In the first stage of group development, the Forming of the team takes place. Individual behavior is driven by a desire to be accepted and to avoid controversy or conflict. Serious issues and feelings are avoided, and people focus on being busy with routines, such as team organization, who does what, when to meet, etc
- As it mentioned, Christine was allocated as “Team Coordinator” by the professor and at the first group meeting serious issues are avoided. This can be seen when Christine suggests meeting up before classes and Mike jokes about why that is not an option; it's an 8.30 class, "I'll miss Happy Harry!"
The next stage, called Storming is characterized by the coming together of different ideas compete for consideration. The team addresses issues such as what problems they are really supposed to solve, how they will function independently and together and what leadership model they will accept.
- Christine starts noticing the dynamic of the group and the individual characteristics of the team members such as Diane was quiet, Mike was the clown, Steve was the business-like, Janet was the reliable one.
In the Norming stage, interpersonal relations are characterized by cohesion. Responsibilities are distributed among team members and goals are set. Some may have to give up their own ideas and agree with others in order to make the team function. In this stage, all team members take the responsibility and have the ambition to work for the success of the team's goals.
- Mike misses most meetings and would send in brief notes to Christine, which she was supposed to discuss for him at the group meetings. He gives excuses that he is busy with work and personality clashes can be seen in regards to Mike and the other members.
- The members also seem to have begun bonding and working well together, with the exception of Mike, as highlighted by the level of comfort one another's presence and ability to joke around and have unplanned meal times together.
The Performing stage is where people can work independently, in subgroups, or as a total unit with equal facility. Not all groups reach this stage. These high-performing teams are able to function as a unit as they find ways to get the job done smoothly and effectively without inappropriate conflict or the need for external supervision.
- Christine's team reaches this stage, but not at an optimal level.
- Everyone managed to hand in their designated parts to Christine for checking and compilation, including Mike, albeit in the form of rough handwritten notes as compared to others in the team.
The Adjourning stage involves the termination of task behaviors and disengagement from relationships via completion and the subsequent breaking up of the team.
- The group project is fundamentally completed, however the final marks will change based on the outcome of the peer evaluation, which means the team has still not adjourned in the technical sense.
Identify and describe the causes of conflicts in the case.
Due to difference in their personalities, Mike did not seem to mesh well with the rest of the team members who seemed very goal oriented. Due to this cohesion of their personalities and the fact that Mike was unable to attend meetings, he began to feel left out and began dissociating himself from the team.
Although Christine saw the problems that slowly arose from the circumstances (Mike being busy with work and the difference of personalities between him and the rest of the team) she did nothing to try to bridge the problem, focusing only on the task at hand which is the case study they were assigned. She practiced Task Management Leadership which did not provide an optimal performance.
In my opinion, Christine should have realized sooner that Mike was the odd one out and tried to fix that before proceeding with the assigned case.
Christine should have opted for Middle-of-the-Road Management, balancing the task and the people concerns because it would allow the group to perform optimally had they all have a good personal relationship with one another, which in turn increases their performance and productivity.
She could have talked to Mike, understood his problems further and advised him to make more of an effort for the assignment, spoke to the other members to be more understanding of Mike's situation or even sought Sandra's council on the issue. Instead she ignored it and just focused on getting the assignment done.
