Team Effectiveness: A Case Study of a Fast-Growing Private Educational Organization in the UAE

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate the effectiveness of grade-level teams within Emirates International Academy – EIA (pseudonym), a fast-accelerating private educational organization in the UAE, using a questionnaire survey. In order to determine the characteristics and elements of an effective team and, thus, formulate specific research questions, Mickan and Roger (2000) is adopted for further study and compared with other literature prior to conducting the empirical study. This research is quantitative in nature and arrives at conclusions in an inductive manner, thus generalize the findings on similar organizations operating in the UAE. It is observed that the grade-level teams within EIA achieve goals that link with the purpose of the Academy and most of the teams, in general, are effective but do not have sufficient performance feedback opportunities for development. In order to increase the overall team effectiveness, senior leadership and team leaders are recommended to provide and encourage opportunities for teams to reflect upon self- and group- performance.

Keywords: Effective team, Educational organizations, School, UAE