HRM345- Unit 1 Discussion Board 2

Diversity in Teams

Organizations use different types of teams. Diversity in teams can mean everything from skill sets to ethnicity. Matching the right team structure to the needs of the organization takes understanding of the function of that team structure.

Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 400–600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation of future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

Respond to the following:

• Explain at least 3 different types of work teams.

• What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of each one?

• Of the work teams you have chosen, is one type better than the others? Explain why.

Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with at least a 100-word reply about their Primary Task Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following questions:

• Do you agree or disagree with his or her conclusion about the best type of work team?

• What did you learn from your classmate's posting?

• What additional questions do you have after reading the posting?

• What clarification do you need regarding the posting?

• What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates' postings?

There are many different kinds of teams in the workforce functional work teams with this type of team “all the members belong to the same functional area ad respond to a single manager, who is responsible for the entire group, self-managed teams this type of team are a “group of employees who work in an extremely integrated and collaborative way because they don’t have a formal leader, and cross-functional teams is a “group of people who are pulled together from different departments or different types of job functions who are pulled together to deal with a specific product, issue, customer problem, or to improve a particular process this team has a specific goal with an

end date” (Heathfield, 2019).

The advantages of a functional team “is that the dependable level of departmental competence by fully qualified personal this will increase customer satisfaction, the team works well together, and disadvantages would be teams don’t communicate with each other as they may fail because they have no intentionally recognized way of communicating needs and issues to other functional groups” (Gleeson, 2019). The advantages of a self-managed team is “decision making is spread and designated throughout the team, team members manage their own time-keeping, scheduling, and productively, members fill in for each other when there are holidays, or sickness, or when someone is on vacation, decisions are more related to the role because they re taken by people who know the situations and challenges better than anyone else, there’s and increased team spirit within the team members and disadvantages team members ideas may be put on the back burner, team members knuckle down to support others’ ideas, some team members may see it as a step too far and desire more management intervention, and fear-based decisions my inhibit free-thinking and progressive risk-taking” (McPheat, 2019).

The advantages of cross-functional teams “one important advantage of reorganizing corporate structures with cross-functional teams has to do with how employees view their own work and the work of others, organizing into smaller teams promotes team pride, encourages bonding and trust, disadvantages different departments may be missing their most important members since they are now on the cross-functional team” (Gleeson, 2019).

No, the team is better than the other one each team will work together to get their “work done in a timely manner. Teamwork creates members having different ideas, more communication, encouragement with employees to stay on their assigned task, creates a structure for guidance and leadership, created where employees recognize their personal strengths and weaknesses, and cross-training opportunities” (Gaille, 2020).

References:

Gaille, L., (March 17, 2020)., 18 Biggest Advantages and Disadvantages of Teamwork. Retrieved from: https://www.vittana.org/18-biggest-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-teamwork

Gleeson, P., (January 28, 2019)., Cross-Functional Teams. Retrieved from: https://www.smallbusiness.com/strengths-weaknesses-cross-functional-teams-24653.html

Gleeson, P., (January 25, 2019)., Benefits & Disadvantages of a functional organizational structure. Retrieved from: https://www.smaillbusiness.chron.com/benefits-disadvantages-functional-organizational-structuere-11944.html

Heathfield, S., (July 30, 2019)., Understanding different types of workplace teams. Retrieved from: https://www.thebalnacecareers.com/what-is-a-team-1919226

McPheat, S., (January 9, 2019)., The pros & cons of self-managed teams; Are they the panacea of development. Retrieved from: https://www.likedin.com/pulse/pros-cons-self-managed-teams-panacea-development-sean-mcpheat.