groups and teams Flashcards
Schein’s (1980) definition of a group
A group is a number of people who
interact with each other;
are psychologically aware of each other;
perceive themselves to be a group.
Brill’s (1976) Definition of ‘a team’
A team is a group of people, each of whom possesses particular expertise; each of whom is responsible for making individual decisions; who together hold a common purpose; who meet together to communicate, collaborate and consolidate knowledge, from which plans are made, actions determined and future decisions influenced.
Stages of team development
(Tuckman 1965, Tuckman and Jensen, 1977
- Orientation: Why am I here?
- Trust Building: Who are you
- Goal/Role Clarification: What are we doing?
- Commitment: How?
- Implementation: Who does What, When, Where
- High Performance: How?
- Renewal: Why continue ?
first 4 are creating stages where theyre forming between stage 1 and 2 and storming in stage three the last 3 are sustaining stages where between 4 and 5 theyre norming and betwen 6 and 7 are performing
characteristics of forming
Individualistic
People withhold full participation
Trust: wait and see
Management give no real authority to act
Mission is understood, but does not motivate
Communication from leader to members, rather than members to members, little listening
characteristics of storming
Honeymoon is over, energy dissipating
Stress over roles, over uneven contribution
Trust: working out who to trust
Purpose: slowly becoming clear
Communication: often aggressive
Team processes start to be worked on
characteristics of norming
Informal experts emerge; team over-rely on them
Swear allegiance to team / team pride; rivalry with other teams
Reluctant to challenge others
Trust: developing, but not tested
Clear focus on performance and goals
Communication to each other as well as to leader
Team processes well underway
characteristics of performing
Team is pro-active; sets most of its own priorities
Team seek wider business info & involvement
Strong culture of “high accountability”
Team share leadership: all involved
Team priorities what is good for the business as a whole
Trust high: climate of support and challenge
Team manages its performance as a team.
Application of Tuckmans theory
promote effectiveness of work groups
starting point for team development practitioners
understanding team processes across different organisations
Critical evaluation of Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development Theory
Limitations of model: no representative sample of settings where small group development processes are likely to occur.
Lack of quantitative research / The model was based on a literature review and observation of a limited number of small group settings
Recent theories recognize the complexity of group dynamics in today’s world and are not easily represented in a simple model
Belbin (1981) team roles
they are 9 roles in a team that belbin belived where needed for an efficient team, they are split into three broad groups: people orientated, cerebral and action
Are about behavioural preferences, not a personality profile
Most individuals are capable of playing more than one role
You don’t ‘give’ people a Belbin role
bellmans people oriented roles are..
coordinator
team worker
resource investigator
what does the coordinator role do?
can be mature, confident and clarifies goals, promotes decision making and a good delegator, identify talents
allowable weaknesses: however can often be seen as manipulative and offload work to others
what does the team-worker role do?
they are very cooperative and diplomatic, they listen and build with the team
allowable weaknesses: however can be indecisive in crunch situations when decisions must be made
what does the resource investigator do?
they are enthusiastic and communicative, outgoing and confident, they explore opportunities and develop contacts
allowable weaknesses: however they may be over optimistic of the outcome of the tasks and lose interest as they lose initial enthusiasm
what are bellmans cerebral (thinking) roles?
plant
monitor evaluator
specialist
what does the plant role do?
they are the problem solver who are creative and imaginative. they are often unorthodox but solve difficult problems
allowable weaknesses: however they may be forgetful and absent minding as they may ignore incidentals (small problems), they are also too occupied to communicate well
