A TEAM AS A BUSINESS MODEL: NEW CHALLENGES FOR THE MANAGEMENT AND HR CONSULTING

Author
, professor, Kharkiv, Pushinska, 77

In heading

 Economic theory;

Signed print

 27.05.2020

Issues number

 2020 - № 2 (41)

Page

 69-90

Type of articles

 Scientific article

Code UDK

 005.95:330.16

ISSN print

 2411-5584

Abstract

 Problem setting: contemporary conditions for doing business requires taking into account economic, as well as social factors. Forming the new perception of the essence and peculiarities of teamwork is of particular importance. The latter is an effective business model under the Collaborative Economy. Hence, managers and HR consultants face new goals.
Recent research and publication analysis: researches on issues of team building, social and organizational psychology, and organizational behaviour are mainly conducted by representatives of foreign, primarily American, schools of management. Their developments are concerned with the essence and purpose of teams, typologization of teams, distinctions between teams and working groups, principles of creating teams, socialization, etc. Having analysed articles of authors such as S. W. J. Kozlowski & B. S. Bell, R. Reiter-Palmon, T. Sinha, J. Gevers, J.‑M. Odobez, & G. Volpe, E. Salas, K. C. Stagl, C. S. Burke, & G. F. Goodwin, M. R. Shuffler, A. L. Thayer, W. L. Bedwell, & E. H. Lazzara, John Katzenbach, August Vlak, & Aurelie Viriot, K. Petkovski & F. Joshevska, F. P. Morgeson, D. Scott DeRue, & E. P. Karam, N. Saraswat & S. Khandelwal, the author may conclude that, unfortunately, economic aspects of team building have not been thoroughly examined in the scientific literature. Nevertheless, a field of research called the Collaborative Economy is enough interesting and prospective.
Paper objective: the article objective is to ascertain the nature of teamwork and to study a team as form of organizing and using hired labour.
Paper main body: in this article, the author considers the following theoretical and applied issues:
1. What is a team? What types of teams do exist?
2. What indicators do evaluate efficiency of teamwork? Representatives of the managerial science point out opportunities of achieving the potential and knowledge of each employee, elements of creativity, innovativeness, and flexibility in the process of teamwork. In a majority of cases, the main elements of efficient teamwork encompass: meeting the personal interests of team members; the successful interaction in team and accomplishing established goals. The author has analysed different management models for effective teamwork.
An economic aspect of the issue implies that many teams are specially created by an employer for undertaking production programs, carrying out research activities, developing new products, etc. Team building should be considered as a business model disclosing the economic logics of the company’s activity and explaining a method a company applies to create values for customers and earn profit. In the article, the author examines peculiarities of hiring employees under team forms of the work organization concerned with the necessity for making so-called specific investments in a team, using the potential of effective salary, concluding long-term labour agreements with employees, and controlling transaction costs. Creating managerial teams is usually encouraged by economic reasons.
Nowadays, team business models are actively implemented in the sphere of services. For instance, the foreign practice shows that teams are created for successful undertaking juridical projects – legal dream team. At the beginning of the 21st century, law firms have begun to create client teams.
3. Does team building solve all problems at a business organization? In my opinion, it does not. Team building does not exclude the possibility of emergence of the free rider problem and forming unanimous understanding, which do not facilitate the realistic evaluation of actions and ways of economic behaviour. Joint efforts of people may generate positive energy of a team, as well as negative one, inducing interpersonal conflicts between employees and the dismissal of particular team members. High mobility of contemporary staff is also a challenge to managers and HR consultants. It results in a vague work period at the particular position at a certain firm. Under such conditions, HR consultants begin to advise short-term studying in the context of a certain project and to form the “first team” and “reserve team” rather than “squads” without increasing the number of employees. At the same time, managers should account the discipline and production efficiency.
Conclusion of the research: creating teams is a contemporary trend of doing business. In the western management theory, team building is usually researched from the standpoint of managerial effects. However, managers should take into consideration a set of purely economic positive and negative consequences of team building. Awareness of these consequences is important for managers of business organizations and HR consultants.
Short Abstract for an article
Abstract. The article has generalized scientific approaches to substantiating the essence of team building. The author has formulated the main criteria and characterized types of teams. The author has analysed efficiency of teamwork alongside its managerial and economic aspects. The author pays especial attention to the development of team building as a business model and applied problems managers and HR consultants face.

Keywords

 team, team building, Collaborative Economy, business model, management, HR consulting.

Reviewer

External reviewer

Article in PDF

 69-90

Bibliography

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Code DOI

 10.31359/2411-5584-2020-41-2-69

27.05.2020