Journal on 'Teams and Teamwork'

Link:http://www.derekstockley.com.au/newsletters-06/067-teamwork-importance.html

1. Typical definition of team and teamwork from people in a leadership training program is A group of people, contributing their individual knowledge and skills but working together to achieve a common goal/task.
2. most people agree that using teams and teamwork provides benefits to both individuals and organisations.
3. Modern technologies and new ways of doing business are changing the ways we use teams,  but the underlying principles and benefits remain.
4. Distance is no more a barrier. Virtual teams are more and more common thanks to internet.
5. They collaborate from different parts of the word through telephone calls, email, file sharing technology and other online meeting methods.
6. Team composition is critical for success. In fact, the definition has highlighted three important fundamentals.
7. Team members each contributes individual knowledge and skills.
8. Working with harmony and a positive attitude together is critical.
9. An understanding of the common goal of each member conduces to effective teamwork.
10. Teamwork as a concept has grown over the last 20 years. However, teamwork success is not automatic. Teams have to be established for the right reasons. Team member selection is very important, as is ensuring that the team purpose is clear and agreed upon.

Opinion:

I think teamwork really becomes vital in many aspects of our lives, especially for working. For example, our school's mathematics program requires students to make up teams to solve problems. However, while teamwork has its increasingly huge importance, personal abilities and achievements cannot be ignored. After all, the standard of a team is decided by the least capable member, just like volume of water a barrel can contain is decided by the length of the shortest wood block. We cannot only focus on how to foster team players because teamwork is not only relying on others but to do a better job through cooperation. For example, no matter how well primary school soccer team members can cooperate with each other, they can be easily defeated by untrained adults. Therefore I believe a personal abilities should not be underrated as they are premises of excellent teamwork.