Addressing_the_Challenges_of_Groups_and_Teams

Running Head: ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES OF GROUPS AND TEAMS Addressing the Challenges of Groups and Teams University of Phoenix Sharon Dockery Abstract The Addressing the Challenges of Groups and Teams paper discuss the causes of the failure of Mervyns Department Stores. The challenges and benefits that a team may experience are explained. The importance of team building, communication, collaboration, and conflict management are using to develop a training program for team members. The training program describes how the plan can successfully perform in the business and how the plan can assist Mervyns in succeeding instead of failing. Distinctive challenges are addressed in the training program and implemented in this paper. Methods to apply the training program to develop the Mervyns are implemented. The unique challenges the plan can address for the business is described in this paper. Addressing the Challenges of Groups and Teams Mervyns Retail Chain Mervyns was a chain of department stores that sold brand name clothing, footwear, beauty products, jewelry, household goods, furniture, and electronics. Mervyns was successful in the suburban area, and became unsuccessful in the large shopping malls. Founder Mervin Morris created a profitable business in the San Lorenzo village from the 1950s to the 1960s. He abandoned the marketing strategy in order to expand the business. When sales begin to decrease, Morris sold the business to Target Corporation whom placed the stores in the large shopping malls. As the business continued to fall short, Sun Capital Partners, Cerberus Capital Management, and Lubert-Adler acquired the retail chain from Target Corporation. The private investment firms divided the company into two segments, the real estate sector and the retail sector. Mervyns’ real estate sector overcharged the retail sector rent for store space. The firm forcefully took over Mervyns and the company’s real estate assets, which forced the business into bankruptcy. On February 11, 2009, Mervin Morris’ sons declared to buyback the Mervyns’ name and intellectual property including the customer list. They plan to re-launch the business via website that let visitors register for future updates mailing list. In order to design a more productive company, management should try to select individuals with the interpersonal skills to be effective team players, provide training to develop teamwork skills, and reward individuals for cooperative efforts could to the success of the business (Robbins & Judge, 2007). The purpose of this paper is to develop a training program to increase the effectiveness of the employees working in teams. A successful training program can improve the team’s relationship and interaction, which can create a high performance team and success to the business. First some of the challenges and benefits the team may experience were identified to determine the type of training the members needed. Then the training program was designed and implemented into the reconstruction of Mervyns. Challenges and Benefits Teams Experience The challenges and benefits teams or groups can experience are creating team players, communicating, collaborating, resolving conflicts, and working with diversity. When these challenges are accomplished, the team obtains the benefits. Overcoming challenges in a team setting can be mutual benefits for the members and the team. The challenges of creating high performance team players can lead to productivity and job satisfaction. When the team members work together, they can collaborate effective. Confronting and resolving conflicts promote understanding. Working with diversity can be difficult but provides opportunities for creativity to the team project. Creating Team Players Creating effective team player includes selecting, training, and rewarding qualified members. Acquiring team members with the necessary skills can ensure the accomplishment of the team goals. Some people have the interpersonal skills to be an effective team player whereas others have to be trained (Robbins & Judge, 2007). Training prepares team members to function and interact effectively within a team setting. Team members can receive rewards for productive teamwork. These rewards can be the interpersonal relationship of the members and the satisfaction of being a part of a successful team (Robbins & Judge, 2007). Group dynamics have an influential impact on creating team players. Team Communication Team communication is the transferring and understanding necessary information among the members to achieve goals and objectives. The lack of communication can constrain or hinder the success of the team performance (Robbins & Judge, 2007). The key purposes of team communication are to control members’ behaviors; to motivate clarity, performance, quality, and improvement of teamwork; to release emotional expressions; and to supply the information needed to perform team assignments (Robbins & Judge, 2007). Team Collaboration Team collaboration is the brainstorming interaction of the members to work together their skills, talents, experience, and knowledge to develop effective teamwork. Collaborating produces strategic processes to achieve the team common goals (Mintzberg, et al., 2003). Team collaboration encourages and motivates communication. When the team is collaborating, they are brainstorming and conveying concepts for the team performance and improvement. These brainstorming ideas can be creative, diverse, and original. Team collaboration focuses on increasing the team ability to work together decision-making and problem-solving concepts. Conflict Management Conflict management is the practice of recognizing and handling a disagreement in a reasonable, impartial, and resourceful way. Effective communication, negotiating, and problem-solving skills are necessary for conflict management. Conflicts are one of the major challenges in working in a team. The members are dealing and coping with diverse attitudes, personalities, and behaviors. Conflict management can help to prevent and resolve conflicts within a team. When a conflict arises, the members have to confront the issue and collaborate on the conflict resolution. In order to help prevent conflicts among the team, the members have to set rules and regulations and the roles and responsibilities of each member. If a conflict surfaces, the members can refer to these rules and regulations. When the members learn how to overcome the different behaviors, they have benefited growth in working with diversity. Implementation of the Training Program to Mervyn’s Department Stores Training Program The training program is designed to perform exercises that provide teamwork satisfaction. Seminars are provided to assist employees to enhance their communication, collaborating, decision-making, conflict resolution, and creative skills (Robbins & Judge, 2007). The training program contains assessments to determine the personality, attitudes, and behavior. How Program will Work and Assist Mervyns to Succeed Businesses depend on teams to improve the company’s quality, productivity, efficiency, and creativity. The possible rewards of teams consist of better employee satisfaction and commitment, quality of products and services, and efficiency and productivity (Yugl, 2006). Successful implementation of the program relies on the leadership. The unique challenges the program address includes training the team members how to revolve the challenges into benefits as a positive impact and how to assist the success of Mervyns. Consequentially, benefits are not achieved automatically but by way of the triumph over the challenges. Conclusion Mervyns’ success depends on the leadership and the workforce performance. Training the workforce to perform effective and efficient can be an advantage for the business. Challenges such as building team players, team communication, team collaboration, and conflict management can be trained to be a benefit. Using these benefits can lead to the success of Mervyns. References Mintzberg, H., Lampel, J., Quin, J.B., & Ghoshal, S. (2003). The strategy process: concepts, contexts, cases (4th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Retrieved July 15, 2009 from: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/ereader.aspx'assetmetaid=f7532244-8d60-4e09-ab22-5af14f863b7c&assetdataid=2e7e736a-794b-489e-b064-e64b2cc9321a Robbins, S.P., & Judge, T.A. (2007). Organizational behavior (12th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Retrieved July 15, 2009 from: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/ereader.aspx'assetmetaid=9c7f2f48-0ce6-44b6-bf88-db0f13bad179&assetdataid=dc0a685c-88bf-4a02-9959-4bbc1ad744d4 Yukl, G., (2006). Leadership in organizations (6th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Retrieved July 15, 2009 from: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/ereader.aspx'assetmetaid=10a67218-7158-465c-b161-a652ff156f6f&assetdataid=605e9d91-57ed-42d7-9b83-a9fc28f81e46