Team Performance Tools

RUNNING HEADS: Team Performance Tools

Team Performance Tools James Williams University of Phoenix Online February 02, 2009

Team Performance Tools Introduction Several factors exist that impact the success or failure of organizations in the contemporary business world. These include the rapidly changing business environment and marketplace competition, the growing globalization of organizations, the emphasis of teamwork and collaboration, and the increased mobility and dispersement of the workforce. All these factors force organizations into creating a work environment that integrates the technical, political, and cultural systems of an organization in a manner that makes the their workers as productive and effective as possible. The issues revolving around these factors include the technological infrastructure, the timely and appropriate distribution of power, resources and awards, and the integration of the workforce and corporate purpose, mission, and values through a shared cultural environment (Tichy & Cohen, 2003, pp. 4 - 28). Organizations have made immense advancements in building the technical infrastructure of its businesses and have made much progress in collecting, processing, and dispersing its internal information. But the world keeps changing and as it does new frontiers of effort are needed. According to Davenport and Prusak (2000), leaders must now deal with the management of the knowledge that is inherent within their organizations. In an article on C/NET, Tim Leberecht (2007) argues that the next challenge in increasing organizational performance is raising the productivity of those employees whose jobs cannot be automated. According to Davenport & Prusak (2000), these jobs belong to what has become known as knowledge workers who gather information and process it into knowledge within their own minds through a combination of technical background, personal experiences, and circumstantial variables provided by the worker’s environment.

The first goal of this paper is to explore the basic criteria of a knowledge management system in meeting the needs of an organization and that captures the individual worker’s knowledge during normal business process. The paper’s second objective is to present an argument for a system that is conducive and transparent to workers performing their daily tasks. System Criteria

The first thing that needs to be determined before selecting an appropriate system for a knowledge team is to define the criteria that the system needs to incorporate. Since this system is to support a knowledge team the criteria must meet the specific needs of a group of knowledge workers. The two fundamental needs of all knowledge workers are communications and collaboration. Davenport and Prusak (2000) state that “managing knowledge needs to be everybody’s business” (p. 108). As such, team-oriented knowledge management systems need to be highly reliable, easy to use, and conducive to team operations.

Communications

Maxwell (2001) posits that effective communications between all members of the team is essential for team success and that effective teams have team members who are in constant communications with each other (p. 197). The ability for team members to communicate as needed is essential to knowledge work. Therefore, a wide range of communication channels need to be available to all team members. Each team member needs to be connected by a wide variety of technologies that allow them to freely interact.

Collaboration

Team members must also be able to collaborate with other individual team members, with the entire group, and with outside advisors as needed. Fradette and Michaud (1998) argue that highly successful organizations need to establish a means that facilitates collaboration within its workforce and enable the transfer of knowledge. According to these researchers, such a system needs to be capable of capturing, refining, and distributing knowledge throughout the entire enterprise.

Recommended System

The system that best fits the criteria of communications and collaboration would be based on solid, proven technology in order for it to be both capable and reliable. This would mean that the selected technology would need to be proven, off-the-shelf equipment which the vast majority of the workforce would be familiar with and capable of using. At the same time the web-based system must provide secure, seamless, and unrestricted connectivity between employees, other stakeholders, and information.

Cisco Systems offers three technologies that can be easily integrated into a web-based team performance system. The first system is TelePresence which delivers a virtual in-the-flesh sensation for meetings without the costs associated with travel and employee absences. Such a system can be used by dispersed team members to conduct meetings with much of the same interactions and communications ability of a live meeting.

The second system offered by Cisco is their Unified Communications which is an excellent platform for collaboration. This system merges all means of business communications

into a single integrated system that facilitates collaboration between all members within an organization. This is accomplished by the system’s ability to create adaptive workspaces and effective use of highly integrated communications features. Unified Communications also allows the organization to adapt industry standard applications such as office suites and databases into the system for real-time interaction between users scattered over a wide geographical area.

The third technology offered by Cisco Systems is called Cisco Motion. This technology offers a solution to the issues associated with a mobile workforce. Motion provides real-time collaboration between users using the company’s preferences in voice, video, instant messaging, email, or other application. Motion also enforces security and company policies and can track organizational assets as they are called or used.

Summary and Conclusion This paper has examined the criteria for a team performance tool by defining the major needs of a knowledge team then described the technologies the author felt was most appropriate for developing a strong, well-founded performance tool favorable to the needs of a highly dispersed knowledge team. The best solution for developing a web-based knowledge team performance tool is a combination of TelePresence, Unified Communications, and Motion technologies in conjunction with a sophisticated database capable of handling the demands of knowledge management and a web portal that allows team members access to the data through the use of these technologies. This combination of technologies would provide a safe, secure, and viable environment for the transfer of knowledge between team members. The combined technologies feature the necessary ad hoc ability for face-to-face communications through TelePresence. The merging of these

technologies also delivers the needed diversity in communications that allow team members to express themselves and assist in helping others understand what they know through Unified Communications. Finally, the use of Cisco Mobile allows connectivity for a mobile workforce. All these technologies in concert provide all the tools needed for enhancing the performance and effectiveness of a knowledge team.

References Davenport, T. H. and Prusak, L. (2000). Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Boston, MA: The Harvard Business School Press. Fradette, M. and Michaud, S. (1998). The power of corporate kinetics: Create the self-adapting, self-renewing, instant action enterprise. London: Simon & Schuster. Leberecht, T. (2007). Micros-productivity: Man vs machine, divergence vs. convergence. CNet News, September 14, 2007. downloaded from http://news.cnet.com/8301-13641_39774539-44.html?tag=mncol January 27, 2009. Maxwell, J. C. (2001). The 17 indisputable laws of teamwork. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc. Tichy, N. M. and Cohen, E. (2003). Why are leaders important? In Jossey-Bass Reader: Business Leadership. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.