Effective teamwork begins with the collaboration of a variety of people from different cultures. Each member must be courteous to their teammates and respect each other's opinions. All participants should be willing to share their ideas, but remain open-minded, while listening to others express their ideas and opinions, even if they may be different from ours. An open-minded teammate can critique, criticize, or expand effectively by discussing ideas or viewpoints presented. The potential of a team depends on the skills, knowledge and abilities of the team members, but also on their abilities and motivation to make the best use of their resources to achieve the team's objective (Stevens and Campion , 1994). In order to achieve a given productive team outcome, there must be teammates who will raise questions regarding the direction of the team. They must be willing to challenge and disagree with others, including the team leader, in a constructive manner, avoiding major conflicts. An important factor in building a team is selecting a team leader, as the team leader will help the team succeed. A team leader must be someone who is open-minded, reliable and mature enough to handle any situation that may arise in a group. A team leader is a motivator and is very important for the whole team. An effective leader will use team thinking to identify his or her position in various teams and seek out sources of power to influence each team (Yukl 1989). Team building has two distinct phases. The first phase involves the creation of the group and the second phase involves the transformation of this group into an effective and productive team (Holmes, 1997). In the first phase, a team must clearly remain...... middle of paper ...... there are problems that will arise and there will be difficulties, whether it is not getting along about the style in which the task is performed or you simply don't like the person in your work group. These difficulties only bring the team closer together and make them stronger as a group and as individuals.ReferencesArnold, V. (1996, February). “Making teams work.” Thomas K Capozzoli. Monitoring. Burlington: November 1999. Vol. 60, number 11Todd J Holmes. Air Force Controller. Washington: April 1, 1997. Vol. 31, Number 2Rayeski, E. and Bryant, J.D. (1994). Team Resolution Process: Guidelines for teams to manage conflict, performance, and discipline. Stevens, MJ & Campton, MA The knowledge, skills and abilities requirements for teamwork: implications for human resource management. Journal of Management, 1995 Yukl, G. A. (1989). Leadership in organizations. Cliffs of Englewood, New Jersey