Effective Team Development in Business: A Unilever Case Study Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of team development within Unilever, a multinational consumer goods company. It begins by defining various team types, including formal, informal, virtual, operational, support, management, and strategic teams, and highlights their respective benefits ...Read More

DEVELOPING TEAMS IN
BUSINESS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
P1 Different types of teams and benefits of teams for an organisation......................................3
P2 Building cohesive teams that perform well...........................................................................4
P3 Attributes and skill required by the team leader...................................................................5
P4 Contribution of the team leaders in attaining the specific goals...........................................7
P5 Explain way to dealt with conflict and difficult situation to achieve the specific team goal.
.....................................................................................................................................................8
P6. Explain the team performance and your contribution in the effectiveness of the team........9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Development or formation of a team is a crucial part in carrying out a business.
Formation of a team involves following certain model or guidelines to create an efficient team
(Bratianu and Vatamanescu, 2017).
Uniliver is a British Dutch company having its headquarters in London, UK as well as
Rotterdam, Netherlands. The company manufactures various products and beauty products as
well. This report highlights the various types of teams formulated and their benefits. It also
describes building of cohesive teams. Further, the report highlights attributes and skills required
and the role of team in achieving specific goals. This report also reviews overall effectiveness
and provides feedback.
MAIN BODY
P1 Different types of teams and benefits of teams for an organisation.
Team signifies a group of people working collectively towards achievement of a common
goal and objectives (Hazen and et.al., 2018). At Uniliver, there are various types of teams that
operate and they can be classified as follows :- Informal and Formal Teams :- Informal teams are those teams where a group of people
having common understanding and likes/ dislikes interact and form groups which are not
formed by the organisation. Formal teams involve those structured teams which are
formed for achieving a set purpose. These teams i.e. formal teams are formed by the
organisation and every individual in the team works in a specified role operating as per
the rules formed. Virtual Teams :- When the operations of a company are scattered all over the globe over
different regions and countries. Such dispersion of employees is bridged together with the
assistance of technology. When they need to work collectively in a team, they connect
with each other through various techniques like virtual conferences, online groups, chat
bots etc. this mode of working together through internet is called formation of virtual
teams (Jennings and Stahl-Wert, 2016). Operational and Support Teams :- operational team involves those performing the
basics operations or tasks in an organisation and are treated as the face of any
organisation. They help in successful completion of the tasks which assists the managers
on higher levels. Support teams are those teams which act as the back up for the other
3

teams motivating them to complete their job effectively and efficiently. They involve IT
personnel, HR department, office and administrative department etc. Management and Strategic Teams :- Management teams manage the various operations
as well as the employees who aim to achieve the desired goals and Strategic teams are the
ones which provide the employees with the required leadership and direction to them
(Burns, 2016). They collectively monitor the external environment and manage team
effectively to achieve desired goals.
Benefits of Teams in Unilever :- These different types of team are extremely beneficial for the
organisation. At Unilever, support teams are extremely useful ensuring rightful and equal
distribution of the work ensuring motivated and happy employee base. Virtual team integrates
the various operations and activities of a company spread all over thus bringing them together in
achieving even more targets and making Unilever successful. Teams help the company is
achieving their goals while working collectively in peaceful manner. Further, breakdown of
employees into various teams gives them insight regarding different operations and activities
thus improving their understanding and knowledge regarding team work (Caporarello, Magni
and Pennarola, 2018). In essence, different kinds of teams help Unilever in carrying out all their
activities smoothly and operating the different parts of business successfully.
P2 Building cohesive teams that perform well.
Cohesive word signifies coming together of different individuals together and formation
of a team for achieving the tasks performed. Every organisation should form the teams with
utmost care. A team should have a strong leader which encourages formation of great bonds
between them thus helping them to communicate better. Identifying every individuals key ability
and tasking them accordingly helps in formation of a cohesive team which will help in increasing
the performance.
At Unilever, teams are formed on the basis of Belbin Theory. Belbin stated nine types of
different personalities classified on the basis of their behaviour and assigning tasks to them
accordingly (Rijo, Martinho and Ermida, 2015). The nine roles described in Belbin Theory are :-
Resource Invigilator – Keeps the team members dedicated towards achieving tasks.
Team worker – Brings the team together and identifies the work to be performed.
Co-ordinator – Focuses on objectives and delegates tasks to team members.
Plant – Creative mind and conveyor of unconventional methods for solutions.
4

Monitor Evaluator- Makes impartial judgements about work done by team and improves the
quality of work.
Specialist – Provides in depth knowledge related to a key field in the team work.
Shaper – Provides the required motivation to team and keeps them focused.
Implementer – Ensures efficient implementation of strategy which is formed to achieve the pre
determined goals.
Completer Finisher – Winds up the work performed and gives it a final touch by polishing it.
Apart from Belbin theory, there are many other theories for forming the perfect team like
Tuckman's Theory, Maslow's motivation Theory etc. Cohesive team formation requires proper
synchronization between all the team members encouraging them to communicate with each
other and simplifying the work activities. This also helps the team leaders and managers in
identifying the key skills and the correct distribution of the tasks to the members as per their
capabilities reduces conflicts between them and keeps them satisfied and happy with their roles.
At Unilever Company, formation of appropriate teams tasking employees as per their
expertise and bringing them together through clubbing those individuals which would easily
adjust with each other is given very importance (Smart and et.al., 2015). They keep in mind the
mental frame of the employees as an individual and try to keep them motivated and satisfied.
They usually follow Belbin Theory as well as Tuckman's Theory for strong team formation. This
helps the employees in honing the skills that they already have and also assists them in creating
new skills by taking up the new and challenging activities.
P3 Attributes and skill required by the team leader.
Attributes Skills.
1. Vision- the leaders of the Unilever should
be able to have the efficient vision for the
team success of the organisation. If the
leader have the positive attitude towards the
vision and the goals of the organisation, it
will result in as successes toward the
organisation.
1. Communication- the leaders in the
Unilever should be the good
communicator so that he may be able to
communicate or share his ideas the
thought to its followers and proper
process of the communication can take
place.
2. Constitution.- the leaders of the Unilever 2 innovative- the leaders should be
5

has the ability to remain clam at the time of
the problem so that they can be efficient in
making the good decision. Panicking at the
time of making the decision at reduce the
effectiveness and confident in the
management.
innovative in nature so that he can come
out with the improvize way done by the
team (Whittle and Myrick, 2016). This
will create the enthusiasm and encourage
the team worker. This will lead to the
continuous improvement in the working
of the organisation.
3. Delegation- the delegation of the
authority among the team is very important
for the efficient working of the organisation.
The works should be broken into the chunks
will reduce the burden over the teams and
the leaders of the Unilever.
3. Knowledgeable.- the leaders of the
Unilever should have the impressive
level of knowledge. The leaders should
be enough confident in its industry and
expertise to influence the team.
4. Energy -the leaders should be
enthusiastic in nature so that flow of the
positive energy can be there in the team. If
the leader is enthusiastic then the team
members will be motivated and productive.
4. Facilitator- the leaders should be the
facilitator as they make the project or the
work easy for there team. They are the
good listener than the speaker. They used
to be very interactive and problem solver
for there employees.
5. Building the team- the leaders of the
Unilever should have the ability to build the
team so that the efficient working of the
organisation can be done.
5. Negotiator.-the leader of the Unilever
must be a negotiator directly or indirectly
in the conflicts. Conflicts are necessary
for boosting the enthusiasm in the
employees by controlling the excessive
conflict lie in the hand of the leaders.
The leader should analyse the problems,
listen and find out the solution to settle
up the conflict.
7. Influential- the attribute of being 7. Inspirational- the leaders should have
6

influential leader can motivate the followers
or employees (Catton and et.al., 2018). The
leaders should understand the human
psychology to get more interactive with
there team member so that they can work
effectively and efficiently.
the inspirational have the positive
thoughts. The leaders should inspire its
followers and motivate them on there
failure to achieve the vision of the
organisation.
P4 Contribution of the team leaders in attaining the specific goals.
A leader in the organisation is someone who leads the team workers, organisation and
many more situation to deal with. For his the leaders in the organization should be the good
communicator, listener problem solving. If the leader of the Unilever is enough mature to handle
these qualities, he will able to seek the organisational goal and the development of the objectives.
The team leaders should motivates each member in the company about how to improve the
working and motivate them to achieve the particular task.
It is very important for the Unilever to choose the leaders who have the important skills
and attributes that contribute in the development of the organisation (Morgan, Fletcher and
Sarkar, 2019). Foe everyone in the team, leader is different to them and act differently in the
different situation.
Different leadership is there-
Democratic, Autocratic, and Laissez Faire
Democratic- in this style of the leadership the leaders motivate the employee in such as
way that there opinions are suggested before making any final decision in the team. This type of
the leadership is an effective way of working as everyone feel there importance in the team and
been confident in making approach of the different idea toward the team leaders. For the
development of the new beauty product the Unilever should make the teams leaders more
democratic as to accept as many ideas from the followers or the employees.
Autocratic- this is just the opposite of the democratic style. In this type of the leadership
no opinions and suggestion are taken from the employees or the followers. This type of the
leadership is followed by the highly experience leaders.
7

Laissez free- this type of the leadership is the mixture of the democratic and the
autocratic leadership. In this type of the leadership the teams members are making the decision
on their own and blaming each other if some bad decision has taken place.
There are many qualities and the attributes that the leaders should have to accomplish the
goals and the objective of the organisation. The leaders should be the good listener along with
good negotiator. If the leader are the good listener in the Unilever, the will be able to accept the
ideas from the followers which are more innovative and creative in nature. Good listener will
also the leaders to resolve the conflict between the workers to have the effective communication
and the development of the company.
The leaders in the Unilever should b creative in the development of the new product so the aims
and the objective of the organisation can be achieved. The leaders should haver the clear vision
of the organisation and the motivation to the employees to increase the effectiveness and the
efficiency (Hunt and Weintraub, 2016).
P5 Explain way to dealt with conflict and difficult situation to achieve the specific team goal.
As Unilever is planning to launch new product in the market it requires a good team work
in the organisation as team work helps the organisation to dealt with the situation together with
more than one mind but in the case of the team work conflict and issue in the team always
hampers the performance of the team so the company has to overcome the issue and for
overcoming the issue company can use the following way:
Occurrence of conflict: As a team leader, Leader always hear the conflict first and then hears
the point of view of both the party and then try to evaluate the reason of the occurrence of the
conflict and then try to resolve it by inviting both the individual and with the mutual
understanding of all the interested party, it helps the organisation in prevailing the employee as a
solution is in both the party favour which eventually sends the motivating message to the party
that organisation cares about them which eventually result in increasing their efficiency level as
efficiency level of the employee is interlinked with the success of the organisation, it helps the
organisation in achieving the common goal (Weissbrod and Bocken, 2017).
Trust and good relationship: Team leader always try to build a good trust factor among the
employee and always take the corrective action to improve the relationship in the team by
organizing formal and informal meeting in the organisation which helps the team to dealt with
the conflict very comfortably as in the good team environment employee try to dealt with
8

conflict by their own by discussing the problem at their hand only which helps the leader in
defending all the conflict at the initial stage itself, Trust among the employee also helps the
Unilever Leader to dealt with tough situation also as in the tough time employee by their own
takes the responsibility to complete the task which eventually increase the performance of the
organisation in the team dynamic.
Clarity of the mind: Team leader in the Unilever clears the employee about roles and
responsibility which is expected by them at the initial stage itself which helps the employee in
understanding the task which need to be done and there is clarity of thoughts and mind in the
organisation which eventually increase the performance of the employee and the team in the
organisation and it also helps the organisation in defending the conflict as in this leader is able to
evaluate the conflict very easily and eventually leader resolve it at the initial stage itself.
Communication: Team leader at Unilever always creates the environment in the team which
allows a free flow of communication between the employee and the leader which eventually
resulted in discussion of the problem and issue which is faced by the employee and which lowers
down the situation of conflict creation and in case any conflict occur than it is resolve at the
initial stage itself.
P6. Explain the team performance and your contribution in the effectiveness of the team.
Team always play a crucial role in improving the performance of the organisation as team
helps the organisation in grouping the activity of the one individual with the common goal of the
organisation (Robertson, 2019). There are some key importance of the team performance in
increasing the effectiveness of the organisation. Some of them are follows:
 Team work helps the organisation in building the good bonding in between the employee
which helps the employee in their work as it helps them to discuss the problem with one
and another which eventually increase the efficiency of the work in the organisation.
 Team works makes the employee more accountable toward their work as in the team
dynamic employee are directed in the correct path to achieve the organisational goal
which eventually increase the efficiency of the organisation performance.
 Team dynamic also helps the organisation in dividing the work into different groups
which eventually help the organisation in knowing the current situation of the work and
9

also help in finding out the area which is lacking easily which helps the business in
removing that easily which eventually increase the efficiency of the business.
In my point of view my team is contributing very effectively in the organisation performance as
in my team there is good flow of the communication from the senior and we are also asked about
the issue which we are facing. I as a team leader always clarify the role and responsibility of our
work at the initial stage only which eventually help employee in knowing what to do and till how
to do which eventually helps me and my team in effective work but at the same time I observe
that there is no trust factor in some employee which hampers the work of the team and
eventually creates the conflict in the team(Hawkins, 2017).
Feedback is the very important part of our team success as I used to provide the feedback to
every employee on timely basis with the evaluation of the performance of the employee which
helps employee in knowing the path on which our work is going and on the basis of that
employee used to plan their future work. Feedback also helps employee in knowing the thoughts
which organisation is having about them irrespective it is negative or positive it helps in
improving the efficiency as negative feedback helps them to improve the area which was lacking
in their performance before and the positive feedback helps them in improving the motivation
level of the employee as it creates the séance that employee efforts are valued by the
organisation.
CONCLUSION
Team leader plays an important role in achieving the goals and objective of the organisation.
There are he different type of the leaders which have the different benefits. The leaders help to
motivate the employees and the followers. The different levels in the formation of the team in the
organisation. Leaders in the organisation should have the different skills and attributes to create
the efficiency and the effectiveness of the organisation. The leaders also help in solving the
conflict between the team members in the company. The leaders should use its leadership skill to
achieve the goals along with its team members and motivate them.
10

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bratianu, C. and Vatamanescu, E.M., 2017. Students’ perception on developing conceptual
generic skills for business: a knowledge-based approach. VINE Journal of Information
and Knowledge Management Systems.47(4). pp.490-505.
Burns, P., 2016. Entrepreneurship and small business. Palgrave Macmillan Limited.
Caporarello, L., Magni, M. and Pennarola, F., 2018. Let’s Learn Together: Team Integration
Climate, Individual States and Learning Using Computer-Based Simulations. In Digital
Technology and Organizational Change (.pp. 187-195). Springer, Cham.
Catton, J and et.al., 2018. Designing and developing an effective safety program for a student
project team. Safety.4(2). p.21.
Hale, R., 2019. Executive Team Leadership in the Global Economic and Competitive
Environment.
Hawkins, P., 2017. Leadership team coaching: Developing collective transformational
leadership. Kogan Page Publishers.
Hazen, B. T and et.al., 2018. Back in business: Operations research in support of big data
analytics for operations and supply chain management. Annals of Operations
Research.270(1-2). pp.201-211.
Hunt, J.M. and Weintraub, J.R., 2016. The coaching manager: Developing top talent in business.
SAGE publications.
Jennings, K. and Stahl-Wert, J., 2016. The serving leader: Five powerful actions to transform
your team, business, and community. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Morgan, P.B., Fletcher, D. and Sarkar, M., 2019. Developing team resilience: A season-long
study of psychosocial enablers and strategies in a high-level sports team. Psychology of
Sport and Exercise, p.101543.
Rijo, R., Martinho, R. and Ermida, D., 2015. Developing an enterprise architecture proof of
concept in a Portuguese hospital. Procedia Computer Science. 64. pp.1217-1225.
11

Robertson, M. J., 2019. Power and Doctoral Supervision Teams: Developing Team Building
Skills in Collaborative Doctoral Research.
Smart, K.L. and et.al. 2015. Developing a Preference for Collaboration Using Team-Based
Learning. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching. 26(3). pp.165-189.
Weissbrod, I. and Bocken, N.M., 2017. Developing sustainable business experimentation
capability–a case study. Journal of Cleaner Production. 142. pp.2663-2676.
Whittle, R. and Myrick, C.B., 2016. Enterprise business architecture: The formal link between
strategy and results. CRC Press.
Online
12

13

14