Group Dynamics

Group Dynamics is Dynamite!Fall Orientation – Spring Training

"The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime."

-Babe Ruth

• A group organized to work together

• Teamwork is the concept of people working together cooperatively

What is a team?

Bruce Tuckman’sTeam Development Model

• Forming• Storming• Norming• Performing• Adjourning

Tuckman, Bruce (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological bulletin, 63, 384-399

Bruce Tuckman’s Team Development Model Stages

Tuckman’s Team Development Model

Forming• High dependence on leader for

guidance• Little agreement on team goals

except those put forth by the leader

• Individual roles are unclear• Leader must be prepared for lots of

questions about the team’s purpose, objectives and relationships

• Members test tolerance of system and leader

• Leader directs


Storming• Decisions are more difficult to

make• Team members vie for position as

the attempt to establish themselves in relation to the other team members and the leader

• Cliques and factions form• Power struggles occur• Team needs to be focused on its

goals to avoid becoming distracted by relationships and emotional issues

• Compromises may be required to enable progress

• Leaders are coaches


Norming• Agreement and consensus is formed

amongst the team• Responding well to facilitation from the

leader• Roles and responsibilities are clear and

accepted• Big decisions are made by group

agreement• Smaller decisions may be delegated to

individuals or small teams with the group• Commitment and unity are strong• Team may engage in fun and social

activities• General respect for the leader and some

of the leadership is more shared by the team

• Leader facilitates and enables


Performing• The team is more strategically

aware• Team has shared vision and is

able to stand on its own feet with no interference or participation from the leader

• The team makes decisions based on criteria agreed with the leader

• Team members ask for assistance from the leader with personal or interpersonal development

• Leader oversees and delegates

Tuckman’s Team Development ModelAdjourning

• This represents the conclusion of the project and the disengagement of the team.

• Adjourning can be a difficult but rewarding stage.

• It may represent a sense of loss for those that have established bonds with other members of the team.

• Members will reflect on the progress that the team made from the beginning to the end.

• It is important that the team and the leader recognize each member for their individual accomplishments, in addition to celebrating the team’s success.

Situation: Forming

Orientation week is just a couple of days away. Your group just met and you were told to have all orientation kits put together by the end of the day. Your leader did not specify what goes where, and you all have different opinions. Some members of the group believe that t-shirts should be kept outside the kits, while others have already started putting them in the kits. You are not very comfortable with each other yet, and you look up to your leader for guidance. The group leader should be prepared to answer questions and redirect the group in the same direction.

Situation: Storming It is the first day of Residence Move-In and your

entire group is very excited to be there, though everyone is tired after staying up late. Everybody in the group is looking forward to lunch time. Jess, Jody & Jen want to go together, while John has made it clear that he needs to go first because he has been doing more work than the others. Mark and Becca both believe they should be able to decide who gets to go first since this is their second year as Orientation Facilitators. The team can only spare two people at a time because the flow of people arriving is at its highest point.

Situation: Norming Beach Day is finally here! The team has been

asked to get all students to the beach. Some students are taking longer to get ready, while some are impatient and want to leave now. The group agrees to split. Mark and Jess will bring the group of students that is ready now, while the rest of the group will wait for those that are still getting ready. Jen & Becca were hoping for all to leave at the same time, but they understood the situation and agreed with everyone. The group is happy with the decision that was reached as a team and everybody is looking forward to the games and activities at the beach. Goals are clear and the team is working well together.

Situation: Performing Academic Orientation Day has been a hot and

long day. Students are getting tired, and the team has been asked to bring them to their last activity of the day, and to keep them engaged. The group is working well together to keep everyone excited. The entire team is feeling good and everyone is doing their best to encourage the students to attend the activity. To keep the students engaged, Mark and John start to sing cheers, and ask the entire group, including the leader and the students to sing along. Everybody is having fun and feeling comfortable within the group.

Situation: Adjourning

It is the day after and orientation week is now over. Your day is going slowly and you have to already do some school work. For an entire week you were always on the go with your team, and right now you are starting to feel a bit disappointed and nostalgic because it is over. You decide to log onto Facebook and you realize that you have been tagged on many pictures showing the success of all orientation activities, and you have a couple of new friend requests. You realize that you and your team came a long way!

Team DynamicsThe Characters

• All About Business Bert• Loose Lips Linda• Pushover Patricia• Old Time Olivia• Cornelius the Comedian• Don’t Want to Be Here

Dave• Needy Nellie


All About Business Bert

• Always wanting to get down to business – no time for fun

• Checks their watch in meetings

• Rolls their eyes and asks people to “talk about it later”

Team DynamicsThe Characters Loose Lips Linda

• Gossips about other staff• Other staff complain that she

is always discussing other people

• Denies this when asked

Team DynamicsThe Characters Pushover Patricia

• Always willing to do anything for anyone

• Goes with the group• Takes on work for others, often

at their own expense

Team DynamicsThe Characters Old Time Olivia

• Gives the impression that they know it all

• Self-appointed leader• Questions everything• States “that’s not how we did it last

year” often


Cornelius The Comedian

• Always cracking a joke• Rarely take anything seriously• Talks and chuckles during

meetings


Don’t want to be here Dave

• Appears rather lazy• Always looks like they would rather

be anywhere else• Does not contribute to discussion• “Bump on a log”


Needy Nellie

• Often in supervisor’s office• Very emotional• Lingers after meetings to talk

supervisor• Does not demonstrate the ability to

problem solve independently

Team DynamicsRole Plays

Scenario 1

• You are with your Orientation group and you can hear some of the students saying that the activities are ‘lame’ and ‘stupid’. They don’t seem to be having any fun and are thinking about leaving.


Scenario 2

• Shannon is a really enthusiastic Orientation Volunteer and

has a lot of fun with the students. However she is often talking about the students and other Orientation Volunteers behind their back. You can see there is tension forming in the group and people are complaining.


Scenario 3

• Paulo is a very enthusiastic individual. He enjoys volunteering for Orientation. Everyone knows him because he tries to make connections with everyone while he is there. During group meetings, Paulo is the first to volunteer for anything that comes up. However, some of the team members are relying on him to do all the grunt work while they can just sit and relax with the students. You think Paulo might be taking on too much as he is getting tired and the spark is gone.


Scenario 4

• Jake is one of the returning Orientation volunteers for a third year. He has taken on a leadership role, however, he hasn’t been a productive leader. He questions any new suggestions that come up by the new staff and his Head Orientation Volunteer. He often says ‘This isn’t how we did it last year”.


Scenario 5

• Ling is very funny and because of this, she connects well

with the Orientation Volunteers and students. More recently, she has been cracking jokes when it is not professional. This causes awkward moments for everyone present. A few Orientation Volunteers have expressed that due to Ling’s behaviour, some people can not take her seriously when she asks people to do something.


Scenario 6

• There have been concerns about Benji from the beginning. It seems as though he arrived to the first day of training hung over and he is always late for meeting times and events. When he does arrive, he looks very tired and is the first to ask to go home in the evening. When he does make contributions they are usually in a negative way and occasionally just to ‘stir the pot’.


Scenario 7

• Stacey is a student in your Orientation group which is always asking questions and wanting to know everything that is going on. She also comes to you with all kinds of questions as to where everything is for her classes, athletics, the library and resources on campus. She has also expressed that she misses her friends and family back home but is glad she is found a friend like you here at Carleton.

Individual commitment

to a group effort - that is

what makes a team

work.

-Vincent Lombardi

A successful team is a group of many hands

but of one mind. -Bill Bethel

None of us is as smart as all of us. -Japanese proverb

Alone we can do so

little; together we

can do so much.

-Helen Keller

Good Luck on your exams!

Have a great summer!

Documents

Group Dynamics