systems and ideas. [17: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/group-cohesiveness/top-12-factors-influencing-group-cohesiveness/63921] Team Devolving: In this section a case study by Gina Abubi[footnoteRef:18] to show the 5 different stages of team Developing will be demonstrated and how these are put into practice within the payroll team at Orion. [18: By Gina Abudi, on July 15th, 2009] Firstly, there is Team forming. “The team leader should ensure that all of the members are involved in determining team roles and responsibilities and should work with the team to help them establish how they will work together”[footnoteRef:19] To demonstrate this, when CM put the team together she outlined who has what responsibilities. She would have done this by looking at what the team needed to do, each individuals skill set and capability. Taking all this into account she would then allocate tasks, so that the team can start forming and establish what roles they would all be playing. [19: https://www.ginaabudi.com/the-five-stages-of-team-development-part-i] The Second aspect in Abubi’s case study is Team storming. “As they progress through this stage, with