apply the concepts of this course as it relates to advice on building an effective team.
ame660
amy_fjeld_phase_3_individual_project.pptxTeam Development
Amy Fjeld HRM345-1404B-02 Building Effective Teams Instructor: Jamie Boyd
Tuckman’s team development model
The progression and features of each:
Stage 1 – Forming - Characterized by much uncertainty of the roles and responsibilities.
Stage 2 – Storming – Characterized by intra-group conflicts.
Stage 3 – Norming – Characterized by cohesiveness and close relationship
Stage 4 – Performing – The team is functional and starts the tasks or project.
Formation of a team takes time and the members goes through recognizable stages as they change from being strangers to a group that works together harmoniously with common objectives. Bruce Tuckman’s model describes these stages. The stages of team development stages are Forming – at this stage the group comes together, the members are unclear of what work will the team do and exited about the task ahead. One person takes the team leadership and he dominates at this stage to engage the team members in identifying what they will accomplish and how they will work together. The team members get to know each other at this stage. Storming is the second stage where the team encounters differences in opinion by the members that occasionally lead to conflicts in the team. The power struggle is experienced. Norming is the third stage characterized by cohesion and agreement among the team members who respond well to the team leader facilitation. The team becomes united and committed to the roles and responsibilities . Processes and working styles are developed. Performing is the last stage of team development, the team members understands clearly the roles and responsibilities. The strategies to solve intergroup conflicts are established. The team has high degree of autonomy and all the team members can share leadership.
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Leadership activities to prepare the team for working together
Determined by stage level of development
Forming – giving instructions and making objectives clear.
Storming – establishment of process structure and strategies to problem solving.
Norming – let the team to self drive.
Performing – delegation of tasks and projects
At each stage of Tuckman’s Model the team is at different level of development therefore as the team identifying the stage of development of my team will be important since strategies and activities to move the team to the next stage of development and to prepare them team to start working together differ. Below are the leadership activities at different stages of Tuckman’s model
Forming- being the team leader I will take charge of the team giving instructions to the team and establishing clear objectives for both the whole team and for individual members. At this stage I will engage the team in setting of values, mission and goals.
Storming – swift conflict solving to enable me build good relationship and trust among the members. I prefer using Myers-Briggs psychometric indicators to help the team members to learn about work styles and strengths. Where necessary training the members on conflict resolution skills. Ensure establishment of processes and structures.
Norming –At this stage sitting back and giving the team a chance to take responsibility for progress towards the goal will be the option. A team building event can be organized
Performing- at this stage the team is ready take up the task and projects and are certain of the goals, roles and responsibilities of the team. Therefore, at these stage I can delegates tasks and projects and let the team perform as I focus on other goals and work area.
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Training and development activities to build trust and productivity in the team
Strategies to build trust in a team:
Open communication.
Discuss trust issues within the group.
Discourage cliques in the team.
Avoid shifting of blame when mistakes occur.
Encourage team members to know each other personally.
Set good examples as a leader.
Trust refers to the reliance in the ability, strength and character of the team members in doing the right thing in the achievement of the set goals. Trust is essential for an effective team as it promotes collaboration, innovation, sense of safety and productivity. Trust enhances sharing of knowledge among the team members. The following strategies are effective in creating culture of trust within the team and thus increase in productivity of individual team members and as a group.
Open communication- this is essential in promoting existence of trust among the team members. These involve encouraging everyone on the team to talk with each other in an honest and meaningful way. This can be achieved through creation of a team charter defining the purpose of the team and individual roles and organizing team-building exercise.
Discussing trust issues within the group- when a leader identifies an issue of trust within the group it important to find out how the problem cropped up so as to come up with appropriate strategy to counter the problem. This can be done by giving the team members a questionnaire to fill out anonymously. Questions such the trust level in the team and why they think there is lack of trust in the team asked. After going through the questionnaire, the members of the team brought together and discuss the issues together.
Discouraging cliques- this is will be done by starting an open discussion where the team members can freely express themselves about their opinion concerning to cliques cropping in the team.
Avoid blame shifting-in the course of the team working together mistakes occur and sometimes disappointing occurrences where pointing of fingers starts. As the leader encouraging the team members to take it positively and think about in constructive manner as well as coming up with ways to fix the mistakes. this boost the morale of the member and build trust among them and ultimately increasing their productive.
Know each other personally- plan various activities that will get the team members acquainted and form strong bonds for example holding informal group discussions where members suggest a topic to discuss and also sparing sometime when members can interact with each other like lunch and break hours. This creates situation that allow them share personal stories with each other. This socialization after work will help the workers know each other personally.
lead by example- team members always observe and take cues from the leaders therefore show them that you trust them and show them what trust in others really looks like.
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Measuring whether trust exists within the team
Using model of trust by Mayer, David and Schoorman to assess whether team trust exist.
Trust Indicators:
Formative Indicators – factors perceived trustworthiness e.g. ability benevolence and integrity.
Relative Indicators – perceived risk and outcomes.
The trust model was developed with the aim to answer questions such as why do people trust, why should a person trust another and where does trust come from. The model will help in evaluation of trust in a team as it outline what drives a member of the team to trusting other members of the team.
The model of trust suggest three factors to determine organizational trust; characteristic of trustor, characteristic of trustee and perceived risk. The current level of trust in a team is influenced by propensity of the trustor and trustworthiness element the trustee possesses.
Characteristic of the trustor are presented as propensity to trust that means some people are more trusting than others. On the other hand the qualities of the trustee are presented as trustworthiness. According to the model there are three elements of trustworthiness. Ability which is trustee competences, benevolence or the willingness to do good to the trustor and integrity that is whether the trustee has set of values to good behavior.
A given situation will have a specific amount of perceived risk that test the current trust. greater the trust and lower the perceived risk in the trust relationship the more likely that risk taking will occur in the trust relationship. The results of taking risk very from extremely positive to negative giving feedback to the trustee and he increases or decreases his level of trustworthiness.
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How to measure the effectiveness of a new team
Factors used to measure team effectiveness include:
Cohesiveness – the intra relationship among members.
Communication – willingness to put into consideration every member opinion.
Homogeneity – similarities and differences of team members.
Group Think – making decisions to suppress opposing view point in order to preserve harmony in the group.
Team Stability – can be evaluated by measuring degree to which members are interdependent with one another.
The following factors that determine team effectiveness can be used to assess how effective a team is.
Cohesiveness- team cohesion influences the extent to which the members relate with one another, trust and respect one another’s abilities and opinions. This can be assessed through observation when the team is working or when in a meeting, i.e. looking at how a member address each other or respond to other members opinion. Where team cohesiveness exist members are committed and willing to achieve individual and team goals.
Communication- indicators of effective communication in a team include willingness to put into consideration every member opinion, mellow conversation tones, quick conflict resolutions and efficient decision making process.
Group think- to determine the degree to which a team is experiencing group think I consider evaluating whether the team is exerting excessive amount of dominating features. Other signs may include apathy towards team goals, results and individual conformity. This phenomena results because individuals in the team are overwhelmed by desires to be accepted and minimizing conflicts in the group.
Homogeneity- these refers to the extent of similarity and difference from one member to another. Though challenging to determine the right balance between overly homogeneity and overly heterogeneity I will consider similarities and differences in members personal characteristic, skills, abilities, educational and generational background as well as cultural background to evaluate team members homogeneity. A team exhibiting high homogeneity is likely to be cohesive and members effectively communicate thus making the team more effective.
Team stability- its most significant in influencing team performance. It can be evaluated by measuring degree to which members are interdependent with one another which goes hand on with trust.
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Work cited
Costa, A. C. (2003). Work team trust and effectiveness. Human Resource and Organizational Behavior , 605-622.
Francis, T. &. (2013). Team Development. Work and Organizational Psychology , 30-40.
Team Effectiveness Assessment. (2013, July 30). Retrieved December 29, 2014, from Mind Tools: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_84.htm
