Give an example of a time when you have worked in a team and you were successful. Identify why you feel this team worked so successfully using relevant theory bases.Thinking back, one of the most successful teams I have been a part of is when I worked in a group of 4 people to organize a youth workshop during school holidays, consisting of a week filled with both fun and educational activities for children aged between 11 and 16.
The theory I have identified as being most relative to this group is Belbin’s Team Roles. This concept is based on certain combinations of behavioural traits that people display when working in teams. Belbin believed that individuals were better able to respond to the demands of the team environment when they were aware of their strengths and abilities that define the roles they play within the team.
The reason I feel we succeeded as a team is because we had the right combination of team roles, strengths and skills. For example; one of us fit the role of an ‘Implementer’ whose strength was in converting ideas into controllable and realistic tasks. Another member suited the description of two roles; the ‘Team worker’ and the ‘Evaluator’. The team worker is good at listening and communicating as well as considerate of others views. The evaluator is said to have good judgement and the ability to construct strategic plans of action. The third member of our team had the skills of a ‘Planter’ as his strength was in problem solving skills when difficulties arose. In my view the role which I was most suited to is the ‘Shaper’. The shaper has a strong sense of direction and focus towards tasks. The shaper is also skilled in working under pressure environments and an ability to push barriers.
Using tuckman’s theory on group development, review the group you worked with for your first assignment for People and Orgs. Did your group progress through all of the key stages? Relate this to the success, or otherwise of the group.
Bruce Tuckman’s “team stages model” analyses human behaviour in the workplace, focussing on aspects of teamwork that detail essential stages of group development. Tuckman’s theory suggests that newly formed groups do not have the capability of functioning at their full potential without experiencing four clearly defined stages in order to learn, grow and evolve from a group of people, in to a task focussed team. Tuckman labelled these four stages as ‘Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.
‘Forming’, describes the initial stage of a group’s development, this is the stage in which individuals lack vision and guidance. Aims and objectives are often unclear and member’s responsibilities are still uncertain. Tuckman believed that in the forming stage, there is a low level of independence within the group as members tend to rely on one individual to provide leadership and direction. Stage two of Tuckman’s model is known as ‘Storming’. ‘Storming’ portrays the phase in which individuals acknowledge their role as a team and begin to take responsibility for the task at hand. However, conflicting ideas or opinions between individuals at this stage often effect performance or sway focus away from objectives.
By the Norming stage individuals should have a clear understanding of their goals within the group; this provides the team with a greater sense of direction. It is in this stage that individuals learn the importance of effective communication, which allows the development process to be more efficient as opinions are more openly considered. “Finally, the group attains the fourth and final stage in which interpersonal structure becomes the tool of task activities. Roles become flexible and functional, and group energy is channelled into the task. Structural issues have been resolved, and structure can now become supportive of task performance. This stage can be labelled as performing.” (Smith, M.K. 2005)
Tuckman’s model is useful in that it helps us to acknowledge that teams change and develop, and also helps to understand where, why and what problems they may encounter. However, although the concept of this theory may be useful, it is important to bear in mind that not all teams follow such a linear growth pattern. Some may not evolve as smoothly as shown in the four step model, alternatively they may sway back and forth, usually between storming and norming, until they eventually are able to perform efficiently.
The outcome of our group task was poor, as reflected by our mark of 40%. Nevertheless, I feel that this exercise has helped me enormously in understanding where and why we went wrong, and what is required in future tasks in order to improve.
I feel that our team building skills were lacking at first, partially due to poor communication and understanding of each other’s roles. As a result, the outcome was a confusing report which didn’t flow or read as one piece of work, but rather seemed like four separate reports rolled in one. A consequence of this was that there was a lot of unnecessary repetition resulting in lack of clarity and focus.
I believe we wasted too much time in the forming and storming phases of the four stage model. It wasn’t until near the end of the task that we started to show small signs of entering the ‘Norming’ phase, in which we gained a clearer vision of our goals and understanding of each other’s roles. I also noticed an overall improvement in communication. Despite these improvements, I don’t feel that we progressed to the final stage known as ‘Performing’. The performing stage is when the team knows what they are doing, with a strategy aimed at excelling and a strong accent on teamwork, effective communication, synergy and being completely independent and task-focussed. In my judgment, our team did not express these traits enough to qualify for the final stage of Tuckman’s model.
We soon found ourselves under stressful circumstances as it became apparent that certain individuals were nowhere near completing their contribution to the task. By the time these members realised that the deadline was drawing near it had become nerve-racking for the group as these individuals had to resort to rushing their work on the actual day of submission. Overall I think that our lack of knowledge and understanding of the task itself caused us to lose valuable marks. I believe one of the main reasons for this is that we did not make use of the vital information provided through assessment criteria and the assignment brief. This was a flaw as the assessment criterion is an essential tool in providing direction and information in terms of weightings, expectations and instructions. These two documents will certainly play a very important role for me in future assignments.
Overall I feel that there were two main factors that let down our performance as a group. Firstly, a poor management of time, and secondly a lack of knowledge and experience in team based environments, for example we failed to understand one another’s strengths, weaknesses and suited team roles before we began the task.
As a result of failing to manage our time efficiently, we ended up with some individuals doing no work until the last minute and rushing to complete simple tasks on time. This was partially due to individuals underestimating the standard of work that was expected of us, resulting in an atmosphere that was far too relaxed which caused the group to lack pace. Also our limited experience in teamwork scenarios meant that we failed to plan a course of action, consider each other’s roles and assess the potential problems that arise in such situations. As a result, our group’s performance lacked effectiveness and therefore a lot of improvements could be made in the future.
According to The Times Online (2010), The Office Angels employees say they ‘feel a strong sense of family within their teams, giving 86%, the top positive score nationally, for this statement. They believe colleagues care about each other (87%), say working together gives them a buzz (82%) and that team-mates are fun (89%).’
My observations of this review suggest that teamwork is a major contributory factor to the success of the Office Angels. I believe it makes a big difference to the workforce attitude as employees actually enjoy working for the company meaning that they are more motivated to perform to the best of their ability which increases overall productivity, performance and success.
The second company I reviewed is P3 which is a charity run organisation. According to The Times Online (2010) ‘The organisation achieves top results in six of the eight factors in which employees give their views. People are proud to work for it (giving a positive result of 90%), have confidence in the leadership skills of their manager (87%) and say colleagues go out of their way to help each other (also 87%), all top scores.’
The fact that P3 have scored top of the rankings out of 100 of the best companies to work for in the ‘My Team’ category means that their strong sense of teamwork is clearly a major contributory factor to their success.
This blog has been motivating for me as I have been able to reflect on my own teamwork skills and have gained an understanding of how to improve and what makes a successful team using relevant theory bases. Also, I have learnt that there can be disadvantages to working in teams if individuals don’t carry out their roles correctly such as conflict which can lead to objectives not being achieved.
References:
[Accessed 5 April 2010]
[Accessed 5 April 2010]
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