angro-n-pakarab (ob)

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

THE CENTER OF ATTENTION

WORK TEAMS

WHAT IS A WORK TEAM?

“Group whose individuals efforts result in a performance that is greater

than the sum of those individuals’ inputs.”

WORK GROUP

“It is a group that interacts primarily to share information and to make

decisions to help each other perform within his or her area of

responsibility.”

TEAMS vs. GROUPS

The following four factors help us to distinguish between work group

and work team:

Goal:

Primary goal of the work group is to share the information whereas the

work team strives for collective performance.

Synergy:

Work team generates positive synergy through coordinated efforts

whereas work group result in low synergic impact, even in some cases

it generates the negative synergy.

Accountability:

In work teams both individuals as well as the whole team stands

accountable for its performance whereas in work group only the group

is stands liable for the group’s performance.

Skill:

There is no much difference of skill level in the work team and the group

but in the work team skills are complimentary whereas work group skills

are random and varied.

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TYPES OF TEAMS

There are three popular and generic types of teams:

1-Problem Solving Teams:

It is a Group of 5-12 employees from the same department who meet

for a few hours each week to discuss the ways of improving quality,

efficiency and the work environment.

2-Self Managed Work Teams:

It is a group of 10-15 people who take on responsibilities of their former

supervisors.

3-Cross Functional Teams:

Employees from the same hierarchical level, but from different work

areas who come together to accomplish a task.

Other Variable Types Of Teams Are:

Study teams

Committees

Task forces

Product

development

team

KEY ROLES PLAYED BY THE TEAM

MEMBERS

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Promoter

Assessor

Adviser

Controller

Organizer

Creator

Maintainer

Linker

Producer

Team


CRITICAL FACTORS CONTRIBUTE TO

THE HIGH PERFORMANCE OF AN

EFFECTIVE TEAMS

1-Size of Work Teams:

The best work teams tend to be small.

Recommended size for an effective team is 5-12

members so it will be easy to develop

cohesiveness and commitment and mutual

accountability.

2-Abilities of Members:

Abilities of members highly affect the

performance. Key abilities like technical

expertise, problem solving skills, decision making

skills and interpersonal skills must be hold by all

the members of the team.

3-Common Purpose:

Common purpose provides common direction,

momentum and commitment for the members. So

teams work for the mutual interest of the

organizations.

4-Specific Goals:

Clear, specific, measurable, and realistic goals

assigned to different members of the teams

stimulate the individual’s performance.

5-Leadership and Structure:

Leadership and structure directly affect the

performance of the teams. Excellent leadership

along with the appropriate structure help

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individuals to work in flexible environment and as

a result increase the performance.

6-Performance Evaluation and Reward

System:

Subjective performance evaluations and

inadequate reward systems negatively affect the

performance where as appropriate rewards for

both the individuals and teams encourage the

team members and result in high performance.

7-Mutual Trust (key factor to effective

team):

Mutual trust not only improves the performance

but also enhances the coordination and

decreases the conflicts among the team

members. Integrity, competence, consistency,

loyalty and openness are the five dimensions that

underlie the concept of trust. Higher the trust,

higher will be the coordination that helps to

improve the performance of an effective team.

KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF AN

EFFECTIVE TEAM

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CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN

MANAGING TEAMS

Teams & TQM

TQM, a new concept in management exclusively

depends upon the team efforts. TQM requires

management to give employees the

encouragement to share the ideas and act on

what they suggest. Teams provide the natural

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Relevant Skills

Negotiat-ing Skills

Internal Support

External Support

Appropriate

Leadership

Mutual Trust

Good Commun

ication

Unified Commit

ment

Clear Goals

Effective Teams


vehicle for employees to share ideas and to

implement improvements. Because of the

cognitive limits it is very difficult for the individuals

to develop all effective ways for solving the

structured and unstructured problems. In the

teams knowledge and skill is diversified so

strategies emerge and processes are managed in

effective way. Coordination, commitment and trust

are the key elements of effective teams and these

are also highly demanded for the TQM.

Reinvigorating Mature Teams

It is fact that team’s performance start decreasing

after certain time period. There are two obvious

reasons for this:

1. Members become reluctant to express the

openness to novel ideas and innovation. They

themselves assume the ideas of others and

take the decisions.

2. In earlier stages teams are assigned the

simple task so the performance is better in the

early period. There are four strategies to

reinvigorating the mutual trust:

i. Prepare members to deal with the

problems of maturity.

ii. Offers refresh training.

iii. Offer advance training

4. Encourage teams to treat their development as

a constant learning experience.

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ARTICLE # 1

Title: Life Cycles of Executive Teams

Author: Edwin Lee

Source: www.elew.com

Main Idea:

Do you really want a highly cohesive and highly

effective management team?

THE P4 GROUP

This article is based on a question, about P

Groups, rises at a management workshop

conducted by the business School of Santa Clara

University in 1984. P Groups were someone's way

of describing the characteristics of a management

team in terms of the team's effectiveness and

cohesiveness. That is, one team might be low in

effectiveness and low in cohesiveness at one

extreme, and another team high in both

characteristics at the other extreme.

Ideal team is one which is both highly effective

and highly cohesive, a P4 group. During that

workshop the author developed the concept of the

Life Cycles of Teams.

A TEAM IS A LIVING ORGANISM

One of the great breakthroughs of the 1950's was

that management consultants became aware of

management teams as entities. Since then,

managers and Organizational Development

professionals have devoted enormous efforts to

develop healthy, effective teams and to help team

members work smoothly together.

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Author’s association with team dynamics has

been intensely practical. He has been involved

with several social movements, several project

teams, and many business organizations. In the

process He has participated in the birth, growth,

maturity, decay, and death of many teams. Birth,

growth, maturity, decay, and death serve vital

purposes in an individual life and for the entire

human species. The birth, growth, decay, and

death of an executive team serve critically

important functions for the business as a whole

and for team members.

In this article author describe the values and

drawbacks of each phase of the life cycle both to

corporate vigor and to individual growth. He

showed how an attempt to maintain a highly

effective, highly cohesive management team

undermines both the health of the company in

which it operates and the personal growth of the

individuals who are part of that team! It would be

better for all concerned to hasten the death

process rather than fight it!

AN OVERVIEW OF A TEAM'S LIFE AND

DEATH

Figures 1 and 2 briefly describe an overview of

the Life and Death of a typical

management team.

Fig. 1: The life cycle of executive teams. The

period from Birth to Maturity is typically two to

three years. Maturity to Decay may take two to

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five years. Decay to Death takes less than a year and is triggered

(usually) by a catastrophe the team produces.

An executive team is formed to achieve specific

strategic business objectives within a few years.

In the first few months of the team's life, its

cohesiveness is low and its effectiveness is low

(Fig. 2A). There is much uncertainty about how

the team will work together. This is the team's

childhood, a time of maximum learning by team

members, and maximum sensitivity to the world

outside the team.

As team members learn from one another and

take successful actions together, the team's

effectiveness and cohesiveness increase. This

increases the members' enthusiasm and

commitment to the team. This is the team's

adolescence…teenage (Fig. 2B).

Eventually the team accomplishes its first major

success, the strategic objective for which it was

formed. That strategic success marks the point at

which the team is considered to be highly

cohesive and highly effective. But cohesiveness

has a dark side: lack of openness to the world

outside the team or to new team members (Fig.

2C).

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Fig. 2: Relationships among team members and between team

members and the world outside

the team. Shown for different

times in the life cycle.

Once the team

becomes highly

effective and highly

cohesive, the

communication of new

information between the

outside world and the

team and among team

members deteriorates

(Fig. 2D). Team

members no longer

listen to one another

because they already

know what to expect. They become bored with

their predictable roles.

After decay becomes well established, some

CEOs seek outside help to restore their teams' to

peak performance. Consequently, the restoration

efforts tend to focus on communication and

cohesiveness. Sometimes these efforts

temporarily slow the decay process.

Loss of effectiveness eventually overcomes the

exaggerated management energy committed to

cohesiveness, and the team disintegrates (Fig.

2E). Disintegration (death), frees team members

to participate in new teams where they can renew

their enthusiasms, develop new personal

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relationships, and revitalize their atrophied

learning processes

PROJECT TEAMS AND EXECUTIVE TEAMS

A project team and an executive team start life in

much the same way. The significant difference is

that a Project Team is disbanded when it achieves

its initial strategic success. Project team members

are rewarded, but one of the rewards is not

continued employment. Executive Team members

expect continued employment in return for past

success.

COMMENTS

When a team is formed it focuses on the future.

Once it succeeds it focuses on the past. Team

members are usually selected based on how they

will contribute to the teams strategic objectives.

Once the team attains its first strategic success,

however, a member of an executive team gets to

stay on the team as a reward for the team's

success.

I- Success breeds failure. In business it is

difficult for a team to repeat its success. A study of

management teams found that most successes

are followed by major failures.

II- Failure can breed success.

III- Term limits of no more than 8 years

for executives and executive teams would

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improve business effectiveness more than any

other management change.

CONCLUSION

A highly effective, highly cohesive team is a

transitory state in a dynamic process. Business

management will improve significantly when

executives respect the values of that process and

work with its dynamics.

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ARTICLE # 2

Title: 7 Keys to Building Great Work teams

Author: Suzanne Willis Zoglio, Ph.D.

Source: www.teambuildinginc.com

Main Idea:

In this article author has emphasis that how

leaders can foster the performance and

productivity of the work teams. She has identified

seven key elements which high-performance

teams have in common.

1. COMMITMENT

Commitment to the purpose and a clear sense of

direction. Team members understand how their

work fits into corporate objectives and they agree

that their team's goals are achievable and aligned

with corporate mission and values. Commitment

of members towards team’s goal can be enhance

by allowing them to develop team mission, vision,

and values statements by themselves.

2. CONTRIBUTION

The power of an effective team is in direct

proportion to the skills members possess and the

initiative members expend. Work teams need

people who have strong technical and

interpersonal skills and are willing to learn. Three

factors affect the level of individual contribution:

inclusion, confidence, and empowerment.

Inclusion: The more individuals feel like part of a

team, the more they contribute; and, the more

WORK TEAMS 13


members contribute, the more they feel like part of

the team.

Confidence: Confidence in self and team affects

the amount of energy a team member invests in

an endeavor. The more members are confidant

the more the more they like to contribute. The

confidence of team members can be bolstered by

providing feedback, coaching, assessment and

professional development opportunities.

Employee Empowerment: Another way to

balance contribution on a work team is to enhance

employee empowerment by involving them in

decisions and giving them right training.

3. COMMUNICATION

For a work group to reach its full potential,

members must be able to say what they think, ask

for help, share new or unpopular ideas, and risk

making mistakes. This can only happen in an

atmosphere where team members show concern,

trust one another, and focus on solutions, not

problems. Communication --when it is friendly,

open, and positive --plays a vital role in creating

such cohesiveness.

4. COOPERATION

Success of the work teams depend upon the

degree of interdependence recognized within the

team. The following F.A.C.T.S. model of effective

team member behaviors (follow-through,

accuracy, timeliness, creativity, and spirit) may

serve as a guide for helping teams identify

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behaviors that support synergy within the work

team.

Follow-through: Team members are keenly

aware that as part of a team, everything that they

do --or don't do---impacts someone else.

Accuracy: We do each job right the first time.

Creativity: Innovation accompaniments on a

team when individuals feel supported by

colleagues.

Timeliness: When work team members are truly

cooperating they respect the time of others by

turning team priorities into personal priorities.

Spirit: Value the individual; develop team trust;

communicate openly; manage differences; share

successes; welcome new members.

5. CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

The problem is not that differences exist, but in

how they are managed. People wrongly believe

that conflict never occurs in "good" groups,

conflicts do exist but these are the sources of new

ideas.

Three techniques that help members shift

obstructing paradigms are reframing, shifting

shoes, and affirmations.

Reframing: is looking at the glass half-full,

instead of half-empty.

Shifting Shoes: is a technique used to practice

empathy by mentally "walking in the shoes" of

another person.

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Affirmations: are positive statements about

something you want to be true.

6. CHANGE MANAGEMENT

It is no longer a luxury to have work teams that

can perform effectively within a turbulent

environment. It is a necessity. Teams must not

only respond to change, but actually initiate it.

7. CONNECTIONS

A cohesive work team can only add value if it

pays attention to the ongoing development of

three important connections.

I- When a work team is connected to the

organization, members discuss team

performance in relationship to corporate priorities,

customer feedback, and quality measures.

II- When a work team has developed

strong connections among its own members,

peer support manifests itself in many ways.

Colleagues volunteer to help without being asked,

cover for each other in a pinch. A few ideas for

developing and maintaining such connections are:

allow time before and after meetings for brief

socialization, schedule team lunches, create

occasional team projects outside of work, circulate

member profiles, take training together, and

provide feedback to one another on development.

III- Teams that connect well with other

work groups typically think of those groups as

"internal customers". They treat requests from

these colleagues with the same respect shown to

external customers.

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INTRODUCTION TO

ENGRO CHEMICAL PAKISTAN

LIMITED

In 1957 when the search for oil by Pak Stanvac,

an Esso/Mobil joint venture led to the discovery of

Mari gas field situated in the vicinity of Daharki - at

the time a small town in upper Sindh province.

After a few years of studies, Esso developed a

proposal to build a urea plant. The government,

eager to promote the use of fertilizers in Pakistan,

approved the proposal and Esso Pakistan

Fertilizer Company Limited was incorporated in

1965, with Esso owning 75% of the shares and

the Pakistani public the remaining 25%. Shortly

thereafter, commenced the construction of a urea

plant of 173,000 tons annual capacity. The plant

was commissioned on December 4, 1968, at a

cost of US dollars 43 million. Esso's investment at

the time represented the largest foreign

investment in the private sector of Pakistan.

Esso launched the Company's own branded urea

called

"Engro" - an acronym of "Energy for Growth".

In 1978, as part of an international name change

program, Esso became Exxon and the company

was renamed Exxon Chemical Pakistan limited.

The Company continued to prosper as it

relentlessly pursued productivity gains and strived

to attain professional excellence. The plant

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capacity was debottlenecked in low cost steps to

268,000 tons, high standards of operational safety

attained and Engro Urea enjoyed a premium in

the market.

The healthy growth in demand for fertilizers in

Pakistan presented opportunities to expand the

business of the Company. However, a major

investment by Exxon was unlikely because in a

global sense it did not view fertilizers as a core

strategic business which fitted with its long term

plans.

Early in 1991, Exxon announced their intention to

sell their 75% share of Company's equity. An

employee led buy out, enabled 28% of the equity

to be acquired by the employees and their Trust.

Several financial institutions acquired the balance

47% of the company's shares that were previously

held by Exxon Corporation. It enabled the

ownership to be restructured and the Company

was renamed Engro Chemical Pakistan

Limited.

The employee-led buyout of Exxon's equity was

the first of its kind in the corporate history of

Pakistan. As part of the buyout, agreements were

signed with Exxon for technical and project

management support and for the continued use of

the Engro brand name. The change in

ownership's allowed the Company to proceed with

an expansion project to more than double its

capacity to 600,000 tons in 1993. During 1995 the

plant capacity was further increased to 750,000

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tons per annum. In 1998, the Company

successfully implemented an expansion cum

modernization that enhanced the urea capacity to

850,000 tons per annum and appreciably

improved the environmental performance of the

plant site. The company is currently reviewing up

its next debottlenecking step to take the capacity

to 950,000 tons per annum.

Engro's strong presence in the fertilizer industry

and its endeavor to cautiously diversify and

pursue opportunities in petrochemicals has

attracted the attention of several international

venture partners. The future prospects look

promising as the organization is effectively

managed by a highly professional team totally

committed to preserving its core values and

adhering to highest standards of safety, business

ethics, integrity, etc.

Engro Chemical Pakistan Limited is the second

largest producer of urea fertilizer in the country

and is well positioned to take advantage of the

growth and challenges in the agricultural sector.

Apart from selling its own manufactured urea,

Engro also markets imported di-ammonium

phosphate and other potassic and phosphatic

fertilizers. For the last two years it is also dealing

in the Seed business with its brand name

“ENGRO BEMISAL”.

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ANALYSIS: WORK TEAMS

PRACTICES AT “ECPL”

Over 700 employees are working at ECPL for

carrying on the operations of the organization

effectively and efficiently. They are having the

skilled and efficient employee that’s why they are

progressive and growth oriented.

The team concept is in practice in the

organization. Which make ECPL one of the

leading organizations in this dynamic work

environment. They are maintaining the teams in

their organization according to the international

theory of teams like Study teams, Cross functional

teams and Self-managed teams. Anyhow they do

have the teams with the responsibility of problem

solving in their organization, but they are not

having the separate teams for the solution of

various problems.

The organization do give the due authority for the

implementation of the decisions whatever the

teams consider fit for the organization. The

organization considers each separate department

as a separate team and within one department

there are different teams for the different purposes

and different activities.

According to the ECPL the size of the team is

basically dependent on the size of the department

and job description. Most of the time these teams

at ECPL have 5-20 employees for the

performance of various activities in a sub team

while in a team that is department wide that

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consists of about 50 employees from the same

department.

Structure of the team is highly correlated with the

structure of the organization. That’s why the

various teams at this organization are performing

at or above the expectations of the organization.

Whenever the top management of the ECPL is

building teams for the performance of the crucial

activities it do considers the members’ abilities,

skills and knowledge and experience. For the

proper working of the teams the top management

gives priority to the experience and abilities so

that all the time teams’ performance is up to the

mark.

Sometimes if there is any conflicting situation in

the organization then the members of the teams

are also playing the role of organizer, advisor and

controller and they resolve the conflicting situation

as early as possible.

The management believes that factors like size,

ability, specific goals, leadership, performance

evaluations and reward system highly affect the

teams. Because if the size of the team is too

large than the requirement then the productivity

suffers. Similarly if interpersonal skill is also not

up to the demand of the team’s performance then

the efficiency also suffers and the like specific

goals and leadership, performance evaluations

and reward system also affect the performance of

the teams. On the other hand, factors like

structure, accountability moderately affect the

WORK TEAMS 21


teams. In addition to above all, the element of

trust is very important in the team’s activities.

The rewards are allocated to the members on

individual basis for the performance of the

individuals in the organization and sometimes the

reward allocation is done on the teams’ collective

performance.

As we see that team members are individually

responsible as well as on the part of the whole

team. Often management makes responsible the

team members individual because it thinks that it

is better to get increased efficiency with the

realized responsibility of each member separately.

The shaping individuals to team is also a crucial

matter in the organization that’s why the

organization believes that training and motivation

is necessary for the formation of teams and

turning individuals into team and shaping their

separate, individual behavior into team’s collective

behavior.

Whenever the different teams in the organization

meet the goals, the top management ensures the

individuals contribution of each and every member

of the team through clear communication and

reinforcement because it heavily relies on the

individual reward allocation. So each and every

member at this organization tries its level best to

contribute in achieving goals that lead to the

organization superior performance and growth.

Commitment of the teams toward the goals is a

key to the effective team. Organization measures

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the commitment through the achievement of the

teams and motivation level of the individuals. The

organization ensures friendly, open and positive

communication between the members of the team

by becoming fair, honest, and discussing conflicts

in open way.

Management pursue the inter team relationship by

sharing the resources offering suggestions and

celebrating together. For the development of the

inter team relationship the organization arranges

the schedule lunches and socialization programs

of members.

To build the strong connection between the teams

the organization arranges cross team meetings

frequently. The organization believes that

individuals prefer to work as a part of the team

rather than working alone. They highly agree

upon the team concept in the organization and

argued that the organization’s goal could only be

achieved through the collective team efforts.

PART (II): TRUST

Person who filled this part of the questionnaire, he

has been working over there for the last seven

years. The person believes that productivity of

the team is always greater than the individual.

The person is motivated to join the team by

collective wisdom and sharing the ideas.

The person believes that the trust is the key factor

for effective teams because it determines the

performance of the team whether it is achieving its

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objectives as per expectations of the top

management or not. That’s why this concept is

lying in the team every where in the organization.

He believes that the dimensions like integrity,

consistency, loyalty, competency and openness

all are equally important and prior to one another

for developing the mutual trust among the teams.

For developing the trust among the team

members we also consider the factors like a

member should act as a team player, practice

openness, speak one’s feelings, maintain

confidence, and most important is to work for

others. The members also believe that accuracy,

creativity, timeliness and spirit are very important

to improve the co-operations.

Employee motivation to perform effectively is

increased by employee recognition programs,

rewards, the challenging jobs, different training

courses. The person argued that decision making

authority must be given to the team members and

it is highly practiced at ECPL. At the end he feels

pleasure to work as a team member rather than

working alone.

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INTRODUCTION TO

PAK-ARAB FERTILIZERS (PVT)

LTD.

Pak-Arab Fertilizers is a living symbol of fraternal

relations between Islamic Republic of Pakistan

and Emirates of Abu Dhabi. The company was

established as a result of protocol concluded and

signed on November 15, 1972 by the two

governments to further strengthen the brotherly

ties through establishment of a joint venture in the

filed of fertilizer industry for exploitation natural

resources available to the mutual benefits of two

brotherly Muslim countries. Consequently a

memorandum of understanding was concluded

between West Pakistan industrial Development

Corporation of Pakistan (WPIDC) and Abu Dhabi

National Company (ADNOC) of Abu Dhabi on

March 7, 1973 followed by a participation

agreement on November 1, 1973 to establish a

joint venture for expansion and modernization of

the natural gas fertilizer factory Multan. Thus the

company was incorporated on November 12,

1973 with authorized capital of Rs 1000 million.

WPIDC interest in the company were assumed by

National Fertilizers corporation of Pakistan (NFC)

as a result of reformation of public sector

corporations and ADNOC interest in the company

had been assumed by Abu Dhabi (IPOC) Pakistan

has equity share capital participation through NFC

and Abu Dhabi through IPIC in the ratio of 52%

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and 48% respectively with the paid up capital of

Rs. 743061M.

Pakarab fertilizers is the largest fertilizer complex

in Pakistan and is the only fertilizer manufacturing

facility producing compound fertilizer in the

country. Fertilizer production plants of Pakarab

Fertilizers are located about 08 kilometers from

the ancient city of Multan which were completed in

1978 at a total cost of Rs. 2279.010 million

inclusive of Rs. 1326 million foreign component.

About 1000 employees are working in the

organization.

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ANALYSIS: WORK TEAMS

PRACTICES AT “PAFL”

Although Team concept is in practice at Pak Arab

Fertilizers Limited but it is not in its particular real

shape and name. They do maintain the Cross-

functional and cross sectional team in their

organization. They give limited authority to the

team members for decision-making and

implementation of their decisions but not in all

aspects. The size of the team varies with respect

to the type and job of the team. The size of the

team for the operational activities is relatively

larger then that of the warehousing and marketing

activities. But as a whole they believe on the small

team concept as they consider it as more

productive and effective.

The management at this organization considers

all the departments as separate teams and

structure of the teams also follow the structure of

the organization. They form the team on the basis

of skills and knowledge and responsive to the

problems when ever these problems arise. While

forming the teams they do considers the

interpersonal skills as core characteristics.

Members play the role of creator, linker, promoter,

advisor and maintainer in addition to their normal

activities. Management considers the size,

specific goals, accountability and performance

evaluations, reward allocations and mutual trust

are highly affecting the team performance at the

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Pak Arab Fertilizers limited. While the structure

and leadership moderately affect.

Rewards are allocated on the individual and

mutual team basis and the members are

accountable both individually and as a whole for

the team performance. Individuals are motivated

to turn them into team members through selection

of right people, providing them the appropriate

training and extending rewards.

Inter team relationships are managed through

building the trust between the team members.

Inter team relationship is pursued through sharing

the resources and celebrating together & with the

more socialization of the members and combined

training. Commitment of the member towards the

organization’s goal is measured by meeting the

targets; the actual performance is compared with

the standards already formulated.

Contribution of each team member towards the

team is ensured through individuals performance

evaluations and providing them proper training.

The organization ensures the friendly and open

communication between the team members

through increasing the mutual interactions of the

members.

Cross team meetings are play vital role in

developing the strong relationship between the

teams from various functional areas. Employees

prefer to work as a part of team thus the team

increases the commitment and organization can

achieve its goals in efficient way.

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Management feels that team is good for

performing the right kind of activities within the

organization and outside the organization as well.

So they are highly impressed with the teams’

performance and their relative expectations.

PART (II): TRUST

The person is working for ten years in this

organization and he is more willing to work as a

member of the team because he knows that the

output of the team is more important and greater

than the individual output in the organization.

The reward systems, diverse skill knowledge,

learning of new things and ideas and building

confidence are the major motivating factors for

joining the teams.

He believes that the trust is the key factor that’s

why it is essential part of their teams. All

mentioned dimensions i.e., integrity, consistency,

competency, loyalty and openness are important

for building the mutual trust between the teams.

Trust can be created and develop through

practicing openness and showing consistency and

demonstrating the competency.

Reframing (compromising, win-win) approach is

considered to be the best approach to manage

the conflict between the team members and the

“FACTS MODEL” is the best way to improve the

cooperation between members. The person

believes that decision making power and authority

must be given to the team members for the

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implementation of decisions effectively and

efficiently.

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TEAM PRACTICES

AT “ECPL” & “PAFL” AND THE

GLOBAL PROSPECTS

The concept of teams and teamwork is

increasingly becoming an important key to

productivity and employee satisfaction in the

contemporary workplace. Teams have definitely

become important in organizations because,

increasingly, data shows that productivity, quality,

and morale improves when teams are utilized.

There are many reasons for these positive

outcomes but what we have found at ECPL and

PAFL is:

Teams produce a greater quantity of ideas

and information than individuals acting

alone.

Teams improve understanding and

acceptance among individuals involved in

the process.

Teams create higher motivation and

performance levels than individuals acting

alone.

Teams offset personal biases and blind

spots that hinder the decision process.

Teams sponsor more innovative and risk-

taking decision making.

The advent of the global business environment

has caused major changes in who does the

planning, how it is done, and the content of the

plan. It is common to find teams of line and staff

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managers globally. There are several traditional

techniques often used to improve team

performance and what we find consistent with

ECPL & PAFL that not according to the world

standard but up to some extent they are using

such techniques.

Plan and schedule the work to be done;

Schedule which team member will handle

which assignments;

Select, layout, install and manage new

equipment;

Secure predictive/preventive maintenance

for their equipment;

Repair, or secure repair for, their

equipment;

Organize their own material supply process;

Contract directly with outside suppliers, or

negotiate with purchasing department about

their input quality and timing requirements;

Set up regular feedback and interaction

channels with customers;

Some of the Similarities Exist

Between Two Organizations

Create a common, shared goal

Promote interdependency

Have measurable outcomes

Continually stress the team's purpose

Make sure team members have the right

skills

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Use training to help team members develop

interpersonal, intercultural skills.

Spell out lines of communication

TEAM PRACTICES

COMPARISON BETWEEN “ECPL” &

“PAFL”

ECPL is 2nd largest company in the fertilizer

company of Pakistan, it hold almost 22%

production shares after FFC, which has about

58% production share. ECPL has two plants with

total capacity of 850 MT. While the PAFL keeps

10% production share and it has one plant.

Approximately 700 employees are working in

ECPL and about 1000 in PAFL.

ECPL has got the mixed structure regarding

centralization and decentralization in both

decision-making. It has got the simple structure in

their organization. While at PAFL the structure is

very complex, more lines of authorities are

involved in decision-making.

Team concept is applicable in both of the

organizations, ECPL in particular while PAFL

approximately applies this concept but not up to

that extent.

ECPL has self-managed, cross functional and

study teams while PAFL mostly concerned with

the problem solving teams whenever any kind of

problem arises teams become active. Both the

organization use to give authority to implement

any decision by team, with this philosophy the

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organization is getting the right kind of work and

achieving the overall goals of the organization.

Both of the organizations mainly rely on the small

size teams but at PAFL sometimes-large teams

also present in the production department. In

large teams there are more than twenty members.

Formal organizational structure forms the teams in

each of the organization. Each member of the

team is bound to follow the strict rules and

regulations of the organization. While forming the

team both organizations take into account the

knowledge, abilities and interpersonal skills of

each and every member of the organization.

At ECPL team members plays the vital role of

creator, liaison, organizer, and assessor while at

PAFL teams play the role of creator, linker,

advisor and promoter. It means the role of the

team is basically same in both the organizations

but depending upon the unique characteristics

they have built a little bit difference in team

concept.

At ECPL the performance of the teams is highly

affected by the following variables like Abilities,

Specific goals, Leadership, Structure & Mutual

trust.

In addition to the above-mentioned factors PAFL

considers performance evaluations, reward

systems, and accountability for the effective

teams.

Both the organizations are using the individual

and teams based reward systems because the

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members of the teams are individually responsible

as well as for the team as a whole.

ECPL turns its employees into the effective team

members using training, and reward allocation

and it motivates the employees to be effective

team player. While PAFL uses the selection,

rewards plus0. motivation concepts but they give

high weightage in selection of a team member.

In pursuing the inter team relationships both the

organizations share the resources within the

teams and often celebrates together on the

achievement of the objectives of the team.

Socialization, training together, schedule lunches

are being applied in developing the inter team

relationship at ECPL, at PAFL applies the

socialization and training together while shaping

the teams in the organization for the effective and

superior performance.

Both the organizations use the cross team

meetings in building the stronger connection

between the teams so that their performance

becomes important for the achievement of the

organizational goals so management considers it

as a crucial matter for designing the inter team

relationships. Both the organizations have thought

that the team concept should be in the

organization, even it is a new concept in Pakistan

but it increases productivity, commitment,

performance and mutual trust among the

members of the teams.

TRUST

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At both organizations team members are of the

view that productivity of the person in team is

much greater than the individual performance

working alone. Both organizations have a same

answer that the reward system mostly accelerates

the persons to join the team because they are

rewarded individually and as a whole. Team

members from both the organization believes that

integrity, consistency, competency, and loyalty are

they key factors in developing the mutual trust.

In case of any conflict among the team members

normally both the organizations try to reach the

compromising situation like Win-Win.

Authority is granted to each team whatever the

decision is made by the team members it is

happened in the both organizations. During the

survey we perceive that people would like to work

in team rather than individually.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Engro Chemicals Pakistan Limited

Syed Riaz Hussain Shah

Regional Manager Multan.

0300-8293042

061-584117

Junaid Ahmad

Sales Officer Multan Distt.

061-584118

Pak-Arab Fertilizer Limited

Mr. Khlid Bashir

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SR. Manager personal Industrial

Relations

061-552123

Internet

www.emeraldinsight.com

www.articles911.com

www.elew.com

www.teambuildinginc.com

www.hr.com

Books

Organizations Behavior

(Stephen P. Robbins)

Organizations Behavior

(Luthan)

Management

(Stephen P. Robbins)

Principles of Management

(Kiehrich Koontz)

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angro-n-pakarab (ob)

Documents