The paper looks at the tenets of team dynamics. It explains what a team is and the challenges that the team can come across in the daily life of the team. It goes further to show what the growth processes and stages of a team are and eventually looks at the way to minimize conflict, motivate team members and have a stable group.
Team Motivation
Team Dynamics
The team on which the paper is based is a class discussion team that was formed in the curse of the semester to enable us accomplish the various tasks that would be assigned.
Stages of team development
Our group went through the various stages of development like any other groups with the challenges and the progress handled by the member of the group. The following is a summary of the stages that our group went through. Each stage was characterized by the indicated activities and conditions, with some of these characteristics crossing over to the next stage among a few people.
The group structure was a simple one since it is an academically focused group that was formed to meet the specific tasks before it within the semester and eventually disperse as indicated above. There was the group representative who acted as the link between the group and the lecturer. Then there is the coordinator of the group who ensures the events of the group are in time and each person has a part assigned. He also helps in collecting the work done by each member and assembling it in a formal order. Then there is the group's secretary who is responsible for ensuring that during discussions he writes down the important content. The effect of such a simple structure was the ease in carrying out the assignments given in a structured manner, it allowed quick movement of events within the group as there were not many bureaucracies involved.
Progression between group stages was excellent apart from the few challenges that were faced at specific stages. At the forming stage, most of us were very polite and positive. However, you could notice some element of anxiety owing to the fact that many of the group members had never worked together before. This was also due to the fact that we had never worked out exactly what work the team will be involved in doing in precise formats. Other group members were excited about whatever it is that lay ahead of them. Our team was directed on how to establish clear objectives by negotiating a team charter. At the storming stage, we established a process and a structure, and worked to alleviate conflict and build good relationships between team members. As a team leader, I provided support to the team members who felt less secure. I remained firm and positive in the face of challenges that my leadership faced and the challenges to the team goals. I took the initiative of explaining forming, storming, norming, and performing with a view to making my team members understand the genesis of conflicts and understand that things will get better in the future. It was imperative emphasizing the need for being assertive and developing conflict resolution skills in the face of a conflict. After storming, the group gradually moved into norming phase. At this stage the team members started to respect the authority of the team leader. Others began showing leadership in specific areas of care delivery. At the norming stage, the team members had known each other better. They were socializing together and were capable of asking each other for help and providing constructive criticism. The team had also developed a stronger commitment to the team goal and good progress could be seen. However, there was some prolonged overlap between storming and norming behavior especially when new tasks were given (Mind Tools, 2013). The team could lapse back into typical storming stage behavior. This, nevertheless, fizzled out. Progress towards the shared vision of the team at the performing stage was sustained by structures and processes that had been set up. Individual team members came and left the team without necessarily impacting the performance culture negatively. As a leader, I delegated responsibilities and concentrated more on developing the team members. Delegation enabled me to start focusing on other goals and areas of work. Being part of this team felt easy than it was at the initial stages.
As mentioned earlier progression to other stages was slightly impaired by barriers at the team level and barriers faced by individual team members. Some of the barriers at the team level included lack of clearly stated, shared and measurable purpose. There was also lack of appropriate mechanism for timely exchange of information. Some of the barriers at the team level arose as a result of lack of orientation of new members, lack of framework for problem discovery and resolution, difference in levels of authority, power and expertise. At the individual team members level, there was split loyalties between team and own discipline, multiple responsibilities and competition, reluctance to accept suggestions from team members representing other class-based prejudices, persistence of a defensive attitude and lack of trust in the collaborative process.
To address enactment of problematic roles of the dominator, the aggressor, or the blocker, the group resolved to respect others' skills and knowledge, develop trust between members, develop a commitment to the common goal of collaboration, and unifying philosophy centered on primary care of the patient (Grant & Finnocchio, 1995).
Group dynamics
Within the school, there is need to understand the team dynamics in order to have a team performance or collective performance. The commonly known dynamics that are found in teams and should be understood by both the teachers and the administration for collective performance are the developments, roles, need to belong, norms, effects on behavior, relations and the social influence. This is very important in the school setting since the distribution of responsibilities within the team depends on the unique personality of each individual and this cannot be possible unless there is understanding of these personalities by each member of the group.
A fruitful team is one that knows how to balance the existing personalities within the team by the inclusion of each member of the team in the process of the team work. The entire team must deliberately make it their responsibility to include the most silent person in the discussion just as to moderate the very talkative person in the group.
A good team will also recognize the team diversity in the form of age, sex, race, religion, culture among other central factors and utilize these traits for the good of the group. It is also important to cognizant of the fact that the leader can be from any set of people within the team and it is not automatic that the team leader is the bets that can ever be within the team, hence need to give room for maximum participation of others and even providing leadership. It should not be a one person show but the entire group is responsible for the overall effectiveness (Ann Marie N. & Joyce S., 2009).
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