FUTURE TALENT November - January 2019/2020 | Page 63

TALKING HEADS
T
Enabling teamwork that
respects wellbeing
you might have to buy; the
next, sell. One month you
take on headcount; a month
later you let people go. This
quarter it’s software; the
next, it’s hardware. And so
on. The question of ‘what
to d o’ w i l l a l way s b e
adjusting in reaction to
market currents.
The choices regarding
‘how to be’ needn’t be quite
so volatile. Clearly, if the
‘what’ is ever-changing, then
the minimal requirement
in terms of ‘how to be’ is
that we are able to adapt.
Adaptation is essential.
As, of course, is resilience.
Given that any ‘ what’
strategy can only be reliable
up to a point, we have to rely
on ourselves rather than on
our projections. We budget
psychologically, as it were,
for things going differently
from how we expected. As a
result, we are neither caught
by surprise nor stressed
by event s failing to
unfold in the way that we
had ordained.
If strategy has a new
mode to adopt, it is this:
focusing less on ‘what to
do’ and more on ‘how to be’
in all circumstances. It is a
capability view of the world
that should give businesses
the strength to prosper
regardless.
Rober t Rowla nd Smith
is a British author and
philosopher. He also works
as a business adviser and
practitioner of Systemic
Constellations.
I
n our modern knowledge-
sharing, innovation-craving
organisations, teamwork
practices – such as joint
decision making, interdependence of
tasks, and shared responsibilities for
specific goals – are integral to meeting
corporate objectives. Yet, as workers’
wellbeing comes under increasing
scrutiny, it’s important to understand how
teamwork’s increased demands link to
job-induced anxiety and stress.
At the University of Sussex, by studying
data from 4,311 British workers in 664
workplaces, Dr Chidiebere Ogbonnaya
uncovered a riddle. While the study
connected teamwork to a perceived
increase in the level of work demands:
the more employees felt their teammates
relied on them, the more they felt they
had insufficient time to do their work. This
increased their job-related anxiety.
However, it linked teamwork to an
increase in employees’ positive emotions
towards organisation and jobs. So, the
greater the presence of teamwork
practices, the greater the attachment and
commitment to organisation and job. This
connection was at the root of enhanced
organisational performance.
How could teamwork have both positive
and negative outcomes for workers?
And how might managers mitigate
the negative aspects, while retaining
the positive ones? Further investigations
established a relationship between the
level of emotional attachment to one’s
job, and the perceived increased demand
from teamwork: at a parity of teamwork
pressure, those workers who felt more
Zahira Jaser
emotionally committed to their company
and job reported feeling less overwhelmed
by teamwork than others who were not as
committed: it appears that higher levels
of commitment improved engagement
and helped some employees cope with
the demands of working in teams.
This means we can resolve this riddle if
we draw on theories of mutual advantages
in management practices. These tell
us that by applying certain policies to
develop people’s skills and improve their
performance, benefits can be achieved
for employers and employees. Employers
gain competitive advantages, improved
productivity and financial performance,
while employees benefit from a higher-
quality job, development opportunities
and greater job satisfaction. Studies show
that by encouraging the establishment
of stronger, supportive, collaborative
relationships, organisations can help their
employees to achieve greater levels of
production and satisfaction.
These practices have much to do
with the capacity of managers to create
cohesive teams, members of which
emotionally and technically support each
other. Those who invest time in ensuring
people have a degree of autonomy, that
team members look out for each other
and that people are trained and have
access to appropriate technologies, are
more likely to create the conditions for
teamwork that respects wellbeing.
Dr Zahira Jaser lectures in organisational
behaviour and HR management at
the University of Sussex.
“How could
teamwork have
both positive and
negative outcomes
for workers?”
November – January 2019 // 63