Teamwork at GlaxoSmithKline

The issue to be discussed in this report is teamwork and how it can benefit GlaxoSmithKline (2008), a research-based pharmaceutical company employing about 100,000 people in over 100 countries and producing almost four billion packs of medicine and health care products every year. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) (2008) has developed a strategy of striving for excellence by optimizing the performance of key products, delivering the product pipeline for patients, being the best place for the best people to do their best work, improving access to medicine, and maximizing total shareholder returns. It is a company that can certainly benefit from teamwork which is understood herein as the development of work groups that are meant to address a specific task or problem by drawing upon the skills, knowledge, and capacities of individual members who are brought together from different units within a business organization (Ivancevich, 1998).

The process of teamwork as described by Ivancevich (1998) involves team building, which helps or prepares employees to work more efficiently and effectively in groups. Team building is designed to enhance individual team members' problem-solving skills, communication, and sensitivity to others. Ideally, teams share leadership, work collaboratively, and enhance human capital (Miller, Walmsley, & Williams, 2007). The underlying assumption of teams as described by Miller, et al (2007) is that developing the leadership knowledge and skills of individu

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y on integrating new technology systems into the activities in each business unit. The first step in this process is identifying the goals and objectives that a team must meet. Only through identifying the activities that the team must undertake can the process of selecting team members be addressed. Given that the focus of this team is on IT, it is clear that team members must have some active engagement with IT systems and programs. However, IT involvement by itself is not sufficient to construct an effective team. Managers who will require IT services in their business units, but who may not be responsible for IT activities must also be represented on the team. Ivancevich (1998) stated that putting together a team to address a specific challenge requires careful scrutiny of potential members. Teams should be balanced with regard to their capabilities and areas of expertise. In the present case, the recommended team for GSK should consist of at least ten individuals: four from IT and six from functional units of the business. One individual should be added to function as team leader; this individual should be a member of the upper-level management of the IT division within the firm and should take the responsibili

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