Conflict Throughout the Stages of Team Development


Conflict is natural at every stage of Tuckman's model for team development. One stage is even known for it: Storming . Table 15 will help refresh your memory about the model by outlining the stages of development and providing a brief explanation of each.

TABLE 15: Stages of Team Development

FORMING

  • The team attempts to figure out why it exists

  • Team members get acquainted with each other

STORMING

  • Individuals compete to influence how the team will go about its task

NORMING

  • Standards of performance for the team are established

  • Unwritten rules of how the members are to behave in the group emerge

PERFORMING

  • The team executes the plan and procedures in an effort to accomplish its assignments

CLOSING

  • The team approaches its dissolution

Forming

During the Forming stage, team members get acquainted with each other and the tasks they are expected to perform. It is typically a polite stage. Members tend not to engage in conflict with each other. They use the avoiding and accommodating styles of conflict resolution, and thus some important issues may get swept under the rug. Another potential danger during this stage is that when one or two particularly aggressive individuals frighten the less confrontational team members, these members may come to regret being named to the team in the first place, even at this very early stage. During the Forming stage it is crucial for team leaders to develop a team charter (as described in chapter 4). In particular, the charter sections clarifying team goals and an interpersonal code of conduct may likely head off some unproductive conflict experienced by teams early on. Leaders must also be skilled at eliciting the perspectives of all members of the team. It is important that the team avoid producing a " politically correct" team charter that does not truly reflect the feelings of its members. A charter that is only a piece of paper and not a true reflection of what the team is trying to accomplish, as well as what members can expect from one another, is not a useful tool.

Storming

As a leader, your conflict resolution skills are particularly needed to help teams through the Storming stage. Storming is inevitable when a team approach to work is used. While the team charter helps spell out what needs to get done, your talented and caring members still want to influence how things get done. This leads to differences of opinion and thus conflict. By the way, these signs of storming are often quite subtle rather than nasty (you'll find an approach for dealing with difficult people later in the chapter). Expect civil disagreements . Look for nonverbal signs from members who might not agree but aren't saying anything about it. Conflict is uncomfortable for most people. A difficult part of your job as team leader is to make sure your team is not taking the path of least resistance and agreeing to the first idea presented just to avoid friction. Look for signs of withdrawal from members who "lose" early battles on how the team is going to get its work done. They may reduce their input at team meetings, begin to show up late or not at all, or no longer volunteer to take on tasks to help the team. Most people "get even" in a passive-aggressive fashion rather than directly. They might seek to bring down the early dominators of the team. They might just sit back and minimize their contributions. They don't want to get in trouble but they may wait to be asked or told to do things instead of taking the initiative. Worse yet, they may just be waiting to play the game of "I told you so," which discourages teammates from taking the initiative in future situations.

Opposing ideas generate the energy for change. The potential for wise, innovative solutions to complex problems is highest when the group is able to hold several possibilities in its collective head simultaneously . However, the energy of conflict must ultimately be channeled toward the resolution of problems and issues in order to become useful energy. The danger of the Storming stage is that the energy may be aimed at individuals and subgroups instead of team goals. This can split a group, create fear and resentment, and generate an urge to psychologically (or physically) withdraw from the team. Remember, the opposite of conflict is apathy, not " peace and harmony." When apathy prevails, you lose virtually all the benefits of a team approach to work.

Norming

The third stage of group development is known as Norming. Members establish how hard they want to work and how important it is to achieve performance excellence. Again, don't expect explicit discussions of these matters to emerge automatically. More typically, group norms emerge subtly, even unconsciously. People learn what they can get away with as well as what is expected. The tighter-knit the group, the more norms impact behavior. I have witnessed many teams who don't care that much whether they are pleasing management or the company but will do anything to avoid the wrath of their peers. Successful navigation of the Forming and Storming stages produces team cohesion, but team cohesion does not ensure productivity. The more cohesive a team is, the less variance there will be among members. If a team is very cohesive and sets a high standard of performance, all members will strive not to let their peers down. Some teams are cohesive but establish a norm of being anti-management ”you may be facing a very resistant team. If the team uses meetings to complain about things and be cynical , it makes it difficult for any member to take on a positive attitude.

As leader, you need to help team members establish a process for clarifying their roles and responsibilities and how they will be held accountable. You may also need to help team members see the connections between what the company wants and what is in their best interests. It is especially important that team members be given recognition and appreciation for team-oriented behaviors. Clarification of expectations and reinforcement of behaviors consistent with those expectations are the key themes during the Norming stage. A tool for negotiating behavior changes among and between team members is provided later in this chapter.

Performing

In Tuckman's model, Performing is the fourth stage of development for a team. However, the reality is that production teams may have to perform from the very beginning of their existence. Committees, task forces, and project teams are pushed to perform by whatever deadlines are set, whether the team has worked thorough the issues of the previous three stages or not. The model merely suggests that a team will be better prepared to perform if it has successfully formed , stormed, and normed. The team may have set its own performance standards, but ultimately performance is judged by its "customers." A customer may be the end user of the work produced by the team or it may be management or it may be the team down the line that utilizes the output as input for its own activities. Criticism from the customer either causes members to band together or to separate in a manner that covers their own behind.

As leader, you can help by developing better diplomatic ties between your team and key players outside the team. Perceptions are realities in organizational settings. What are you doing to garner a positive image of the team throughout the organization? (See chapter 9 for tools to help you become the ambassador for your team.) You can play a key role by encouraging team members to engage in systematic problem solving together rather than spend time playing the blame game. Effective and efficient team problem-solving procedures can keep production rolling. Facilitating such procedures helps a team through the Performing stage of development.

Closing

A fifth stage of group development called the Closing stage is not often discussed. It applies to those teams working on projects and assignments that have a defined end point, where the team is to dissolve once it makes its recommendations, decisions, or plans or otherwise fulfills its charter. As the end point approaches, members who have grown very close may begin to engage in behaviors that put a psychological distance between themselves and the people they anticipate missing. Consciously or unconsciously they shield themselves from the hurt of separation. This may puzzle other team members, and some may even feel betrayed. This, too, could generate some conflict.

Furthermore, a very different set of behaviors may emerge from those members who have been low participators up to this point. You may witness a flurry of effort to contribute to the project or to get to know other team members as they to begin recognize the possibility that they may have squandered an opportunity. These low contributors may be guarding against anticipated retribution when the work of the team is evaluated by management. If the team seems to be gaining recognition for having been successful, these low contributors may now want to more clearly demonstrate their connection with the team. This may produce some resentment from the team members who had been active all along. While you want the team to experience ending with a positive bang, not a whimper, the possibility of the team ending on a bad note certainly exists. One of the key things you can do as leader is to get team members to spend time recognizing what they learned from their experience working together. Facilitate an after-action review (see p. 75) and perhaps arrange a social event where team members can celebrate their accomplishments and say their fond good-byes.




Tools for Team Leadership. Delivering the X-Factor in Team eXcellence
Tools for Team Leadership: Delivering the X-Factor in Team eXcellence
ISBN: 0891063862
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 137

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