Quest for survival: What comprises and effective team

The journey to thrive competitively in the millenium will demand teamwork.Historically, corporate America has had difficulty implementing teams to driveperformance. In theory building effective teams seems easy but in reality putting thisknowledge into practice that changes behavior and fosters learning is a difficult challengefor corporations today. Through a series of 13 interviews this study benchmarks both theservice and manufacturing industry to identify the characteristics about what comprisesan effective team in organizations today, how their organizational design impacts teamdevelopment and the different ways that people learn, think about and understand teamsin organizations.Developing a team-based learning organization requires implementing a systemsapproach that focuses on its leadership, cultural environment, process management,change management and knowledge management. Change leaders, continuous learning,constant communication and total commitment throughout the continuum is required tosustain the teaming journey. In an environment of constant change, organizations musthave perseverance and courage to stay on course with the evolution of teams. As a result,they can expect rewards in both their profit margins as well as in creating anorganizational culture that values people.