While people come into an organization as individuals, they do most of their work in teams – that is, groups of people clustered around task assignments. The institutional and social context of your organization captures the energy and commitment of individuals so that the purpose of the organization can be achieved through teams.

The impact of the social context on change implementation depends on the degree to which diverse individuals are engaged in idea identification, problem solving, decision making, plan development and evaluation as part of a team. Effectiveness also depends on the depth of commitment individuals have to the purpose and process of the team. The concepts of congeniality, collegiality and collaboration describe levels of commitment that affect how people work together to achieve outcomes. Congeniality is the ability to get along socially in face to face situations. Collegiality is characterized by cooperative, supportive relationships in working toward common goals. Collaboration requires interpersonal and group skills leading to a synergy of individual strengths that produces fundamental differences in relationships and commitment to a common purpose.

The institutional context:

• Links individuals to others and to the larger organization, allowing them to see themselves as part of a larger undertaking which enhances their status and self esteem.
• Provides material and emotional support for individuals, defining the meaning and value of their individual work.
• Offers a setting within which learning and personal growth can be experienced, measure, and appreciated.
• Provides memory, rituals, values, tools, and structure for the work of both the group and the individual.
• Promotes cooperation, mutual trust, and teamwork, emphasizing common interests, encouraging sharing of information, and providing mechanisms for resolving conflicts.

The leader shapes the social contexts in the organization through decision and commitments about the following:

• Assignment to groups and tasks – People must be selected for assignments not just for their technical skills but also on the basis of their dedication to the purpose of the company, their ability to work well with others, and their track record for getting things done.
• Amount and types of resources and support services made available to work groups – Teams that are most concerned with the purpose of the organization should have freer and quicker access to money, special skills, equipment, and other resources that may be in short supply in the organization.
• Design of incentive systems – Who and what gets rewarded greatly influences the way groups work and their loyalty to the purpose of the organization.
• The way jobs are structured and allocated among work groups – The task focus and job requirements are matched to the size, experience, and skills of the work group.
• The choice of people to head the teams – Leaders of work groups should be chosen for their ability to mobilize activity toward achieving the task. Sometimes this can be done by unconventional or counter intuitive assignments to challenge the thinking and organizational processes of the team.
• The goals and expectations of each unit – Each work team understands how their work fits with the work of others toward the achievement of the purpose. Timelines and responsibilities result in a coordinated, efficient work effort.

The purpose of teams is that groups of people working together help the organization better achieve goals and objectives. The assumption is that whenever two or more people work together to accomplish goals, they will find that they learn from each other and build on each other’s strengths. The degree to which individuals actually work effectively in teams reflects the degree to which the environment, structure and culture of the organization empowers teamwork. An empowering organization is a collaborative organization characterized by mutual influence, creative distribution of power, shared responsibility, vitality and energy, inclusiveness, democracy and persistency.

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