You have just been part of a merger. You have each been chosen to head up your d

Question

You have just been part of a merger. You have each been chosen to head up your department and merge the two groups into a self-directed work team. Work with each other to lay out a plan describing how you will develop a new team within your department or departments. It is natural that there will be some confrontations between people. Look at the stages of team development and use that knowledge to work with the team. It is recognized that some employees will refuse to be part of the team. In fact, the new ownership expects that there will be some who lose their jobs because of these issues; however, that is a last resort. Use all your skills to negotiate with employees in an attempt to resolve conflicts and pull your team together.

Because you are working together as a team, it is seen by the ownership that if one is successful, you are all successful. Likewise, if one fails, you all fail. The future success of the company is dependent on your mutual success.

Consider the following:

1) As a team, you must come up with a plan and be in agreement because you have to implement it in your departments.

2) For each step you take, provide a brief explanation of your reasoning.

Explanation / Answer

The model which we shall be using to merge two different groups into one is the Tuckman's Four Stages of Group Development.

Psychologist Bruce Tuckman created a model which has been used successfully by many corporations for multi-million mergers.

The outlined steps for the same are

We will try to understand each stage in detail.

1. Forming

This is the first stage of formation of the group. Here the team members should meet and get to know each other, their strengths, weaknesses, thought processes etc. Team members might be anxious, nervous or simply excited about what lies ahead. The most important activity in this stage is to calm down their nerves and make them get to know each other better. As we progress in this stage the discussion should center on defining the scope and objectives of the task, evaluating available approaches, assigning responsibilities etc.

2. Storming

This is the brainstorming stage where ideas are generated. Boundaries and responsibilities along with chain of command must be clearly defined. It is natural to have conflicts in this stage. Disagreements and clashes must however be resolved for the team to move forward. The style of work being done in the team is dependent on how the leader is able to drive a team to the common goal. It is important not to lose target while working through the various problems that arise in the path of decision making. The leader may try to initiate socializing for inter-personal barriers to drop.

3. Norming

Here all team members are motivated and accept others as they are and try to adjust and move on. People start to resolve their mutual differences and work towards achieving common goals and respect the authority commanded by the leader. The team members develop a stronger commitment to achieve the desired targets. A decent amount of progress can be observed in this stage.

4. Performing

Now team members are competent and autonomous. The leader can delegate the work which can carry on with minimal or no supervision. Some sort of dissent will still remain, however that can be channelized for positive results.

5. Adjourning

In this stage the team is disbanded after optimal results are achieved. Many teams reach this stage and even permanent teams may need to get disbanded and resources re-allocated after completion of the project. If the future is uncertain then this stage would prove to be difficult for team members.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse Y
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.