Team Structures & Work Team Processes

In the last byte, we looked at how the context of team has evolved over time. In today's byte, we look at the importance of work team structures and work team processes.

In the new context of work environment, it is increasingly important for the management to look at both the structure and processes when considering the effectiveness of work teams. The issues addressed by these two dimensions are listed below:

The structural issues deal with the team's - goals and objectives, operating guidelines, performance measures, role specifications etc
The work team processes deals with the issues of managing of cooperative behavior and also the competitive behavior. We deal about these in the next byte.

The work team's goals and objectives would help specify what is intended to be achieved by the work team, while the operating guidelines help put a boundary for the organizational activity and the decision making.
The work team would also like to know how it is being assessed and thus the performance measures that helps the team members decide what tasks they intend to accomplish. The work team structures would require a clear specified set of role for the executives and managers who overlook the working of the team - this helps these team leaders exercise influence over team members.