Team management refers to the various activities which bind a team together by bringing the team members closer to achieve the set targets. For the team members, their team must be their priority and everything else should take a back seat. They should be very focused on their goals.
Team management is a term referring to a variety of activities which bring a team together to carry them out. This means completing projects or running day-to-day tasks. In any case, the team manager has to delegate activities to the right people equally, help in prioritizing them and discuss any problems that might arise.
The importance of team management for an organization: 5 benefits
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Effective Team Building
One of the benefits of team management is that it promotes teamwork building in the workplace. Having the right person, doing the right job according to their personality traits and educational background is important for the whole team.
When employees complement each other it is easier to avoid gaps in team members’ skill sets and communication.
By fully utilizing the unique abilities of individual employees, the team manager is able to easily delegate projects to team members for maximum efficiency. Which leads to timely project completion and customer satisfaction.
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Productivity Booster
The importance of team management also shows by the increase in employee performance and organizational productivity. It is obvious that one brain cannot bring out the same results a strong team can. Both in terms of time and quality!
When each employee has clear responsibilities and deliverables, they are able to better focus on their tasks.
This is especially true when those responsibilities are closely related to their specialization and level of interest. Working in teams is a creative way of taking advantage of the member’s best qualities to the maximum.
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Promotes Learning
Among the benefits of teamwork for an organization is the opportunity for everyone to learn and explore new perspectives. For example, new employees will surely gain knowledge from more experienced workers in the long run.
Moreover, when different people with various talents cooperate with each other, they get to exchange skills that they didn’t have beforehand.
Teamwork, unlike working alone on a project, allows the members to also discuss new ideas and challenge the old ones. This process, in turn, leads to coming up with solutions that are more efficient for a project’s smooth completion.
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Employee Satisfaction
One equally significant point towards understanding the importance of team management is increased employee satisfaction. When individuals come together to form a strong team, they also learn to rely on each other and thus, bond.
This bonding creates a positive ambiance in the workplace, which is essential for their productivity as well as their psychological well-being.
Good team management aims also at reducing unnecessary conflicts among team members. Improved employee relations is an actually pleasant “side effect” of a well-established sense of trust between them. It’s simple: Teamwork makes employees happier!
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Increased Performance
Inevitably, we reach the conclusion that teamwork is a key driver for increased performance. An organization has to meet targets on time and without teamwork, this is extremely difficult to achieve. Individuals alone, cannot easily make decisions single-handedly or carry out tasks. It might seem counter-intuitive, but individuals do thrive through a team.
Employees who work in a team have higher fulfillment and performance levels. So when each individual performs optimally, so does the organization as a whole!
DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
Diversity management refers to organizational actions that aim to promote greater inclusion of employees from different backgrounds into an organization’s structure through specific policies and programs. Organizations are adopting diversity management strategies as a response to the growing diversity of the workforce around the world.
Types of Diversity Management
The following are the two types of diversity management:
- Intranational diversity management
Intranational diversity management refers to managing a workforce that comprises citizens or immigrants in a single national context. The diversity programs focus on providing employment opportunities to minority groups or recent immigrants. For example, a French company may implement policies and programs with the aim of improving sensitivity and providing employment to minority ethnic groups in the country.
- Cross-national diversity management
Cross-national, or international, diversity management refers to managing a workforce that comprises citizens from different countries. It may also involve immigrants from different countries who are seeking employment. An example is a US-based company with branches in Canada, Korea, and China. The company will establish diversity programs and policies that apply in its US headquarters as well as in its overseas offices. The main challenge of cross-national diversity management is that the parent company must consider the legislative and cultural laws in the host countries it operates in, depending on where the employees live.
Characteristics of Diversity Management
(i) Voluntary: Unlike legislation that is implemented through sanctions, diversity management is a voluntary organizational action. It is self-initiated by organizations with a workforce from different ethnicities, religions, nationalities, and demographics. There is no legislation to coerce or government incentives to encourage organizations to implement diversity management programs and policies.
(ii) Provides tangible benefits: Unlike in the past when diversity management was viewed as a legal constraint, companies use the diversity strategy to tap into the potential of all employees and give the company a competitive advantage in its industry. It allows each employee, regardless of his/her color, religion, ethnicity, or origin to bring their talents and skills to the organization. A diverse workforce enables the organization to better serve clients from all over the world since diverse employees can understand their needs better.
(iii) Broad definition: While legislation and affirmative action target a specific group, diversity management uses a broad definition since the metrics for diversity are unlimited. The broad definition makes diversity programs more inclusive and having less potential for rejection by the members of the majority group or privileged sections of the society.
(iv) Best Practices of Diversity Management: Organizations can implement these best practices to maintain a competitive business advantage and also capitalize on the potential of its diverse workforce. The following are the best practices that an organization can implement:
(v) Commitment from top management: Workforce diversity can succeed if it is adopted by a shared vision with the company’s top management. The senior executives of an organization are responsible for policy formulation, and they can promote or kill workplace diversity depending on the policies they make. When the senior management fails to show commitment to implementing the diversity strategies, the diversity plan becomes severely limited.
(vi) Identify new talent pools: In an organization where more people are leaving the workforce than are being hired, management must immediately employ fresh talents. Most companies prefer the traditional new-employee sources like competitor organizations and graduate schools to recruit the best talent. Companies should look beyond the traditional new-hire sources and explore other talent pools, such as veterans exiting the military, minority groups, and talents from other regions or countries. Hiring individuals with diverse skills and knowledge can help companies to deliver better quality services to a global client base.
(vii) Provides a safe avenue for dialogue on diversity-related issues: Organizations should organize resource groups where employees from similar backgrounds can connect and communicate their concerns in a safe environment. People from minority groups often feel isolated from organizations and may, therefore, increase employee turnover. Creating avenues for mentorship, networking, and socializing helps to increase employee engagement and performance levels. Successful staff members can demonstrate how they found success within the organization and mentor new staff members.
(viii) Make diversity part of the company’s objectives: An organization that practices workforce diversity should not shy away from letting the world know that the organization embraces diversity and works with people from all backgrounds. The organization can start by encouraging and supporting its staff who volunteer in different causes such as a disability walk or HIV/AIDs awareness forum. It can sponsor fund drives to raise funds to support vulnerable and underrepresented populations. The organization can also offer internships and scholarships to minority groups.
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