CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The current volatile business environment and intense competition call for strategic and pragmatic approach towards employee development, engagement and effective utilisation. Contemporary organisations, especially the service industries, need to find better approach towards earning the commitment, motivation and loyalty of the employees which would translate to corporate efficiency (Akinyemi, 2012).
Thus, the role of team building in shaping the outcome of an organization cannot be over-emphasized in this era of increasing competition, informed by an ever-changing corporate environment where managers are compelled to make optimum use of organizational resources in other to remain in business as well as being relevant (Aronu and Bilesanmi, 2013).
Team building is an important topic in the current business climate as organizations are looking to team-based structures to efficiently improve their productivity, profitability and service quality. Thus, managers and organization members universally explore efficient and effective ways to improve business results and profitability. Many view team-based, horizontal, structures as the best design for involving all employees in creating business success. Team-based corporate organisation strives to improve results for customers by way of efficiency (Fapohunda, 2013).
Effective team building is essential to the success of any business. As “no man is an island,” the positive effects of productive team building can energize an entire organization, just as the negative effects of a lack of teamwork can cripple an organization. The nature of the workplace has changed over the last several decades as organizations have shifted to team building work structures (Sheikh, Hafiz and Murad, 2011).
Team building involves a wide variety of activities, presented to organizations and aimed at improving team performance. It is a philosophy of job design that sees employees as members of interdependent teams rather than as individual workers. 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 achieve corporate objectives in an efficient manner (Fapohunda, 2013).