Christine was already contemplating the dilemma of scoring Mike low on team contributions that would lower the group’s overall score. The group did mature, function well, and was organized except for one member that Christine had a difficult time communicating with getting any productivity from. How could an understanding of the stages of group development have assisted Christine in her leadership role with this team? If Christine had a better grasp of the importance of the forming stage where group rules should be emphasized and followed, then Mike may have taken the project a bit more serious from the start. Instead when Mike joked, clowned, and protested the “before 8:30 a.m.” meeting times, Christine did not confront him on the spot and address a potential problem early on.
In this stage members are willing to change their preconceived ideas or opinions on the basis of facts presented by other members that actively ask questions of one another. By using this stage Christine would have gotten the members comfortable with one another, which would resolve the issue of Mike feeling left out or not important. Problem Identification Christine was voted to be the team coordinator for the group. She was having an issue with one of the members not attending the scheduled meetings. On two occasions when the team had met informally Mike became offended by the gathering as if they were planned behind his back.
If Christine would have followed the schematics of team development stages, her issues with Mike not participating effectively could have been avoided. It was suggested that any issues be handled internally before going to the professor, but that wasn’t done. Christine allowed Mike to understate the importance of the assignment and possibly threaten everyone else’s grade by not fully being in support of his responsibilities, although she thought he was very
Common Barriers to Effective Teams Challenges of Knowing Where to Begin At the start of a project, team members may be at a loss as to how to begin. Also, they may have reached the end of a task but are unable to move on to the next step or put the task to rest. Floundering often results from a lack of clear goals, so the remedy is to go back to the team’s mission or plan and make sure that it is clear to everyone. Team leaders can help move the team past floundering by asking, “What is holding us up? Do we need more data?
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.
Unfortunately, she additionally failed to comply with the tasks that fell within her responsibilities. This was shown when she was to introduce Audrey Locke to her mentor and did not do so along with other missed duties. In order to resolve structural challenged, Brussels and Bradshaw would have to train Kelly in the Human Resources area or hire additional help with the required qualifications to perform these tasks. Employees need support with unfair treatment in an organization along with know their limitations and rules within a work environment. The position of human resources employee should have been explained more in detail to Kelly Richards, and all employees within the company must understand their is required of them and what their responsibilities would be.
Mike recognized that if he comes up with an excuse then Christine would just pickup the slack as evident in the case study when Mike called Christine saying he was going through a rough period due to a combination of school, work and problem with his girlfriend. Christine empathized with him and ended up discussing his notes with the team. The second problem was that Christine was not incorporating the rest of the team when trying to find a solution concerning the lack of participation by Mike. If the rest of the team were included then collectively they could have persuaded Mike to take his role seriously. One possible solution Christine could have taken during the forming stage was to adapt a team decision-making process.
When Rita first comes into Franks office, he is shocked by her willingness to learn having being used to dealing with students whom would rather be anywhere other than his classroom although he doesn’t appear to be please by Rita’s attitude in fact he seems intimidated by her eagerness. A quote to back this up would be “The others manage to get by despite me. But you’re different. You want a lot, and I can’t give it.” This suggests that Frank is aware of the sense of importance attached to Rita’s need of an education; He knows how much this could potentially change her life with the right guidance and he believes that he will fail to do such a thing. This refers back to the
He most likely felt like an outcast or forgotten. If Christine understood the stages of team development, she could have addressed the situation at hand to get Mike up to speed with the rest of the team. Christine did not immediately address the primary issue with Mike and grew concerned in the middle of the semester. She needed to figure out how to deal with only the rough hand-written submitted notes of ideas, while the rest of the team developed into the "Performing" stage with their part of the assignment completed. Part II: Problem Identification The primary problem is Christine's lack of experience as a leader.
His intenstions are correct but his delivery of expression is wrong. Jane has tried to resolve the conflicts prevailing in the office, but her efforts are all in vain. Now, Jane is frustrated that she has to act like a “kindergarden teacher”, when she is supposed to be more engaged with the business. Main Issues Andy Zimmerman is a bright star performer, but his ways with his colleagues are not congenial. He is a smart person with great insights and energy but when it comes to dealing with people he is not tactful enough rather he’s blunt to the extent of being intimidating, even to his boss Jane.