The Five Stages of Team Development

West Coast Transit Case The West Coast Transit case study gives an example of a team that is at odds with itself. There is lack of respect, appreciation, and aim overall. The marketing team has been tasked with rescuing the company before its competition bests it in the market place.

However, the team is simply not where it needs to be: Jing is leaving soon, Tanney has personnel issues that are distracting her from work, Mahonney maintains composure but offers little in the way of positivity, and Denson loses his temper completely in his attempt to orient the team to achieve its task. This paper will show how the West Coast Transit team could get back on track by getting pat the first stage of Tuckman’s Five—the forming stage.

In the following pages, effective management at West Coast Transit will be analyzed with focus given to the stages of group formation, behavioral roles, communication, conflict and conflict management, and how motivational theories apply. Effective Team / Group Work The three criteria for evaluating an effective team are (a) productivity, (b) personal satisfaction, and (c) commitment to the members of the team (Schermerhorn & Uhl-Bien, 2014). Productive teams are those that achieve the goals assigned to them on time and within the limitations of their budget.

Personal satisfaction refers to the personal joy that each team member gets out of working in the team, and commitment refers to the extent to which the team members are committed to helping one another achieve both the goals of the team and also of the individual members. In order for a team to be effective and engage in group work successfully, it must demonstrate the ability to be productive, achieve a degree of personal satisfaction and show that its members are supportive and committed to one another.

The West Coast Transit team fails to meet these criteria and is therefore ineffective as a team. As Schermerhorn and Uhl-Bien (2014) point out, effective teams are motivated, have the same values, support one another socially and emotionally, and are committed to meeting performance goals. The West Coast Transit team’s members all have too much going on individually to really be productive as a unit.

They are not personally invested in the project placed upon them and so are unlikely to get personal satisfaction from it; and they do not demonstrate support for or commitment to one another. Jing, for example, is taking a new job and so will literally not be impacted whatsoever by the project’s outcome. Tanney has personal problems that need to be attended to. Pete shows no support or commitment towards Tanney. Mahonney’s platitudes are insufficient to really motivate the team.

There is no sense of respect or appreciation among the team members. Five Stages of Group Formation The five stages of group formation are: (1) forming, (2) storming, (3) norming, (4) performing and (5) adjourning. The first stage is when the members of the group initial meet: this is the forming stage. The members express their fears, concerns, worries and issues to one another.

This is a necessary stage because it lets everything out into the open and provides members with the opportunity to demonstrate support for one another so that they can come together as one, as Schermerhorn and Uhl-Bien (2014) state is vital for teams to do. The West Coast Transit team is stuck at the forming stage: the members are airing their anxieties—but no one is listening or providing supportive. There is no cohesion.

Unless the WTC team can achieve the goal of the forming stage, which is for the members to respond positively to one another, the team will not advance to the second stage. Pete has to be more sensitive and supportive towards Tanney; Jing has to show that she is still committed to the team even though her time is limited; and Mahonney has to step forward and volunteer to help rather than throw everything back on the others.

Should the WTC team manage to do that, the team could move on to the storming stage: the stage where leaders appear to guide the team to overcome the challenges identified in the forming stage. Following the emergence of leaders comes the third stage: this is the norming stage when the team members assume their roles and responsibilities. Then comes the performing stage, in which the team works effectively to reach its goal.

The adjourning stage follows: at this stage, the team has reached its goal and the members show appreciation towards one another for all their hard work and support. Three Behavioral Roles The three behavioral roles that can be identified on any team, according to Schein, are (a) the tough battler, (b) the friendly helper, and (c) the objective thinker (Schermerhorn, 2014).

On the WTC team, Pete fills the role of the tough battler: his confrontational methods unintentionally upset Tanney—he is only intending to get her focused, but he is jumping the gun—the team is not at the storming stage yet. The friendly helper role is Mahonney’s—but he fails to really be helpful and just ends up being superficial in his friendliness because he is not prepared and does not offer his unconditional support professionally.

Jing is objective, but the problem with her objectivity is that it is not tempered by friendliness. At the forming stage, the team members need emotional support most. Effective Communication Without effective communication, team work cannot be fostered and performance goals cannot be reached. One of the most important ways to facilitate effective communication is to use emotional intelligence (Sanchez-Nunez, Patti & Holzer, 2015).

Emotional intelligence allows people and leaders especially to understand the emotions of others and see the best way to communicate by demonstrating awareness and appreciation so that relationships can be developed or strengthened. Pete’s problem is that he is clearly lacking emotional intelligence: he should have understood that being confrontational would only exacerbate the problem with Tanney. She was seeking understanding, and he lacked the emotional intelligence to respond effectively.

Types of Conflict Substantive conflict occurs when there is a professional issue that has to be addressed; emotional conflict occurs when the issue is personal (Schermerhorn & Uhl-Bien, 2014). Tanney, for example, demonstrates an emotional conflict that stems from her personal life. Jing demonstrates a substantive conflict as her issue is professional: she will be transferring out of the department and thus leave a gap on the team that will need to be filled.

Recommendation: Direct Conflict Approach For Pete to take a direct conflict approach, he would have to address directly the main issues without beating around the bush: (1) Jing’s departure and what the team will do to make it easier for all, (2) Tanney’s personal issues that will require the team to step up as well, and (3) Mahonney’s failure to prepare adequately. To address these issues, Pete would have to be supportive, stable and able to offer solutions.

As Schermerhorn (2014) points out, leaders must guide by giving a vision and the support needed to attain that vision. Recommendation: Indirect Conflict Approach Instead of trying address the issue directly, Pete could re-focus the team to positive aspects that can build morale (Schermerhorn, 2014). Positive reinforcement could help to alleviate the tension. The team members could see that instead of focusing on negative issues, they need to realize their strengths. This would be a less combative way to guide the team.

Task, Maintenance, and Dysfunctional Activities An appropriate task activity would be to give every team member a role so that expectations are clear. A maintenance activity would be to hold a simple listening session so that everyone gets to talk and receive support. The disruptive behavior that should be discouraged is self-centered behavior: once the listening session is completed, team members should focus on one another and ways they can help. Pete should do less finger-pointing and be more supportive with his words and actions.

Jing must ask how she can help the team most with what little time she has left. Tanney must ask what she can do to help Mahonney prepare. Mahonney must ask what he can do to fill the gaps left by Jing and Tanney, as she deals with her personal issues. Motivation Problems and Motivation Theories The motivational problems in the.