Team Management – Meaning and Importance

Team Management – Meaning and Importance | Leadership | Emeritus

Team management is about being collaborative, productive, and efficient. In today’s time, team management is mandatory for every organisation. It helps them to build an effective, thriving, and engaging team striving to achieve common goals and objectives. Leaders and managers ensure that employees work excellently as a team.

In this article, you’ll learn:



  • What is team management?
  • What’s the importance of team management in business?
  • What are the types of teams?
  • How to manage a team?

What is Team Management?

Team management refers to activities, strategies, and actions that bring a group of people together to work effectively towards a common goal.

Enhanced productivity and effectiveness are the main reason for working in a group.

Characteristics of Team Management

  • Everyone works towards a common goal
  • Everyone has a predefined role in the team, leading to lesser conflicts
  • Everyone has the platform the means to communicate openly with everyone

Team management vs Team leadership

Team management and team leadership are two sides of the same coin. Team management refers to forming teams to accomplish a common goal. On the other hand, team leadership uses different types of leadership styles and techniques to motivate teams to achieve their objectives.

Why is team management important?

Fosters thriving company culture

A company’s culture is pivotal in shaping good leaders and employees. It also motivates them to work together to achieve a common goal.

Additionally, a pleasant company culture drives performance, delivers favourable outcomes, and helps employees to adapt quickly to market trends and competitors’ strategies.

Enhances employee engagement

When working in a team, there is effective communication, constant motivation, and regular feedback from the team leader, which helps increase employee engagement.
Besides that, here are some factors that drive employee engagement:

  • Thriving company culture
  • Trust in peers and leaders
  • How leaders/companies value employees as an essential resource

All of this can be achieved through team management.

Enhances employee experience

When working in a team, you tap into the strengths of your peers and learn from their weaknesses or mistakes. This makes it a wholesome experience for employees to learn new things, reinvent themselves, and more.

Increases productivity

Team management drives productivity by getting employees to work better. Teamwork and clear communication between employees and leaders increase productivity and organisational objectivity.

Some other advantages of team management are:

  • Reduces staff turnover
  • Promotes teamwork
  • Promotes learning

What are the types of teams?

Functional teams

When members from the same department with different responsibilities or job roles form a team, they are referred to as functional teams. These teams follow the typical top-down management approach.

Cross-functional teams

Employees from different departments come together to perform a specified task. This type of team is referred to as a cross-functional team. This team is only formed when other groups need to work on the same project to deliver the desired result.

Virtual teams

When employees from different locations connect and interact with the help of modern technologies, it is called virtual teams.

Self-managed teams

A team that works without a manager is referred to as a self-managed team. When people of the same organisation, performing different duties and roles, come together to work as a unit, they are called self-managed teams. They might have different goals or objectives, but they work together as a team.

Operational teams

An operational team is formed to support other groups. The main aim of this type of team is to ensure that the business functions smoothly without any hiccups. Operations teams have clearly defined objectives and work towards achieving them constantly.

How to manage a team?

Here are the top effective ways to manage a team:

  • Facilitate meaningful connections within the team
  • Encourage professional development
  • Ask for feedback
  • Set clear goals and objectives
  • Foster team collaboration

FAQs

What is leadership?

Leadership is the ability of a company’s team lead, or senior entities to set and achieve goals and objectives, outperform the competition, and push others to do their best.

Who manages and controls a team?

A business leader or manager ensures that the team works towards a common goal. They set clear goals, track progress, and measure team performance.

What skills are required for team management?

For effective team management, a leader requires a mix of technical and non-technical skills.

Here are the technical skills required by leaders:

  • Data analysis
  • Industry-specific knowledge
  • Product development
  • Marketing
  • Project Management Software
  • Knowledge about different business strategies

Here are the non-technical skills required by leaders:

What are typical roles in team management?

  • Chief executive level positions like CEO, COO, CFO, etc.
  • Managers
  • Supervisors
  • Coordinators
  • Team lead

How to move into a team management role?

Build on your core management skills through real-life experiences, formal training programmes, online courses, or certifications. These courses will enhance your team management skills and help you become more competent at team handling.

Emeritus India offers online leadership courses in partnership with renowned universities like IIT, IIM, and ISB. These programmes equip you with advanced skills to develop competent business strategies to improve business growth and profitability.

About the Author

Content Writer, Emeritus Blog
Nikhil is a passionate and free-spirited writer with 4+ years of experience. He has a keen eye for the ever-evolving content landscape, which helps him craft captivating content across various genres. He writes about marketing, data science, and finance for the Emeritus Blog. Beyond work, Nikhil is a dedicated pet parent who loves leisurely walks with his beloved puppers.
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