Forgotten Group Member

Case Study Week Three: The Forgotten Group Member
Thkisha Sanogo

GM591 Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Instructor Barbara Ward, Faculty

November 08, 2010

Identify and summarize the stages of group development.
A team is a group of people brought together to use their complementary skills to achieve common purpose for which they are collectively accountable. Christine was elected team coordinator of her OB group. The group of five students was tasked to analyzing a seven page case and to come up with a written analysis. Also, the team has to share their findings of resolution with the rest of the class. Based on the case, the team seemed to be not functioning well in their informal meeting. There is really not enough information
The reason that the stages are back and forth are because the work has already began. During the storming stage, the team gains confidence but there is a conflict and polarization around interpersonal issues. In the mist of this stage, this team is simultaneously in the performing stage; which is polite and avoids conflict. With one week to go left before the assignment is due, one member of the team (Mike) had internal/external conflict. If Christine had a better understand of the stages of group development, it would’ve assisted her leadership role with the team because she would know how to create a more balanced team. Teams can become unbalanced if all team members have similar styles of behavior or team roles. It seemed that four of the five members had a similar personality which is why one person was unintentionally alienated. Knowing this the stages of group development ensures that necessary team roles are covered, and that potential behavioral tensions or weaknesses among the team member are
Christine failed to find a way to bring the team together, ensuring that they trusted each other and had the ability to develop a working relationship. In the case, it was mentioned that there was some group meeting scheduling conflicts. Christine tried to arrange a time that suited everyone’s needs but could not do so because Mike’s work schedule. There was a missed opportunity for Christine to elect a virtual communication network in additional to face to fact meetings. The virtual communication network would’ve linked the team members through an electronic communication with one another as well as with a central data base. This is specifically important in team role assignment because certain team members may have more weight on finishing an assignment. This could be implemented by making sure that team meetings were flexible enough so that every member could attend. If this could not be achieved, a virtual style of communication would be just as effective as a face to face communication style. One way to do that is to have individual meetings with the group. Since team member do not share the same schedules, individual meetings allow a leader to connect with each member and build a stronger team, one person at a time. Inflexible team members, who stick to their own assigned roles, can cause problems and significantly hinder the team from achieving high