Building a teamwork really requires an understanding of what can be achieved by the process. It requires a concerted effort on the part of the management/administration to provide:

http://www.glostruphospital.dk/NR/rdonlyres/BC20ABCD-550F-4121-9DBF-E7942B4F8C7F/0/Interprofessionalteamworkprofessionalculturesasbarriers.pdf

http://jise.org/Volume11/Pdf/111.pdf

http://cssu-gtn.org/docs/AHSCs/Academic%20Medicine%20Articles/Sanfilippoetal.pdf

In contemporary times, competitive environment prevailed studying and working arenas. However, team work culture is increasingly gaining a comeback considering that modern day challenges are complex, where solutions are beyond the effort at an individual level. Some activities that can foster team work includes: incentivizing team efforts, use of modern day ICT tools-mainly audio visual, storytelling to communicate complex issues in simple formats, mapping individual strengths of members in the team, teaching people to acknowledge each others strengths

Two factors are important for any culture to emerge and sustain: Language and Rituals

First, the language that professors, and higher officials in a university speak needs to reflect the vision/mission of the university and must be strongly flavored with a sense of pride in their work. Of course, that there is a hairline difference between professional pride and professional arrogance needs to be kept in mind. Cynicism in the language, in open or private, about the work or capabilities of others seriously undermines teamwork.

Rituals are those activities that we perform as a matter of routine and mostly together. Sincerity in cooperation and contribution towards others work, appreciation and support for good initiatives, avoiding undue/malicious criticism of others work or capabilities, etc are part of such rituals.

If seniors in universities can work on these factors (not by any means the only factors), an environment conducive for team work can be created. Where good teams emerge, good work automatically results.

Have a great day. 

There are many committees and councils in each university, such as,

Department Council

Council of Deans

University council

Graduate Students council

Scientific Research Council

Employment and Promotion Committee

Regulations and Systems Committee

Higher Quality Committee

Study Plans Committee

Committee of Academic Policy and Procedures... etc

All these councils and committees Communications should be open, among members, and they should feel free to express their thoughts, opinions, and potential solutions to problems.

Building a teamwork really requires an understanding of what can be achieved by the process. It requires a concerted effort on the part of the management/administration to provide:

http://www.glostruphospital.dk/NR/rdonlyres/BC20ABCD-550F-4121-9DBF-E7942B4F8C7F/0/Interprofessionalteamworkprofessionalculturesasbarriers.pdf

http://jise.org/Volume11/Pdf/111.pdf

http://cssu-gtn.org/docs/AHSCs/Academic%20Medicine%20Articles/Sanfilippoetal.pdf

Dear Mahfuz,

Dear All,

I feel building an efficient and just teamwork culture in universities would be the number one method or ambition to increase performance as well as creating the good atmosphere and cooperation at higher education institutes. Many universities desperately need it!

I am eager to see your suggestions.

My elite friends have spoken well on this already!!

Organizing Conferences, Special Seminar Series, Research Workshops, Industrial visits may be planned as this involves good team-work. Finding like-minded people and strong leaders are the key for this. Many young faculty show enthusiasm initially in these events, and they may be nurtured.

Best wishes, Sundar

Dear Srinivasan,

What you have written is so nice and so perfect that I thought first it is a utopia. I would like to know how to find the hairline difference between professional pride and professional arrogance?

Dear Nageswara,

I like your 6 points, indeed!

Effective team members gel together and work as a single unit to accomplish the team goal. Ineffective teams are often formulated of individuals who do not have the necessary skills. Some teams may have too many members with the same skills, while other teams suffer from a lack of Cohesion.

“No matter how good a team may be, conflicts will inevitable occur sometime or the other. The best way to counter this is to have structured methods of resolving them. Team members should have a way of expressing their opinions without fear of causing offense to anyone. Direct confrontation can also be allowed in a moderated manner, so that matters that may have been simmering can be aired out and cleared. Instead of ignoring and procrastinating these issues, a hands-on approach that resolves them quickly is better. In fact, it is advisable for the team leader to actually sit with the parties in conflict and work out the differences between them, without taking sides and making sure to remain objective. Eventually, the conflicts can actually be used as a chance to reveal underlying problems that may be in existence within the team”.

Read more at the following link:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/effective-teamwork.html

Dear Mahfouz,

I agree with Srinivasan that the discourse of university high-ranking officials should show a profound and peculiar vision and a complex-in-demands mission that reflects a sense of distinction and discrepancy of their institution at large as a model of genuine teamwork. Roland, too, has a point! I like that concept of a plural (rather than individual) talent eventually leading to group-work efforts and a feeling of a shared responsibility and goal!

Thank you my dear Concha. You owe me "one million dollar" then. Anyhow, we will work on it and try to find out a formula for it. The subject as to bring students to work together in small groups is a worth working on, because it is very essential.

It is rightly said, "It is difficult to understand the academics; and also to make them understand." Most academics are quite idiosyncratic, and make their own choices about whom to work with, and with whom not. This is so in most universities. But I feel, if the university/department concerned is headed by sagacious leadership, and recruitment of faculty is based on attitude-testing, among others, the job of team building can be made easier. 

The team work  is basic fundamental part of the any  good acceptable character as general.  it is unacceptable to  be individualize in  the current    one village world. Universities and any  company should look  for this character (team  work)  and should  be part of the required CV

Warm  Regards

Dear Dr. Mahfuz,

Thank you for raising discussion on this topic. As in other disciplines, teamwork in research is very important to gather individual experiences into a high-quality research product. This can be  prominent in research that involves researchers from multiple specialties. I liked a good definition that I have just read where teamwork is defined as “work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole”.

Kind regards,

Rashad

Thank you Andras. Unfortunately I have faced some of those very points where I have worked at different places and had to overcome with what ever means that I had.

Dear Nageswara,

Your welcome. What you wrote was very brief, clear and logical. I would be happy if your 6 points were truly respected in most of universities!

The catalyst for team work is the administration . If scholars in the universities are left alone to form teams, the teams will be formed according to friendships, cities of origin, affiliations, and bargaining terms. The last thing will be the "scientific" objective of the team. Catalysis for team work could be made efficient by a clear transparent fair system of rewards to all who form teams for serving the university, the community, and the humanity at large.   

Dear @Mahfuz, you already got very helpful points of view to increases collaboration and build teamwork culture in universities; I think that personality and ability to work in team should be learned at early stages of school and childhood.

Dear @Mahfuz, many fine answers up to now. I will try to contribute to your thread! "Culture is made up of the values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, attitudes, and behaviours shared by a group of people. Culture is the behaviour that results when a group arrives at a set of - generally unspoken and unwritten - rules for working together."

Fostering teamwork is creating a work culture that values collaboration. In a teamwork environment, people understand and believe that thinking, planning, decisions and actions are better when done cooperatively. People recognize, and even assimilate, the belief that "none of us is as good as all of us." Synergy multiplies the resources of University team members through the interaction of a variety of contributors who see a problem from diverse perspectives. 

http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/g/what-is-culture.htm

http://humanresources.about.com/od/involvementteams/a/team_culture.htm

A team with good morale and cohesion can be identified through the behavior of the members. A group is said to be in a state of cohesion when its members have strong linking them to one another.

It is known that through group cohesiveness, a group’s members can gain a sense of belonging, respect and trust.

Dear Mah -fuz,

Team work should start from early Education during the educational system. homogeneity is a factor that influence the team Work culture. Diversity in the team also their performance. Coherance enhance teamwork calture. Same Interests of members in the team also boost team work Culture.in addition,  a clear job description to each member in the team will facilitate the daily team work culture . incentive should be Givin pre and post accomplishment. 

The very definition of the question, it may be a simple and straightforward answer: teamwork requires determination, solidarity, altruism and voluntarism. And it is cultural. And so that good results are achieved, the goals should be and wishes of all attributes, so that they become habits (good habits) and the group is culturally solid enough to achieve sustainability.

Dear Hashem, I think you have a great point. Team working has to be nurtured as a value, and from an early age. That is now a must for  winning in the chaotically competitive world. 

I think building teamwork to be part of universities culture is not an easy task. However, if all managerial positions support such process, and try to link it with some explicit/tacit mutual financial/non-financial benefits, it might work well.  

I appreciate all answers by the RG members. It gave me an insight into the question itself. In my opinion fostering a teamwork climate in universities are important because faculty are from a divorce culture.it should create collaboration among faculty. The head of the team should make the group understand and believe that planning, decision making and execution of work is better when it is done cooperatively. All the team members should feel all of them are equally good in their work

Teamwork culture in universities - The learning organization viewpoint focuses heavily on the work team and goals of learning:

• The perspective of the learning organization requires more attention to the collective part of the equation.
• The value addition which the learning organization can provide depends on

These make “organizational learning” and a mother of all core competencies

One way is for management to give incentives to outputs that result from team effort rather than individual effort.

Another is to do a research comparing the performance of team effort and individual effort.

By the way, is there any research available showing that team effort is better than individual effort? Such as that of Synergism?

developing team work culture is the responsibility of the top management. they should clearly indicate the vision, aims and objectives of what they want to achieve. i have seen university top management void of any vision or objectives of their own and focusing only on incremental approach of advancing decade old objectives. 

modern universities are learning organizations, which should focus on learning aspect. if team culture is prevalent than diverse view point can help members become more effective. diversity helps in learning and for it in my view the trust should be there. trust can only be developed if clear policies and procedures are adopted by the university. such trust can create networks which can have profound effect on the team work. 

Shared vision is very essential in the team work. Without it, the efforts may are exerted, but not necessarily in the right direction. With it, the teamwork reaches the destination effectively.

That means, the shared vision determines the direction of all the team efforts, discussions, and decisions.

Thank you, Dr. Mahfuz. Yes, I totally agree with your definition because "shared vision" corresponds to "team vision". If there is no shared vision, the team will lose its essence and the work will be individualized. 

Best regards,

Rashad

Something more about shared vision! "Yes, leaders must ask, “What’s new? What’s next? What’s better?”—but they can’t present answers that are only theirs. Constituents want visions of the future that reflect their own aspirations. They want to hear how their dreams will come true and their hopes will be fulfilled. We draw this conclusion from our most recent analysis of nearly one million responses to our leadership assessment, “The Leadership Practices Inventory.” The data tell us that what leaders struggle with most is communicating an image of the future that draws others in—that speaks to what others see and feel."

http://hbr.org/2009/01/to-lead-create-a-shared-vision/ar/1

http://www.questforlifecoaching.com/?p=1481

Universities are the places encompassing people of diverse academic backgrounds, knowledge, ideas and experiences. Admittedly, they’re the hard issue, but with commitment and appreciation for the value, overall sense of teamwork can be created. Building a conductive environment to teamwork in universities is a process requiring a plan and specific activities to support the teamwork solidarity. A well-conceived plan, embraced and championed by senior faculty including academic and administrative levels, combined with consistent and clear communications about the objectives and outcomes, and a rational system of rewards can form basis of teamwork and lead to greater success.

Experience, years, willingness, interested young fellows are the bases fro a team-work in my experience. A team-work is really important for the University activities and also for medical practice in my field. The real problem is that often the team is not the result of our work, but of interference in the political life of the state institutions. And then, our ideal team-work sometimes becomes a dream...

Thanks to all for excellent insight and answers.  Is it possible that team work differs depending upon the individualism/collectivism of cultures?  In the US, there is more of a propensity for individual rewards while in other cultures rewards are given to a team.  More universities are seeking to move faculty toward team work to address institutional goals--i.e., improving the university's brand by working with a faculty team to transfer knowledge to business, NGO, or governments.  Like many have already stated, the university must hire faculty with solid team skills and reward them for accomplishing institutional goals. Changing the internal culture of the university by senior leaders to plan, support, and reward the accomplishments of teams is absolutely essential.

Dear Earl,

You have raised a very important point. "Changing the internal culture of the university by senior leaders to plan, support, and reward the accomplishments of teams is absolutely essential". The culture of a university must be built on collectivism and harmony.

In case, the funding agencies give preference to research by larger teams, then scholars are more likely to come out in favour of team culture in their self interest. Eventually, they may make efforts to nurture relations with others having  different attitudes and dispositions. This is likely to facilitate team culture.

Dear Andras,

Professional pride is seen in the devotion to one's duty (in academic world this would mean the passion to seek and impart knowledge). Professional arrogance on the other hand is seen when every opportunity is created/used to belittle colleagues and seniors (on their work and knowledge) and for blowing ones own trumpet ceaselessly.

Sir Issac Newton's famous words - I was fortunate to stand on the shoulders of giants - is reflective of professional pride for it is soaked in humility. I know of a colleague (a physics professor) who thinks that having published two dozen odd papers and promotion to professor in double time owing to factors beyond academic credentials, it is his shoulder Newton actually stood on. If he thinks that way nothing will change. The problem is, he behaves that way with his colleagues, seniors and students. Professional arrogance I suppose is more easily discernible.

Have a great day.

Funding agencies will be interested in building up teams in general. Funding is normally encouraged for projects between departments and between different institutions.

Establishing a research center in the university may enhance the teamwork culture by its regulation.

Initiating interdisciplinary as well as multidisciplinary academic and research programme will create chances for diverse group of subject experts of various levels to interact frequently, share their ideas and expertise and to work as a team for attainment of common ultimate objective. Senior faculty of varying expertise can be assigned to jointly work for developing innovative teaching and research programme. Such an environment of working effectively with others on a common task; taking actions which respect the needs and contributions of others; contributing to and accepting the consensus; negotiating a win-win solution to achieve the objectives of the team may facilitate teamwork culture in academia.

" By giving more weight to papers published by multidisciplinary team of researchers than a single author paper". It is an excellent point raised by Kamal, which derserves thinking of.

I believe we should give more interest and concern to papers published by multidisciplinary team of researchers. The cohosiveness and harmony of the team members or researchers will be essential in the success of their efforts.

Traditional learning experiences place the responsibility on students to capture the salient points, retrieve and apply them at an appropriate moment; students learn, synthesize, and apply. A student may, take an introductory course that focuses on gaining self-knowledge and, another course on or involving collaborative methods, consensus building, group dynamics, small-group processes, or teamwork. These topics may be explored either theoretically or through a practical project and either with or without intentional processing to extract and reinforce the learning that takes place. The student may also take leadership roles in the curriculum. It is the elements of teamwork to be developed across the student’s curricular and curricular experiences. It is, therefore, imperative to find better ways of helping students successfully master what the constituent elements of teamwork outcomes of a liberal education: deeper, understanding of individual; perception, knowledge, and understand also others, so to engage in meaningful and effective collaboration to solve complex problems.

http://www.aacu.org/publications-research/periodicals/true-teamwork-model-blending-liberal-arts-and-international

Indeed multidisciplinary research will lead to definite and conclusive outcome and research papers of high standard.  Hence, giving more weight to papers published by multidisciplinary team of researchers than a single author paper will develop a team spirit in the system as mentioned by Mahfuz. 

To be an effective teamwork member, students in the university should have many skills.

“Although students can gain many of the skills described below through informal social interactions, they still benefit from having them made explicit. To hone their skills they also need opportunities to practice as well as to receive regular feedback on how they’re doing. Share the information below with your students, use it to set activities for them, and work to incorporate three components of feedback into your plan: instructor comments (oral and/or written), reflective group discussions and/or peer assessment, and self-reflection (see the reflection prompts in Appendix A for ideas)”.

More information about the skills our students should have for the teamwork, we may consult the link here-under:

https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/tips-students/being-part-team/teamwork-skills-being-effective-group-member

"Taking part in a group doesn't just mean speaking a lot or always offering suggestions. Being a good group member is about being committed to the group and making a contribution that plays to your strengths. For a group to work well it takes a variety of people each playing different roles. Play to your strengths - find something you can contribute."

Some of the qualities of a good team member are respect, responsibility, effective communication, awareness of inevitable conflicts, ...!

http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/studyadvice/StudyResources/Seminars/sta-groupwork.aspx

http://www.webguru.neu.edu/professionalism/professionalism/being-effective-team-member

Another way to promote team culture could be to devise the research recognition/reward  by the university concerned in such a way that it becomes more rewarding to do collaborative research. For example, in my institute, we earlier had cash awards of 75% each to two authors if it is a collaborative research published in a journal having an impact factor between .5 to 1.5. If it was a solo researcher's  paper, then the author was getting 100% (Thus, the total of both authors was 150% in case of  collaborative research). Somehow, this system was abolished; now 2 joint authors get only 50% of the total reward each. 

Dear Ljubomir,

Very interesting links you have attached. "Taking part in a group doesn't just mean speaking a lot or always offering suggestions".

Every member has a role in the team and should exert efforts towards the role, which in turn contribute to the main goal of the teamwork.

Dear Francesca,

Thank you for your detailed response which really was so valuable. I agree with you that TeamWorking at School may differ very much from TeamWorking at Work. The Pressure of the Work Environment may very much damage the Team Spirit which on the other hand, can be very well nourished at School.

Although the two environments are different, we, as scholars, have to work on building teamwork culture in both environments.

Dear Colleagues,

This is an interesting question, and teamwork is something that has interested me very much, and something that I try to teach my students and encourage them to develop those skills... As many of you have pointed out, even more mature professionals in the industry and corporate workplace or at universities and schools, there are numerous problems and teamwork needs to be encouraged more and developed more. I agree somewhat that teamwork at schools tends to differ from teamwork at private companies and businesses. However, many universities and schools nowadays are under financial pressure, and some undergoing downsizing. Therefore, even at schools and universities, there are pressures from administration or external sources that can affect teamwork.

What my observation has been is that successful teams are usually made up of individuals who also perform well alone. Of course, high performance individuals may sometimes not get along well or may compete but teams that are made up of individuals who are unprepared or have problems are more likely to fail (with the exception of extraordinary cases where the weak members know their weaknesses well, have good relational and communication skills, and have a strong bond among themselves.). A good team often has a good leader. Sometimes, the leadership can even rotate among different people but, even as individualistic as it may sound, the leader actually provides direction, communicates, fills gaps, and acts as a problem solver and as a liaison between members. This is a really deep question that Mahfuz will get many interesting answers. Personally, I will keep following this question... 

Emre 

Dr. E 

Teams Advantage

• Easier to reach consensus
• Coordinate team meetings
• Reduced chance of free-riding
• Everyone has opportunity to contribute

Southern Cross University - Teamwork Guide: Division of Teaching and Learning

Issued: February 2013

Dear Emre,

The good team leader actually, as you said, provides direction, communicates, fills gaps, and acts as a problem solver and as a liaison between members. It is really a deep question and can be a good subject for debate.

“A good leader never hands off a project or task to team members without following through and offering support and guidance. Team leadership is about accomplishing a goal through many people working together, but this cannot occur efficiently unless everyone knows his or her role. Leaders give team members specific responsibilities that suit their experience and job description. The leader is not only responsible for the outcome of a project, but also for building a strong, effective team. Effective leaders understand how much as well as the type of support each team member needs in order to fulfill his or her role in a project”.

More details we may get by looking at the link here-under:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-team-leadership.htm

Dear Francesca,

Your response has many excellent points or dimensions of teamwork that should be discussed. “The psychological Impact of a Word has concrete Effects on the Performance” is a great subject. This is the leadership. This is one of the non-monetary motivating ways of the teamwork.

Teams should be cohesive. Members of the team enjoy working with each other. Successful teams are cohesive because members work cooperatively, and share a common vision.

Dave Yukelson, Penn State University put around 9 points for Group Cohesion and Team Building:

“1) Develop a Shared Vision and Unity of Purpose

• Team building comes from a clear vision of what the group is striving to achieve and is tied to commitment, collaboration, teamwork, individual and mutual accountability

• A shared vision that has meaning and purpose creates synergistic empowerment

2) Develop Pride in Group Membership and an Identity as a Team

• Point out sources and consequences of taking pride in group membership

• Get team to think about the “legacy” they would like to be remembered by this season

3) Develop a Meaningful and Inspiring Mission for the Team

• Mission statement: solemn unconditional agreement among group members that spells out meaning and purpose behind groups existence affirming “This is who we are, this is what we are all about”

• “what do you want to accomplish this season, what will it take to get there…”.

To read all the points, you may look at the following Link:

http://www.mascsa.psu.edu/dave/Group-Cohesion-and-Team-Building.pdf

Your point is well-taken, dear Mahfouz, but we need to build a "feel" and "spirit" of solidarity first!

Dear Marwan,

When we form team members, we should take into consideration their harmony. I agree with you that we need to build a "feel" and "spirit" of solidarity first, so as to tie and bind members together.

Developing teamwork is creating a culture, which values partnership. In a collaboration environment, different work forces strongly believe that all their decisions and actions are better done jointly, based on their solid belief that they are better together!

Dear Mahfuz, Dear Marwan,

Your comments are well said. You all know that building a culture in any value or item is not an immediate one shot; its a long process that bind ethical values, social attitudes, psychological behaviors, and educational sustainability.  

Organizational effectiveness indicators towards teaming Cultures in Educational Institutions such as

• Clan
• Adhocracy
• Hierarchy
• Market

as in Anik Herminingsih  et all (2014), Organizational Culture Typology for Competitive Private University

http://www.joams.com/uploadfile/2014/0326/20140326055339658.pdf

Yes, my friend Krishnan. thank you for posting the four primary types of corporate and business unit cultures — Adhocracy, Clan, Hierarchy and Market.

In addition to that, K.S. Cameron and R.E Quinn in “Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture,”  wrote about the four primary types of corporate and business unit cultures in details.

Adhocracy characteristics:

Dynamic

Entrepreneurial

Creative

Risk taking

Glue: commitment to experimentation and innovation

Leading edge

Success: unique and new products and services

Individual initiative and freedom

Company examples: Facebook

More information we can get through the link here-under:

http://smucoxexeced.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/whats-your-corporate-culture/

Research has revealed that for doing more creative work, a team should be diverse and not homogeneous. Of course, diverse teams are likely to be more conflict-prone, but they are definitely more creative. We must tolerate and respect dissent.

Building a teamwork mentality is essential for the success of the team. Establishing trust among team members is necessary for a productive work environment. In addition to that, recognition on the team achievements and celebrating success can inspire members and contribute to teamwork mentality.

Management in organizations is under pressure to improve performance in all perspectives. The problem of specifying the characteristics of high‐performance teamwork is there is no  consensus about them.

“A solid cooperative team can create an environment for learning, serving and growing together. William (1999) found that creating a team whose members have heterogeneous skills, backgrounds, and experiences increases the probability that each member can contribute the knowledge and skills required to support sourcing team assignments. One explanation can be related to the fact that in most empirical studies teamwork has been conceptualized as a psychological state, such as belief or an attitude towards a known individual or group of individuals in opposition to teamwork as a multi‐dimensional or multi‐component construct”.

More details on the subject may be obtained through looking at the link here-under.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/17537980810890284

Dear all,  The attached article establishes that nationality diversity of teams is positively related to team performance; and this effect is stronger in (a) longer tenured teams, (b) highly internationalized firms, and (c) munificent environments. 

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=da5d29d0-91d1-4dcf-beb6-5e86e4062be5%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4207&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=85018754

In fact, I look at the article you attached, which was coducted by BERNHARD NIELSEN and SABINA NIELSEN. It was valuable in the methodology and the results. Thank you dear Debi.

Debi - Thanks for your link, Nageswara Rao - As always, excellent reply from you!

Best wishes, Sundar

Team work starts with delegation of members and a good team-leader, who is a good communicator and respected by team members. The objectives, target goals and deadlines must be clearly communicated, and frequent performance appraisals are helpful. In the delegation, role conflict and role ambiguity may be there, and hopefully they are resolved at the beginning stage, otherwise performance may drop.

Dear Sundar,

I appreciate the valuable information in your post. Reducing or Eliminating Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity are very essential in the success of the teamwork.  

More information can be looked at in my publication.

Article Role Ambiguity and Role Conflict as Mediators of the Relatio...

In order for the team to be able to function as efficient and achieve its goals effectively, the team needs to develop effective team communication.

“Effective teams need to work well together and that team cohesiveness depends on building strong relationships among team members. Communication is critical and is driven by the team leader who will work with the team to establish ground rules and work to bring the team together so that it can accomplish its goals. All teams will go through expected stages of development, from forming to storming to "norming," and eventually, performing, according to business consultant Bruce Tuckman. Navigating through these stages effectively will help teams build relationships”.

More information can be obtained by looking at the link here-under.

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-team-communication-skills-3079.html

Dear @Mahfuz, here is some more reading on TEAM-WORKING SKILLS! Many good readings, links and tips toward successful team work! Exercise on team-working skills are treated also!

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/teamwork.htm

Student internship: A case from Grand Canyon University

Eligibility -

• Interns must be at least a sophomore to get credits;
• some freshmen do internships just to get the experience.

Benefits -

• Students earns 1credit - 45 hours internship; upto 4 credits for 180-plus hours.
• Take classes on site that count toward their GCU elective credits.

http://news.gcu.edu/2014/08/gcus-internship-program-growing-rapidly/

@ Dear Ljubomir,

The link you attached is very valuable in information. All organizations should be keen to recruit and employ candidates who are able to cooperate, communicate, solve problems and work in teams.

Teamwork communication skills are necessary for the team effectiveness and cohesiveness.

Dear Francesca,

A team leader role is to get things done by using all resources available. Team leader facilitate constructive communication, develop a self-managing team and inspire the members. Team leadership should not imply superiority and supremacy. Team leader should monitor, and not dictate.

Dear Manhur

I agree with you - team leader have to monitor the work and encourage team member by polite and constructive way, but not suppress them out.

According to researcher Bruce Tuckman,  the four stages of team development are (forming, storming, norming, performing). Leaders must retain the motivation of team members in order to successfully overcome the challenges of the all stages.

Later, Tuckman, jointly with Mary Jensen, added a fifth stage (adjourning), which refers to the process of "unforming" the group, letting go of the group structure and moving on.

Some more reading on Understanding the Stages of Team Formation! " Bruce Tuckman, who created it, later added a fifth stage, "adjourning" or "mourning."

His model  can help team to  reach the performing stage as quickly as possible!"

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_86.htm

Dear Ljubomir,

I looked at the link you attached, and it explains thoroughly the four stages of Team Formation or Development for Bruce Tuckman.  I think managers and practitioners should examine these stages.

Some organizations may recognize and reward team members. Is this congruent with teamwork spirit or is it contradicting with it??

In my modest way of understanding the reward "only" with money can have a highly capitalistic nature and result, and instead of encouraging both what was awarded as one who has not reached the goal (in the form of competition and incentive) may result in a competition not healthy for the team. I still want to reward the "highlighted" worker with documents in praising and thanking to the his commitment to cooperation. I have had excellent results ... but it is in a public post!

One classic example of Team work in universities

Teamwork in Action (TIA), designed to introduce first year health science students to interdisciplinary communication and teamwork; the skills necessary for ideal patient outcomes in the real world. Teams of students from varied disciplines including dentistry, medicine, occupational therapy and speech therapy, collaborate and contribute to a community organization - The University of Queensland Health Science.

Dear Roland,

Yes, we should build and maintain the culture, common values, and shared beliefs of teamwork. Also, the shared vision of the teawork members is very essential in this concern.

Very nice question, thanks.

Dear Krishnan,

You brought a good subject: Teamwork in Action, which can be implemented in schools and in companies. Every teamwork member must receive a copy of the teamwork action plan. It is a good idea to have each employee sign or acknowledge.

"At Teamwork in Action we believe that every team is made up of individuals with an array of undiscovered strengths. By addressing the person as a whole - intellectually, emotionally and physically - we lead participants to discover the unique contribution they can make to the group. Our guided exercises help individuals to realize their own potential while weaving them into a cohesive unit to take on complex challenges like those in the workplace".

For more information, you may look at the link here-under.

http://www.sfcc.edu/teamwork_in_action/business_programs