Most Teams Go Through Stages of Development - Assignment Example

Most Teams Go Through Stages of Development Introduction Teamwork has become a crucial component in the modern day business environment context. An effective focus on forming and nurturing teams facilitates an organization to enhance employee bonding which in turn enables it to increase productivity of the employees. In a team, every single member is liable for ascertaining the overall success of the team. Team activity comprises an amalgamation of strong points, which leads to reducing each member’s weaknesses. Teamwork motivates individuals in a greater manner within the team to achieve the desired objectives rather than working alone. In a team, an individual’s decision is generally not the final decision as a group of people working together invariably meet for deciding upon the plans, finding faults and finally executing them for the achievement of the organizational goals. An excellent team work constantly creates faithfulness within the members1. Thus, keeping in consideration these beneficial aspects of performing through the incorporation of a team within an organization, it is imperative to have a thorough understanding of how a team develops. In lieu of this notion, the paper intends to discuss about the how a proper understanding of the processes or stages of team development can help an organization to attain greater efficiency within the work process. Stages of Team Development Stages of team development comprise certain pertinent steps such as forming, storming, norming, performing and termination or ending. In the forming stage, a team is assembled together which creates considerable enthusiasm among the team members. The members often have a number of relevant queries which need to be addressed to ensure better collaboration and augment faith upon the activities to be performed by each member. Precise goal, direction and role setting are crucial parts in this stage. The storming stage encompasses the aspect where members attempt at recognizing the way the team responds to present distinctiveness among the members’ skills and competencies along with handling conflicts. Norming stage includes resolving of prevalent disputes so that group harmony can be achieved. Attaining team’s goals with collective effort becomes a key focus among the members in this stage. In the performing stage, members derive satisfaction from the attainment of team’s overall progression. Termination or ending stage encompasses the aspect of breaking up a team after completion of desired objectives. However, ending stage is dependent upon the desire of an organization to close the activities being performed by a team which might be delayed significantly2. Benefits of Understanding How a Team Develops Basic understanding of how a team develops facilitates members of a team to determine a common path of thinking which in turn enables to address the determined goals efficiently. It also enables to ascertain shared beliefs related to performance along with promoting trust among each member. Understanding of the process of development of a team enables to recognise the key attributes of different team members within the team which is a major part of performing stage of team development. This understanding can enable the team leader to assign tasks according to strengths of an individual member of a team which in turn results in better productivity and achievement of desired outputs from the team3. In a properly formulated team, each member listens to each and every person’s opinion which is part of storming stage. It might result in bringing about certain issues or agendas at the initial stage which might have created conflicts among the members in the later part of a project. Thus, understanding of the requirement of healthy discussion in storming stage is imperative to ensure benefits from a team. After the stage of storming when each member is satisfied about the fact that their opinions are considered, it creates a sense of possession towards their position in the group which motivates them to perform better. This aspect is significantly reflected in the performing stage. Moreover, team bonding also increases due to enhanced satisfaction level of the members which results in greater team spirit as reflected in the norming stage. Therefore, the leaders’ in-charge of teams must put emphasis on the significance of teamwork along with formation of a team based on critical stage of team development. Moreover, they need to work mutually towards with their assistants for the achievement of the organizational goals and objective. The result should intend to achieve a win-win circumstance along with facilitating to develop trust, a very vital element to obtain collaboration and establish a well-built relationship4. One of the most important remuneration of working in a team is getting required activities done in a lesser amount of time. When the leaders engage their teams towards performing brainstorm together for finding a solution, it results in coming up with many innovative as well as creative ideas. Performing stage generally incorporates idea formation and generation aspects with increased participation of members. The efforts rendered by the members in the performing stage facilitate team leaders to execute the plan and allocate the work to the specific competent people within the team. . At times, team work leads to personal benefits to come across through the application of group work and sharing of knowledge. It also helps team members to build confidence. Working together as a team helps to interact with each other and facilitates to make a friendly relationship with one another, this in turn helps to incorporate social relationship. Every team member has an intension to achieve its organizational goals and objective. When the team members communicate as well as interact with each other as a part of storming stage, it helps to incorporate trust and team spirit. Teamwork promotes bonding, unity and rapport. When the team works together, the members exchange their understanding as competence of all the members might not be the same, which helps to support one another towards the achievement of their mission3. Everyone desires to feel vital and essential. To make everyone aware of their roles and to make them feel that the member is very important for the team, it is necessary to inculcate a sense of belonging among the members. Consequently, the members get motivated due to these reasons and they try to implement the best of their talents and their creative innovative ideas5. The primary advantages of development of teamwork through recognized stages is that its helps members develop individual roles and responsibilities within a team. Throughout the stages of development of team, the key objective is to focus on the team's targeted goals and objective. A proper focus on team development process can ensure motivation among the team members which in turn can enable to derive benefits such as new skill development of the members6. Conclusion From the discussion, it is recognised that team formation has become a key constituent of business environment in the present day context. It facilitates to achieve the desired organisational objectives in a better manner through incorporation of mutual understanding and skills among the members. A comprehensive understanding of team development process can help to ensure that the team remains focused on desired aims and objectives of the organisation rather than being diverted due to conflicts among the members7. It can be addressed through proper communication and understanding about the concerns of the members during the team formation stages such as storming and norming. This method can ensure a proper focus of the members towards fulfilling their expected outcomes which can ultimately result in achievement of the team objectives. References Denkovska, I., 2010. “The Benefits and Costs of Teamwork”. “California State University”. http://www.csub.edu/kej/documents/business_educ/2010-12-13.pdf European Foundation for the Improvement of Investment of Living and Working Condition. 2007. “Teamwork and high performance work Organisation”. “Teamwork and autonomy”. http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/reports/TN0507TR01/TN0507TR01.pdf Kennedy, F. A. & Nilson, L. 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