Team Building and Group

2. 1 Tuckman’s forming storming norming performing model One of the most common and useful models of team management in today’s organization is Dr Bruce Tuckman’s stages of team development. This model was published in the 1987 in five stages of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. As seen in figure 1, this model demonstrate how, as team develop skills, knowledge, and attitude over time, their productivity also increase (Barker, 2011). This part of the group report reviews the performance of our group work according to the stages of Tuckman’s model.

Figure 1 Tuckman’s team development method 2. 1. 1 Forming Stage This stage is the initial orientation period. The members are not fully clear about the aims and the way of achieving the goals, members do not know each other and other’s abilities yet and are not familiar with the way the team leader and other members functions. This phase is complete if the members start to see themselves as a part of a group. (Barker, 2011) Judging against other groups in this stage, there were meetings held before the activity date, For instance, one of the groups wore blue t-shirts with name badges.

Our group had the first meeting at Mount Cotton before the initial activity started and some of our group members were meeting for the first time. Nevertheless, we introduced ourselves, get to know each other and discuss our work experience, study background, and interest. In this time we decided to create and form the work packages and designate responsibilities amongst each other. 2. 1. 2 Storming stage In this phase, members are sorting out their place as team members.

After the first stage, members are now more comfortable to work and communicate with each other, sharing their opinion and challenging the team leader’s authority and advices. In addition, some members may become dissatisfied with working with others which may lead to some challenges. This stage of group development is the start of intergroup conflicts. (Barker, 2011) Each member of our group is from different backgrounds which made it difficult to decide and split the tasks amongst us in order to initiate this stage.

For example, we had member with work experience and study backgrounds in industrial, civil engineering and architecture. The resolution that was found was divided by work packages in relation to our interest and study background. In addition to this we separate each task into two parts and formed two smaller groups who could work with eachother efficiently. 2. 1. 3 Norming stage; When conflict is established and resolved members will feel comfortable with themselves and each member will accept each other’s wants and needs.

Here norms have been developed, trust is high, individual skill can be efficiently developed, and procedures for operation are clear. (Barker, 2011) Our group consists of different culture backgrounds and ways of thinking which contributed to the difficulty of understanding each member views and using our differences in a useful way so that trust can be built. After working with the group it was found that our differences were useful and helpful to develop ideas. 2. 1. 4 Performing stage;

This stage is where you can turn a work group into a team. Conflict happens when the group starts to deal with the main issues. Disagreement in a group can be desirable and inevitable. These disagreements need to be dealt with by the group to move them towards a climate where this can be useful, helpful and purposeful. When dealt with correctly the conflict allows the group to look at all the views and evaluate different points of views. The team won’t be able to progress if the conflict is avoided.

Conflict is essential as it leads the group to shared solutions to problems (Barker, 2011). This stage was achieved by high performance and working well together as a group. By achieving this we had to have some ideas to know how to work together. We had to look at other groups to learn more and in some cases shared our experiences to other groups. For example, there was a group who was trying to achieve a solution in the wrong and our group helped them to change their primary ideas and suggested another idea for them.

Finally, by gaining some idea and mixing with the other groups, we went back to work and could solve problems quickly without deliberations. 2. 2 How well we performed as a team and what improvements do we need to make (Recommendation) Katzenback and smith (1993) observed necessity of following approaches in successful teams. 1. Establish urgency, demanding performance standards and direction 2. Selecting members for skills and skill and skill potential, not personality 3. Paying particular attention to first meeting and actions 4.

Setting some clear rules and expectations for behaviour 5. Setting and seizing on several immediate performance-oriented goals and tasks 6. Challenging the group regularly, with fresh information 7. Spending time together on work and nonworking activities 8. Exploiting the power of positive feedback, recognition, and rewards. By following the eight item stated by katesenback in figure 2 which displays the strengths and what needs improvement within the teamwork with red representing what needs to be improved and blue representing strengths of group activity.

As you can see the majority of items 3 and 7 show what needs to be improved within the group. These items came at the first stages of group building and teamwork. To solve this problem we had to talk to get other inputs from other groups to ensure we were on the right track. This became a consistent problem throughout the group work where every aspect of the decisions was decided last minute. The strengths can be seen when issues were resolved as discussed earlier in the conflict stage where solutions were achieved.

These strengths can be seen in setting the tasks, challenging the team with fresh information and issuing positive recognition and feedback. Firstly the improvements on communication between the group members are essential in establishing directions and performance standards. Secondly improving participation in group meetings is crucial to achieve the goal of the tea. Lastly, assessing, indentifying and establishing behaviours earlier are essential in order to avoid problems further into the activity. 3. 0 team thinking