Personal Team and Effectiveness Assignment

The Group presentation process
In order to put together a group presentation based on Tuckmans stages of development and Belbins team roles, I was put into a group with two other members. We were given a scenario that we ran a small clothing shop in Middlesbrough and a new team member was going to be added.

Before the groups were put together, all students were evaluated and given roles based on Belbins Team role theory. There are nine roles included in this theory, which are as follows: Plant, Resource Investigator, Co-ordinator, Shaper, Monitor evaluator, Team worker, Implementer, Complete Finisher and Specialist. All groups were put together with people who had a mixture of characteristics therefore a mixture of different roles. My roles were Co-ordinator and Team worker.
Belbins analysis of our team roles helped us greatly as it gave us an idea of our individual qualities, and also the areas in which we excelled.
The other team member in my groups had been given the role of Team worker and complete finisher and the other person had the roles of Plant and resource investigator.

We needed to produce a PowerPoint presentation which identified Tuckmans stages of development, the model is drawn from Tuckman and Jensen (1977) article, in which the model states that the stages stand at Forming, storming norming and performing. These stages identify the needed experiences which a group need to complete a task in an effective correct way. Whilst creating our presentation together we experienced the different stages of Tuckmans theory for ourselves first hand, these stages are forming, storming, norming and performing.

In order to make a start on our presentation our group began at the forming stage, which consists of being introduced to one another, gathering first impressions of each others characteristics and analysing each others team role - this helped to decide which characteristics of each of us would be suited to specific jobs. We swapped phone numbers and arranged a time for meeting.
In the 2004 journal article for the Journal of Management Development, Sheard and Kakabadse, after evaluating Tuckmans framework conclude that “The act of passing through the team development process is the process of converting a loose group into a team.” This is what we needed to do in an efficient way.
When we had our first meeting I gathered impressions about the other two members, and a particular member was more dominant over the group, I soon picked this characteristic up, however made sure I voiced my views and opinions which the team members happily took on board.
We looked at the brief of the presentation and agreed on splitting the presentation into three parts for each one of us to make a start on. We debated about what would be the best way to organise our presentation, and how much information should be included in each area.
We were agreeable with each other and respected each others ideas and managed to include them with little debate, this is because usually in the forming stage team members are keen to avoid conflict or controversy. The forming stage is a comfortable stage for a person to be in, as it is unlikely for problems to occur with one another at this early stage. It could have also be a threat to the group, as the avoidance of conflict could effect the efficiency in us completing the tasks we needed. We each set ourselves with tasks and arranged for them to be completed by our next meeting. We also attempted to set a deadline, the deadline was that we wanted the presentation complete before Christmas - this was useful to the group because we had a clearer idea of the pace that we wanted to work to complete the presentation and it gives everyone in the group an opportunity to work and ensure that this could happen.

At our second meeting, one of the group members did not turn up and did not get in touch to confirm that the work they agreed to do was completed. This put extra pressure on myself and the other team member as it set us back and made us more slightly behind than planned. We agreed to split the work that was not yet completed, just to be safe and prevent us from lacking behind with our work. I identified that this is the storming stage, which is where conflict and disagreements are more likely to occur than the forming stage. The other team member who was particularly dominant seemed rather keen on sharing her ideas but not as keen listening to mine. I still tried to share my input but was unsure how effective my input would be with this person. I think that to be a successful group all ideas should be taken on board rather than a person dominating the group. We did not allocate a particular team leader within the group but maybe this would have been a good idea as it would have made it clearer where individuals stood with each other. People who are in team leader positions are usually people who have been willing to take ownership and are willing to take accountability and jump in, these characteristics are the exact of a certain member of my group so they would have suited the role. This person had been evaluated as a complete finisher and team worker, which I do not feel were the best descriptions to suit their characteristics.

By the third team meeting we had reached the norming stage. We met up and showed each other the draughts of the presentations we had each produced. Our team still seemed to lack a sense of communication, even though I had been given the role of the co-ordinator I felt that the work we were producing was rather uncoordinated, as there had been a misunderstanding and myself and one other team member had researched the same topics for the presentation. This resulted in us sharing the information we had found and putting different bits into the presentation, however it meant that there was still more information that needed researching and this would take more time and reduce the chance of my team meeting the deadline we had set ourselves. More regular informal meetings may have been useful for my group, as it would have meant we could improve our communication with one another and be 100 percent clear about the task we were doing. I maintained a positive attitude towards my team members and vice versa at this stage. We could not agree on a certain time for our next meeting to take place, so we said we would get back to one another once we could arrange a time we were all free.

My group members arranged another meeting, which I was not informed about as they said they had difficulty contacting me. It is fair to say that I did not contact the group members as well, it was out of chance that I seen them having this meeting whilst at university so I naturally went over to see what developments had been made. I think that as a group we went back to the storming stage, this is because there was still a lack of communication and misunderstandings with meetings and organisation. We were not working fully as a group. At this meeting It became clear to me that there had been a lot of developments and changes to the presentation to what was first agreed, and because I had not had any input I had a slight lack of motivation and I felt slightly pushed out of the group. This meant that the group had reverted back to the storming stage and I felt a break in the group regarding the other two team members and myself. Regardless of this, I was still keen to keep my involvement in the group as I didn’t want to come across as lacking effort, so I ensured that I knew what time the other two members had arranged to meet next. The next meeting was the last meeting we were going to have before the Christmas holidays and unfortunately we were pushed for time to meet our deadline.

We next met in the library, at the group computers to start producing the actual presentation. It was clear that the other two members already had planned exactly how the presentation was going to be ordered, and less of my input than any of the others was included. Unfortunately, at this meeting I was very ill and had to leave early, but in a way I felt like I was not a lot of use to the group as a whole and I felt like I was not particularly needed.

There was no contact made with any of the group members over the Christmas holidays, and the presentation was not finished so we therefore failed at meeting our personal deadline.

If a group successfully reaches the performing stage, members should be comfortable with each other, have good levels of communication and have good organisation with tasks, and a clear understanding. For me personally, I did not feel our group reached this stage properly, the last meeting that took place before the presentation I found out that the presentation had been completed that day, using little of my research. I was given a copy of the presentation and allocated which parts were mine to read. This was disappointing and I did not gain what I could have potentially gained from the experience.

Reflective account of personal development within the team
There are a number of issues that occurred whilst completing the presentation within the group that I think I would have benefited from the experience more by doing differently. I was given the roles of Co-ordinator and Team worker. As a co-ordinator my role in the group should have been to focus on the groups objectives and delegate work effectively, this was not always the case. As a team worker I tried to complete work on the behalf of the group, but a lack of communication between the group meant that this was not effective to the contribution of the presentation. Workload was not shared appropriately between the group, due to bad communication, for example myself and another team members producing work on the same subject. This wasted time and made it unclear who was going to complete the work that didn’t get attempted.
With my personal skills I can usually communicate well with most types of people, but lack of organisation on my behalf may have prevented myself and the team from developing as well as we should have. For example, to ensure I stayed involved in the process of producing the presentation better than I did, I could have took the ownership to arrange more informal meetings to clear up any issues that I had with the members. I could have also took it upon myself to ensure that my views were listened to, instead of avoiding the conflict and the situation worsening in the long run - could have helped the prevention of the team not quite getting past the norming stage without going back to the storming stage and me feeling pushed out of the group.
My leadership was not to a good standard throughout the presentation process, I did feel overtaken by certain members of the group and I do not feel they made the effort to make sure the full team was working together, I.e. not informing me about meetings that were taking place. Heiftz and Linsky (2002) listed several techniques to deal with managing an environment and taking leadership. They are “drawing attention to the tough questions”, “Bringing conflicts to the surface” and “modelling behaviour (behaving as you would expect others to behave in the team).”
From doing this presentation I do not feel like I progressed near enough as I should have from the experience, but the experience will benefit me when working in groups in the future, as I will ensure I have good organisation skills, I will take it upon myself to take more leadership and arrange meetings regular within groups and I will try and take more of a leading role in future. Being able to take leadership could be a key skill I need to improve working in groups. “A good leader needs to be behaviourally flexible and have a wide repertoire of actions or skills to meet teams needs.” (Barge,1996).

Plan of action
Although the presentation process was not a success for me personally, reflecting back and looking at the problems I incurred and why those problems arose can help me to set a plan of action, it has been a positive learning experience long term because I have gained the opportunity to ensure that I can be more successful in the future when working in a team. Honey and Mumford argue that people learn most from having an experience.
However, they suggest that simply having experiences does not guarantee effective learning. The experience should be reviewed, conclusions drawn from the review, and action taken to build upon the conclusions drawn.
The table on the following page highlights a number of things I will ensure I will improve in the future when working in teams.



Word Count: 3060 words
Rhianne Munkley
J9052509
Personal Team and Effectiveness Assignment
Object Number (What needs to be addressed)
Why it needs to be addressed
How will I address this?
When will I achieve this
How will it help me improve my personal team and effectiveness
Improving my organisational skills
Would benefit me if I had left more time to organise meetings, and ensured I was clear about the tasks set for me it may have prevented issues such as myself and other member of group producing the same piece of work. The team set a personal deadline, and we did not achieve this deadline. That shows that on a whole the team could have been more organised.
Spending more time thinking about the importance of the way I spend my time, putting priorities and work first, and ensuring I have work completed before deadlines in order to leave time to check it over and improve it.
As soon as possible, in all other future assignments and tasks given, and also in everyday aspects. Organising my time will improve my lifestyle, and make everyday tasks less stressful.
Organisation is vital in teamwork, as i have learned it affects a number of aspects when working in a team. If all team members are organised work can be shared fairly. Being organised improves time keeping, improved time keeping would mean that tasks are more likely to get done by the deadlines that are set, with less stress and work is not rushed if there is organisation.
Improving leadership skills
This was a big issue for me whilst working in the group. Unfortunately I allowed other members of the group to take control and I ended up not being involved enough and dealing with issues that could have been improved.
By learning from my experience, also investigating more about what qualities are needed in order to take good leadership.
When I am next in the situation when team work needed I.e. seminar activities, if I try to take more ownership this will give me experiences when it comes to working to a group in the future.
If in future I did not improve my leadership skills, it could mean that I risk having the same risk of having less involvement with the team and getting pushed out. It is vital this does not happen again therefore the skills need to be improved.
Better Communication with peers
Communication was also a very big issue between our group, although my group members did not make a big enough effort to have better communications I could have made more of an effort to get in touch with the group.
More communication would have prevented my isolation from the other team members and I could have used my roles as co-ordinator and team worker to a greater advantage. I can address this by ensuring I take responsibility in future with team work to arrange regular meetings and make sure that there is a constant level of communication between myself and others.
I will try ensure that I am constantly improving communication skills throughout my time at university, and when I am next in a group I will remember how important it is to keep communication going.
Communication is vital to be a successful team, this team was slightly unsuccessful and having good communication will prevent me from going through the same experience in the future.
Avoid absence
There was a couple of occasions where absence was an issue between the group. This is a cause for unnecessary pressure on the other team members, and in the future whilst working in any group there should be an understanding that unjustifiable absence due to lack of organisation etc. is not acceptable, from myself or any other person. In the future whilst working in any group there should be an understanding that unjustifiable absence due to lack of organisation etc. is not acceptable, from myself or any other person.
Absence needs to be avoided throughout the full year at university, not just in this subject and I need to attend all lectures and seminars.
By ensuring I am always in 100% of the time it is more likely that my grades are going to be higher and I am going to be more successful within this module.
Do not hesitate with issues to avoid conflict
Avoiding conflict in this situation resulted in the situation deteriorating further to the point where my involvement in the task was a lot lower than I had anticipated
In future if I have a problem or an issue with the way that work is being completed I will give my opinion and suggest changes rather than avoid conflict.
Whenever there is a situation where I want to express my view and opinion I will give it, this will help for the future.
Avoiding conflict can be a threat to a group in the long run, if problems are confronted and solved it is easier for a team to move on to the next stage. This will make teamwork easier and likely to be more successful.