Effectiveness of Teamwork in Management

This article discusses the importance and effectiveness of teamwork in management based on a real-life case of a Thai soccer team trapped in a cave. It analyzes the role of teamwork in the successful rescue mission and highlights the benefits of teamwork in such scenarios. The article also explores the concept of team learning and its impact on achieving common goals. Overall, it emphasizes the significance of teamwork in effective management and achieving organizational objectives.

Running head: EFFECTIVENESS OF TEAMWORK IN MANAGEMENT
Effectiveness of Teamwork in Management
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1EFFECTIVENESS OF TEAMWORK IN MANAGEMENT
Introduction:
In 2018, 12 boys, who were also the players of a Thai soccer team got trapped in a flooded
caves in Thailand, with their coach for almost nine days. After nine days they got rescued by the
Thai Government and the officials. The rescue mission planned by the Thai government, but was
executed by the Thai government along with various organizations and various teams from the
world joined together in this mission (BBC News 2019). In the study below, the importance and
effectiveness of teamwork has been discussed and analyzed, based on the above case. By analyzing
the case, the role of team work and its effectiveness in the mission are defined to identify the
importance of teamwork in effective e management and achieving an organizational objective
(Stanton and Baber 2017).
Discussions:
Answer to Question ‘a’ of Part 1:
In such scenario, as discussed above, where the young players and their coach were trapped
for nine days, teamwork plays a very significant role in surviving and also in rescuing. Teamwork
can only be happen when all the person in the team are together and it can only be done by a team
leader (Chin 2015). In the certain scenario, the rescue is only possible because everyone worked as
a team, even the young players have also shown teamwork, which was led by their coach. There are
some key benefits of teamwork in such scenario and they are (Salmon, Stanton and Jenkins 2017) -
(i) teamwork motivates unity among the people, which means that, without being selfish, if the
people work as a team they can help each other and provide necessary help to others and take help
from others when needed, (ii) in such complicated and crucial situation, a wrong decision can
increase problems, thus teamwork offers different perspectives of different individuals in the team
and then helps to pick the best and unanimous decision out of all, (iii) in such scenario, physical
energy is n needed to be preserved for survival, and team’s effort for rescue can reduce individual
efforts and thus can save energy and can increase productivity, (iv) teamwork also provide great

2EFFECTIVENESS OF TEAMWORK IN MANAGEMENT
opportunities of learning and creativity, because in this kind of situation, when people works
together, they share their ideas, personality, and knowledge which is sub-consciously get
transmitted to the other members of the team, thus they learn new things and can show new
creativity to get rid of that situation.
Answer to Question ‘b’ of Part 2:
The rescue mission was performed and executed successfully by the team effort of the local
government and the international teams and groups. According to professor Michael Useem and
Andrew Eavis, this case is the great example of leadership, teamwork and large-hearted. This
situation is one of the rare situations, where the whole world joins together and collectively
participates for a common cause. The main reason behind the effective international teamwork is
the leadership (Stanton and Baber 2017). The other main reason of the effect is Collaborative
problem solving by the process includes steps- establishing shared understanding and maintaining,
taking appropriate action, establishing team organisation (Graesser, Kuo and Liao 2017). The local
government have taken the leadership and allowed the international groups and forces to involve in
the rescue mission and take their help and provided them creative freedom to think and initiate their
plans to the government. The government had made the final plan, after considering all the
suggestions from different groups, and executed accordingly (Salmon, Stanton and Jenkins 2017).
The effort for rescue mission was carefully coordinated and the team involved in the rescue
operations included multiple groups, which had lots of world’s best divers and best cave experts,
around 10,000 volunteers, farmers that helped by sacrificing g their crops (Anestesiologica 2018).
The Thai government also arranged medical, administrative and logistical support provided along
with the funding of the rescue. The well-known entrepreneur Elon musk, have also send his support
to the mission through sending a mini submarine to the Thai government for rescue. The Thai
government have received the submarine and used accordingly in the rescue operation
(Punnahitanond 2018). The success of the International teamwork is happened, because the Thai

3EFFECTIVENESS OF TEAMWORK IN MANAGEMENT
government have appreciated and invited the world to work together and also the spirit of the
young boys trapped in the caves also motivated the world to participate in their rescue mission.
Answer to the Question ’c’ of Part 1:
Team learning means the collaborative effort of a team to achieve a common objective or
goal. In the process of team learning, to attain the objective, the team plan and make decisions
through dialogues and discussions, practice, conflicts and defensive routines (Salmon, Stanton and
Jenkins 2017). From the team learning it can be stated that teamwork helps to achieve and attain the
common goals more effectively and efficiently, because good teamwork helps team to work in
synergy, where the combined effect of the team effort is twice than the sum of the individual efforts
(Faraj and Xiao 2006). Team learning is a collective learning process where the collective performs
a works and collectively learns lessons from the task (Chin 2015). In the above mentioned scenario,
the role of the team learning is very vital in the rescue mission, because as mentioned above the
main reason behind the success of the mission is the team learning. During the aftermath of
catastrophic events, various groups often emerge to provide disaster relief and for better
understanding of emergent response, organisational theories have the potential and are used
(Majchrzak, Jarvenpaa and Hollingshead 2007). The role of team learning in the scenario is the
only thing, where the team performance is determined by the collective effort all the groups
individually. If the mission was solely performed by the Thai Government, then the mission was
surely be unsuccessful and it is the group effort of the farmers, the cave experts and the best divers
from the world, volunteers, soldiers of the local government, international armed forces, financial
help from various organisations and also the Thai government’s funding (Santos 2018). If any one
of them have not been participated in the mission, there is no doubt that the mission would not be a
possible event. With all the efforts and perfect implementation, the rescue mission took nine days,
and without it, the mission would have taken more time, than the possibility of the students being
alive is very low (Hamilton 2018).

4EFFECTIVENESS OF TEAMWORK IN MANAGEMENT
Conclusion:
Hence, from the above discussions and analysis of the importance of teamwork and from
the role of team learning in the rescue mission, it can be concluded that teamwork in management
is the key to success. There is no better option than teamwork to achieve organisational goals more
effectively and efficiently. Considering the above case, it can be also concluded that not only in this
kind of circumstances, teamwork is the key in an organisations effective management and a good
teamwork can be only executed by good leadership.

5EFFECTIVENESS OF TEAMWORK IN MANAGEMENT
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