IntroductionTeam Development ModelFrom .docx
- 1. Introduction Team Development Model From a personal perspective, I will use the forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning model of team development. Wright (2013) indicates that Bruce Tuckman developed this team development model and maintained that the five stages were important for team growth. Also, the phases can enable teams to face up to problems, to tackle and solve problems, to plan work, as well as to deliver results. During the forming stage, members get acquainted with one another and understand the scope of a project. They establish ground rules by finding out acceptable behaviors with respect to interpersonal relations and the project. The storming phase is marked with high level of internal conflict while the norming stage is characterized by close relationship development and group cohesiveness. Performing stage is associated with fully functional and acceptable team that aims to accomplish project goals. During adjourning phase, a team prepares for its disbandment. 1 Models of Team Development
- 2. 5 Stages of Team Development Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning The Forming Phase, this is the initial phase. Teammates are introduced and take the time to understand the scope of the project they are undertaking. During this phase, ground rules are established, and acceptable behaviors are found. The Storming Phase, the second phase is known as the Storming Phase. This phase marks when defined roles are established for each team members. This phase is marked with a high level of internal conflict. The Norming Phase, the third phase in series is called the Norming Phase. During the Norming phase, the team is characterized by developing close relationships and working towards group cohesiveness. The Performing Phase, the fourth phase is the Performing Phase. The Performing phase is associated with the team being fully acceptable and functional to accomplish any goals within the project. The Adjourning Phase, the final stage in this model is the Adjourning Phase. In this final phase, a team prepares for adjourning or disbandment. If a team is able to form, storm, norm, and perform in the ways identified above, they are sure to benefit immensely and grow as a unit. 2
- 3. Preparation for the Team First, I will establish ground rules for the team’s operations. To be effective, team members must be clear about how they work together. A team must have a common identity, share same values, goals, plus objectives. Great communication skills are required to instill that each member of the team is well informed. Ground rules will provide guidance for needed behaviors and expectations. Once the ground rules have been established and agreed upon, a team will define each member’s roles and responsibilities. Decision making is also an important aspect of teamwork. With this in mind, team members will determine decision making process and conflict resolution approach. Moreover, I will outline the team’s vision, mission, objectives, plus performance measures. Finally, I will determine team processes such as the need for high team involvement levels for decision making. 3 Icebreakers Performance training Development and Training “How can your company learn, grow and succeed if people are afraid to be themselves, voice their opinions and genuinely show that they care about the brand and team? Having the company become a sort of safe space allows for brilliant ideas to flow and for problems in your company to be flagged and addressed head-on.”
- 4. Training and Development Activities As a human resource manager, I will use the icebreakers approach to team building, team self reflection exercises, and fishbowl conversation technique for trust-building and productivity within a team. According to Barkley, Cross and Major (2014), icebreaker exercise aims to bring people together, get them go together through shared experience, solve problems, manage limited resources, and make decisions. A team self reflection exercise aims at building trust among team members. It is important for a team to not only self-reflect, but also evaluate its performance without frictions. A fishbowl conversation technique can help in organizing constructive discussion among team members on a particular topic. In essence, the technique helps members manage debate on a topic and maintain it under control even if many individuals are participating. 4 Team commitment Employee Engagements Incentives Trust and Effectiveness Measuring Trust within Teams Team commitment will help in identifying whether or not trust exists in the team. Costa and Anderson (2011) define team commitment as the relative strength of a person’s identification with plus involvement in a given team. Team commitment can be categorized by: strong belief in and acceptance of a team’s
- 5. goals plus values, willingness to exert considerable initiative on behalf of the team, and strong desire to remain a member of a team. High trust among members is more likely to lead to higher commitment to a team because it reinforces positive actions which are necessary for positive expectation toward team members. With regards to team effectiveness, I will measure employee satisfaction levels after the third month, employee engagement levels after 6 months, and employee advocacy score after 9 months. Employee satisfaction index helps in determining the extent to which workers are happy with their job (Albrecht, 2010). This measure will help in determining employees’ feelings about their leaders and development opportunities. Albrecht (2010) indicates that employee engagement level helps in determining the extent at which workers are ready to devote themselves to an organization’s mission and vision. Employee advocacy score, on the other hand, helps in determining the extent at which employees are willing to become public representatives of an organization. 5 Albrecht, S. L. (Ed). (2010). Handbook of employee management. Northampton, MA: Edward Edgar Publishing Limited Barkley, E. F., Cross, K. P., & Major, C. H. (2014). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty. John Wiley & Sons. Costa, A. C., & Anderson, N. (2011). Measuring trust in teams: Development and validation of a multifaceted measure of formative and reflective indicators. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 20(1), 119-154. Wright, E. (2013). Project team development and how to accelerate it. PM World Journal, 2(10), 1-7.
- 6. References Managing Team Issues Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Work Function Work teams are established to improve focus on specific organizational goals. Members of a work team prepare an action plan to use their expertise in a collaborative manner. High-performing teams have strong communication and defined work relationships. The marketing team is expected to collaborate with the manufacturing department to drive up the sales (La Rocca et al., 2016). Customers also expect the marketing team to provide feedback.
- 7. The concept of work teams has been advanced in recent years by offering a group of individuals a single task to focus on for a given period of time. In organizational management, teams have a set of goals that are achievable after collaborative application of their skills. Teams that yield the highest performance define each member’s responsibility and work collaboratively to complement each other’s strengths. Work teams should have a strong system of communication and collaboration to avoid failure. The marketing team is one such group centrally placed between two vital stakeholders in a business setup. The manufacturing department expects the marketing team to drive up sales by reaching many customers in the market. The customers expect the marketing team to deliver their response to the manufacturing team for relevant preferences to be addressed. . Customers interact with the marketing team on the field as they pitch sales to them. The marketing team describes the qualities of the products being sold while the customers describe their most vital concerns. The work function of the marketing team is incomplete until customer’s feedback is taken back to the organization and their concerns addressed by the relevant departments. The marketing team has to communicate frequently between these two stakeholders for sales to be made and customers to be satisfied with product’s characteristics. 2 Data Collection Methods The marketing team has to collect data from the customers in the field. The marketing team also has to obtain sales projections from the manufacturing department. The most applicable collection methods in this case include: Manufacturing reports Interviews
- 8. Questionnaires Focus group discussions The marketing team acts as an intermediary between the organizations manufacturing department and the customers. They are expected to gather data from each stakeholder in this business relationship for each party to express its concerns. Nonetheless, most of the collection of data occurs in the field where diverse methods have to be applied to obtain any relevant information. Within the organization, the marketing team will obtain information through reading of the manufacturing reports. The financial report and sales report are part of the documents with relevant information from the organization’s side. In case clarification is required from within the manufacturing department, an interview can be conducted with the department’s manager. Interviews offer first-hand information to the marketing team about sales projection as well as clarity on other issues. On the other hand, the market is wide and the marketing team needs to gather as much information as possible. The use of questionnaires in the field really helps the marketing team to collect a wide data base that will influence the manufacturing process. Apart from questionnaires, focus group discussions can be used to collect information when a small group of customers gather around the marketing team to listen to a sales pitch. The focus group offers ideas that are noted down by the team and sent back to the organization. 3 Development Plan The purpose of a development plan is to provide manufacturers with a product design and developmental budget (Lagat
- 9. &Frankwick, 2017). The levels of functioning will be diagnosed according to the development areas in the organization. The marketing team will need to understand these three areas of the development plan; Product development Market development Organization development The development plan is essential for business because it allows the organization to focus on specific functional areas. In the marketing context, a development plan describes the product’s design, its manufacturing process, its marketing process, the company structure, and the budget necessary to accomplish product development. Essentially, the marketing team has to understand the three functional areas that make up the critical parts of the development plan. These three functional areas include; product development, marketing development, and organizational development. The marketing team should understand the operations that occur in each functional area developed because they play the vital role of linking up these different levels. At the bottom of the development plan is the product development functional area which involves the manufacturing process. Products are designed with specific characteristics expected to meet customer needs and offer consumer satisfaction. The marketing development involves targeting a specific population that will consume the manufactured products. At this functional level, the marketing group has to show that the products create the desired value to the target market. The top functional level is organizational
- 10. development. At this level, the products are consumed widely in the market such that they have a brand identity, which forms the company’s image. 4 Development Activities Members of the marketing team are expected to develop individual expertise to improve the whole team. Development activities build the capabilities of team members with the vision of strengthening goal attainment (Cosby, 2014). There are several types of development activities that would be used to improve performance of team members. At each functional level of the development plan, these development activities will take place. Members of a team are assembled in a work team for their individual expertise to benefit the group as a whole. Nonetheless, the individual team members can undergo development activities that boost their capability to serve the group’s purpose. A team member who is engaged in development activities is an improved asset to the group and the organization as a whole. Therefore, development activities are important to sharpen the skills of team members working at different functional levels. Some of the relevant development activities in the marketing context include; cross training, formal training, matrix training, mentoring, position enhancement, and special development assignments. Cross training involves learning a new skill that is related to an individual’s current responsibility to enhance job flexibility. Formal training consists of taking lessons on one’s current
- 11. responsibility to sharpen skills in performing that particular task. Matrix training is where team members form focus groups that share information and expertise within a specific task force. In mentoring, senior group members share their experience with junior members to improve their decision-making capability. Position enhancement is a development activity that enlarges an individual’s responsibilities to modify the way they operate in the task force. Special development assignments are career specific learning activities that direct a team member to broaden their knowledge. Providing team members with development activities increases their skills, strengthens collaboration, and expands an individual’s knowledge. 5 Communication Channels Managing communication with group members and key stakeholders is important to high team performance. Success in a team project is based on the channels of communication and how efficient they are in delivering the intended message (Abudi, 2013). Communication works best when it is two-way, the marketing team will also need channels to receive feedback. Effective communication ties the entire team’s effort and brings the group closer to attaining set goals. The issue of communication with stakeholders and group members is vital for high performing teams to achieve set goals. Identifying the right modes of communication and the preferred time to send messages to each stakeholder determines the success of project communication. The communication modes
- 12. and styles are important in the marketing discipline because the recipients urgently need to know what the team has to offer. Therefore, the team has to first understand what the product development team has addressed through the product design. For communication with group members, a continuous mode is preferable to allow members to send feedback immediately. One-on-one meetings, virtual meetings, and chat technology are preferable means of communication within the marketing team. Chat technology allows group members to continue engaging each other on urgent matters concerning the team’s objectives. When communicating with department heads in the organization, email communication is preferable for formal record keeping of conversations. Project newsletters and interdepartmental meetings are also applicable in communication within the organization. The customers are also key stakeholders that the marketing team has to communicate with from time-to-time. The company website and social media handles is the best way to communicate with customers online. The marketing team needs to also engage customers with physical face-to-face conversations during marketing activities and product promotion events. 6 References Abudi, G. (2013). Managing communications effectively and efficiently. Project Management Institute. Cosby, D. M. (2014). Sustainability program leadership for human resource development professionals: A competency model. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 18(2), 79. La Rocca, A., Moscatelli, P., Perna, A., & Snehota, I. (2016). Customer involvement in new product development in B2B: The role of sales. Industrial Marketing Management, 58, 45-57. Lagat, C., & Frankwick, G. L. (2017). Marketing capability,
- 13. marketing strategy implementation and performance in small firms. Journal for Global Business Advancement, 10(3), 327- 345.