Team Goals

Team goals are the specific and measurable performance outcomes to be accomplished. A team is a group of individuals working to achieve a common goal. Thus, team goals dictate the performance, effectiveness and success of the team. Goals should therefore be clear and all members should have a common shared vision of the goals. When team members understand the goals, team roles are also clarified so each member can focus on their task. Consequently members are provided with a sense of identity. Team goals therefore serve to motivate the team when members effectively perform their roles. Goals also must be measurable because without measurable goals, teams may lose direction and will not be able to gauge performance or determine their progress. Additionally, when team goals and individual goals are more congruent high performance is more likely to occur.Team NormsNorms are defined as â€Å"mutually agreed upon standards of behaviour† and should therefore be discussed at the earl y stages of team development. Norms are developed through various ways, they can be written or unwritten and can change or be redefined throughout the existence of the team. Team norms define the boundaries of acceptable behaviour; therefore, norms would enable members to identify any behaviour that is dysfunctional and reduce negative conflict. Thus, norms can allow the team to be functional. To conclude team norms are important because through regulating the members’ behaviour, they help to control and measure the performance of the team and through this, team performance and team success have a positive correlation with team norms.Self Directed Work TeamsSelf directed work teams are formal groups that complete an entire piece of work requiring several interdependent tasks and have substantial autonomy over the execution of these tasks. That is, members are empowered to make decisions needed to manage themselves on a daily basis. Members within these type of teams therefore rely on multiskilling.Cross Functional Work TeamA Cross-functional team is a group of people with different functional expertise working toward a common goal.