HR Role in Team / Group Development
What is a Team?
A team is defined as "a group of people working together towards a
common goal." A team comprises individuals who are willing to put aside
their differences to achieve something bigger than themselves. This is where
the idea of 'team building' comes from.
Tuckman’s Teamwork Theory
Tuckman’s model is significant
because it recognizes the fact that groups do not start off fully-formed and
functioning. He suggests that teams grow through clearly defined stages, from
their creation as groups of individuals, to cohesive, task-focused teams. (
Five Stages of Team Building/
Development
According to Bruce Tuckman's Model for Team Development, any team goes through these five stages: Forming, Storming, Normalizing, Performing and Adjourning.
These stages are used to describe how
teams develop and perform. This is particularly useful for sports teams and
applies to other groups such as businesses, families and even friendships.
How each stage works
Forming: This is where team members first meet. It’s
important for team leaders to facilitate the introductions and highlight each
person’s skills and background. Team members are also given project details and
the opportunity to organize their responsibilities.
Storming: At this stage, team members openly share
ideas and use this as an opportunity to stand out and be accepted by their
peers. Team leaders help teams in this stage by having a plan in place to
manage competition among team members, make communication easier, and make sure
projects stay on track.
Norming: By now, teams have figured out how to work together. There’s no more internal competition, and responsibilities and goals are clear. Each person works more efficiently because he or she has learned how to share their ideas and listen to feedback while working toward a common goal.
Performing: There’s a high level of cohesion and trust between team members. Teams are functioning at peak efficiency with less oversight from team leaders. Issues still come up, but at this point, teams have strategies for resolving problems without compromising timelines and progress.
Adjourning: Teams complete their project and debrief on
what went well and what could be improved for future projects. Afterwards, team
members move on to new projects. Now let’s look at how to use this model to
amplify the strengths within your remote marketing team so that projects are
successful and completed on time. (Scully.d2020),
Conclusion
Team building in the most significant investment in the organization to achieve the common objectives which may be short term or long term. This is basically building trust, mitigate conflict, increasing collaboration, planning skills, motivation and encourage communication within the team and outer team. The process of team building from forming stage to performing stage, the above activities should be closely monitored. Identify team members strengths and weakness, address timely manner and groom them to take the level of performing. The responsibility of the HR is to provide proper facilities to perform the team to achieve the free determined levels. For that developing training activities, PDP developments, coaching, mentoring even counseling are the most key areas of the team development.
Referance
Qg(2013)[online]https://www.qualitygurus.com/five-stages-of-team-development,
accessed on (7.4.2023)
Scully.d(2020),[online] https://www.teamwork.com/blog/the-5-stages-of-team-development-what-you-need-to-know
, accessed on 7.3.2023
The happy manager, (2023)
[online]https://the-happy-manager.com/article/teamwork-theory
, accessed on 7.4.2023.
Interesting topic, rather having politics in organization, we can prepare ourselves for what is coming by studying this theory while learning how to identify the stages in real life.
ReplyDeleteNice explanation on Team development Chamara. Every firm should place the highest importance on team building since it is essential to their long-term success. Employees that are happy with their jobs and are able to work together, communicate, and empathize with their coworkers are more valuable to your business and its bottom line. (Pappas, C. 2021) It can be difficult for an HR professional to organize employees within the current organizational trends, such as remote working. What advice would you provide me to get through such circumstances?
ReplyDeleteHi Piumi, Thank for the comment, the WFH concept is current context applicable for the office employees and those who have access to the connected system and the applications of the organization. But most of the workforce is in the site and perform duties. Even if employees engage their duties WFH, the team has to perform in higher degree to achieve the organizational objectives which may be short term or long term. As the HR professional the corrective & innovative measures to be implemented to activity-based involvement with team in order to building the team to achieve better team results.
DeleteInteresting perspective on team development Chamara, however, if you permit me, I do have some concerns about the “Tuckman’s Teamwork Theory” being relevant to forming teams in organisations and indeed it's valid in the current context of the world.
ReplyDeleteAs per Karseras (2022) Tuckman’s model was based on data collected from therapy groups and therefore was in fact not meant as a model for the workplace. Furthermore, according to (Cassidy, 2007) Tuckman’s Storming stage may not be a clearly defined stage for practitioners outside of therapeutic groups, meaning that there is the likelihood of other types of workplace teams being stuck in or spending too much time in that stage.
Finally as Tuckman published his theory in 1965 based on research into his therapeutic groups in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s his model was constructed from team data collected ninety years ago and therefore may not be the most apt methodology for modern teams (Karseras, 2022)
References & Bibliography
Bonebright, D. (2010). 40 years of storming: A historical review of Tuckman's model of small group development. Human Resource Development International. 13. 111-120. 10.1080/13678861003589099.
Cassidy, K. (2007) ‘Tuckman Revisited: Proposing a New Model of Group Development for Practitioners’, Journal of Experiential Education, 29(3), pp. 413–417. doi: 10.1177/105382590702900318.
Karseras, G (2022) Is Tuckman’s Forming Storming Norming and Performing fit for the future? | theHRD (2022) theHRDIRECTOR. Available at: https://www.thehrdirector.com/features/employee-engagement/tuckmans-forming-storming-norming-performing-fit-future/ (Accessed: 8 April 2023).
Hi Nithila, Thank for your comments and the further elaborate the “Tuckman’s Teamwork Theory” on team building.
DeleteAn interesting topic has been chosen Chamara. According to Villanova University, (2021), there are 4 techniques for team building in modern organizations. Starting with a personality test is one method to get to know your colleagues better. A reputable psychometric test called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) divides people into one of sixteen different personality types, each of which has strengths and drawbacks. The goal of an activity-based approach to team development is to push team members beyond their comfort zones through a series of difficult assignments. These tasks are frequently carried out outside and may involve ropes courses, boot camps, rafting, or survival exercises. While it may seem pointless to take teams outside of the office, it may actually be very rewarding for teams that need to develop their ability to communicate and build trust. The kinds of abilities developed in skills-based training can be immediately applicable to the workplace and be very helpful for enhancing team performance.
ReplyDelete