Case Study, “The Forgotten Group Member”

1450 Words6 Pages
In the case study, “The Forgotten Group Member” (p. W-112) as it stands right now the group is in between the Storming and Norming stages. Beginning with the Storming stage as stated in the text, “During this stage, hostility and infighting may occur, and the team typically experiences many changes… Outside demands such as premature performance expectations may create uncomfortable pressures…Individuals begin to understand one another’s interpersonal styles… (p. 166)” This part of the Storming stage can be related to the case in that majority of the team members have begun to understand one another and talk outside of their group meetings, which also lead to the one team member, Mike, feeling left out and uncomfortable with the progression of the team. As the team leader Christine feels the pressure of Mike not pulling his weight and performing poorly. Which leads into the Norming stage and as stated in the text, …the point at which members really start to come together as a coordinated unit. The turmoil of the storming stage gives way to a precarious balancing of forces. With the pleasures of a new sense of harmony, team members will strive to maintain positive balance... Minority view points, deviations from team directions, and criticisms may be discouraged as members experience a preliminary sense of closeness... (p. 167) I feel as though the team is working toward this stage and everyone but Mike has reached most things stated in this stage. They all feel the closeness, but have not really identified the problem with Mike because their team relationships have over powered that issue. Being that Christine knows there is a problem with the one team member she knows it is not allowing the team to work fully as a cohesive team. Being in between these stages I feel may be where they are stuck if Christine does not circle backwards to the beginning stages of team
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