Working Teams

Learning Teams in academics or the workplace can be challenging and rewarding at the same time. One mutual goal that the classmates need to share is making the team successful in the classroom. As the Learning Teams work together the classmates can experience the challenging issues that they could experience in the workplace. Learning Teams will also provide the ability to express their ideas before presenting them to the rest of class. For the classmates to create a highly successful team, the students must be willing to work in the team. Learning teams provide the important tool of management that will gain better communication between the employees and the management team. The rewards and benefits of working in a team can only be seen by the ones that are committed to the team. One article states, "The main point here is that calling a team a team does not make it a team! Teambuilding must become a way of life Ð'- a behavior change on the part of management and its employees" (Temme & Katzel, 1995, p.112).

Learning Teams can create a learning environment that classmates will share the practical issues that take place in the workplace. Classmates can share different ideas that would not come to mind if working as an individual. In Learning Teams the classmates can share what they have learned in the classroom or workplace as they gain new knowledge. In academic Learning Teams a person will learn firsthand on how to work for a company that requires their employees to work in a team environment. Reports show that the person who learned in Learning Teams will likely be a leader of a team in the workplace (Scarnati, 2001). That employee will be knowledgeable in knowing how a team works, why a team must work together, and what must be done to complete the task (Scarnati, 2001). These are skills that the employers are looking for.

What exactly is a team? Are the individuals a group or a team? What is the difference? A team is more than a group; a team is made up of individuals who focus on the same goals (Scarnati, 2001). A group is a number of individuals who interact in someway. For an example, all the classmates in the newsgroups interact by responding to posts and the teams are responding in way that works towards a goal that is set by the individuals in the team. Even though a person is in a team does not that his or her individuality is taken away. A person's individuality is what makes the team unique and work successfully. Each individual who brings something different to the team makes that team stronger. A team does not need to be made up of individuals who have everything in common. With that being said there will be conflicts and that is normal.

Conflicts are a part of Learning Teams, how the team handles the conflicts is were the team can grow stronger or weaker. Many conflicts will arise when working in a team setting. Some problems can occur such as a member not fulfilling their commitment as much as the other members, a team may have a procrastinator, or have a team member that only work enough to get by (DeJanasz, 2001). Miscommunication can be a big conflict within a team. A team being organized and communicating regularly will usually solve this problem. When dealing with conflicts the members have to treat the other members with respect in any situation. Conflicts must be handled right away to keep the problem from getting bigger. When working out the conflicts in teams correctly the benefits will seem greater.

One of the many benefits of working in a team is that the biggest job can seem smaller with all the team members working together. When working in a team on a big job the problem solving issues become easier and the team will have higher quality decisions (DeJanasz, 2001). One member of the team may see an issue one way until another team member points out a different issue. Working in a team the individuals will also improve their communication skills. Learning Teams evolve

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