Team Management: Definition and Concept

Team management refers to the practices that helps bind the team together.

Team Management: Features

Team management is the ability of an individual or an organization to administer and coordinate a group of individuals to perform a task. Team management involves teamwork: communication, objective setting and performance appraisals.

• Have the Right Team Leader. A skillful leader helps the team maintain its focus on major issues. S/he enhances communication in order to be sure that all the possible solutions are being heard.

• Have the Right Team Goals. Team goals are derived from critical problems that the organization faces which could influence whether the business will exist in ten or twenty years.

• The Right Plan of Action. Without a clear action plan the wishes of the team may never be completely implemented.

• Communication. Ongoing communication is important after meetings as well as during team meetings.

• Regular Evaluation of the team’s Performance. Stepping back and asking, “Could we do our team work better?” is a good start toward evaluating your team’s performance.

• Celebration of Successes. It is important that you all step back from time to time and acknowledge your progress and celebrate your successes, both small and large.

Assignments and Projects

Question: BSBLED401 Develop Teams & Individuals (for students in Australia)
This assessment consists of several questions and is designed to assess your skills and knowledge of developing teams and individuals/

You are required to respond to each question correctly and in accordance with the instructions given
Students should provide typed responses and may use various sources of information including textbooks, learning workbooks, other documents and the internet Students must list their sources
To demonstrate your competency in this unit you must successfully complete both theory and practical assessment tasks
The practical assessments will be conducted at a date and place to be advised by your Trainer/Assessor
All questions must be answered correctly for each assessment task to be completed satisfactorily
There is no restriction on the length of the question responses, or time restriction in completing the assessment, unless specified
You must complete all questions unassisted by the assessor or other personnel, but may refer to reference material as needed

1. How to identify learning and development needs in an organisation?
2. What are the key steps involved in collaboratively developing a learning plan to meet training and development needs?
3. List three -3- methods you could use to encourage staff to self-evaluate their performance
4. How to collect feedback on performance of team members from relevant sources and compare it with established team learning needs?
5. a- How to identify career paths and competency standards relevant to the industry?
   b- How would you match development program goals with the specific knowledge and skill requirements of competency standards relevant to the industry?
6. What are the main learning delivery methods that might be appropriate to three different learning styles?
7. Briefly explain the following terms, provide an example of each method and identify where, how, when each could be incorporated into the team member’s workday-a- Coachingb- Mentoring
8. Give two examples of how you might create development opportunities for staff to improve their competencies
9. How would you identify and approve the following required for learning activities in accordance with organisational requirements? a- Resources b- Time lines
10. What would you do if a team member came back from a training course and said that it was a complete waste of time and money? Provide three -3- suggestions
11. How do you evaluate the effectiveness of a development program?
12. How might you modify a learning plan? Provide three -3- suggestions
13. a- What documentation should be completed when training has occurred?
    b- Where should it be kept?

Assessment 2 Practical Demonstration

This practical demonstration is in 3 parts.

• You will need to complete all tasks correctly and in accordance with the instructions given
• Your assessor needs to see demonstrated evidence of your performance
• Observations will take place in a simulated work environment- Your assessor will provide guidance as to how these observations will take place
• If the activities below are not appropriate for you, please discuss this with your assessor who may provide alternate activities that will allow you to provide evidence for this practical assessment
• Your assessor will document any alternate activities that you undertake.

For this assessment, students are required to review the training needs of an individual in a work team, and develop professional development programs that meet the needs of the organisational performance objective.

Instructions: You are to undertake a case study project including two short role plays where you will play the part of the team leader and your assessor will play one of your staff members. The details are below: Use the list below to provide you with guidance on how you should respond to Oscar in the role play- Your assessor will want to see that you:-

• Systematically identify and implement learning opportunities for the team in general and Oscar in particular
• Collect feedback on team performance and Oscar’s performance- Give Oscar feedback from stakeholders to encourage his team participation
• Collaboratively develop a learning plan to match his skill needs
• Provide Oscar with mentoring and coaching assistance
• Monitor and review Oscar’s workplace learning

Unit Assessment – Read the situation information below, note the activities you are required to do in the section ‘Participate in role play’ and work out your approach- You may wish to make some notes for yourself to act as a guide- – You have 10-15 minutes for the role play.

The situation Case study

I Robot You are the leader of the software engineering team for the I Robot Automation and Robotics Company- I Robot specialises in the design and manufacture of custom-built automation machines and robotic systems- Its engineers and project managers have up to 20 years experience in their fields and have installed over 50 systems including 12 robotic cells-The majority of these projects were full turnkey systems, developed from concept incorporating mechanical and electrical design and software development by I Robot’s engineers- I Robot: Mission Statement Our mission at I Robot is to embrace technology and provide our customers with automation solutions that give them a competitive edge by:- Increasing their productivity- Increasing product quality- Reducing production costsTo achieve this, we will:- Work closely with our customer to fully appreciate their requirements- Use proven technologies to derive a custom-tailored automation solution- Demonstrate the benefits of the proposed concept and develop the customer’s trust- Turn the concept into a reliable thoroughly engineered system- Carry out risk analysis to ensure that the system conforms to the relevant standards- Fully test all equipment before we deliver and install on time- Provide on-going technical support to ensure a smooth transition for the customerTeam member profileOscar is the star of I Robot’s software engineering team- He consistently and seemingly effortlessly outperforms everyone else on the team-Oscar is highly intelligent, extremely focused, understands the technology at a very deep conceptual level as well as a detailed practical level and is innovative in his approach to solving problems- Although polite, well-mannered and popular with other team members, he is introverted and somewhat solitary-You are keen for Oscar to take on more of a leadership role within the team- If the rest of the team could get the benefit of his skills and approach, you are confident that productivity and creativity would skyrocket- When you have put this proposition to Oscar in the past he has been polite and agreeable- Subsequently, if other team members seek his advice he has been happy to provide it- But he doesn’t speak much at team meetings and has shown a clear preference to focus solely on doing his own work in his characteristically fast and elegant manner- You have decided to make it a priority to help Oscar realise his potential as a leader within the team

This assessment involves two short role plays, one in Part 2 and the second in Part 3 of this assessment.

Instructions for the role plays:

• Your assessor will play the role of Oscar
• You are to play the role of Oscar’s supervisor
• You will have 15 minutes to complete each role play Part 1

Your first task is to help Oscar self-evaluate his current skills and performance while taking into consideration the team’s needs-Next, you will collect feedback on his performance from other relevant sources, and sit down with him to identify which areas to focus on for his skills development.

1. Construct a self-evaluation formTo guide Oscar’s self-assessment against his professional development needs, you are going to construct a self-assessment form- This is the prelude to a face-to-face interview between the two of you- You need to:
   a- Include appropriate details in the form e-g- -title, name of respondent, purpose
   b- Construct a format that summarises Oscar’s daily duties and provides space for him to rate the level of his skills
   c- Create a section for Oscar to record any other areas where he feels a professional development program would be advantageous.
2. Collect feedback on the group’s training and development needsYour next task is to collect information on group training and development needs from team members, peers and clients. You need to create a Feedback Form to collect relevant information-It should include:
   a- Title, purpose of the form, space for name, date and the person’s title/job/position
   b- Subject areas and key skills on which you are seeking feedback.
3. Compare feedback on performance with established team learning needsThe feedback from Oscar, clients and teammates revealed the following information. In general, the team is performing solidly but there is an opportunity to perform even better if Oscar’s skills and influence could be more effectively deployed. Clients love Oscar and generally regard him as a gifted problem solver. His teammates likewise regard him as an unusually skilled software engineer. Team mates have indicated that they wish he would take more of a leadership and teaching role within the group. Oscar can become impatient and frustrated with what he sees as ‘administrivia’ and on occasion lets his paperwork get behind. He often looks bored during team meetings. He is somewhat conflict averse and noise sensitive and shows a tendency to withdraw if things become too lively.

You will need to:

1. Use the information revealed by this process to identify Oscar’s skill needs
2. Identify a learning program which encompasses both formal and workplace learning opportunities for Oscar
3. Identify resources and timelines for Oscar’s learning and development program-

You will need to submit the following:

• A written employee self-evaluation form
• A written client/teammate feedback form
• An evaluation report which identifies areas for development and means for achieving that development

Part 2 After collecting the information and discussing professional development needs at a meeting with Oscar, you have both agreed that he needs to upgrade his communication, influencing and leadership skills- You and Oscar will conduct a review of progress in three months, to monitor the progress of the development program and the extent of any additional development support- You are to identify a combination of training and mentoring that will address Oscar’s development needs and assist him to play a more significant role in the team.

You will need to:

1. Meet with Oscar and discuss how the program should operate to best meet his needs- Decide in consultation with him on a suitable combination of learning delivery techniques, including a specific training course and onsite mentoring to be delivered by you
2. Provide a brief written explanation of why you have chosen this course
3. Create a questionnaire that can be used by Oscar to evaluate and assess the course- You will use this feedback to evaluate the worth of the course to Oscar and your organisation and thus decide whether to book this course again

Part 3 Review of progress

Three months have passed. Oscar has completed his course and received the benefit of your onsite coaching and mentoring. You are to have a meeting with Oscar to review his progress and you have made the following notes summarising progress and issues. There has been a noticeable improvement in Oscar’s preparedness to engage proactively with other team members. But he is making less progress with his noise sensitivity and conflict aversion- He is also still a little reluctant to speak up at team meetings.

Meet with Oscar again to discuss progress and decide on a future course of action. Provide a report:

• a- Commenting on Oscar’s progress in achieving the objectives of his development program
• b- Assessing the outcome of the program, and the extent of additional support required
• c- Outlining how you could provide additional support in the workplace to help Oscar at this stage

Participate in the role play with your assessor

• Use the list below to provide you with guidance on how you should respond to Oscar in the role play
• Your assessor will want to see that you can:- Systematically identify and implement learning opportunities for Oscar
• Collect feedback on Oscar’s performance
• Give Oscar feedback from stakeholders to encourage his team participation
• Collaboratively develop a learning plan to match his skill needs
• Provide Oscar with mentoring and coaching assistance- Monitor and review Oscar’s workplace learning

Question: How would you advise a firm on effectively managing virtual teams? Your answer should focus on assessing the challenges of managing teams working remotely on collaborative projects.