Essay topic choices: You have a choice of two (2) essay topics, from which you choose one (1) to respond to. The two options are outlined below:

Essay Writing Assignment: Essay Topic: Is organization of people into groups and teams a great idea or is there another side to it Word Count: 1747 Student Name: Student ID: Lecturer Name: Day of Class: Time of Class: Page Break Organization of People in groups and work teams-Does it always work or is there a darker side to it? In today’s world, there is a lot of emphasis on organizing individuals into groups and work teams with the idea being that this will lead to enhanced productivity as well as scope for new ideas. However, this may not be the case, in fact unsystematic organization of people into groups and work teams can actually lead to decrease in productivity as well as it can eliminate the room for any creativity. Before going into why organization of people in groups and work teams may not always be a good idea, it is important to understand that in no way, this essay is stating that organization of people in groups and work teams is not a good move, it is just that simply organizing people into groups without understanding the situation, the individuals, the culture and the task in hand may lead to groups which are demotivated or are inefficient as a team leading to loss of time, resources and potential for the organization as well as for the individuals. What does one mean by groups and work teams? When one talks about teams and work groups, one implies the organization of people into groups for a common purpose. The idea behind organization of people into a team is to use their individual abilities to complement other members so as to create a team which is well covered in different areas. There is a common goal and feeling of being there as a part of a group which motivates people to perform in a group or a work team.However,everything is not as smooth as it seems, there are a lot of issues which can affect the functioning of a team and can derail its performance, first of such issues could be with regards to composition of team, a team which has individuals who are highly capable but are unwilling or unable to work in a team can prove to be source of constant distraction in a negative way for everyone. An example of the same can be found in major football teams where it is not only difficult to manage superstars but at times, they end up costing their teams championships owing to their selfish nature, so what may have propelled these superstars to the very top may not help when it comes to sharing the spotlight with others. The next issue is with respect to groupthink, now what exactly is groupthink, groupthink is a phenomenon where all the group's members irrespective of their own views accept a common approach or thought process being followed by group, this can lead to disastrous results for the organization, wherein instead of being creative and coming up with different ideas, a group can end up accepting the viewpoint of perceived leader or authority figure in the group. Consider this; In ‘Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster', there were engineers who were aware about the faulty parts but decided to proceed with the launch so as to conform with the thinking of the group. (Yes, you can brainstorm without groupthink 2014) The third issue which can be detrimental to progress of team and in turn the organization is absence of cohesiveness within the team or group, wherein every member either do not feel connected with the purpose or the team itself, now this could also take the form of conflicts wherein it could be related to task or it could be interpersonal, but these conflicts can go unnoticed but could lead to disastrous end results for the organization. The fourth issue with organization of people into groups and teams is that it could lead to freeriding, that is instead of team working as together where every individual is contributing, only few people contribute while others ride on their work. This leads to burnout for few performers as well as discontentment with their jobs and teams. This could also lead to a situation where high performers leave while non performers stay at the organization. So far, this essay has focused on issues which can arise in groups and teams from a viewpoint of teams and individuals in that team but there could be issues with respect to team lead and leadership at top level. This is an interesting and important concept which is not talked about much, the major issue from this viewpoint is with regards to the expectations from team lead and top level leadership, where a team is assembled keeping in mind high expectations but when team fails to meet the expectations, it demotivates the leadership and they develop a negative mindset towards all the team members, this can lead to a situation where a particular team lead is seen as inefficient or the whole team is seen as inefficient, but the reality could be that team assembled in first place was not right for different reasons, but it is the team lead and individuals who had to face the music. Another issue from this point of view is when there is a disconnect between team lead and team itself which could create different visions of the same goal and team end up doing something which was not the same as desired by team lead. This disconnect can not only put a strain on relationships but can cost a significant amount of resources in different forms. The third issue from this point of view is when it comes to resource deployment, where a team which is working on a project may have a much better view of things and as such may ask for resources keeping in mind the on-ground requirements but top leadership may see it as an extra cost and therefore burden the organization. This essay has so far talked about problems which could pop up when a team is assembled without keeping in mind the requirements or capabilities or other potential roadblocks, but what about teams which are created with perfect or near perfect planning, would they also face problems? This is something which will provide another important area to explore. There could be a host of issues even when the team is well assembled, everything is planned and potential roadblocks are assessed and prepared for. The first issue which could arise is in form of communication gaps wherein a team has so many brilliant players in it that they don’t feel the need to communicate with each other, though there work and their abilities are complementary, they end up failing as a team, as a unit because they don’t actually work as single unit, in fact consider this; A 2020 report by Project.co discovered that 92% of employees have had to repeat instructions to coworkers, 63% have missed important messages, and 47% find it difficult to get precise information on a project. This is a significant issue which comes up in different forms and act as a hurdle for well assembled brilliant teams. Another issue with such teams is that of lack of training, so many times, teams are assembled and are expected to do well on their own, the reason for such thinking is that they are considered a brilliant team so they don’t require training. The result of such practices is that even the teams which are able to figure out what to do exactly fail because they haven't gone through the pepper training process. Consider this;81% of employers state that their team performs better after receiving training. Additionally, 68% of workers claim they have left a job due to a lack of job training. In addition to these issues, there is an issue of spotlight which prevents such teams from giving their best. This is something which this essay has discussed in individual terms but what if there is a team full of superstars, how difficult would it be to manage such a team? The clash of egos would be enough to put team goals on a backburner. (Andersen, 2018) This essay has discussed the potential shortcomings of teams and groups in different conditions, the number of issues this essay has discussed may make it seem that formation of teams is a bad idea and as such it should be avoided, however this is not the case as teams at times can achieve results which are far greater than combined results of individuals, this comes as a result of synergy, so what exactly is the way forward for organizations and what can one take away from this essay. The first point to note is that teams and groups can be efficient or inefficient, going with any particular set of beliefs can be detrimental to the progress of organization, second the success or failure of any team is dependent on a lot of factors and as such those factors must be kept in mind while assembling a team, third point to note is that teams and groups only work well when the expectations are reasonable, just assembling a team does not mean that unrealistic expectations can be met. The fourth point is that there is a process to everything and the same is applicable in case of team formations and getting results out of their efforts. Merely forming the team is not enough, one has to go through the entire process to get the best out of the team. To conclude, this essay looked at the question, “whether the organization of people into groups and teams always works well for organization or is there another side to it? The answer to this question post this essay is that there is another darker side of forming teams and groups, the host of issues which this essay discussed can be strong enough to destroy the organization. Some of these issues may not be visible on the surface but are present deep down. Thus, the question arises, whether there can be problems with well assembled teams because these issues reflect poor selection and unrealistic expectation? The answer was that these issues can arise even in most well assembled teams wherein these teams may end up self-destructing owing to their own greatness and brilliance. Thus, the final question arises, whether organizations should restrain altogether from forming teams and groups? The answer is no, they should not restrain altogether from forming teams or groups, rather they should focus on the process,they should focus on having realistic goals and not just create a team for the sake of it. Page Break References: Yes, you can brainstorm without groupthink. Harvard Business Review. (2014, August 7). Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2012/07/yes-you-can-brainstorm-without When good teams go wrong. Harvard Business Review. (2014, August 1). Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2001/03/when-good-teams-go-wrong Two in three workers quite due to a lack of learning and development ... (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://www.totaljobs.com/media-centre/two-in-three-workers-quit-due-to-a-lack-of-learning-and-development-opportunities 4 triggers cause the majority of team conflicts. Harvard Business Review. (2022, May 31). Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2022/05/conflict-is-not-always-bad-but-you-should-know-how-to-manage-it Andersen, E. (2018, November 8). Make sure everyone on your team sees learning as part of their job. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2018/09/make-sure-everyone-on-your-team-sees-learning-as-part-of-their-job