All organizations employ people who have diverse skills and knowledge of running the affairs of an organization. These people form a team under which they carry out activities assigned to them. A team consists of two or more people who may be working together to accomplish the goals and objectives that they aim to achieve in the future. Three conditions show that teams have high levels of good performance: resources and commitment, ownership, and heart and learning. It is believed that carrying out tasks in a team helps in ensuring tasks within an organization are undertaken and enables decision-making to take place that leads to outstanding results in an organization.
The characteristics of effective teamwork include: allowing team members to discuss the objectives of an organization and how to accomplish them, creating a good environment in which activities can be undertaken so that duties and responsibilities within an organization can be carried out effectively. The other characteristic of teamwork is that of giving employees a chance to express themselves freely about how to improve the performance of the organization.
Physicians are employed within healthcare management organizations are expected to undertake duties and responsibilities that ensure that patients are well attended to, and treated for diseases they may be suffering from, prescribed for drugs they should take to prevent and cure their diseases. Teamwork must be embraced in companies as it ensures that duties and responsibilities are shared equally among the staff and according to their areas of specialization as this leads to the effective delivery of services to the patients and customers. Tradeoff refers to the process of ensuring that one loses one aspect or quality to acquire another quality or aspect in return. It is also referred to the process of foregoing one item, property, or product that is made through using the same required resources. An individual puts extra effort in terms of time and money to increase an organization’s output.
According to Anderson Hesford and Young, they stated that teamwork can be enhanced through undertaking the following actions within an organization; ensuring executives communicate to their subordinates in the right manner, recognizing and rewarding of the team members since lone rangers are not valued within a community even though they contribute to the success of an organization. In an organization, teamwork is improved through discussions between members in a group, holding departmental meetings to review projects within an organization that result in good teamwork groups. Members of an organization should be integrated into events like; taking lunches together, sports events, taking diner at restaurants, and participating in hiking and amusement parks can lead to the development of a good teamwork group within an organization (195-211).
Advantages of teamwork
In the healthcare management organization, empowering employees and engaging them in a variety of duties helps them in making proper decisions that later on increase their loyalty. There is improved internal communication, enhanced interpersonal relationships, and bonding between persons working within an organization. Many benefits are realized through external networking, visioning, and fundraising between persons working within an organization.
Teamwork should be encouraged as it leads to better-balanced growth and expansion of programs activities as people share ideas on how they should undertake activities within a healthcare organization (Kotter). The managers in an organization can see relationships of various activities taking place within an organization such as budgeting status, needs of individual programs awareness of progress, and communication needs of persons working within the organizations through undertaking tasks in a team.
Disadvantages of teamwork
There is a delayed decision-making process by the persons involved as they try to reach a consensus on how they should undertake activities within the healthcare organization. It is also costly to gather together all persons within a team since their needs cannot be adequately satisfied (Bryant and Albring). Some team members may be reluctant in giving ideas and suggestions of ensuring tasks are carried out effectively or on improving the performance of an organization. Time may be wasted when trying to come to a consensus on what is beneficial to an organization (241-265).
The establishment of teamwork can lead to the accomplishment of goals and objectives of an organization within the stipulated period. Many advantages are brought out in companies that encourage teamwork among their members. Teamwork in any organization is important as it enables the organization to have a higher competitive advantage over their rival companies in the industry. It is therefore important for the management of organizations to ensure that they encourage their employees in working in teams as this can contribute to successful results for the organization. Healthcare organizations are sensitive institutions as they involve dealing with all kinds of patients, therefore having good teamwork can ensure that they serve them appropriately.
Works Cited
- Anderson, S. W., Hesford, J. W. And Young, S. M… Factors Influencing The Performance of Activity Based Costing Teams: A Field Study Of ABC Model Development Time in the Automobile Industry. Accounting, Organizations and Society 27(3): 2002:195-211.
- Arnold, V., Sutton, S. G., Hayne, S. C. and Smith. A. P. Group decision-making: The Impact of Opportunity-Cost Time Pressure and Group Support Systems. Behavioral Research in Accounting (12) 2000: 69-96.
- Bryant, S. M. and Albring, S. M. Effective Team Building: Guidance for Accounting Educators. Issues in Accounting Education 2006: 241-265
- Donald, Phillips, T. Martin Luther King, Jr. On Leadership. New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1999.
- Kotter, John P. John P. Kotter on What Leaders Really Do. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1999.