Teams make five contributions; creativity, quality, speed, productivity, and employee satisfaction (Daft, 2021). These five contributions should lead to higher organizational performance and greater competitive advantage.
Teams should be composed of people from different backgrounds, leading to greater creativity. Managers influence this by leading the formation of their team. Managers should work to build a unique and diverse team. Teams contribute to quality as individual contributors are responsible for the tactical actions. Managers train their employees, creating an expectation of quality standards. They also improve quality by checking a product or service to verify that it meets expectations.
Teams contribute to speed based on how efficiently they operate as a unit. A manager should place their employees in a position to respond to tasks quickly. In my role as an analyst, my ability to complete tasks begins with my manager assigning my task via JIRA. We have had multiple conversations about timing expectations, directly impacting the speed at which my team operates.
Teams contribute to higher productivity through working together in order to improve all operations that they are responsible for. A manager should create an environment where employees are comfortable innovating upon business operations.
Teams also contribute to employee satisfaction, which leads to the success of the entire organization. A manager creates opportunities for their team to feel valued and engaged. My department created a “Fun Committee” that has the responsibility of developing events like cooking, trivia, etc. This is possible due to the support of our manager.
Erik Angus 