W1_John Bwala_Tuckman Analysis

 By John Bwala on November 01, 2012

Problem Recognition
whenever a group of people come together to form a team, the team normally must pass through a different phase development before reaching a well-blended team of performance. The different phase of development the team passes through requires different leadership style which a leader needs to exhibit in order to guide the team toward achieving her objective.

Team Bistro 12, have just been form with an objective to pass at least one AACE paper and to implement what was learned, therefore there is a need to know which stage the team is at now and what leadership (management) style does it require at the moment.

Development of the Feasible Alternatives
To analyze the phases in which team Bistro 12 is at presently as it progresses, the Dr. Bruce Tuckman’s theory can best be applied. Therefore Tuckman’s Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing Model will be used to determine the stage and the best management style required.

Development of the Outcomes

The outcome of the analysis of the Team Bistro 12 can fall under any of the four stages (Forming – Storming – Norming – Performing) of Tuckman’s model. The stages of the team development as described below are not necessarily sequential they only described the actual phase and the leadership style needed.

Forming: At this stage, members rely on safe, patterned behavior and look to the group leader for guidance and direction. Discussion centers on defining the scope of the task, and how to approach it. To progress to the next stage, each team member must relinquish the comfort of non-threatening topics and risk the possibility of conflict.

Storming: Team members at the storming stage attempt to organize for the task, but conflict inevitably a raised in their personal relationship. Individuals have to bend and mold their feelings, ideas, attitudes, and beliefs to suit the group norms because of “fear of exposure” or “fear of failure”. Questions will arise about who is going to be responsible for what, and what are the rules. Because of the discomfort generated during this stage, some members may remain completely silent while others attempt to dominate. In order to progress to the next stage, group members must move from a “testing and proving” mentality to a problem solving mentality.

Norming: Here, interpersonal relations are characterized by cohesion. Team members acknowledge all members’ contributions. Members are willing to change their preconceived ideas or opinions on the basis of facts presented by other members. It is during this stage of development that people begin to experience a sense of group belonging and a feeling of relief as a result of resolving interpersonal conflicts.

Performing:  At this stage, the group capacity, range, and depth of personal relations expand to true interdependence. In this stage, people can work independently, in subgroups, or as a total unit with equal facility. Their roles and authorities dynamically adjust to the changing needs
of the group and individuals. Stage four is marked by interdependence in personal relations and problem solving in the realm of task functions.

Selection of Criteria (or Criterion) – (Analysis, Optimization and Evaluation)

I used Tuckman’s Team Work Survey form to carry out the analysis on team Bistro 12 by answering the 32 questions on the template, and arrived at the following results:

Forming Phase – 28

Storming Phase – 27

Norming Phase – 23

Performing Phase – 20

Selection of the Preferred Alternatives (Communication)

From the result above it is seen that team Bistro 12 is in transitional stage, this is because forming and Storming stage scored 28 and 27 respectively followed by Norming with 23 point and Performing with 20 point. This seems to be true since the team have been formed and have already started carrying out the weekly activities and also the group have started relinquishing the comfort of non-threatening topics and risking the possibility of conflict. The management style needed at this stage is directing.

Performance Monitoring and Post-Evaluation of Results

Since the team is transiting from Forming to Storming stage which is characterized with discomfort with one another, and fair of exposure and failure. To monitor the performance of the group is to see that the  management style of directing, coaching and listing is adhered to so as to get the members of the team to work past this stage.

References:

Web Publications

‘Forming-storming-norming-performing’ concept; Alan
Chapman 2001-2009 review and code. http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm

“Tony Russell, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth Angeli, Rusell
Keck “. 6 June 2011. “Purdue Online Writing Lab-MLA Works Cited: Electronic
Sources”. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadstl.html