Team Building

Date: 24 to 25 November 2012

Team building is a philosophy of job design in which employees are viewed as members of interdependent teams instead of as individual workers.^[1] Team building refers to a wide range of activities, presented to businesses, schools, sports teams, religious or nonprofit organizations designed for improving team performance. Team building is pursued via a variety of practices, and can range from simple bonding exercises to complex simulations and multi-day team building retreats designed to develop a team (including group assessment and group-dynamic games), usually falling somewhere in between. It generally sits within the theory and practice of organizational development, but can also be applied to sports teams, school groups, and other contexts. Team building is not to be confused with "team recreation" that consists of activities for teams that are strictly recreational. Team building can also be seen in day-to-day operations of an organization and team dynamic can be improved through successful leadership. Team building is an important factor in any environment, its focus is to specialize in bringing out the best in a team to ensure self development, positive communication, leadership skills and the ability to work closely together as a team to problem solve.^[2]

Work environments tend to focus on individuals and personal goals, with reward & recognition singling out the achievements of individual employees.^[3] Team building can also refer to the process of selecting or creating a team from scratch.