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Performance Teams

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High-performance is a key focal point for several businesses in view of the fact that groups and teams are becoming common amongst businesses. A high-level of performance makes up the foundation for groups and teams in the present day. The compilation of thoughts, wisdom, and skill of diverse people is better than that of one individual. From problem solving to innovation, companies have put their faith in the high-performances of groups and teams to put ones company in front the rest. This essay will discuss how a group can become a high-performance team, the impact of demographic characteristics and cultural diversity on group behavior and how demographic characteristics and cultural diversity detract from high-performance teams.
Demographic characteristics typically are composed of age, gender, ethnic group, education level, and work experience. According to research, these characteristics can be categorized into two groups, visibility and job relatedness or informational. Visibility demographics consist of gender, age, plus ethnicity. Job relatedness demographics consist of differences in education levels and work experience (Jhen, K., 2000). The difference between these two groups is significant since visible demographics are not as pertinent to a certain job however; these mold individuals, insights, plus manners.
Individuals frequently use visible characteristics to categorize others, which can cause antagonism, nervousness, and typecasting. The first insights made by team members can frequently indicate the value and future relations amongst the group. For that reason, visible characteristics are more likely to create conflict than informational characteristics. In contrast, qualities like ones level of education and experience on the job frequently shows how an individual reflects on and understands everyday jobs. Job relatedness demographics are prone to cause disagreements that are task related.
High performance teams are able to concentrate on task completion rather than misplaced efforts on bickering or evading subjects with interpersonal differences. Diversity in these teams is surely coupled with execution if visible and informational characteristic challenges are taken care of. Diverse teams have been shown to produce a better assortment of thoughts, draw on a greater store of unspoken knowledge, make better decisions, and more effectively complete complex tasks than individuals (Boiney, L., 2001).
“Culture affects work groups and teams through three interrelated but distinct mechanisms” (Thomas, 1999). Each mechanism operates within a different managerial level however; each includes motivational and cognitive components. “The three mechanisms are cultural norms /values, work group cultural composition, and relative cultural distance” (Thomas, 1999). One of the challenges for teams today is to turn cultural diversity into an advantage (Thomas, 1999).
A persons ethnically based customs for performing in a team are derived from ones previous experience with groups within ones own civilization. When faced with an innovative team and confronted with certain ways as how to conduct yourself, people trust in the behavior that has been learned from their own culture (Thomas, J., 1999). Some of the characteristics of this mechanism can be damaging if they are used with no approval from the group. This can be detrimental for the reason that it marginalizes individuals who are not from the domineering civilization.
Cultural Composition is the amount of diverse backgrounds within the team. This composition is capable of having negative or affirmative effects. Difficulty in communicating can cause a negative effect. Cultural composition can be positive as a result of added thoughts and techniques.
“Relative Cultural Distance is the extent to which an individual is culturally different from other group members” (Thomas, 1999). This produces self-assurance, which may have a positive or negative outcome dependent on the person. This entices a collation amongst associates of the team. The outcome from this evaluation may have an affect on how this person partakes in the team progression (Thomas, J., 1999).
The conduct of a team may not be banal from an understanding of every member. Blake and Mouton analyzed group behaviors in the 1960s and identified three groups of behaviors that occur in most groups (Border, L., 1997). Individuals occasionally act in response to every member of a team as though they were equal and pick out ones behavioral traits that match the presumptions of the team. This kind of typecasting brings about gullible opinions for example, demonstrating unsighted admiration towards associates of certain groups and uniformly unsighted lack of respect for associates of other groups. Members of a high performance team can use the Analysis of Group Behaviors Chart to plan and set acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. This also helps to encourage team members to focus on the tasks at hand (Border, L., 1997).
The first category that was analyzed in the study is maintenance-oriented behaviors. This section includes behaviors that assure individuals build relational ties. The areas of this category include harmonizing between others, taking turns, encouraging others, negotiating ones own opinions and tension relieving or humor. This category can help to assure individual comfort, set norms, and build relational ties between team members. In a team that manifests many group maintenance-oriented behaviors tend to form friendships and keep in touch even after the task is completed (Border, J., 1997).
The second category, self-oriented behaviors help to control behavior that may disrupt or interfere with the successful completion of the task at hand. This section includes behaviors such as depending on others, resisting authority, putting others down, refusing to sway from ones own agenda, griping, and nonverbal moping. This type of behavior makes participation difficult, and sets a negative tone that creates an ineffective and unpleasant team.
The third and final category is task-oriented behaviors. That is behaviors that support the successful completion of the task at hand. Task-oriented behaviors can happen with or without the presence of categories one and two. This section includes setting goals, dividing tasks, asking for or giving information and opinions, summarizing, and evaluating progress.
Realizing that a group can become a high performance team is important. Accomplishing this goal is priceless, advantageous and profitable. Once able to operate from a group to the high performing team is an enormous step into preparation into the big business world. Leaders and members must also realize not only how to accomplish this but that some problems will and can arise from different demographic characteristics and cultural diversity. The success or failure of either can be highly dependent upon various issues. A major challenge in any organization is to turn the group into a high-performance team that can function well in any setting. High-performance teams have special characteristics that allow them to excel at teamwork and achieve special performance advantages (Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn, 2005). A group can become a high-performance team by understanding the impacts of demographic characteristics and cultural diversity on group behavior, and growing from it.

References
Boiney, L. G. (2001, Fall). Gender Impacts Virtual Work Teams. Retrieved July 17, 2008, from http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/014/teams.html
Border, L. (1997, August). Further notes on Group Behavior, Rapport, Trust, and Etiquette. Retrieved July 17, from http://www.ntlf.com/html/pi/9708/border.htm
Jehn, K. A., Chadwick, C., & Thatcher, S. M. (1997). To Agree or Not To Agree: The Effects of Value Congruence, Individual Demographic Dissimilarity and Conflict on Workgroup Outcomes. The International Journal of Conflict Management, 8 (4): pp 287-306.
Schermerhorn, J. R., Hunt, J. G., & Osborn, R. N. (2005). Organizational Behavior. Chapter 10: Teamwork and Team Performance, ,. Retrieved November 20, 2005, from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary/content/eReader.h
Thomas, D. C. (1999, December 11). Managing Multi-Cultural Teams. Retrieved November 21, 2005, from http://202.121.129.66/transcend/www.cic.sfu.ca/forum/ThomasDec211999.html

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