Team Dynamics 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

At this stage, the group begins to realize the more positive points of individuals within the group, which promotes the development of trust and respect which begins to build group cohesion. The next stage is the performing stage, which is typical of high-performing teams that are able to function as a group and figure out various options to get the job done smoothly and effectively without supervision. The final stage is the adjourning phase, which is the final step in completing tasks and breaking up the team.

Teams consist of personnel with varied backgrounds, experience, education, and intellectual ability. These differences will, by nature lend themselves to varying perceptions in business, its problems and solutions, which result in

The features of effective team performance are set out in Brian Tuckman’s phases of team development theory, ‘Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing.’ This outlines the phases that a team will go through in order to become effective and reach maturity. At the ‘Forming’ stage of team development individual roles and responsibilities are unclear and each member of the team is concerned to avoid conflict with each other. From this point the team will go through the ‘Storming’ phase which is when they start to conflict as individuals put forward ideas which will be challenged by others in a bid to gain power and position over others. After this the ‘Norming’ phase follows and it is at this point that individual roles are defined and accepted

In the third stage the norms in group are formed, team is adapting to the leader. Positions and roles are clarified and the team move forward, they participate

Traditionally teams are built by putting a group of people together without considering many traits or characteristics about those people, then expecting them to work together in a productive manner. Often times this does not work well at all, particularly if the person in charge is unfamiliar with the team concept themselves. Teams have to be cohesive in their ability to make decisions and handle projects within their organization. Sometimes cohesiveness causes team members who are not adept at working with others to push back at the team and this causes friction within the team. Team building models have been developed over the years to make teams work.

When teams are made, you cannot expect them to connect and everything falls into place. It is important for the team to build rapport and develop trust. The more time that a team spends together, the relationship generally improves. Bruce Tuckman’s discusses the different stages of team development such as forming, storming, norming, and performing that are certain for the team to grow. These stages allow the team to face challenges, tackle problems, find resolutions, plan work, and deliver results.

The Forming stage begins when the team first meets with one another. This often corresponds to the members greeting one another and introductions; Gina Abudi, president of Abudi Consulting Group and a writer of many college textbooks on team structure, describes this

First, here is a summary of the development stages of a team. In the forming stage, team members come togetherand form initial impressions. They socialize in order to get to know each other and bond with other team members. In the storming stage, team members experience hostility and infighting over tasks and how the team works. In the norming stage, team members start to come together and realize what needs to be accomplished. In the performing stage, team members are well-organized and well-functioningand maintain a positive balance. In the adjourning stage, team members achieve closure when the project is accomplished.

I believe team work is both crucial and essential in ensuring that an organization meets its set target and to sustain team success on a long-term basis. For team work to produce quality result, the team must first identify the strengths and weaknesses in each individual member and the team task and team goals must be clearly designated from the onset. In addition, identifying the strengths and weakness in team mates and clearly defining team tasks, team tasks must be assigned matching task to team mates in the areas team members fit in and assigning deadlines alongside each assigned team task.

Norming: In this stage, a sense of group cohesion develops. Members accept the team and develop norms for resolving conflicts, making decisions and completing

The third stage is norming, which means that agreement and accord largely forms among the team and its members. The disagreements that happen in the first two stages have decreased, and roles within the team have been firmly established. Also, the aims and objectives set by the leader are done without disagreement. Big decisions are made by group agreement. Smaller decisions may be given to individuals or small teams within group. Commitment and harmony within the team is strong, meaning they are working well together. The team may engage in fun and social activities, and therefore forming better relationships between people. This would only improve the way they complete work

The first reason a team fails is the lack of a clear vision or purpose. This will cause an inattention to any results. The team members do not have any clear vision or purpose to work towards as a team goal. This will create low performance, arguments among team members, and the team may be going in different directions. Now if the team has a specific and clear vision and purpose it will be able to work towards that goal. The team will be more motivated to work towards a common goal. It will also provide direction, more personal involvement of the team, the team will focus its

Outline the process of team development according to (Tuckman) the process of team development is in 4 stages and the development is as below

A further disadvantage of teamwork may be that the team has existed too long and inspiration of new ideas has expired. This idea is discussed in Fincham and Rhodes (2005). There is a risk of team members becoming too friendly with each other and that friendships and professional relationships may be difficult to distinguish. If this occurs, team work is affected as it may be easy for team members to become distracted by personal issues rather than focussing on the task set. In this way team work may become less effective. It is important that team members remain professional when working in