Effective Work Organization and Hybrid Teamwork

Hybrid Teamwork
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institutional Affiliations
Course Name and Number
Due Date
Hybrid Teamwork
The increasing work dynamics and demand for effectiveness and productivity have positioned teamwork as a fundamental aspect of organizations. According to Van den Bossche et al. (2006), teams constitute individuals with diverse values, experiences, and know-how, enabling institutions to boost their strengths of solving company problems effectively when relying on one expert. The authors indicate that the most crucial aspect that companies are grappling with is the capacity to integrate and streamline the differences between individuals and create a seamless working relationship that translates to benefits. Although teamwork has gained prominence, companies have started introducing hybrid work trends in their work settings (Santos et al., 2015). This change has triggered many concerns about how this trend will impact team performance. As a result, teamwork leverages the strengths of individuals, pools their expertise, and creates a more productive outfit. As a result, this paper’s primary purpose is to discuss the central factors contributing to an effective team in an institution and explore critical reasons why the approach emerges as effective in some instances but remains challenging in hybrid work settings. It will also suggest the tactics that managers could exploit to utilize hybrid-related challenges as opportunities or solve them.
Key Factors Contributing to an Effective Team
Maynard et al. (2018) have associated diverse factors with team effectiveness. They all lead to its definition as a capacity of a group of workers to accomplish assigned tasks. One of these constitutes appropriately coordinated and structured communication (Maynard et al., 2018). The author emphasizes that this factor remains unmatched in increasing the effectiveness of teams irrespective of their work settings and context because it acts as a primary enabling resource. The truth is that individuals making up a team cannot collaborate or share ideas without proper communication channels. In this case, Maynard et al. (2018) place communications as the top factor that stakeholders must streamline if they want their team to emerge successful with minimal internal conflicts. Many researchers have explored the influence of communication, leading to conclusions comparable to those presented by Maynard and colleagues in their study. For instance, Wildman et al. (2021) indicate that synchronous interaction between team members significantly contributes to a team’s success. The authors suggest that this aspect assists members in organizing their work, sharing roles and schedules, and helping each other throughout the process. As a result, teams that perform higher than others spend a significant part of their time-sharing information and structuring work processes than making decisions (Maynard et al., 2018). They also consider collective interpretation as the basis for decision-making, leading to refined approaches to completing their tasks. Thus, communication is a far-reaching factor that determines a team’s effectiveness.
Team cohesion is the second critical factor that contributes to effectiveness. Van den Bossche et al. (2006) indicate that the team members must have a singular objective and drive to achieve such a goal to work as a unit. This aspect varies from one group to another, with some demonstrating a high degree of cohesiveness while others have a lower one. Without this aspect gelling the members together and galvanizing them to work as a team, it becomes challenging for them to progress and emerge victoriously. According to Higgs (2006), team cohesion arises from a feeling of unity and significantly influences the quality of communication. When teams trigger cohesiveness, individuals respect each other and work collaboratively while tackling their diverse allocated tasks. This aspect also assists the group in satisfying the quality standard expectations because each individual complements the other. In this context, Van den Bossche et al. (2006) add that capacity to identify with one’s team creates a sense of belonging that increases the willingness to work together for a long time. Individuals remain excited to assist their members in overcoming challenges. They also help each other grow their professionalism, leading to a well-rounded outfit. As a result, such a team becomes skilled in executing its mandates with ease and expertise.
Although many other factors influence team effectiveness, leadership plays a significant role in this process. Higgs (2006) states that the capacity to provide a vision for a group remains a fundamental element of their success. In this context, Maynard et al. (2018) agree with Higgs (2006) that leadership has an essential role in influencing teams to stay focused, especially while navigating extreme contexts. The authors’ emphasis on this aspect arises from the awareness that individual players in a group have diverse roles, including leadership. The person tasked with this duty must demonstrate the capacity to keep the outfit organized, focused, and motivated to complete its functions. Although decision-making is collaborative, leaders take the leading step in initiating these aspects and ensuring seamless interaction and communications between members persist. As a result, outstanding team leadership differentiates the effectiveness of teams.
Two or Three Key Reasons Why Teamwork May in Some Instances Be More Effective but Can Also Be More Challenging in a Hybrid Work Environment
The effectiveness of teams faces emerging challenges due to the changing work dynamics that have brought new working arrangements termed hybrid work environments. As a result, one of the leading reasons why teamwork appears to become challenging in a work setting that integrates virtual or remote working (hybrid work environment) is the presence of conflicting and overlapping boundaries (Watson-Manheim et al., 2012). Unlike in traditional settings where individuals meet physically and understand the intricacies of their routine interactions, the hybrid concept brings a remote coordination experience that complicates the standard work arrangements. Since the conventional work options have boundary coherence, persons start experiencing difficulties when navigating across boundaries in a hybrid environment. In this case, Watson-Manheim et al. (2012) raise concerns that such barriers may trigger communication breakdown and roles overlap, creating confusion, including duplication of activities. These outcomes may negatively affect the team’s productivity in the long run. The different levels of interaction while jangling from conventional work settings to remote ones may also create inconsistencies in collaboration, draggi...