Table of Contents

Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2

Findings..............................................................................................................................................3

What are the roles of formal and informal group in the organization?....................3

Formal Groups..........................................................................................................................4

Informal Group.........................................................................................................................6

What are the factors that lead to the effective teamwork?.......................................11

Analyse the problems in managing a team and find relevant solutions for the problems......................................................................................................................................15

Problem Group 1...................................................................................................................15

Problem Group 2...................................................................................................................16

Problem Group 3...................................................................................................................17

Discuss the latest technologies that can be implemented in a team and elaborate on the impact of technology on team functioning....................................19

Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................23

References......................................................................................................................................24

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Introduction

In today’s organisations, more and more work is carried out by teams and groups

of people working together towards a common objective. Making teams and

groups work effectively is a challenging task for the manager. Bringing

individuals together can slow down and complicate everyday processes and

conflict can make even the simplest task difficult to achieve. In the voluntary

sector, teams can include paid and unpaid workers as well as service users and

people from other organisations.

Team working has benefits, however. It provides a structure and means of

bringing together people with a suitable mix of skills and knowledge. This

encourages the exchange of ideas, creativity, motivation and job satisfaction and

can extend individual roles and learning. In turn, this can improve productivity,

quality and customer focus. It can also encourage employees to be more flexible

and can improve the ability of the organisation to respond to fast-changing

environments. The benefits and difficulties of team working are summarised well

by Mabey et al.:

"A team can … achieve what none of the individuals within it can do alone; with

the right dynamic, a collection of ordinary individuals can achieve extraordinary

feats. But the converse can also occur: a team can fail to achieve what any of its

members could easily accomplish."

(Source: Mabey et al., 1998)

The challenge of learning how to make teams work begins with understanding

what teams and groups are.

(LabSpace, 2013)

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Findings

What are the roles of formal and informal group in the

organization?

Group are a characteristic of all social situations and almost everyone in an

organizations will be a member of one or more groups. The working of groups

and the influence they exert over their membership is an essential feature of

human behavior and of organizational performance. Members of a group must

co-operate in order for work to be carried out, and managers themselves will

work within these groups. People in groups influence each other in many ways

and groups may develop their own hierarchies and leaders. Group pressures can

have a major influence over the behavior of individual members and their work

performance.

(Pathak, 2011)

Group is define as people who works, communicate and interact together

in form of formal or informal group with or within organizations in order to

achieve organizational goals. In an organization, elements of group are

important as they could influence on the organizations with the nature of group

and group behavior. Group were develop when people from the same level or

position in the organization. Each of these type of group may have their own

characteristic, roles and impact in the organizations. As the manager plays an

important roles to the organizations, it could influence on group which is the

backbone of the organizations so that they could complete all the task given.

In my opinion, group is a people gather together whether doing task or

chatting among them. But in organization, group can be form normally when

there is huge task which need to be settle in short time and lots of work force

needed. When people works in a group, automatically, they know what is their

responsibility on finishing the task given. Group can be form from 4 to 5 people

minimum and it is the center of collecting, generating, developing and creating

ideas and finding solutions on the task given or if there is any problem with

working in team, the leader should find solutions so that it will not influence

others. Group is divided into 2 types which is formal group and informal group

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and the following explanation defines on what is formal and informal group

actually.

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Formal Groups

Formal groups are created to achieve specific organisational objectives and are

concerned with the co-ordination of work activities. People are brought together

on the basis of defined roles within the structure of the organisation. The nature

of the tasks to be undertaken is a predominant feature of the formal groups.

Goals are identified by management, and certain rules, relationships and norms

of behaviour established. Formal groups tend to be relatively permanent

although there may be changes in actual membership. However, temporary

formal groups may also be created by management for example, the use of

project teams in a matrix organisation.

(Pathak, 2011)

Based on the scenario, group 1 and group 2 is using formal group. Back to

the topic, there are several people including in formal team such as leader,

recorder, analysts, expert and facilitator. The style of the group leader sets the

style of how the group will operate. This style should be more participative than

directive, as improvement groups often operate on a voluntary basis or where

the work is outside their normal work scope. There also may be no official

reporting line to the leader, who may be a peer or from another area.

A key objective of the leader is to motivate the rest of the team into

having a strong focus on succeeding in their objectives. An active and effective

way to achieve this is by working within the team rather than directing it from

above. An important factor is that the leader should be respected by the team

members, who will be willing to work together with him or her. The leader should

also be clearly enthusiastic about solving the problem by using appropriate tools,

rather than the less structured 'brainstorm and implement' sessions that often

occur. The leader should also have a good understanding of the improvement

process being used and should be able to work closely with the facilitator.

As recorder, the information gathered, minutes of meetings, output from

tool use and communications inside and outside the team forms the 'group

memory' of the team. If this is not recorded and organized, it can result in the

team itself becoming disorganized. The role is to record and gather all the data

and present it in a format which the team can easily understand and reference.

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The key skills for the recorder are a clear and concise writing style and an ability

to organize information for easy access.

For analysts, the measurements made during the project are seldom

directly interpretable, and must be translated into an understandable format

from which decision points may be identified. The analyst's key focus is on the

measurement and interpretation of data to enable these decisions to be made.

The exact skills of the analyst will vary with the type of project, for example

where detailed numerical measures are being made, a mathematical ability may

be needed. Other projects may need an understanding of psychology, for

example where the measurement is of people's opinions.

Furthermore, experts in the team have specialized knowledge, for

example about technical areas or key processes, and act as advisors and

authorities in their field of expertise. It is important in an improvement team to

either have appropriate expertise within the team or to have it readily available.

For example, chicken and egg situation can occur, where an expert is required to

identify a problem, but the appropriate expert cannot be identified until the

problem is known. This can result in the problem being circled, but not

approached. The effect of this on the team is that experts may come and go, or

may stay and become inappropriate people to have on the team.

In the other hand, the facilitator is not an actual team member, but is

closely connected with the team, and especially with the team leader. This

person is an expert in team dynamics and in the improvement process, and thus

acts as an advisor and teacher. The facilitator never owns the problem, but does

have a strong interest in the success of the group.

An effective way of allowing the facilitator to lead the team in specific

activities, yet without undermining the leader's role, is for the leader to describe

the objective and then to introduce the facilitator as someone who will help them

achieve this. The facilitator then takes over, with the clear mandate of helping

the group, whilst the leader sits with the group.

Formal group works can be differentiated into team group, task group and

technological group. In team group, there is a fairly autonomous group with

broad terms of reference and limited supervisions. The team designate the

positions to be filled and the allocation of members, and make the changes as

necessary.

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For the task group, the jobs are defined clearly and individuals assigned to

specific positions. The group has some flexibility over methods of work and the

pace of work, but otherwise limited discretion. As example, it includes many

administrative or clerical workers. In the technological group the members of this

group have very limited autonomy to determine of changing the operational

activities. The pace of work is also likely to be controlled. Content and method of

work are specified and individuals assigned to specific jobs. There is little scope

for individual discretion, and often limited opportunities for interaction among

members. A typical example is people working on assembly line operations.

The purpose of a formal group in the organisation is to ensure its survival.

By organizing the company, leaders or owners expect the company or group to

achieve its targets and objectives. Through this, they hope the organization

becomes success. On a lower level, it allows for staff to know their place, for

there to be a division of labour and for activities to be coordinated within the

organisation.

(Pathak, 2011)

Informal Group

Informal groups are based more on personal relationships and agreement of

groups members than on defined role relationships. They serve to satisfy

psychological and social needs not related necessarily to the tasks to be

undertaken. Groups may devise ways of attempting to satisfy the member

affiliations and other social motivations which are lacing in the work situation,

especially in industrial organisations.

(Pathak, 2011)

Based on the scenario, group 3 is using informal group because it stated

that Muhaimin is a strong informal leader that oversees the productivity level. In

informal group there are some categories included such as the social style, the

work style, the thinking style and the decision making style.

It is natural to consider people’s own opinions and feelings as important,

and many people are largely self-based in their thinking. However, people get on

together by also thinking about others, and a person who is more group-based

will consciously aim to bring the group together as a harmonious whole. People

or employees with strong self-image may tend towards a leadership role, but

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unless they also consider the people in the team and the group as a whole, there

is a danger of them becoming dictatorial, turning the focus away from the

problem and onto personalities. In effective groups, team members feel able to

contribute their own ideas, but also take seriously the thoughts of others and

work towards an agreeable solution. It is an important role of the leader to bring

about this state of constructive cohesion.

In addition, for the work style, some people have a practical work style,

working to plan and taking pleasure in completing actions. Others are more

interested in the reasons behind the actions, and may challenge conventional

approaches. In teams, a balance of both styles is needed, to ensure thoughtful

beginnings and solid completions to team actions.

Then, there is thinking style in informal group. Divergent thinkers are good

at brainstorming and coming up with unusual ideas. Convergent thinkers,

however, are good at judging and selecting items from a large set of possibilities.

Improvement teams often have an equal need for both styles of thinking, for

example where divergent thinking is used to find possible causes, then

convergent thinking is used to select likely key causes to be carried forward for

further investigation.

Furthermore, decision making style also includes in informal group. In

making decisions, a certain amount of personal judgment is required to be

combined with the hard data available to help reach a conclusion. An intuitive

decision maker tends to rely more on feelings and unidentified experience, whilst

a factual decision-maker will seek to increase confidence in a decision by seeking

out and analyzing clear facts.

The member of informal group may appoint their own leader who

exercises authority by the consent of the members themselves. The informal

leader may be chosen as the person who reflects the attitudes and values of the

members helps to resolve conflict leads the groups in satisfying its goals. The

informal leader may often change according to the particular situation facing the

groups. Although not usually the case, it is possible for the informal leader to be

the same person as the formal leader appointed officially by management.

Informal groups can help the organization to work more effectively as a

total system. For instance, they may ease communication between employers

and encourage managers to plan and act carefully. Informal group members can

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encourage bad attitudes, and groups may potentially foster interpersonal and

intrapersonal conflict.

Then, informal group has a powerful influence on the effectiveness of an

organisation, and can even subvert its formal goals. But, the informal group’s

role is not limited to resistance. The impact of the informal group upon the larger

formal group depends on the norms that the informal group sets. So, the

informal group can make the formal organization more effective.

Another positive effect in informal group is the employees are a source of

social needs and affiliation. People like to get connected with co-workers and

colleagues at a personal level. The employees will talk to each other beyond

their jobs, responsibilities and organisational duties. Informal group help them to

fulfill their social affiliation requirements. In addition informal group makes it

possible to receive quick and accurate feedbacks. Either through grapevine

communication or by direct intervention of management, informal group can

provide accurate feedback on many important aspects.

Even though there are many positives impact in informal group but it also

has negative impact by applying this kind of group. In this organisation, people

are under pressure to observe group norms. Sometimes, the employees

assembled in informal group lose sight of their objective and all decide to oppose

their superiors unanimously.

This is clear from the above description that both the types of

organisations have their merits and demerits. On the one hand, formal group is

helpful in attaining the objectives of the organisation very easily, but on the

other hand, the informal group is not less important if used properly. In short,

informal relations among the employees are complementary to formal

relationship. In this context it is said, both formal and informal organisations are

necessary for any group action just as two blades are essential to make the

organisation success and workable.

(Pathak, 2011)

Group Benefits Weaknesses

Formal - Systematic working.

- Achievement of organizational

objectives.

- Delay in actions.

- Ignores social needs of

employees.

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- No overlapping of work.

- Co-ordination

- Creation of chain of command.

- More emphasis on work.

- Emphasis on work only.

Informal - Fast communication.

- Fulfills social needs.

- Correct feedback.

- Spread rumors.

- No systematic working.

- May bring negative

results.

- More emphasis to

individual interests.

Figure 1.0 : Benefits and Weakness of Formal and Informal Group. Sources :

(Pujari, 2013)

Based on the Figure 1.0, it shows on the impact in which could influence on the

business performance. Thus, the following explanation describe on the benefits

and weaknesses of the formal group.

Benefits of formal group is :

o Systematic Working

Formal organisation structure results in systematic and smooth functioning

of an organization.

o Achievement of Organizational Objectives

Formal organisational structure is established to achieve organizational

objectives.

o No Overlapping of Work

In formal organisation structure work is systematically divided among

various departments and employees. So there is no chance of duplication

or overlapping of work.

o Co-ordination

Formal organisational structure results in coordinating the activities of

various departments.

o Creation of Chain of Command

Formal organisational structure clearly defines superior subordinate

relationship, i.e., who reports to whom.

o More Emphasis on Work

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Formal organisational structure lays more emphasis on work than

interpersonal relations.

(Pujari, 2013)

Weaknesses of formal group is :

o Delay in Action

While following scalar chain and chain of command actions get delayed in

formal structure.

o Ignores Social Needs of Employees

Formal organisational structure does not give importance to psychological

and social need of employees which may lead to demotivation of

employees.

o Emphasis on Work Only

Formal organisational structure gives importance to work only; it ignores

human relations, creativity, talents, etc.

(Pujari, 2013)

Next, benefits on informal group are :

o Fast Communication

Informal structure does not follow scalar chain so there can be faster

spread of communication.

o Fulfills Social Needs

Informal communication gives due importance to psychological and social

need of employees which motivate the employees.

o Correct Feedback

Through informal structure the top level managers can know the real

feedback of employees on various policies and plans. Strategic Use of

Informal Organisation. Informal organisation can be used to get benefits in

the formal organisation in the following way:

The knowledge of informal group can be used to gather support of

employees and improve their performance.

Through grapevine important information can be transmitted

quickly.

By cooperating with the informal groups the managers can skillfully

take the advantage of both formal and informal organizations.

(Pujari, 2013)

Weaknesses of informal group are :

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Spread Rumors

According to a survey 70% of information spread through informal

organisational structure are rumors which may mislead the employees.

No Systematic Working

Informal structure does not form a structure for smooth working of an

organization.

May Bring Negative Results

If informal organisation opposes the policies and changes of management,

then it becomes very difficult to implement them in organization.

More Emphasis to Individual Interest

(Pujari, 2013)

Informal structure gives more importance to satisfaction of individual interest as

compared to organisational interest. In simple word, both formal and informal

group may influence on the organization performance as long as they have the

same direction which is achieve goals but in different ways.

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What are the factors that lead to the effective teamwork?

Teams are defining as allowing the performance of task that require skills

and time. Encourage by exchange knowledge and ideas, also creating a new

ideas by hitchhiking. The phrase "Two head is better than one" shows that, two

people working together have a better chance in solving problem rather than

one person who are working alone. Team plays an important part of the

organization in order to meet its goal as they making good communication and

solves the problems well and this could make the organizations more effective

and efficient.

In other words, team exists when team members collaborate together in

order to live up their collective accountability for goal achievement. Due to the

outstanding world environment, the importance of managing team has becoming

popular throughout the business world. It is because, when we say about team in

organization, the first impression on team organization is about recognize on

what they do on many things and how did they contributes in types of

performance. In general, organization can describe the team as on recommend

things, run things and make or do things.

From these teams element on recommend things, run things and make or

do things, it automatically could influence the effectiveness a team in an

organization. As the team performance could gives impact toward the

organization, effective teams requires unity which been held by several factors.

In order to understand on how to assemble an efficient team, the first thing that

organization should know is the factors which can lead to the effectiveness of

teamwork. And if the organization already identified and analyze with the

factors, they should know on how to create a productive team environment,

which begin by expecting the positive results from the teams.

On recommend things of the team, its describe as set up to study specific

problems and recommended solutions for them. These teams typically work with

a target completion date and often disband once the purpose that have been

fulfilled. The teams included task force, ad hoc committees, special project

teams, and the like. Members of these teams must be able to learn quickly how

to pool talents, work well together, and accomplish the assigned task.

Teams that run things consists of people with the formal responsibility for

leading organizations and their component parts. They may exist all the levels of

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responsibility, from the individual work unit composed of a CEO and other senior

executives. Key issues addressed by top-management teams, for example,

include identifying overall organizational purposes, goals and values, as well as

crafting strategies and persuading others to support them.

While, teams that make or do things are work units that performed

ongoing tasks such as marketing, sales, system analysis, or manufacturing.

Members of these teams must have effective long-term working relationships

with one another, the right technologies system and operating systems, and the

external support needed to achieve effectiveness over time. They also need

energy to keep up the pace and meet the day-to-day challenges of sustained

high performance.

Based on the scenarios, Group 1 is the best example that shows what a

good teamwork as they work and do activities together. There are many factors

that leads to effective teamwork such as communication skill, give the

compensation to the employees, focus on the company’s goal, good leadership

while a leader setting a good example for the employees and deal with conflict.

Communication skill

One of the key aspects of teamwork is open communication, wherein it

enables the members of the team to express their feelings, express their plans,

share their ideas, and understand each other's viewpoints. Communication in

developing an effective teamwork happens on two levels which is communication

between team members and communication from management to the team.

Encourage open communication among teammates so they can learn how each

other communicates.

Besides, managers should hold regular meetings to keep a team updated

on important information and to offer training for employees. These are the kinds

of tools a team needs from management and the company to be effective. If the

communication skill is at low ranking or poor, measures should be taken to work

around this aspect and they should overcome this problem for effective

communication between the team members.

Compensation for employees

Compensation for employees is essential in order to establish an effective

teamwork. A team work well when the members understand what they will be

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compensated for their efforts. All Business notes it is best to come up with a

compensation plan before assembling the team. When people have their

compensation expectations laid out before they sign an agreement to join the

team, compensation can be removed as an obstacle to effective teamwork. If all

team members feel they are being compensated fairly, that can help lead to

maximum productivity. The employees will be more motivated and efficient in

doing their work. So, the effective teamwork could be established.

Focusing on goals

In order to have an effective teamwork, that common goal needs to be

spelled out in advance and understood by team members. It is to assist a team

to achieve success is focusing on the team goals. For example, put the goals in

writing so everyone can see and understand what the objectives of the team are

and help to work toward accomplishing them. This factor may lead to effective

teamwork in an organisation.

For example in Cola-Cola company, they really focusing on goals to make

it success. The Chairman of Cola-Cola says in their journey to become a

sustainable, profitable growth company, their management structure has

evolved to sharpen external focus on the marketplace with greater speed,

productivity and effectiveness. So, by focusing on the goals, in the meantime the

company could establish an effective teamwork.

Good leadership

One of the most important aspects of teamwork is leadership. This means

that the team leader should have the skills to create and maintain a working

culture that is positive, which in turn will help to motivate. This helps to motivate

and even inspire the team members to get involved in creating an environment

where there is a positive approach to work, along with high levels of

commitment. A good team leader is a person who not only focuses their selves

on the purpose and direction of the team, but also makes sure that the other

members of the team share this focus. A good team leader also has to be able to

promote a high level of morale amongst the team members so that they feel

supported and valued.

An example of a good leadership from one company is Sara Lee

Corporation. In Sara Lee Corporation, the managers applied democratic

participative leadership style. The employees have the right to make any

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suggestion or recommendation in a team but the decision making will be made

by the leaders or managers. The leaders and managers not only focus their

selves on the purpose and direction of the team. Then, the leaders or managers

will informed about everything that affects their work, shares decision making

and problem solving responsibilities. Here, it shows the leaders or managers in

Sara Lee Corporation have good leadership and this will generate for an effective

teamwork.

Setting good example

Teamwork can only come about when the team leader sets a good

example, which can be emulated by the team members. In order to keep the

team committed, positive, and motivated, the team leader has to have all these

qualities and make it apparent that they do. After all, the team leader is the

person the team looks to for support, direction and guidance, hence, any

cynicism or negativity on their part is picked up by the team and is reflected in

their teamwork. So, even if it means forcing the employees to do so, it is actually

essential to maintain a supportive and positive attitude.

Deal with conflict

Conflict tends to throw a team off of its focus, getting it away from its

goals and objectives. By learning to deal with conflict immediately, a team can

remain effective at all times. Team members should have a way of expressing

their opinions without fear of causing offense to anyone. Direct confrontation can

also be allowed in a moderated manner, so that matters that may have been

simmering and not cleared.

Instead of ignoring and procrastinating these issues, a hands-on approach

that resolves them quickly is better. In fact, it is advisable for the team leader to

sit with the parties in conflict and work out the differences between them,

without taking sides and making sure to remain objective. Eventually, the

conflicts can actually be used as a chance to reveal the problems that may be in

existence within the team or organisation.

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Analyse the problems in managing a team and find relevant

solutions for the problems.

Problem Group 1

Adli’s department produces at or above standard on regular basis. It averages

between 102% to 104% of standard on a monthly basis. Members work well

together and they often go to lunch together. Members productivity levels are all

about the same.

From the above statement, Adli’s department can be seen that they have

no problem at all. The members work together and sometimes do other activities

together. They work efficiently and the productivity is at a good level. There will

be no solutions for Group 1 because they already gives the best they could

without any problems. But they might want add some things that can makes

them manage their time well.

By making a schedule. The team needs to carry a schedule and record all

the team thoughts, the works and activities for each week. This will help the

team understand how much they can get done during the course of a day and

where their precious moments are going. They will see how much time is an

actually spent producing result and how much time is wasted on unproductive

thoughts and actions.

However, there will be ways to maintain a good work and a good team

work between the members. First is the team need to maintain understanding

the goals. As they already been complimented for doing a good work, keep

getting reward, etcetera, they might have been losing focus and started to be

lazy as they already achieve goals since the beginning. So they need to be keep

reminded by the supervisors so that they won’t loss focus. When they

understand the goals, they will divide the task equally that can build better

relationship and teamwork within them. A good environmental will give greater

commitment by the members. If there is anything wrong, they need to work

together that will make the teamwork stronger.

Maintaining communication between the members also can make the

teamwork stronger and better. By keeping an honest, open and respectful

communication, member will feel free to express their thoughts, opinions and

17 | P a g e

potential solutions to problem that occur. This will bring the strong sense of

belonging to the group toward the members.

Another way to maintain good teamwork is by participation of each

member. When each members maintain their participation towards any activities

of the department, any decisions will be high quality one and the outcome of the

activities will be good. If the members keep on maintaining this attitude, the

percentages of monthly basis for this department might increase. With a good

leadership, the team work also will be good.

As an example, Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy service company is

already a good company that have high productivity level. It has 62,000

customers in their area. The leaders is concerning about how to maintain

productivity level when the decided to improve the connectivity of its employees

by migrating 500 end-user from Lotus Notes 7 to version 8.5. So the solutions

that the leader decided is by established relationship with Vitalyst productivity

consultant to assist the end user. By that the hours of end-uder to fully acquaint

themselves were able to do within minutes. The leaders choice of doing

relationship with Vitalyst is a good choice as the Vitalyst makes the impact

towards the productivity levels minimal. Now the IT department is free to do

their own job such as network, critical responsibilities and so on, while the

Piedmont’s end user were give the tools to maintain and even boost their

productivity (Vitalyst, 2013).

Problem Group 2

Emma’s department produces between 95% and 105% on a monthly basis.

However, it usually produces at 100%. The members do not seem to interact too

often. Part of the reasons for standard production level is two employees who

consistently produce at 115%. Emma will be retiring in six months, and both of

them want to fill her position. There are three members who are consistently

produce at 80% to 90% of standards.

From the above statement, from what I can see, Emma’s department have

the problem regarding to the effectiveness of communications among team

members. In this situation, the member’s should be taught about what is actually

effective communication. She need to study more on verbal communication so

that she could communicate with her team members and she could gives the

management information without any hesitation. First, she has to identify why

the three members did not perform like how others are. By using an effective

18 | P a g e

communication channel, the three members can be help on how to increase and

why their performance is not the same level as others.

As for the solution, I suggest to Emma to improve her verbal

communication skills towards others. As when the supervisor started to

communicate with the team members, it might help the team members to

communicate with each other too. Different forms of verbal communications

should be used in different situation. Face-to-face such as group discussion is

easier for Emma to make sure her team members will communicate with each

other and give their thoughts so that the decision making will be better.

Moreover, in face-to-face process, Emma will get instant feedback from the team

members and the way that Emma should do to improve their team work and

interaction. It can create understanding among the team members so there will

no misunderstood among them so that it can make efficient practice.

Next is for the two of the members that giving their best performance

because of want to fill Emma’s position after her retirement. As for them, the

solution that Harith should do is an election for the replacement of Emma. But

Harith should do new rule for the election, which is they will become the replacer

if they can bring the team to achieve higher producing percentages of monthly

basis. This will help them to communicate with other members thus making the

members to communicate with each other too. When other members heard

about the election, they might feel that they wanted to involve the election and

thus bring the percentages higher. The communication level will be high at this

point and thus the team work also will be good.

As an example, “I worked in the summer time so they always had some

type of events going on. The atmosphere was amazing and my learning

environment was the best. It honestly was one of my better internships.

Recording on the radio was also exciting to hear yourself. They really involved

you and it was a great experience” (Clear Channel, 2015). As we can see, a good

communication between the members can give good productivity. The

environment also is one of the impact that can boost you productivity level. The

feeling of welcoming is the main reason members can work together and

improving teamwork and interaction between each other.

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Problem Group 3

Rashid's department achieves between 90% and 92% of standard on a monthly

basis. Muhaimin is a strong informal leader who oversees the productivity level.

He lets members know if they produce too much or too little. Ahmad, is the only

member in the department who reaches production standards. The rest of the

department members do not talk to Ahmad. Sometimes, they intentionally keep

his level of production down. All other department members produce at about

90% of standards.

In order to overcome the problem regarding communication skill and

management skill in this department, I have come out with some solutions. First

of all, Harith should identify and share effective and ineffective behaviours of the

team work of MB Global Sdn. Bhd. This approach focuses on the behaviour of

individual managers and maybe even team members. He should identify the

behaviours that are working, not working, or missing on all levels. Harith as the

manager need to tell Rashid that he needs to lead the department well and not

just giving the job towards Muhaimin, the informal leader. So, Harith should send

Rashid to a leadership camp to build his leadership so that he can manage the

team well.

Rashid should provide solutions and look for alternatives so that his team-

mates will produce more effort and not having conflict. First, Rashid must ensure

that each of his team members must provide with a relevant solution and looking

for alternatives to overcome the problem occurred towards their productivity of

their department. Encourage them to do better to achieve higher monthly basis

not like how Muhaimin did, just making sure the department only achieve what’s

necessary. A little improvement towards the environment and the interaction can

increase their spirit to produce better. Maybe by giving rewards, can make the

team members to increase their productivity more and increase the team work

of the department.

Next, Rashid need to request of transferring Muhaimin to other

department as he oversees the productivity level of Rashid’s department. This a

bad influence for the members as they will started to feel lazy and only produce

to pass the criteria. If Muhaimin been transfer, the bad influence also will be

transfer and disappear.

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Last but not least, Rashid can do a team building camp towards his

members as they seem to lack on teamwork. They left out and feel jealous

towards Ahmad that achieve well in that department and left Ahmad fall down

alone. By doing a team building camp can increase the relationship and

understanding between each of the members.

As an example, “Spritzer is committed in providing a healthy and safe

working environment to our people so as to maximise their performance and

productivity, we strive to continuously improve on this area and our commitment

has been documented in our Employees’ Handbook. Regular social, sporting and

team building activities are carried out by the Sports Club for employees to

encourage communication and to promote family values, health and vitality at

the same time” (Spritzer, 2013). It is stated by the big company, Spritzer itself

that team building is encouraging communication and maximises the

performance and productivity. Team building without no doubt, is the best way

for Group 3.

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Discuss the latest technologies that can be implemented in a

team and elaborate on the impact of technology on team

functioning.

"Technology is define as the purposeful application of information in the design,

production and utilization of goods and services, and in organization of human

activities."

(BusinessDictionary.com, 2007)

Technology is generally divided into five categories, which is :

o Tangible : Blueprints, models, operating manuals, prototypes.

o Intangible : Consultancy, problem-solving, and training methods.

o High : Entirely or almost entirely automated and intelligent technology

that manipulates ever finer matter and ever powerful forces.

o Intermediate : Semi automated partially intelligent technology that

manipulates refined matter and medium level forces.

o Low : Labor-intensive technology that manipulates only coarse or gross

matter and weaker forces.

(BusinessDictionary.com, 2007)

Nowadays, the usage on technology had been increase in order to be

more successful team. Mostly every team in an organisation use technology in

order to make the work more efficient and effective. By the way, the

improvement in technology will give a huge potential to get a better quality team

performance. Majority of successful companies are using e-mail, video

conference, voice mail and more. In addition, using technology also will help the

organization to communicate with others outside the team in the business. The

invention of efficient and constant innovative technologies has seriously affected

teams and teamwork.

Video conferencing are also known one of the information technology that

can be used in a company. It can give benefits to the company because it is easy

to have a meeting with the outside country. By using video conferencing, it can

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improve the communication as well as maintain the good relationship. It is better

than communicate through telephone because you cannot see each other which

it is important of communication to see their reaction. Besides that, it can save a

lot of money since you do not need to travel to other country. For example, if you

from Malaysia and have to attend meeting at Headquarters at New York, USA

which it will cost the company. With this kind of information technology, they can

keep in touch with each other and keep the relationship going stronger.

There also got disadvantages using video conferencing as the information

technology. The major disadvantages of video conferencing is the time zone. For

example, the group members are being form that comes from around the world.

When they have to do a meeting, the time zone from all country are different.

When they do meeting at 3 o’clock in the evening in Malaysia, it different if the

group members that from USA which that time must be at night. So they cannot

do the meeting, since night is the time people to sleep. Besides that, when using

video conferencing the internet must be good. For example, if having a meeting

and then the server problem and it will disturb the meeting.

Nowadays, many companies had used these information technologies in

their business. This technology can make the company easy to communicate

with their employees. The employees can have a positive side view by using the

technology. Even though there is the disadvantages, but the advantages that

have in the both technology using can give more benefits to the company.

Another technology is using email. E-mail can improve communication

because it is easy to conduct and the company can handle their correspondence.

All the paperwork can be restored and revised without having a lot of paper.

Besides that, submitting all the paperwork can be done in a minute. Using e-mail

is easy, it can be delivered instantly and can be delivered everywhere around the

world. Everything can be done faster and the employee do not need to go to post

office to send letter which it will take more time.

For example, when the group need to have a meeting they just have to e-

mail it to their group members. Besides that, when using e-mail you can used

filter which means you can choose which one is the important things. It will save

more time than searching Other than that, e-mail has a high security which

people can be trust on it. Example, if the email of the person is correct, so e-mail

can be sending and received to the person in one second. This is because email

is private and only one person can used the one e-mail name. By using the e-

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mail to send any data to all people in the organization either inside or outside

the country, they will get it in faster time.

E-mail also have their disadvantages, and the common things that always

happen to e-mail is viruses. This happen when other people try to hack your

email and send spam to your email. Most of the viruses can harm your computer

and can destroy all the files in the computer, and this is not good for the

company. For example, when your e-mail is being hacked and send untruth story

to other group members. There will be a fight between the group members, and

the relation among them also can be ruin. Besides that, the employee will not

work together since the relationship among them are ruin.

How can technology impact the team functioning? Here is some explanation on

it.

o Technology Benefits

The main benefits of using technology with teams and groups is that it allows

disparate groups of people with different schedules and locations to more

effectively work together by decreasing project completion times and costs.

Using email, instant messaging video and phone conferencing, e-calendars,

webinars and other technologies, you can eliminate travel time, many scheduling

conflicts and miscommunications.

o Project Management Software

You can enhance your team’s ability to monitor and track a project as it

progresses using project management software. Depending on the program you

select, the software allows you to enter estimating, budgeting, scheduling and

other aspects of the process. Different members of the team can update their

specific areas of the software, allowing everyone to see the changes the project

progresses. These programs often come with a calendar component to help keep

projects on track.

o Telephone

Many people today use their phones to access the Internet, allowing you to

communicate with team members quickly and efficiently. You can send an email

to a team member, ask them to review an attachment or view something online,

then schedule a quick follow-up call to make sure you’re both no the same page.

This allows people to work together regardless of their locations and time zones.

Another way to use the telephone in group work is to schedule conference calls.

If you work from a home office, check with your phone service provider to see if

they offer a conference call feature. At work, you can subscribe to a conference

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call service that allows people to call in and attend the conference, then provides

you with data showing who was in on the call, how long they participated and

when they disconnected.

o Video-conferencing

Another useful tool for group meetings is videoconferencing. Using a variety or

private or public service, such as Skype, you can allow people to see each other

while on a group call. This allows one person to make visual presentations,

sharing charts, product samples and other information. Videoconferencing can

save a company thousands of dollars in travel and accommodations costs, as

well as lost productivity when workers travel.

o Cloud Computing

To allow team members to access and share files from different locations, you

can set up a platform that lets individuals log in to a central repository of data

and documents. The information is hosted on a secure area of the Web only your

group can access with a password.

o Webinars

Another method for holding a group meeting is the webinar, which allows

participants to listen to and follow along with a presentation using their Internet

browser. You can present prepared documents that let participants follow along

and comment. Some webinars allow audio communication, while others provide

real-time text messaging.

o Portable Document Format

You can conveniently share documents with people using portable document

format files. These convert different types of a document to a PDF file, which

most people can easily access and open. This prevents problems among people

who are using different word processing programs, for example. If you set the

PDF file to accept comments, you can allow readers to make corrections and

suggestions on individual pages of the document and send it back to you.

(Ashe-Edmunds, 2012)

From the explanation above, it shows on the positive site of technology

which gives impact to the organization. It shows that the latest technology could

help on increasing the production activity of the organization and this will help

the organization to maintain their performance to be more better in the future.

Somehow, technology also can gives negative impact towards the organization

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as the people nowadays always busy with the technology given. From my

opinion, technology of the moderns world is actually good but some of them will

gives an huge impact as people more gives attention to the technology rather

than communicating.

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Conclusion

Based on the assignment given, I am able to understand the roles of

formal and informal group. I can recognize the positive and negative impact in

the team or a group. I have differentiated between the formal and informal group

and know the existence of formal and informal group.

In addition, I am able to understand the factors that leads for effective

teamwork. Team work is essential that enables individuals in the team to focus

on one main objective. Next, I have came out with the solution to overcome the

problem occurred in the team without complicating the situation. Then, I also can

get the knowledge and information regarding the weaknesses of people and

problem occurs in the company.

All said and done, I am able to understand the function on using

technology in a teamwork. I have came out with the benefits and costs of using

these technologies nowadays. The efficient teamwork is essential for everyone

within the organisation in order to achieve the company’s goal and improve the

productivity.

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References

Ashe-Edmunds, S. (2012, 6 9). How Can Technology Enhance Teamwork & Groups in the Workplace? Retrieved 5 5, 2015, from Chron: http://work.chron.com/can-technology-enhance-teamwork-groups-workplace-1878.html

BusinessDictionary.com. (2007, 1 30). technology. Retrieved 5 5, 2015, from BusinessDictionary.com: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/technology.html#ixzz314cxRqTK

Clear Channel. (2015, 1 15). “A great place to work and gain good communication skills ”. Retrieved 5 5, 2015, from glassdoor: http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Clear-Channel-RVW5707330.htm

Heathfield, S. m. (2009, 7 20). 10 Tips for Better Teamwork. Retrieved 5 5, 2015, from aboutmoney: http://humanresources.about.com/od/teambuilding/f/team_work.htm

LabSpace. (2013, 12 22). Making Teams Work : An Introduction. Retrieved 5 5, 2015, from LabSpace: http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=451868

Pathak, S. R. (2011, 7 3). Group, Formal and Informal Group, Importance of group values and norms, Characetristics of an effective group. Retrieved 5 5, 2015, from Master of Business Administration: http://mbastudymaterial4u.blogspot.com/2011/07/group-formal-and-informal.html

Pauwels, G. (2014, 5 17). What is the difference between formal and informal group? Retrieved 5 5, 2015, from Ask: http://www.ask.com/question/difference-between-formal-and-informal-group

Pujari, S. (2013, 9 17). Formal and Informal Organization: Features, Advantages and Disadvantages. Retrieved 5 5, 2015, from Your Article Library: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/formal-and-informal-organization-features-advantages-and-disadvantages/8654/

Spritzer. (2013). Annual report 2013. Retrieved 5 5, 2015, from Spritzer: http://www.spritzer.com.my/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/SPRITZER_AR_2013.pdf

Vitalyst. (2013, 3 12). Maintaining Productivity Through Lotus Notes Upgrade. Retrieved 5 5, 2015, from Vitalyst: http://www.vitalyst.com/case-study/maintaining-productivity-levels-through-lotus-notes-upgrade/

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