Mike Manrod's Case Summary

Creating Effective Teams: a Guide for Members and Leaders is a book by Wheelan (2013) designed to do as the title states; guiding members and leaders to create effective teams. Wheelan (2013) begins the book by highlighting the reasons that groups are important. Wheelan (2013) states that throughout history, “Groups have played a major role in both the survival of human beings and the development of human culture” (p. 1). The majority of the book is based on 4 stages that create a group of individuals into an effective team. The first stage is called dependency and inclusion. According to Wheelan (2013), the first stage of the group is

Whether groups are formed for social or task oriented purposes, the ability to produce and maintain a sense of affiliation, peer support and collaboration is important for overall group functioning. The cohesion of a social group is produced through the establishment of a set of group norms, which are later defined as a guide for conduct accepted within a group of individuals. However, in order for a group to perform and produce results, the team leader should guide his/her team through the proper stages of group development, which includes the following steps: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Although teams should follow all these stages of group development, the forming and the norming stages are the most important,

The group process broke down because there was never a group. This group began with a group of five individuals who had strong opinionated views as of the relevancy of their professions and experience. Instead of getting together as a group and mutually deciding how

Similar to Tuckman’s five stages of group development is Corey and Corey, they claim that the first stage; Pregroup is “setting expectations, establishing group rules and procedures, role preparation and skills building” (Corey, Corey, Corey 2010 p123). The group did well in this stage, as the group was given a very clear aim, we discussed each members skill sets and while preparing a group contract with our aims objectives and rules. A group contract is a very useful facilitation tool as it sets out very clear guidelines for the group and defines what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour for the group members (Tuckman 1965). The group members were able to gain clarity from the group contract, allowing them to identify the norms and boundaries of the group. For example our group decided that if a member were for any reason not be able to attend a meeting they would have to let the team know in advance, if this did happen the rest of the team would relay the information via email to the missing group member.

SOC/110 TEAMWORK, COLLABORATION, AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION WEEK 1 - TOPIC 1: TEAMS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

They can also help teams to identify their strengths and weaknesses and to clearly identify the team's goals and objectives and to help them feel ownership of these goals and objectives. A truly effective team building experience will have long lasting effects both on the performance of the team and the organisation and will also act as a stepping stone for future development

David Lamont is delivery man for Domino’s Pizza in Brooklyn. On July 7, 2015 in Brooklyn, Mr. Lamont alleges that he had left his car outside of a Dominio’s Pizza and entered the restaurant. Mr. Lamont states that when he came outside, MOS informed him that MOS was going to give him a ticket for unattended running vehicle. P states that when MOS conducted a warrants check on Mr. Lamont an active warrant appeared. Mr. Lamont claims he was arrested. P states that when he saw the judge next day and the court stated that it was not an active warrant. P states that he had accepted an ACD in another case and there was an $88 surcharge that he needs to pay by 8/13/2015. Per the court transcript provided by Mr. Lamont’s attorney the Court found that

I still remember the time I was chosen to lead the public relations team at one of the student activities back when I was in college, an experience that shaped a lot of the person I am today. I had to establish and maintain good relations with all stakeholders and media, prepare newsfeed updates for all social media platforms, and above all manage a team of 20 members. I spent a lot of time thinking that I am now donning the shoes of my seniors and becoming the person that freshers would look up to. Being an influential leader is not easy, I was sure, and it is more than just telling others what to do. In the following few lines, I employ Tuckman's stages of group development: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing to outline my journey

Realizing that a group can become a high performance team is important. Accomplishing this goal is invaluable, advantageous and profitable. Once able to operate from a group to the high performing team is a great step into preparation into the big business world. Leaders and members must also realize not only how to accomplish this but that some problems will and can arise from different demographic characteristics and cultural diversity. That is if one is in such a group, which the probability would be quite high.

When doing so the other group members were active listener, by using their whole body verbally and nonverbal. Like facing the speaker and giving eye contact and try to avoided interruption. The group also acknowledges the thoughts of the speaker by giving constructive feed back. Due to the effectiveness of the group communication, we were able to build trust, respect and understand the issues and make decision for effective change. We illustrate this by coming together as a group one again to accomplish the goal we initially wanted to accomplish. Since the first organization that we had chosen was incorrect, so we had to make the necessary changes to accomplish our goals. The other effective feature is the purpose of the group. Kozier et al (2010) stated that the effective group purpose is when “goal, task, and outcomes are clarified. Understanding and modified so that members of the group can commit themselves to purposes through cooperation” (p.401). For instance, each individual was assign a task and knew what was to be accomplished. As group we all decided to meet at suitable day and time which was beneficial to all team members, because we could commit to the group and focus on what needed to be achieved.

Pros: It is conductive to find and solve the problem to create a stronger and more united team.

My feelings about the group process was a little mix at first but, at the end I felt like we actually brought it together. Beginning of the group member were all over the place and had no direction, when we were able to take a breather in just think ideas started to flow. I felt like that took the communicator to make it happen. By reinsuring the other group members that everything will go smoothly if we just don’t overthink everything.

The science of team building is an art. The uncontrollable variables are people. Just putting a group of talented individuals together for the sole purpose of goal achievement can be met with disastrous results. It can leave individuals left feeling unfulfilled and lead to costly mistakes in the long run. While team building can be considered an art, there are some methods and approaches that can assist with successful builds. While no approach is full proof, taking time to acclimate oneself with human

In this specific case teambuilding was a good way to launch an OD effort. By taking the managers on that retreat they were able to develop strong communication and trust skills they otherwise would not have. Those skills will help the company work better together as a whole.

How do these strategies apply to a team that you are or have been a participating member?