The Team Trainer Winning Tools And Tactics For Successful Workouts -

The Team Trainer Winning Tools And Tactics For Successful Workouts - The Team Trainer: Winning Tools And Tactics For Successful Workouts - William I. Gorden â€" Assignment Example > Book Review: The Team Trainer: A walk in the parkDoing business in a fast changing economic environment due to new technology, modern information and communication facilities and globalization necessitate quick response if a business is to prosper. In this context, team approach takes on a new premium. This is the basic theme of Gorden et al’s “The Team Trainer: Winning Tools and Tactics for Successful Workouts. ” The book published by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. in 1996 is a product of multi-disciplinary team effort which according to Gorden is practicing what you preach, that is to learn to play and work together. The authors stress the basic strength of a team. It harnesses the potential of team members to a level of achievement impossible for an individual. The book takes a close look on how a team operates and provides the workouts to develop the knowledge, skill and proper attitude for an effective team. To the authors, the importance of the team spirit in an organizat ion is fundamental not only in operating in a world full of uncertainties but important to the individual person with his/her basic needs to develop his/her potentials to the fullest. The team approach stresses the importance of the human beings making up the organizations. People make things happen and how they behave and treat each other is make the core relationship either a hellish or a meaningful experience. Principles and practiceThe “Team Trainer…” is essentially divided into two parts â€" principles and practice. Numerous cases and examples are used to illustrate how and why team operates. Quotes from respected personalities from the academe and business world are used to stress the arguments for team approach. Using simple language and almost conversational, the authors narrate specific experiences of different organizations from which basic operative principles of a team are illuminated. Thus the experience of Xerox Corporation for example, was used to illustrate t he difference between teams, essentially two types, traditional and transformative. A difference anchored on the degree of involvement and participation in the team effort. Traditional teams tend to be authoritarian, with members compartmentalized in their specialized functions and communication centralized. Transformative teams tend to encourage dialogues and consensus, members perform multi-tasking and communication is both horizontal (between members) and vertical (across the hierarchy). The distinctions are fundamental in how the book was organized around the notion of how a self-directed team works. More substantial, the “The Team Trainer…” provides the tools and workouts or group exercises in creating the proper work environment and the appropriate combination of knowledge, skills and attitude to forge such team. The authors contend that priori in getting the involved participation from members â€" trust and sense of ownership of the organization. Inequities deters form ation of self-driven teams. Perhaps, ownership of the venture is the single limiting factor to team building. Combining principles with case studies is illustrated by accompanying essays providing the context and theoretical framework for each of the team workouts outlined in the book. Such a technique in presenting the book enhances easy comprehension of the ins and outs of team building as a transformative experience.