Teamwork and Performance of Commercial Banks in Anambra State, Nigeria

1. Background Of The Study

Teamwork is not a novel concept; it has been around for years. In the 1980s the manufacturing and auto industries embraced a new team-oriented approach when United States firms retooled to combat Japanese competitors who were quickly gaining market share (Boakye, 2015). Teamwork is vital in an organization because it provides employees with an opportunity to bond with one another, which improves relations among them. Cooperating on various tasks reduces workloads for all employees by enabling them to share responsibilities or ideas (Surendra, 2015). Researchers and experts indicate that effective behaviour and concepts related to teamwork can increase the level of improvement of employee's performance and productivity as well as enhancing the ability to solve conflicts and facing urgent and sudden challenges at work (Shouvik, and Mohammed 2018). Teamwork is an important factor for the smooth functioning of an organization. Team members enhance their skills, knowledge, and abilities while working in teams (Froebel & Marchington, 2005). Organizations with teams will attract and retain the best people. This in turn will create a high-performance organization that is flexible, efficient, and most importantly, profitable.

Teamwork is one of the most important issues in contemporary business. Teamwork offer greater adaptability, productivity, creativity, innovative, and comprehensive solutions for organizational problems (Salas, Sims, Burke, 2005). The team meets regularly with its main goal to provide strategic, operational, and institutional leadership for the organizational unit it heads (Wageman, Nunes, Burrus, & Hackman, 2008). Teamwork is a fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. Collective action is widely recognized as a positive force for teamwork in any organization or institution to succeed. Teamwork helps to create a conducive and healthy work environment with, creative activities, workable agendas, values, and positive strategies.

Inadequate or Poor team building and planning sessions bring low morale, negative motivation, disillusionment, and of the entire organization. Agnes and Marko (2020) noted that Improperly structured and led teams can make it impossible for an organization to work and develop; this is why it is necessary to know the nature and characteristics of the teams to achieve their goals. The employees who work in an organization that does not have a strong concept of teamwork, usually fail to deliver the expected results and to achieve the goals and visions of that organization. Despite the growing recognition and importance of teamwork, there is relatively little theoretical material that explores the impact of teamwork on the performance of commercial banks. Little attention has been given to the effect of team innovation on service delivery with reference to commercial banks. The study therefore x rayed the effect of teamwork on performance of commercial banks.