TEAM BUILDING RETREATS
Case Study
Dr. Gene Benter
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This case study revolves around the concept of team building that was illustrated in Case
2 incident. Questions number 1 and 2 provides positive outlook about team building. Team
building based on this context increases teamwork and productivity. The combining together of
people from diverse skills and capabilities build a strong synergy that makes their job fulfilling
and satisfying. Questions number 3 and 4 are discussions concerning the development of
physically inactive employees and their low performance have negative impact on the company.
It also discussed maintaining close contacts of employees in the absence of direct contact with
one another.
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Table of Contents
Page Number
Introduction 4
Question No. 1 5
Question No. 2 6
Question No. 3 7
Question No. 4 9
Conclusion 12
References 14
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Introduction
The term team building usually leads to the concept of choices, growth, and combined
stimulus of individuals to work as one body in order to achieve the organizational goals. Several
activities and group dynamics of team building are lined up in order for employees or the
management to pursue the corporate goals through rigorous trainings, such as group self-
assessment and group-dynamic games. Mostly, the activities inn team building revolves around
the theory and practice of organizational development.
Team building is a continuous process of working together not simply as a workforce but
as group of individuals with varying traits and competencies forming together as a powerful
strategy to achieve the goals of the company. The compositions of diverse individuals in a team
but possessing the common aspiration of the company developed a synergy that catalizes the
unity of the group.
An organization is already a team but it be broken down to small unit so that job
performance may not be hampered due to job confusion and too general tasks assignments.
Building small teams clarifies each person role and contribution to the achievement of the
organization goal. In order to strengthen the reach of the group, their camaraderie should be
given priority to remove the barriers that hinder their progress as group.
Hence, team working retreats are conducted to build the gap that separates the members
of the team from one another. Usually, team building sessions commence with knowing oneself,
being oneself, and becoming the best of oneself. Once this is done, the next level is given in
order to know the feedbacks from other members of the group. Finally, the exercise evolves to
deeper knowledge and understanding of each other in the group. Activities and reflections are
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intertwined so that the group begins to develop excitement to work with each other. Once the
individuals can happily engage with each other to solve a particular problem, the team is born.
Question No. 1
Do you believe that team building activities increase productivity? Why or why not? What
other factors might be responsible for increase in profitability following a corporate retreat?
Team building increases the productivity. According to Riyad, “Organizational behavior
integrates individual process, group process and organization processes and further these are
intergraded to psychology, social science, sociology and other facts. So a team in an organization
reacts with all these factors that is why success of an organization always rely on teams. As a
result of these we can see teams are formed in organizations to solve management problems as
well as to be successful organizations in foreseeable future.” (wiki.answers.com)
b. Why team building helps more productivity?
Team recognized to be useful to achieve the organization goal. In the team we can found
there are different people who have different characters, behavior and skills. This mixing of
people makes them to be synergy to achieve the goal.
Multi resources: When we use multi resources and skills help us to increase the
productivity.
In make decision: if we depend on one person to take decision we put our self in big
risk. But when depend on team there will be desiccations and Cooperation between the
members to decrease the risk. In addition, this can help member to improve their skills
during the time.
Communication: this cooperation between members (special between the manager and
member) and communicate in informal way can make positive felling between them.
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That help if in the future any problem happens the member will feel comfortable if they
want to desiccation this problem with the manager. Also, this makes good relationship
happens between organization’ employee which make good effect like increase the
productivity.
Work focusing: in team organization each team has own task. They should consider on
it. That helps to make more and quality product. For example: IT company.
Question No. 2.
What are some other ways beside those described here to build effective teams and increase
teamwork among company employee? How might these alternatives be better or worse than
corporate retreats?
There are many ways to improve team work in company. Each kind of team has special
way to improve it. But there are common ways. There we will talk some of them and describe
how they work.
Clear Expectations: the leader of that team has to have clear idea about expectations for
the team’s performance and what expect from the team to do. What they should to do to
lead this team and care about finance satiation and time. Each team member has to
understand why this team appears? What they should to do to achieve specific goal. And
what is every member task.
Context: each member should understand why they participate in this team. They have to
know the team purpose, strategy, goals, principles, vision and values. In addition team
work should achieve them.
Commitment: Do team members want to participate on the team. Do team member fell
the team mission is important. Do they fell they give useful and important service to the
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company and their future? In addition do they expect they will receive thanks and
gratitude from the company?
Team Norms or Relationship Guidelines: team norms are the rules or guidelines which
organize the action between team members or any one dell with them outside the team.
These rules usually sit in the first team meeting. In addition, these rules can be change or
add later if there is any needing.
Using of team norms such as guiding team member behavior and the use of team member
interactions.
Question No. 3
What should companies do about employees who lack athletic talent but are still pressured to
participate in physical activities with their colleagues? How might poor performance by those
with low athletic ability affect their status within the organization?
There are many benefits of physical activities participation especially if it was with
teammates. With so many participating in physical activities, either in companies or agency-
sponsored programs, it is important to examine the possible benefits of this involvement. The
benefits and detriments of physical activities participation have been a topic of debate within the
research and policy literature; however, numerous benefits have been identified. For instance,
Seefeldt, Ewing, and Walk (1992) have identified the following possible benefits associated with
competition:
Learning physical skills. Athletes learn both fundamental motor skills (e.g., running,
jumping and hopping) and sport-specific skills (e.g., how to putt a golf ball or shoot a
jump shot in basketball) that allow them to stay active.
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Appreciation of fitness. Two of the motives for participation identified by children is “to
get exercise” and “stay in shape” (Ewing & Seefeldt; 1989); participating in sports offers
this benefit.
Sense of belonging. Another strong motive of participation is social interaction. Sports
can provide peer interaction through both teammates and healthy competition (see Weiss
& Stuntz, 2004 for a review of the literature).
Acquiring sport skills for leisure. Learning the fundamental motor skills through sport
can aid in skill development, but can also be transferred to other sports and leisure
activities, promoting increased participation and involvement.
In a review of current trends and literature in youth sport, Malina and Cumming (2003)
outlined other possible benefits of participation:
Growth and maturation effects
Regular physical activity leading to increased fitness
Self-concept or self-worth effects
Social competence
Moral development
So, physical activities are very useful for employees even if they did not have athletic
talent. In addition, physical activities with colleagues Strengthen community and enhance
cooperation among them. It also let them know each other closely. The companies should keep
encourage their employees to participate these activities even with lack athletic talent.
Poor performance by those with low athletic ability does not affect their status within the
organization that much because of their strong relationship. They will help each other to go over
it and encourage them to do their best and have high performance. So, low performance is not
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that big deal. It will make employees help each other and work together to succeed at job. If all
employees have high performance in physical activities, every one is going to care about him/her
self. And that will create competition among them rather than work together.
Question No. 4
How might you increase teamwork when team members are not often in direct contact with
one another? Can you think of any "electronic" team-building exercise?
Generally, more frequent communication is productive, but this should be relative to
what is sufficient or necessary for the task. Direct communication happens when people talk to
one another rather than relaying information through someone else (e.g., the leader). Open
communication means that people feel very comfortable sharing information with one another.
Virtual team recommendations:
Communication is one of the real challenges for virtual teams, and one of the ways
virtual teams are most different from face to face teams. Virtual team leaders (and
members) must make a conscious effort to keep communication flowing, particularly if
teams are geographically dispersed.
With a little creativity, even informal communication is possible in virtual teams - at
IBM, employees have informal communication in a virtual space even when they are not
in the same geographic location.
The guideline about direct communication might need to be tweaked in virtual teams.
Though virtual team members should communicate directly, they might need to keep
others informed about the communication. Too often, this ends up taking the form of
annoying cc’s in email; we discourage that and recommend the use of a discussion board
or a blogging tool to not only communicate directly with others but to also keep others
informed.
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Virtual teams must also think about how to optimize the amount of time spent on the task
with the amount of time spent capturing and documenting information, and that balance
point is very different than in a face to face group.
This is an example for electronic team-building exercise. It is US Patent 5762503 - System for
use as a team building exercise.
1. A system for management training a team having a plurality of members,
2. A system having a plurality of monitors and associated sensors disposed within a space,
3. Each of the monitors and associated sensors defining a monitor region wherein a respective
sensor is triggered in response to the presence of at least one team member in the monitor region
4. Further defining a plurality of safe areas remote from all of the monitor regions in which no
sensor is triggered, each of the monitors and associated sensors including a transmitter that
generates a signal in response to triggering of the respective sensor,
5. The signals being representative of status information, the system comprising: an obstacle
course that is negotiated by the members of the team, the course being formed from an
arrangement of the predefined monitor regions and configured within the space so that the safe
areas wherein no sensor is triggered extend contiguously along the obstacle course remote from
all of the monitor regions
6. Allowing the members of the team to negotiate the course without triggering the sensors by
remaining within the contiguous safe areas; a control engine coupled to each transmitter so as to
receive the signals from the plurality of monitors and associated sensors in real time, the control
engine including means for tabulating the status information;
7. A scoreboard, operatively connected to the control engine, for displaying the results of the
tabulation in real time to the team negotiating the obstacle course; and at least one warning
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device, operatively connected to the control engine, for providing at least one of auditory and
visual feedback information to the team negotiating the obstacle course, wherein the control
engine only activates the at least one warning device while at least one team member is within a
monitor region so as to assist the team in locating and thereby remaining within the safe areas
while negotiating the obstacle course.
1. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one warning device comprises an indicator
light disposed along the obstacle course, the light being activated by the control engine
only while at least one team member is within a monitor region.
2. The system of claim 2 wherein the at least one warning device further comprises an audio
system disposed in proximity to the obstacle course for reproducing a plurality of sounds
and each of two or more monitors is associated with a different sound, whereby the
control engine only activates the audio system while at least one team member is within a
respective monitor region by directing the audio system to reproduce the sound with
which the respective monitor is associated.
3. The system of claim 3 wherein the scoreboard comprises a counter and the control engine
adjusts the counter in response to the triggering of a sensor corresponding to the presence
of a team member in a respective monitor region.
4. The system of claim 4 further comprising at least one challenge station disposed along
the obstacle course, the at least one challenge station configured to present a task that
may be performed by at least one team member and to generate challenge station signals
in response to an input by the at least one team member, the control engine coupled to the
at least one challenge station and including means for tabulating the challenge station
signals.
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6. The system of claim 5 further comprising at least one electro-mechanical hazard
operatively disposed along the obstacle course, the at least one electro-mechanical hazard
operatively coupled to the control engine and configured to modify the course conditions
as commanded by the control engine.
7. The system of claim 6 wherein the control engine includes a main processor for use in
tabulating the status information in accordance with a predetermined scoring equation
and a memory associated with the main processor for use in storing the tabulation results.
Conclusion
We have seen the many advantages of team building in developing the organization’s
productivity. It only takes initiative on the part of the organization’s management to keep the
group moving on to the right direction. Proper training and well defined objectives are the key
elements in keeping the team going. Sometimes the path toward perfect performance might be
tedious and not so easy but it is always a matter of constant and consistent encouragement that
individuals in a team find encouragement.
Working as a team needs expertise. Each person in the team should supplement and
compliment each other. Due to individual differences one or two members of the team may be
slower than the rest, but the spirit of camaraderie among them will serve as the strength of the
entire group. Team members are not competitors rather they are allied forces with each other.
The goal might seem impossible to achieve however, the purpose of the team is to make the
impossible, possible.
Teamwork communication is an essential trait among members of the team.
Communication builds stronger ties and the bonds are knitted tightly. Barriers of communication
oftentimes cause misinterpretation that is why; each team member should realize the value of
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keeping an open mind and a listening heart. Obstacles are never hard for a team who work with
one mind and body. Success is inevitable and can be achieved successively once a team has
embraced the spirit of teamwork.
Team building activities such as mountain climbing, cooking contest, and fire walks are
ineffective exercises to develop team work because what is at stake in these activities is survival
and not camaraderie. Team building should not induce pain or physical suffering simply because
they can strengthen the commitment of each member of the team. Torture is never accepted as a
moral act even among animals. Giving rigorous and difficult exercises for team building only
discourage participants to commit themselves to the firm.
It is good to remember that people join the workforce to earn a living and not to subject
themselves to pain and hardships.
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References
Bart Icles, A Great Way To Increase Productivity Is Through Team Building,
http://www.artipot.com/articles/308600/a-great-way-to-increase-productivity-is-through-team-
building.htm , March 19, 2009
Clive Morgan, Why Team Building Activities are So Important?, April 2,2009
Riyad, Why team work is important on an organization,
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_team_work_is_important_on_an_organisation,June3, 2008
Susan M. Heathfield, Twelve Tips for Team Building: How to Build Successful Work Teams,
http://humanresources.about.com/od/involvementteams/a/twelve_tip_team.htm
Susan M. Heathfield, How to Build Powerfully Successful Work Teams,
http://humanresources.about.com/od/involvementteams/a/team_one_stop.htm
Teambuildingbuzz.com ,Why is Team Building Important for my Company Staff?,
http://www.teambuildingbuzz.com/why-is-team-building-important-for-my-company-staff.htm ,
December 21, 2008
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