discussion 3381
We have all worked in a group or team at some point in our careers. A team is brought together to achieve a common goal. The team needs to have members who have complementary skills and who are committed to a common purpose to achieve performance goals. However, teams don’t move immediately toward performing, but instead evolve over time. There are five stages of group and team development.
- Forming – Getting oriented and getting acquainted. High degree of uncertainty as members as they try to figure out who is in charge.
- Storming – Personalities start to emerge, along with roles and conflicts within the group.
- Norming – In the third stage conflicts are resolved, relationships developed, harmony and unity surfaces.
- Performing – The members concentrate on solving problems and completing the assigned task.
- Adjourning – Members prepare to disband. Some members may be reassigned, terminated from the group or the group is resolved.
Think about a time when you joined a new group . . . it could be at work, in a family setting or with a social group.
- Which of the five stages was the most challenging for the group to work through, and why?
- How might you have helped the group work through that stage differently based upon what you know now about the five stages of group and team development?
- View my video for a better understanding.
Part 2: Respond to a Peer
Read a post by one of your peers and respond, making sure to extend the conversation by asking questions, offering rich ideas, or sharing personal connections.
A time that I can recall joining a new group was when I was attending the University of Phoenix. I was undergoing my BA in Business Management there and one of the strategies I suppose for the course’s major, was that for every assignment that we were assigned each week there was always a team assignment due as well. So, for about 5-6 or possibly even more weeks I would spend time with a group of strangers and we would go through the five stages of team development in our efforts to complete assignments. Some of the stages were present but some of them were not at times.
I suppose the most challenging stage that occurred most often was the forming stage. It took more time to get past because people were either delayed with interacting with one another, some people were careless about interacting with one another or some were overtly anxious or aggressive in getting the forming portion started. I remember that over time we would eventually get past the forming stage, and we’d have all of the team members involved or at times we’d only have some of them involved. Because my grade relied on the work ethic of other people I hardly knew and not just myself alone, I would always try to engage and provide a welcoming environment. I would try to present ideas and always asked for others input. Eventually I would usually always take leadership position just to be sure things eventually got started and everyone knew what their jobs/roles were in completing an upcoming assignment. Now that I’m having a realization that forming was a challenge for some of my teams, I would think of ways to make that process easier. I remember sometimes I would get with my teammates during class to just touch on some things school related or personal. I had to force myself from being worried about making a person uncomfortable if I approached them during class. Forming is an important part of the team development phase so I would want to do more interacting and engaging early on so that people get a general idea of what type of person I am and my intentions for working with them in getting a job/assignment done. Sometimes those relationships, while fun and exciting, come to an end and sometimes they remain for years.
Angel
