Effective Business Groups

Effective Business Groups The Structure of Groups & Teams By: Charles McArthur Bridget McShane Angelique McDonald Melissa Mealey BS110: Business Communications

Introduction This dynamic team has been brought together for the collective goal of learning how teams and other groups of people work together within different organizations. Our research has been focused on how teams are formed and for what purposes. We learned that different organizations utilize their teams for a variety of reason. The purpose of teamwork is to collaborate on a project in order to obtain successful results. We learned that organizations take different approaches to forming teams and use different techniques to accomplish goals. We have collected data from different types of organizations • Financial Institutions • Manufacturing Facilities • Nursing Facilities • Transitional Homes

Businesses and Contacts

Interview Questions • Who is in charge of organizing, putting together teams? • Do you use employee surveys to determine needs for new committees or interests/skills that employees have that would be useful for the teams? • How do you select the members of different teams? • How many people usually form the team? • What characteristics do you look for when establishing an effective team? • What are some of the roles that your team members do? • How do you determine what roles each of the team members will play? • What is the best way to distribute parts of the project equally to team members? • What is the primary communication tool that you use in the team? Phone? Memos? Online Messaging? Meetings? • How often does the team meet? • How is conflict controlled in a group? • a. What are some of the steps you follow to keep team members focused on projects? • Assuming the objectives will cost money, how do you decide on budgets for teams? • How has the business grown with all the team members in play?

Gate City Bank Norm Clark (Branch Manager)

Gate City Bank • Department Managers organize effective teams. • Surveys are very effective when determining characteristics. • General Leadership, demonstrating global thinking (Outside the Box), Interests, and Areas of Strengths are all used to select members. • Groups are formed in five to ten members. • Roles include: Gathering Information, Coordination of meetings, Coordination of surveys, Summarizing Information, and a chairperson to present to Sr. Management and the Board of Directors. • Most members will volunteer for a specific roles. • Chairperson will make sure workload is dispersed equally to each member of the group. • E-mail is the primary source of communication. Conference calls and face to face meetings are secondary to e-mails. • Group members are to meet weekly until project is done. • Chairperson will use an opened end discussion to state each side to resolve conflict. • Follow up phone calls, and communication within the group helps know where the project is at toward the deadline. • Groups will determine costs and then presented to Sr. Management or Chief Financial Advisor. • Members get a sense of pride and accomplishment when the project is done and increases the growth of the business.

St. stephen bank Heather Roe (Branch Manager)

St. Stephens Bank • The President, Vice President, or Sr. Management are in charge of organizing groups. • Surveys are the back bone of the business. Surveys will provide feedback on changes that need to be made or the level of service that is provided. • Each member is selected as a VIP (Very Important Person). Strengths/Weaknesses, work experience, education, and an outlook on life. • Groups are formed in four to five members. • Characteristics include: Practical, Visionary, Optimistic, Interpersonal Relationship Driven, and Responsibilities. • Roles include: Tasks, Training, Development, Communications, Processes, and Efficiencies. • Each member volunteers for a piece of the project. • Projects are delegated to each member of the group. • Communication is used face to face or by phone. • Groups meet on a weekly basis. • Conflicts are resolved by working with individuals directly. • Communicating on the progress of the project and if it is on schedule to make deadlines. • Hard work and dedication of a group member contributes to the growth of the business.

Guardian Angels Care Center Margie Rogers (Activities Director)

Guardian Angels Care Center • Teams are assembled by the Activities Director and the Director of Volunteer Services. • Survey results from staff members and residents and their families are compiled and reviewed to determine what teams provide the most positive results. • Members are selected by individual interests and talents. • Teams are made up of 3 to 4 members consisting of at least one staff member and selected volunteers. • Experienced staff members will work with new volunteers, staff members with less experience will be paired with volunteers who have worked on similar projects. • The structure of each team is made up of one leader who coordinates activities and assigns tasks to other members. • The role of each team member is matched with their talent and experience. • The best way to distribute the work on each team is to have a working relationship with each member and understand their abilities and willingness to contribute.

Guardian Angels Care Center • The primary communication with teams in this organization is onsite meetings, posted monthly calendars and phone calls • Meetings are held weekly for team leaders and available team members, it is the duty of the team leader to communicate new information to their teams. • Conflict is unusual within the teams, leaders keep communication lines open and each member is selected based on activities they want to be a part of. • All budgets are set by the activities director and approved by bookkeeping. Most activities are taken from the activities fund which consists of donations and fund raisers. • There is little turnover, the volunteer pool is vast and surveys show that residents and their families are pleased with the results. • Our activities have a positive effect on our residents, the community and our team members.

Huot Manufacturing John Huot (President)

Huot Manufacturing • Huot is family owned and the CEO and myself organize teams for group presentations • We use a suggestion box for our employees to help come up with new ideas and projects • Our teams usually consist of the head supervisor from each of our departments (Production Supervisor, Shipping Supervisor and so on) • Teams consist of three to five people plus myself and the CEO • Team members are chosen by how available they are and who will work most efficiently on a certain project • Team members collect data from our customers to see what products they like and what is working well or not for them • Because teams consist of the same people each time the members know how to work with each other and know what they need to get down for the project • Meetings are the prime communication tool, we all work in the same building so it’s very easy for us to work together • If conflict arises it is dealt with immediately by discussing the problem and coming up with a solution • Our company continues to do well because the employees know their jobs and how to do them well

The path Mike Laidlaw(Pastor, Director)

The Path • Mike Laidlaw is the Pastor and responsible in organizing the business and the teams. • They use surveys to determine what they should change and that would be useful for all. • In selecting team members each team switch duties. • Five to Ten people usually form the team. • Characteristics they look for would be how well they do the job. • Some of the roles the team members do would be cook, wash dishes, sweep floors, wash floors. • On roles for which team members do is decided in a meeting. • To distribute parts of the projects equally , we all get together and assign each member a project to do. • Primary communication is meetings. • Once a week the team meets. • Conflict is controlled by we all sit down and talk about it, if projects are not met we let the state know. • The budget is set by the state. • The business has been great with the help of our teams.

Helping Hands • To maintain a business it involves teams and the roles they play. • It takes up to 5 members to a team. • With helping hands and teamwork we will all have a place to go. • No matter how you communicate, it matters how you present the presentation and how well it is delivered.

Summary/Discussion/Analysis • The nursing home and The Path use groups/teams to organize events or coordinate duties for different activities, whereas banks and manufacturing use them to solve problems or develop plans. • We have noticed that organizations use a minimum of five members to 15 members when constructing a group or team. • Weekly meetings seem to be a pattern with all of the organizations we interviewed. Phone communication is also a norm. • Interesting how there was only one financial intuition that uses email or other electronic forms of communication. • Surveys or suggestion boxes were used in some form with all the companies - gathering feedback is essential for understanding the needs of employees and clients.

Summary/Discussion/Analysis • Taking great care in selecting members for groups who possess the skills, desire or drive to complete a task is a key factor with each of the organizations. • When conflict arises, it is immediately addressed within the group or with a manager that organized the project. • Groups are successful when members know their roles and communicate to meet deadlines. • Forming a team or group may lighten workloads in any organization.

Summary/Discussion/Analysis • Group project are made to increase productivity and reduced expenses. • Members tend to work better with other members that have established work relationships. • Incentive plans are a bonus for completing a project or meeting deadlines. • Businesses must show a clear direction for every group or team project.

Conclusion Communications is the backbone of any group or team in an organization. Businesses put groups or teams together to achieve a certain goal and bring out talents of their employees. Financial Institutions, Manufacturing Facilities, Nursing Facilities, and Transitional Homes use some of the same concepts. Each of these business use group or team projects in their own specific way in order to be successful. Members of these groups or teams have the ability to come up with solutions for problems and tasks in the workplace. Some of the other benefits include better decisions, faster responses, increase productivity, improve morale and of course reducing risk. Although there are many benefits to organizing groups and teams there are also disadvantages. Conflict can arise and provide a challenge in the project. The ability to work through problems in a group makes the members and project more valuable. This project has helped prepare us for what a business is expected and to live by their mission statement. Learning different styles of communications and the hard work that is put into groups or teams will get us ready for our own careers .

Effective Business Groups