The Forgotten Group Member
Case Study Analysis
Professor Ward
Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Frank J. Marketti

Group Development It is very important to know and understand the stages of Group Development before assembling any team. There are 5 stages of Group Development and they include Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning. Forming is the initial stage of getting to know one another in the group and this is the time where you as a member start to ask Questions. One of the questions could be “What can this group offer me”? In other words, this stage is almost like the interviewing stage of this process. Storming is where the group is moving into the area that tension and pressures can arise due to figuring out what the goals should be for the team. A major part of this stage is where “clicks can form and pressures can be attained from premature performance”. Norming is where the team finally starts to build the comfortable relationship and definitely start to work together. Harmony starts to develop and the Initial Intergration starts to shape up very well. Performing is the total integration for the group and where the team is totally mature. Furthermore, the group is totally comfortable with each other and “the members are motivated by team goals and adapt well to change”. Lastly, the final stage of Group Development is Adjourning. The final stage is the best for temporary groups that can come together quickly, work well together disband and come back together easily to work on future projects. Due to the fact, that this team does not possess 100% harmony or a positive balance, I would place them in the Storming stage. As the text states, the Storming stage is “Dealing with tensions and defining group tasks”. As we recall from the Case Study, Mike is the team member that is not putting forth 100% of effort and is