Question

Elaborate 4 types(problem-solving, self-managed, cross-functional, virtual) of teams with examples.

Answer 1

In today's corporate world, every company believes that rather than a particular individual, a team of personnel will be able to solve an issue or a task. So, the majority of companies are creating employee teams and assigning them projects rather than considering the individual performances. There will be a team head for all the teams and even though the team's performance will be considered, individual employee's performance will be understood from this teamwork. A team can be understood as a group of peoples with same competency skills and professional knowledge put together for completing certain tasks.

In the above question, four main different types of teams are mentioned:- problem-solving, self-managed, cross-functional, virtual.

Problem - Solving Team:-

As the name suggests, its the team created for solving any particular problem. Once the problem/issue is solved then the team will be dissolved. For. Eg:- at present to eradicate Corona Virus, a special team of health practitioners and government officials are deputed in various nooks and corners of the globe. Their main task will be identifying new cases, taking care of already affected patients and to spread awareness of spreading the disease anymore. As we all are expecting, once the issue is solved these particular teams may be dissolved or they may be assigned with any other duties.

Self-managed Team:-

Under this category, a team is formed with all individuals of an organization working together for achieving a common goal. Here there will be no boss or team member level designations. All are considered as their own bosses and they have to work hard to get success. Since there is no boss/leader - subordinate/team member designation, all employees will be highly motivated and will do their maximum to achieve the goal. All the workers will be feeling ownership of the work and the company. But since there is an absence of hierarchical authority, this may result in affecting the internal relationship among the employees, for e.g if one task is not achieved properly or a self-managed team members didn't work together to get the expected result, this may end in blaming each other and thus the personal relationship will be affected and thus the creative thinking might be affected. If any authority is there to report or seek assistance this may lead employees in the right direction rather than the peer support.

Cross-functional Team:-

Here as the name suggests, its the interaction with other departmental teams for achieving a particular goal. For eg:- for a promotional campaign of a new product in the market all the departments such as production, marketing, sales, human resource, and senior management team has to be discussed and take a final call on the product launch, its design works, etc shall be discussed and finalized among these teams together then only the final product shall be done and it can be launched in the market. All the activities shall be done with effective internal communications and this will reflect in the company's goodwill. In this team area to be concentrate is to communicate - either verbally or written, effectively in a timely manner.

Virtual Team:-

A virtual team is the team that works or helps another team or department digitally than any other pattern of communication. For Eg:- a virtual team will be doing all necessary arrangements for video conferencing or webinars and if there is any issue in between they will be contacted and they can resolve the issue digitally. Nowadays many are considering working as someone's virtual assistant as an earning platform too.

Even though there are different types of teams and theories, a company should concentrate only that while creating a time, always trying to select a group of people with the same functional ability and skills so that the designed goals shall be achieved.

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