Teamwork and Collaboration Effectiveness

This assignment delves into the crucial aspects of teamwork and collaboration. It encourages students to examine various teamwork models, analyze the effectiveness of different collaborative strategies, and evaluate real-world examples. The analysis should draw upon relevant research and case studies to illustrate the impact of effective teamwork on project outcomes.

Running head: IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
Importance of Teamwork and Collaboration
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
Abstract:
The research highlights on the basics of an individual’s ability to work in a team in collaboration
with others. The research is commissioned to examine the fact that whether privacy is a key issue
that prevents collaboration in teams. The research draws attention to the fact that teams can be
depicted in terms of theoretical framework. In this regard the research investigates the fact that
how the concept of teamwork can be explained from various perspectives by encouraging the
concept of collaboration in the process. The research provides an analysis of the views of various
scholars regarding human’s ability to work in teams in collaboration with each other.

2IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
Table of Contents
Introduction:..................................................................................................................................3
Problem Statement:.......................................................................................................................3
Aims and Objectives:.....................................................................................................................4
Literature Review:.........................................................................................................................4
Concept of teams and teamwork:.............................................................................................4
Collaboration in teams:.............................................................................................................6
Theories of teamwork:...............................................................................................................9
Privacy as an issue that precludes collaboration:.................................................................11
Research Methodology:...............................................................................................................12
Ethical Issues:...............................................................................................................................13
Limitations:...............................................................................................................................13
Conclusion:...................................................................................................................................13
References:...................................................................................................................................14

3IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
Introduction:
Teamwork is the ability of an individual to work in teams towards a common vision for
the objectives of the organization. Effective teamwork can affect the successful delivery with the
implementation of various learning processes (Aarons et al., 2014). In order to promote deep
learning teams and teamwork has contributed beneficially through interactions, cooperation and
collaboration. Teamwork is an essential part of success in modern workplace (Cardon and
Marshall 2015). In this regard since time immemorial scholars have emphasized on providing
distinction between various teams. For instance they have divided teams which are composed of-
two or more individuals, share common goals, manage boundaries and exhibits task
interdependencies. However modern scholars view teamwork from organizational perspectives.
Teams are often regarded as collaboration of two or more individuals and therefore scholars have
provided deep understanding of the concept of collaboration (Cheruvelil 2014). Scholars have
defined collaboration as the merging or construction of different shared perspectives of two or
more people (Couchman 2015). In the later part the research seeks to draw an attention regarding
the ability of individuals to work in a team in collaboration with each other where privacy
becomes a key issue that obstructs collaboration.
Problem Statement:
The research intends to provide a deep understanding on various factors which promotes
effective teamwork in an organization. In regard to this the research seeks to draw attention on
the fact that while performing in teams individuals are often faces certain issues. With the
establishment of various organizations in modern era, teamwork has become essential and the
development of high performing teams is essential in achieving organizational goals. Sharing of

4IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
knowledge has been regarded as an important part of inter-enterprise collaboration (Duner 2013).
Modern scholars are of the view that the higher is the level of sharing the greater is the benefit to
the organizational development however this may lead to privacy issues in the long run (Gillam
and Siriwardena 2013). According to modern scholars majority of collaborative decisions in an
organization are carried out without proper and complete information (Humphrey and Aime
2014). In other words collaborative decisions mainly comprises of sharing and protecting
sensitive and common information such as cost data, financial data and other confidential
matters. These are the few factors that creates hurdle in effective collaboration by creating
obstacle in teamwork which will be addressed in the research paper.
Aims and Objectives:
The major aims and objectives of an organization is to encourage proper teamwork and
collaboration in order to achieve organizational goal. The research paper has set some of its
objectives in this regard:
 To emphasize effective teamwork.
 To examine the ability of the individuals to work in teams.
 To encourage collaboration in teams.
 To evaluate the matter that whether privacy acts as a key issue in preventing
collaboration in teams.

5IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
Literature Review:
Concept of teams and teamwork:
The concept of teamwork from the beginning has been defined by various scholars in
different ways. Teamwork has been defined by Koontz and Weihrich as the interdependence of
two or more persons while executing a set of activities (Jiang 2014). In this regard they have
defined teamwork as the interaction of two or more individuals in making different contributions
towards the achievement of a common goal. However Hackman argued that teamwork comprises
of individuals who are seen as the formation of social entity and are interdependent on each other
because of the quality of task they perform with each other and the performance of such tasks
affects each other (Kamar, Gal and Grosz 2013). According to Smith and Katzenbach a group of
individuals promote teamwork when there develops a sense of share commitment among the
team members (Kearney Damron and Sohoni 2015). Hemingway has other perspectives in this
regard. Hemmingway suggested that in order to build effective teams by ensuring successful
teamwork it is necessary that individuals should understand the assignment and the nature of the
work (Keerativutisest and Hanson 2017). Individuals must possess clear goals and values and
must be able to communicate with each other openly. Individuals should develop basic
environment of trust and possess basic team skills.
Scholars since time immemorial has categorized teams into-
 Self managed teams.
 Virtual teams.
 High performance teams.

6IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
Robbins, Odendaal and Roodt defined self-managed teams as a group of highly skilled
organizational members who takes the joint responsibility of the whole process through the
performance of wide variety of tasks within limited boundaries (Koschmann 2013). They have
also emphasized on the fact that self-managed teams could contribute to effective teamwork only
when teams are capable and willing to work independently with the evaluation of each other’s
performance. In order to promote effective teamwork team workers should make their own
decisions in order o thrive towards higher level of empowerment and involvement.
In modern era of globalization and growing competition with the rise of technologies
have created an environment in which are drastically scattered and may not be able to perform in
the same time zone accordingly (Klarare et al., 2013). This drastic change in environment has
promoted virtual teamwork as nowadays all the team workers cannot be seen working in the
same place. Katzenbach and Smith emphasized that in modern era with the development in
technology the concept of virtual teamwork has been possible (Körner et al., 2016). According to
their views with the emergence of recent concept of virtual teamwork the use of computers and
technology has redefined that how the work has to be done. In modern era the virtual teamwork
is no longer bound to the traditional practices of teamwork.
The concept of team is as old as human race as commented by modern scholars and
researchers (Koschmann 2013). Von Ginow emphasized that a group of talented individuals can
accomplish more than the number of people working alone (Ku, Tseng and Akarasriworn 2013).
In this regard Dalton stated that organizations in order to achieve organizational goals should
rely upon the high performance teams rather than individuals (McInnes et al., 2015). Kreitner
and Kinicki emphasized that high performance teams are those which encourages participative
leadership and high communication levels (Kumar, Deshmukh and Adhish 2014). Sharing

7IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
responsibility and developing creative talents by ensuring rapid response are also few attributes
of high performance teams’ according to modern scholars (Lee et al., 2016).
Collaboration in teams:
The concept of collaboration has been defined by various scholars since time
immemorial. According to modern scholars collaboration has been defined as the situation in
which two or more individuals engage in an attempt to learn together and solve problems
(McInnes et al., 2015). Collaboration has been defined more specifically by Roschelle and
Teasley as the mutual agreement between individuals in an effort to work and solve problem
together (Raver and Childress 2015). It was noted by Dillenbourg that there has been difficulty
among various scholars in accepting a proper definition on collaboration. Dillenbourg noted that
ambiguity in the meaning of collaborative learning stems from several sources (Nissen, Evald.
and Clarke 2014). Firstly the scale of such interactions may range from two or more individuals
to thousands with different theoretical tools needed to analyze interactions occurring at different
levels. Dillenbourg has emphasized that nothing is inherently instructive about working with
more than one person on a task rather than interacting triggers learning processes (Ronfeldt et
al., 2015). Collaborative learning situations require instructions as well as physical setting with
other kinds of performance constraints. These elements do not guarantee collaboration however
these they only make it more likely. Roschelle defined collaboration as an exercise in
convergence or construction of shared meanings and noted that research on conversational
analysis has been identified as features of interactions that enable participants to reach
convergence through the process of construction, monitoring, and repairing of shared knowledge
(Weinstein et al., 2013). Convergence in modern era tends to include four elements:
 Construction of an abstract understanding of the problem’s deep structure.

8IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
 The interplay of metaphors.
 Can iterative cycle of displaying, confirming, and repairing conceptions.
 Application of progressively higher standards of evidence for convergence.
Similarly in this regard Roschelle and Teasley defined collaboration as the coordinated,
synchronous activity that has been resulted from a continued attempt to construct and maintain a
shared conception of a problem (Cardon and Marshall 2015). They defined the joint problem
space as the shared knowledge structure which has supported problem-solving with the
integration of goals descriptions of the current problem state, and the awareness of potential
strategies. According to Roschelle and Teasley, collaboration takes place within this joint
problem space, which provides the structure in order to allow meaningful conversations about
the problem (Duner 2013). To construct a joint problem space, partners must ensure ways to
introduce and accept knowledge, monitor exchanges for evidence of divergent meanings, and
repair any divergences identified in such process. It was explained by Van Boxtel that
collaborative learning activities allow students to provide explanations of their understanding in
order to help them elaborate and reorganize their knowledge (Humphrey and Aime 2014). Social
interaction has been stimulating elaboration of conceptual knowledge as team workers attempt to
make themselves understood, and research demonstrates that providing elaborated explanations
improves student comprehension of concepts. Once the concept of understandings is made
visible and clear through verbal communication students can negotiate meaning by arriving at a
conclusion of shared understandings.
According to modern authors, collaboration is sometimes distinguished from cooperative
learning and cooperation can be accomplished through the division of labor where each person is
responsible for some portion of the problem solving (Jiang 2014). Collaboration involves

9IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
individuals working together on the same task, rather than working parallel on separate portions
of the same task. However, Dillenbourg noted that some spontaneous division of labor may be
observed during the process of collaboration. It has been stated by Dillenbourg that there are
several qualities that helps to characterize the process of collaborative interactions (Koschmann
2013). Firstly, collaboration can be characterized by a relatively symmetrical structure; however
such symmetrical structure should be truly accomplished. For instance in situations with
symmetry of action, each team worker has to access the same range of actions. In this context
with the typical division of labor in cooperative learning structures; team workers split up the
task and solve tasks individually by applying their respective contributions altogether. In this
regard symmetry of knowledge occurs when all participants have the same level of knowledge
however they may have difference in their perspectives. The process of symmetry of status
involves collaboration among peers rather than interactions which involves supervisor and
subordinate relationships in teams (Gillam and Siriwardena 2013). Finally in order to achieve
common goal symmetry of goals includes the involvement of common group goals rather than
individual goals which can create conflict. Modern scholars commented that in order to make
true collaboration it is essential to quality the interactions, especially the degree of interactivity
and negotiability in teams (Raver. and Childress 2015). In this regard the process of interactivity
refers to the extent to which interactions can influence the thinking of the team workers.
Negotiability refers to the extent to which no single team worker can impose his view on the
others however all group members must work towards the attainment of common goal and
understanding. It has been pointed out by Dillenbourg that trivial, obvious and unambiguous
tasks has been providing few opportunities in order to observe negotiation due to the reason that
there is no point on which one could disagree (Weinstein et al., 2013). However

10IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
misunderstandings may occur in teamwork which is an important factor from a learning
standpoint and they force team workers in constructing explanations by giving reasons and
thereby justifying their positions in teams.
Theories of teamwork:
The first theoretical perspective on teamwork was developed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965.
Tuckman has described that the process of working with a team as a social organization as he
himself has worked with a group of social psychologists on behalf of the U.S. navy. The team
studied the importance of group behavior and teamwork from different perspectives. In such
process Tuckman reviewed about 50 articles on group development and team building and
noticed that there were two features common to these studies the team or group structure and the
task activity. In this regard he identified that since time immemorial groups evolved into teams
through four common stages. Tuckman’s teamwork theory has been illustrated on a graph which
shows the link between group relationships (the horizontal axis) and task focus (the vertical
axis). The performing position has reached the position when relationships have been developed
within the group and it has started delivering with a clear focus on the task. However the ideas of
Tuckman clearly indicates the fact that it takes time to reach the performing stage and it’s
normal that teams can go through ups and downs during the development of relationships which
is evident in the early period and due to this reason it was called as the storming phrase by
Tuckman.

11IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
Figure 1: Tuckman’s theory of Teamwork.
Source: Statistica. (2018). Resources — Statistica.
Forming:
The initial stage of team development according to Tuckman is forming. In order to ensure
successful teamwork the first stage involves formation of teams. The formation of team is an
important factor in facilitating efficient teamwork.
Storming:
In this stage individuals begin to see themselves as part of a team. However at this stage they
may challenge each other’s vies and can create a conflict regarding various things like what
should be done or not. In this stage conflict and confrontation arises as differences between the
team workers surface. This may result in loss of performance among the team members as
illustrated in the diagram.

12IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
Norming:
At this stage the individuals in team comes together with the process of developing processing
while establishing rules and regulations by clarifying that how things could be done.
Performing:
This is the final stage where focus in increased on both the task and the relationship on teams in
order to provide synergy. In this regard performance is delivered through individuals working
together effectively for the attainment of common goal.
In modern world the Tuckman’s model on teamwork is of great value as it provided
deeper understanding to the concept that how teams evolve. It also helped to consider how team
members could encounter different problems at different stages of development in an
organization.
Privacy as an issue that precludes collaboration:
In modern world the topic of privacy is highly publicized and hotly debated by many
scholars. Due to the involvement of such complexities there exists no common definition of the
term privacy. There is no proper definition on the term privacy however different scholars since
time immemorial has developed different perspectives on the topic of privacy. It was pointed out
by Bellotti that there exist two common definitions of privacy and those are normative and
operational (McInnes, Peters Bonney and Halcomb 2015). Normatively privacy has been
defined as the freedom to be left alone. Lee et al., in this regard provided an operational
definition of privacy by stating that privacy is the ability of an individual to personally control
the information about oneself (Lee et al., 2016). Samarajiva extended the definition of privacy
by stating that in order to control the outflow of information that may be of strategic value to the
individual and control of inflow of information including initiation of contact (Kumar,

13IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
Deshmukh and Adhish 2014). It has been observed that various consequences and risks are
involved in determining the amount of effort and time devoted while managing privacy. In this
regard when the consequences are potentially severe at this stage people devote considerable
time in providing attention in preserving privacy. Despite such efforts if violation of privacy
occurs negotiations are done between individuals until a common state of privacy is reached in
the presence of everyone.
Research Methodology:
The data collection method is an important method to evaluate that accurate data has been
collected from the relevant sources. Data analysis method can be performed with the help of
qualitative and quantitative methods. In this research the qualitative method has been used which
can be done within a short span of time. The quantitative method deals with statistical analysis
and figures which is complex and time consuming (Keerativutisest and Hanson 2017). However
for the purpose of this research paper the qualitative method has been used by constructing semi-
structured interview methods in order to gather information from the members of various
organizations. The use of scholarly articles and journals has been used in order to collect
information.
Ethical Issues:
It is necessary that while conducting any research the ethical standards should be
maintained. It is necessary that while conducting the interviews the confidentiality of each
person should be maintained. The research is based on learning and do not involve any personal
relationship. The consent of each person was taken while conducting the research and at the
same time the questions asked during the interviews were not meant to hurt the sentiments of the
individuals.

14IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
Limitations:
While conducting the research there were limitations in the process as the time period
was short and the research report had to be submitted within that period of time. The time which
was allotted was not sufficient to carry on the research effectively. The monetary issue was
another limitation in the way of the research and as the budget for conducting the research was
less so it was not carried on effectively.
Conclusion:
In the conclusion it can be stated that in modern world with the advent of globalization
and other complexities in the market it is important that teamwork should be encouraged. It is
important that individuals must work in a team in collaboration with each other towards the
achievement of common goal. However while working in teams sometimes privacy between the
team members becomes a central issue which sometimes prevents collaboration. In this regard it
is important to develop trust among the other team members so that the confidential information
of the company remains private. Lastly, it can be stated that though privacy creates an issue in
developing collaboration in teams, the concept of effective collaboration is encouraged along
with the ability of an individual to work in teams.

15IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
References:
Aarons, G.A., Fettes, D.L., Hurlburt, M.S., Palinkas, L.A., Gunderson, L., Willging, C.E. and
Chaffin, M.J., 2014. Collaboration, negotiation, and coalescence for interagency-collaborative
teams to scale-up evidence-based practice. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent
Psychology, 43(6), pp.915-928.
Cardon, P.W. and Marshall, B., 2015. The hype and reality of social media use for work
collaboration and team communication. International Journal of Business
Communication, 52(3), pp.273-293.
Cheruvelil, K.S., Soranno, P.A., Weathers, K.C., Hanson, P.C., Goring, S.J., Filstrup, C.T. and
Read, E.K., 2014. Creating and maintaining high‐performing collaborative research teams: the
importance of diversity and interpersonal skills. Frontiers in Ecology and the
Environment, 12(1), pp.31-38.
Couchman, M.R., 2015. Tuckman's theory of group development in small nonprofit
organizations and group efficacy (Doctoral dissertation, Capella University).
Duner, A., 2013. Care planning and decision-making in teams in Swedish elderly care: a study of
interprofessional collaboration and professional boundaries. Journal of interprofessional
care, 27(3), pp.246-253.
Gillam, S. and Siriwardena, A.N., 2013. Leadership and management for quality. Quality in
primary care, 21(4).
Humphrey, S.E. and Aime, F., 2014. Team microdynamics: Toward an organizing approach to
teamwork. Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), pp.443-503.

16IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
Jiang, J., 2014. The study of the relationship between leadership style and project
success. Browser Download This Paper.
Kamar, E., Gal, Y.K. and Grosz, B.J., 2013. Modeling information exchange opportunities for
effective human–computer teamwork. Artificial Intelligence, 195, pp.528-550.
Kearney, K.S., Damron, R. and Sohoni, S., 2015. Observing Engineering Student Teams from
the Organization Behavior Perspective Using Linguistic Analysis of Student Reflections and
Focus Group Interviews. Advances in Engineering Education, 4(3), p.n3.
Keerativutisest, V. and Hanson, B.J., 2017. Developing High Performance Teams (HPT) through
Employee Motivation, Interpersonal Communication Skills, and Entrepreneurial Mindset Using
Organization Development Interventions (ODI): A Study of Selected Engineering Service
Companies in Thailand. Abac Odi Journal Vision. Action. Outcome., 4(1).
Klarare, A., Hagelin, C.L., Fürst, C.J. and Fossum, B., 2013. Team interactions in specialized
palliative care teams: a qualitative study. Journal of palliative medicine, 16(9), pp.1062-1069.
Körner, M., Bütof, S., Müller, C., Zimmermann, L., Becker, S. and Bengel, J., 2016.
Interprofessional teamwork and team interventions in chronic care: a systematic review. Journal
of interprofessional care, 30(1), pp.15-28.
Koschmann, M.A., 2013. The communicative constitution of collective identity in
interorganizational collaboration. Management Communication Quarterly, 27(1), pp.61-89.
Ku, H.Y., Tseng, H.W. and Akarasriworn, C., 2013. Collaboration factors, teamwork
satisfaction, and student attitudes toward online collaborative learning. Computers in Human
Behavior, 29(3), pp.922-929.

17IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION
Kumar, S., Deshmukh, V. and Adhish, V.S., 2014. Building and leading teams. Indian journal of
community medicine: official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social
Medicine, 39(4), p.208.
Lee, S., Goel, D., Wong, E.L., Kadav, A. and Dahlin, M., 2016, October. Privacy preserving
collaboration in bring-your-own-apps. In Proceedings of the Seventh ACM Symposium on Cloud
Computing (pp. 265-278). ACM.
McInnes, S., Peters, K., Bonney, A. and Halcomb, E., 2015. An integrative review of facilitators
and barriers influencing collaboration and teamwork between general practitioners and nurses
working in general practice. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(9), pp.1973-1985.
Nissen, H.A., Evald, M.R. and Clarke, A.H., 2014. Knowledge sharing in heterogeneous teams
through collaboration and cooperation: Exemplified through Public–Private-Innovation
partnerships. Industrial Marketing Management, 43(3), pp.473-482.
Raver, S.A. and Childress, D.C., 2015. Collaboration and teamwork with families and
professionals. Family-centered early intervention: Supporting infants and toddlers in natural
environments, pp.31-52.
Ronfeldt, M., Farmer, S.O., McQueen, K. and Grissom, J.A., 2015. Teacher collaboration in
instructional teams and student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 52(3),
pp.475-514.
Weinstein, J., Morton, L., Taras, H. and Reznik, V., 2013. Teaching teamwork to law
students. Journal of Legal Education, 63(1), pp.36-64.

18IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION