Contents

Introduction................................................................................................................ 2
Teamwork concept...................................................................................................... 4
Types of team............................................................................................................. 7
Team forming............................................................................................................ 12
Benefits of teamwork in business............................................................................. 15
REAL BUSINESS EXAMPLE 1...................................................................................... 17
REAL BUSINESS EXAMPLE 2...................................................................................... 18
Conclusions.............................................................................................................. 19
Bibliography............................................................................................................. 20

Introduction
Teamwork is a collaborative effort by members of a group working together to achieve
common goals. When teamwork breaks down, members of the group find it difficult to complete
tasks effectively and often struggle with no clear objective. When a team operates like a welloiled machine, it catapults its members ahead of the competition as a result of its cohesive
nature. Teamwork is an aspect of any successful organization.
The concept has been defined as "work done by several associates with each doing a part
but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole. However, there is no
universally-accepted definition of "teamwork" in the academic literature.
Another definition developed by Katzenbach & Smith would be that a team is a small
number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose,
performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.
In a business setting accounting techniques may be used to provide financial measures of
the benefits of teamwork which are useful for justifying the concept. Teamwork is increasingly
advocated by health care policy makers as a means of assuring quality and safety in the delivery
of services.
H.J. Harrington states: "It is being part of a team or a group that provides safety,
acceptance and a sense of belonging, and that is a fundamental necessity for most people ".
Many managers attribute their success to the loyalty and commitment of their
employees. Small business employees are to strengthen social cohesion and give a sense of
responsibility and

pride. This finding

comes

to confirm

that

the small groups

that we

call teams can create a positive impact on motivation, productivity and quality.
If the goal is quality, employee involvement teams deliver good results for two
reasons: motivation

and productivity. Simplifying motivation theory can

be

demonstrated

with viable arguments that membership of a team is an effective motivator that can lead to
improved quality.
Teams improve quality due to greater motivation and by reducing duplication and lack of
communication typically

to a

traditional organizational structure based

on

functions with limited perspectives and situations of conflict between departments. There is
always some danger that functional expert to be concerned in their own interests, which may
deviate significantly from the overall mission of the organization.
2

One objective for a teamwork setting is to increase the presence of views and opinions
for all members involved in the work. Some people are more dominating than others and it is
often their views that become the primary views of the group. This particular objective lets other
speak out and share their perspective, so everyone has the opportunity to contribute. It is useful
in both school settings and in the company environment.
Another common teamwork objective is to stay committed to the task or project, even if
not all contributors agree to the final decisions. For example, many individuals may contribute
ideas during the brainstorming session, but the project manager will chose only one idea and
proceed with the project. This objective ensures that no one will take the decision personally and
work hard to complete the manager's vision.
An objective that many employers often desire on any given project or task is that both
the budget and the given deadline are respected and kept. The budget is often provided by
managers or executives, so it is the project manager's responsibility to maintain the budget and
ensure it is respected.
A team consists of individual workers, some of which could be seeking more
responsibility and learning opportunities. An objective could be to provide learning opportunities
in the given task and provide more responsibility, so the workers get practical training and work
experience. This type of objective can improve the skills and abilities of individual workers.
Another teamwork objective includes working hard to produce a functional and wellperforming final product. This means performing tests, gathering research and doing everything
possible to continuously improving the product. The objective is important as some people will
let the product be if it proves to be functional. However, the objective pushes workers to
continuously work on it to make it the best available product on the market.

Teamwork concept

The concept of total quality management rests largely on five principles:

Produce quality work the first time
Focus on the customer
Have a strategic approach to improvement
Improve continuously
Encourage mutual respect and teamwork
To be effective in improving quality, total quality management must be supported at all

levels of a firm, from the highest executive to the lowest-level hourly employee. TQM extends
the definition of quality to all functional areas of the organization, including production,
marketing, finance, and information systems. The process begins by listening to customers wants
and needs and then delivering goods and services that fulfill these desires. Total quality
management even expands the definition of customer to include any person inside or outside the
company to whom an employee passes his or her work. In a restaurant, for example, the cooks'
customers are the waiters and waitresses. This notion encourages each member of the
organization to stay focused on quality and remain fully aware of his or her contribution to it and
responsibility for it.
The philosophy of total quality management focuses on teamwork, increasing customer
satisfaction, and lowering costs. Organizations implement quality management by encouraging
managers and employees to collaborate across functions and departments, as well as with
customers and suppliers, to identify areas for improvement, no matter how small. Teams of
workers are trained and empowered to make decisions that help their organization achieve high
standards of quality. Organizations shift responsibility for quality control from specialized
departments to all employees. Thus, total quality management means a shift from a bureaucratic
to a decentralized approach to control.
An effective quality management program has numerous benefits. Financial benefits
include lower costs, higher returns on sales and investment, and the ability to charge higher
rather than competitive prices. Other benefits include improved access to global markets, higher
customer retention levels, less time required to develop new innovations, and a reputation as a
quality firm. Only a small number of companies use total quality because implementing an
effective program involves much time, effort, money, and patience. However, firms with the
4

necessary resources may gain major competitive advantages in their industries by implementing
this concept.
Based on the principals, the most important is the involvement of employees, although it
is the most complex of them. True potential that the top management and functional management
are relying on is the employee (front-line supervisors and other employees who are not part of
the management organization). Groups can be productive, but it is evident that just bringing a
group of individuals together to complete specific tasks is ineffective and unproductive. The term
team has come to be accepted to describe a group of people who are goal centered,
independent, honest, open, supportive and empowered. Members of a team develop strong
feelings of allegiance that go beyond the grouping of individuals. The productive outcome is
synergistic and the accomplishment often exceeds the original goals of the task. Every team has
essential characteristics regardless of the type of business or industry and the type of product or
service offered. One of the first requirements of an effective teamwork is that the team has a
designated leader. The leadership role must be an established, formal position and with defined
responsibilities. Second requirement is that there is to be a facilitator. A team facilitator is the
objective and responsible third party who is concerned with the process of teamwork and
problem solving. This facilitator has to establish an atmosphere in which the team process will be
successful. Finally, there are the team members themselves. Team members must be given an
opportunity to create, innovate, learn, inspire, and advance their careers as a consequence of their
team experience.
High involvement work teams are now more characteristics of successful, highperformance enterprises that they have ever been. Teamwork is a very powerful tool for
developing creativity and problem solving ability of everyone within an organization. A company
provides its high-involvement teams with time to meet regularly and discuss productivity and
quality problems that affect them and their jobs. Then, the teams take direct action to solve those
problems. Management lends support as needed, and the organization supplies any necessary
resources. Teams can lead to higher productivity, better quality, and a closer focus by workers on
what the organization really is supposed to be doing. But usually these teams are not easy to
develop or sustain. A useful strategy to increase active participation from many levels in
improving the business of an organization has three components: preparation, initiation and
maintenance.

To prepare an organization for embarking on a move to teamwork, it is required to

accomplish four objectives: get management support, establish a steering committee, understand
the corporate culture and set realistic expectations. The second component of a move to high
involvement is the initiation stage. Proper initiation of team building in the organization is a
subtle process. It is helpful to know how and when to get the right team members involved.
Usually its a four step process: work with the steering committee, select the first group, work on
gaining credibility and create a training plan.
People in an organization are naturally interested in the team-building process when it is
started. That is simply because it is something new and different. Sustaining the effort of
involvement processes is the third critical component of becoming a participatory organization.
Managers and team builders can facilitate this step by keeping in mind the following five areas
of concern: keeping the interest of groups, helping groups work together, working with crossfunctional teams, keeping management invested in the process and knowing when and how to
leave.

Types of team
The most common form of employee involvement teams is the quality circle, which is
defined as "a small group of employees providing similar or related work who meet regularly to
identify, analyze and solve quality problems of products or services and production processes ".
For many people quality is the same thing with quality circles. They are an essential
feature of the methods of total quality control in Japan. Japanese philosophy of total quality
control, TQC, is based on Deming's ideas about statistical control of

processes

and quality circles. Setsuo Mito shows in his book on management from Honda:
"Total quality
control and quality circles have been
very
in increased morale and improved

the quality of

workers in

management,

effective
which is valid

anywhere in the world ". The use of quality circles had a larger extension in Japan, although
their origin is in America.
Quality circles are considered an
some organizations, teams and

essential

teamwork was used

part

of

quality processes in

instead of

quality

Japan. In

circles.

As

an

example, one of the most important practical guides of Total Quality Management in the
U.S. is "Team Guide", which makes no reference to quality circles, while K. Ishikawa, one of the
leading researchers about
development

quality in

in Japan. He

Japan, sees

quality circles as

defines quality circles as "the small

trust, which voluntarily implement quality

the

basis of

quality

groups based on

mutual

control

activities at

work and using methods and techniques of quality control.

In his opinion the purpose of quality circles is:
-

to contribute to the improvement and development of organization;

generate human respect, that creates "the happiness for the one person that uses

and gives shine to the workplace;

uses fully human capacity that is able to find unlimited possibilities.
The difference between quality improvement teams and quality circles is voluntarism. It

is a principle which Ishikawa considers it is fundamental. He does not think it is good

for

quality circles to be under the command of a superior. The principle of voluntarism is to prevent
people from becoming dependent on others. Although real differences exist between quality
circles and teams we must show that both are based on the idea that there are synergies to
7

be achieved by working together in a structured and self-directed way in order to improve the
service provided.
Area specific teams are a version of quality circles, except that they may exist at higher
levels within the organization and their purpose is established. Quality circles on the other hand
are free to choose the problems that they will solve.
Self led teams or autonomous teams represent an extension of quality circles, but through
a different

major component namely:

team

members are empowered

to

exercise control

over their job and to optimize efficiency and effectiveness of the entire process of quality
improvement and

not

only the intermediate sequences in

it.

Team

members

fulfill all

tasks necessary to meet the required objectives of each individual member. Characteristics of the
self led teams can be summarized this way:
-

Designing and structuring the work: the team redesigns the work before implementation

and control of the process;

Supervision: traditional supervisors can be absent; management team may be

provided depending on the skill and preferences;

Quality: along with quality, teams can get involved in all matters affecting

the team (evaluation, remuneration, selection, etc..)

Customers: internal customers are seen as partners with the intention to meet the

needs of external customers; focusing is performed over the external customer;

Authority: they have full responsibility for actions of their domain, but teams can have
authority and responsibility for growth and profitability as well
Self

led

or

autonomous teams have their

manage themselves without interference from management

own management and

from

higher

they

levels. They are

responsible for setting the own budget, the resource management and even recruiting staff.
Total
Quality
Management has
included
in its
programs in
many
organizations, interoperable process improvement teams. It is a sophisticated system, which
aims to discover and report problems. It is known that employees that can make a suggestion can
even set it up with the responsibility to work together with others to implement that suggestion
and check if it is viable. The system empowers employees and promotes teamwork, essential
elements of quality management. As it fallows issues belonging to several functions of the
organization, they are called multifunctional teams.
The departmental teams of quality improvement are composed of employees of
a department that is subordinated to

the

same manager.
8

There

are ordinary working teams

that make an analysis of the department to formulate a mission to determine who the
beneficiaries (customers) are and the indicators used. It is run in general by the manager of the
department and aims to solve issues affecting their efficiency. It is a task team.
Process improvement teams focuses on a particular process, the team considered to
be interoperable. Team members are elected by the management team or by specialists
involved in the process. The team is designed to identify process issues that will be corrected
by operational teams. Process

teams have an

extended

period

of operation,

they usually

operate by resolving issues raised by operational teams that work until the problem no longer
reported in the process.
Operating teams have the task of solving a particular problem then dissolve. Team
members are selected based on professional skills and experience in this field.
Teamwork, by J.S. Oakland, "is an
essential
component for
any
implementing TQM because it

generates mutual

organization

trust, improves communication and

develops independence." Quality improvement teams are a sophisticated system, which aims to
discover and report problems. It is known that the employee may make a suggestion and set it
up, being responsible to work with other employees to implement the suggestion and check if it
is viable. The system empowers employees and promotes teamwork, the essential elements of
total quality management.
Traditional organizational form appears as a vertical chain of command, though many
years it was considered standard, today, when organizational complexity requires horizontal
coordination, to be able to fully control the vertical fluxes, this form isnt enough and it doesnt
correspond. Systemic approach to improving processes and activities require binding of the key
objectives

of the

organization

to achieve

a qualitative

agreement on the crucial role of teams, which provides the

improvement. There was

objectives:

broad

customers; functions;

processes, activities; organization.

M. Donovan, team expert, shows trends that will shape and structure the involvement of
employees in the future. The most important are formulated in the following table.
From
-

To
involvement through programs
voluntary participation
quality teams
limited involvement of the management
focus on projects
employee participation in problem

perception of a process in motion

involving all as a natural team work
teams at several hierarchical levels
active involvement of the management
focus on goals, objectives
employee participation in broader

solving

areas of opportunities

Organizations that are involved in implementing TQM are fully convinced by the
advantages

of

using teams at

all

organizational

organization have been developed teams which

levels. In

aim to

many domains within

improve according

the

to their

program, assuming the features of their teamwork. This creates a solid platform on which to
build TQM culture.
The use of teamwork was limited a long time to production processes and management
functions. To build a total quality management culture it takes teamwork extension, and it must
include the entire organization and used for making decisions and solving problems in a variety
of situations at all levels. Teamwork should be extended to all functions and levels, and should
include all staff. Hierarchy of staff functions are an important barrier to the expansion of
teamwork in many domains.
In the concept of TQM, teams are not just to perform simple and repetitive work. They
can be used for programs and projects. As shown by J. Juran, short-term projects are the key for
achieving improvements in quality activities that lend themselves very well to form teams which
have the advantage that they can involve a large number of employees in total quality process.
The teams are the main promoters in quality improvement.
Improving quality is realized by a number of teams working on small-scale development
projects in order to solve a problem, improve an existing process or design a new process. In this
way the tasks of each team is limited, making it easier to manage with small goals and easy to
drive. In case of failure, small projects do not affect the credibility of the entire process.
Several small projects successfully completed can generate significant improvements in
the organization. To satisfy customers, projects must have a common target to achieve the same
direction and convergence of efforts in quality improvement. To increase the chances of success
teams must be guided and trained in the methodology to facilitate finding permanent and lasting
solutions.
It is known that the synergy required to achieve quality improvement is generated by
employees working in harmony. Improving quality is a difficult problem and cannot be achieved
without broad support from staff. Quality work is focused on developing the role of teams. The
role of these teams can be associated with the preparation and development of training courses
used for staff development. The Quality Management Strategy developed by Miller, Dower and

10

Innis, considers these teams as the components necessary to provide quality. Such a team in the
authors opinion is seen as having a number of important functions such as:
- responsibility for the the quality of processes and products;
- respect for staff time, materials and spaces to be used;
- monitoring, evaluation and quality improvement;
- act as channels of information for management, capturing the changes necessary to
achieve improvements.
The team is a powerful tool that proposes and makes changes, and it should not be used
just as a simple tool for collecting data and information. The team should use and manipulate the
data to maximize the opportunities provided to staff. An organization that works in good
conditions should have a considerable number of teams. These teams should not consist solely
of specialized personnel or staff. Some teams will exist for a longer period, and others will just
have to fulfill tasks of short duration, after which they will dissolve.
Teamwork is not natural. As shown by Ph. Crosby to be part of a team is not an ordinary
human function, it is learned. Often within the organization there is a need for a training course
to promote teamwork and winning appropriate skills necessary to solve problems. Team
members must learn to work together because they are composed of individuals with different
personalities, ideas, strengths, weaknesses, levels of enthusiasm and claims. In terms of scope of
business, a team is a group of individuals working on the same program. Leadership is a
feature of the teams. Teams as individuals need food and coordination for them to work and
give the expected results, so that their contributions should be recognized and supported.

Team forming
Teamwork must be based on trust, within well-defined relationships. A team can be
successful only when it has a well established identity and purpose. Teams are not formed
spontaneously; they need a training process that depends on their ability to function properly.
B.W. Tuckman suggested a cycle of growth and maturity of four stages for the team
development:
Tuckman calls the first stage "forming". At this stage the team is just a gathering of
individuals who have a variety of emotions, feelings associated with this early stage, which is
manifested by the enthusiasm, optimism, pride to fear, suspicion or anxiety.

11

Discussions at this stage will be focus on psychological related issues, concepts and
attitudes or organizational barriers to successful work. Some team

members in this

phase

may be concerned about finding their own identity within the group rather than work, which
means lost time

and

effort. Researchers consider

these issues

normal and necessary. These are essential processes that any team has to pass. At this stage the
team members should be helped by top managers by sharing the vision and directions of the
action, which

must be very clear. Agenda should

not be very

detailed,

as in this

case it

can affect team creativity.

The second stage of training teams is more difficult, being known as the stormy stage.
This can be difficult and even unpleasant. Team members realize the scale of problems and may
react negatively to this challenge, some of them even want to quit. Interpersonal hostilities can
even occur.
The team leader must uncover the source of all conflicts and remove it. With all these
problems even, we can see a positive side to this stage. Its the stage where team members begin
to get along with each other. Humor and patience are important qualities of the leader at this
point.
Step three, standardization, is the one where the team decides to develop its working
methods, it sets its own rules, norms and procedures and the roles that its members should meet.
If rules and procedures are well defined and understood, the team has a good chance to prove
their efficiency and effectiveness.
The stage of "execution" is the

fourth

stage in

the formation

of a

team. Team

members are familiar with their differences and have established working their arrangements so
that they can start the process of solving the tasks and processes for improvement.
A team is truly mature if it can work in synergy, has built an identity and has
established ownership of the methods and procedures it uses in general.
It is hard to set a specific time period for which a team must pass through all stages of
development. Even the most experienced team members need at least one or two meetings to
form a team and if the members are beginners in teamwork the training stage will take longer. It
is important to remember that a team will record successes and failures before it will reach the
last stage of the process.
The size of a team can strongly affect its operationality. The number of team members is
not an arbitrary choice, it is required by certain criteria and requirements. Although there is no

12

single recipe for successful teams, we can highlight certain common elements. In this sense E.
Sallis characterizes successful team elements as fallows:
1) A team must have clearly defined roles that each member has to play. It is
important to know who leads the team and who supports or helps. The distinction between leader
and supporter is one that is often used in total quality management. Leader's role is to provide the
mission and directing the team, while the team supporter assists the team for better use of tools to
solve problems and decisions. This role can be played by the leader, but it is difficult for a person
to successfully combine both roles equally as difficult, for example to chair a meeting and pay
attention to timing. Other roles of the team are researching, recording information and external
relations.
2) Teams need goals and targets. A team needs to know where it is going and have to
meet clear objectives. It is important for the team to have a say in setting its mission and see if
it is feasible. It is relevant in this case to see the interest the team members show. One
way of determining the direction towards setting the goal is to have an initial meeting that only
needs to set up the mission of the team.
3) Team needs primary resources to function. Primary resources needed are people, time,
space and energy. Energy is an important resource but its often neglected in discussions about
teamwork, especially in the context of improving teams. It is important to conserve team energy
to achieve important goals.
4) A team must know their responsibilities and authority limits. Disillusioned results will
exist if the requirements are not met or if it exceeds the authority. A clear characterization of the
goals is welcome before the team starts working.
5) A team needs a work plan. The plan shall include the terms of reference, the
mission, an outline of the steps undertaking a project and resources available to the team.
6) A team needs a set of rules to follow. They must be simple and be accepted by all
members. Rules are an integral part of the norming stage. Their importance is that they set
standards of behavior within the team.
7) A team must use the appropriate tools to deal with problems and find solutions.
Techniques such as brainstorming, flowcharting, analysis forces are easily adopted and can be
powerful tools for solving problems and making decisions.
8) A team needs to develop a useful behavior.
Some of the fallowing abilities are needed by most of the team members: initiate
discussions; to seek information and opinions; to suggest procedures for achieving the
objectives; to clarify or elaborate ideas; to synthesize; to seek consensus; to act to make a direct
13

conversation, to avoid simultaneous conversations and to appease those who tend to dominate a
discussion, to make room for those more remote, to prevent deviation from topic discussions; to
compromise and be creative to differences; to defuse tensions in the group and work with
difficult problems; to make the group agree the standards; to rely on documents and data; to
praise or correct others without bias, to accept both praise and complaints.

14

Benefits of teamwork in business

The phenomenon of teamwork in business is basically used to define the coordination
and cooperation, between the members of a partnership that form a business or a joint venture or
a private limited company. There are several, genuine advantages of preserving a team spirit, in
such organizations, so as to ensure optimized output. There are several firms and companies,
around the world, that operate as business groups and have a very well-defined set of rules and
regulations, to maintain the team spirit and ensure teamwork in their operations.
The following advantages of teamwork are not only applicable for businesses but they
can also be noticed in departments that function with the help of united efforts.
1) United effort
Teamwork in any business ensures that the task at hand is executed with the help of a
united effort. The significance of the united effort is that the business organization that is
concerned, functions like a single person, thereby enhancing the quality of the operations. There
are, also, some other related factors, such as ensuring equality in profit-sharing and division of
work. It also helps the members/owners of the organization to maintain a very good system that
designates appropriate authority and responsibility. A united effort, also, reflects good team
building and team spirit.
2) High quality output
Teamwork, by default, ensures high quality output that makes the client happy. It also
reflects the sincerity of the team members.
3) Risk reduction
When the task at hand is executed with the maximum possible efficiency, there is a
reduction in risk. The best advantage of teamwork in business is that the burden of failure is
borne by all the members of the team and it does not fall on the shoulders of just one person.
4) Goodwill and reputation
Teamwork, also, increases the goodwill and reputation of a business. The goodwill, in
fact, is a tangible asset of any business that plays a highly instrumental role in bringing in more
customers and public trust.
5) Subordination of Personal Interest to Organizational Interest
One of the biggest advantages of teamwork is that personal interest is subordinate to
organizational interest. This ensures that all the team members put in the maximum possible
efforts into their work, thereby ensuring a high quality and timely output.
15

6) Timely completion
Teamwork is one of the best ways to ensure the timely completion of any work, with the
maximum possible efficiency. This ensures that the clients of the company are bound to come
back to your organization with a new project or contract.
7) Division of work
When the task at hand is executed with the maximum possible efficiency, there is a
reduction in risk. The best advantage of teamwork in business is that the burden of failure is
borne by all the members of the team and it does not fall on the shoulders of just one person.
8) Specialization in work
Another very good advantage of teamwork in business is that a person is able to
specialize in one specific field. That is, he can optimize the quality of the work that he does, and
can also work with the maximum possible efficiency. This ensures a high quality output from all
individuals and the whole team.

16

REAL BUSINESS EXAMPLE 1

Great teamwork starts with a clear vision and the right culture. The example consists in a
Romanian company that produces high-end protection equipment (for firefighters, biological
researchers, nuclear researchers etc.). The firm is a Romanian subsidiary of a German company.
The company introduced the concept of teamwork around 1995 to support the
development of continues improvement. At first there wore cross-functional teams that worked
on project-based activities in response to the management initiatives. Ideas for improvement
were put to a committee within the company which allocated resources to support the teams.
These teams were focused upon a particular product or idea rather than the whole work process.
They involved top managers, middle managers, research engineers, technicians and direct
workers as well.
Training was needed in the domains of problem solving and interpersonal
communication, so it was provided to support these groups. At first all employees were somehow
involved in these teams, but the failure and the fact that they didnt finish the job in time, led the
persons in charge to make the participation voluntary. This thing reduced the number of teams at
around 10 % of the actual number.
After 2 years the teams changed their focus on the whole process instead of only the
product or idea. This time they had extended training within time analysis. The members met for
2 hours per week and they had an external facilitator. These teams first set the goals and targets,
map the processes ( current and future ) and then initiate the activities needed to be done in order
to improve anything. The number of teams were from the start little, and after a small time only 2
of them remained.
This last type of team was kept over time and suffered very little change. They were
temporary teams set up only to undertake improvement activities on times needed. This is their
only goal within the company. The success of the team wasnt based on the fact that they were
changed from product (or idea) to process analysis. It was because of the change from
compulsory to voluntary work and the reduction of the numbers of teams. The teamwork didnt
change too much not even because in the 2 year period they replaced the internal training with
external one either.

17

REAL BUSINESS EXAMPLE 2

The second example consists in another firm, this time a small one, again from the textile
production sector. The firm is Romanian but has 100% American assets.
This company wanted to coordinate better and in the same time to grow as a whole. The
processes involved in this business were:
1) Orders (what did the clients want and at what price, calculus supervised by the producer, by
the general manager and the sales manager from the EU and US division)
2) Imports (process that needed coordination with the Romanian customs; if things werent done
properly, extra storage costs were involved)
3) Storage of goods (everyone needed to have access to the information of what the company has
in their storage at any given time)
4) Global data actualization (real time information needed to be in time and accurate)
5) Accounting reports (information needed to be sent at the accounting office right away)
Among these mentioned before, there are some other tasks like sampling for clients and
the samples needed for fairs and exhibitions.
The company had problems with the data correlation and getting it in time. It simply
wasnt done right.
At first everyone was doing its job without caring for the whole process. Only an outside
view could see that this approach was bad. After an overview from a consultant, they decided to
implement an interconnected team, whose members realized these processes. Now the soft was
working because the members were interested in the success of the team as a whole. If
something wasnt done right they knew exactly where to look and who to help with finishing the
given task.
After the implementation of the teamwork project, there was another thing to do. To let
the team members focus on their new given task, the company manager needed to look and see
what changes needs to be done to their work post so they could have more time and more energy.
So the non specialized work they did was transferred to some other employees (new or some that
wanted to do extra work).
We can see this way that the teamwork project just managed to make the employees care
about what happens with the person next to him, although nothing spectacular happened.

Conclusions

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A well-functioning team has clearly defined goals and the resources to accomplish them,
and ownership of the work is conveyed to the team. A team communicates. The affection and
mutual respect that usually develops, the ongoing proximity of its members and the common
goals that motivate a team all operate as powerful antidotes to the communication barriers found
within normal hierarchies. Of all the factors essential to the success of a total quality initiative,
the instilment of cooperation and motivation in the workforce ranks among the most important.
All levels of employees must go into the TQM process at the inception, and continuously
throughout the evolution of the improvement process.
The visionary executive and the total quality steering committee must provide new teams
with opportunity, resources, knowledge, and guidance sufficient to create a self-sustaining and
self-nurturing entity that will survive and prosper. In the team building process, it is important to
allow adequate time for teams and individuals to absorb their new roles and to help them avoid
potentials falls. Finally it must be clearly understood by the organization that the success of the
total quality and the improvement initiatives is based on the success of team members with
regard to fulfilling their individual and group missions.

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Bibliography
1. Coyle-Shapiro, J., The Impact of a TQM Intervention on Teamwork: a longitudinal
assessment. Employee Relations, 1995
2. Cordery, J., Autonomous Work Groups and Quality Circles, 1996
3. Beardwell, I. & Holden, L., Human Resource Management- A Contemporary Approach,
2001
4. Ilies, L., Managementul Calitatii Totale, 2003
5. Ishikawa, K., What is Total Quality Control?, 1985
6. Juran, J.M., Calitatea produselor, 1973.
7. http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagina_principal%C4%83

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