Groups and Teams (Essay Sample)

Groups and Teams
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Teams usually go through several stages of development to reach the highest success levels. The primary objective of most group dynamics research is to understand why groups change and when they do change. The basic stages of a team growth cycle usually involve forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Traditional teams required physical contact or team-building exercises, but with the recent advancements in technology, virtual teams have been created. Modern trends like teleworking have eased the coordination of group activities in any organization applying these fixes. In traditional team-building exercises, forming is usually the initiation phase for any team building activities. It would often include orientation and the deliberations on the team’s goals and expectations. In the virtual team-building process, the forming process is quite similar to that in the traditional team-building process only that the virtual team-building process involves the integration of technological tools and softwares in the whole process (Gibson, 2003). The behavior is observed differently, in this case, for example, a member may reflect dislike or excitement from avenues such as speech when there’s the use of telephony. These behaviors observed during the forming process will raise a lot of questions from the different team members. As the team approaches the storming phase, members realize that they cannot accomplish all the goals of the team, so there have to be compromises. Behaviors may change to be less polite as compared to the forming phase, but as time goes by and the team members get acquainted with the dynamics involved in virtual teams like the network setup and signal strength, the team members will refocus on the goals and objectives of the team. The team members will also develop their skills especially in operating the technological tools involved and will be able to maneuver past delays that may exist during the virtual connection. In the norming phase, the team members develop insights into resolving their discrepancies thereby achieve group harmony (Gibson, 2003). During this stage, you find that the virtual teams concentrate more on the goals and objectives of the team and lesser on the problems involved. There might be more meaningful communication and even the development of coded language. Traditional teams needed physical contact or communication while the virtual teams diversified the communication forms, for example, the use of softwares like Skype and telephony that builds the bond in the virtual team. In the performing phase, the team can function as a unit and the team members have developed a deeper understanding of what is required in their tasks. Traditionally, team members would become autonomous and can handle decision-making process by themselves. In virtual teams, this is not the case as the team members require frequent supervision and building a team rhythm. As members work separately, it is very easy to be disconnected from the regular work rhythms; this can be avoided in virtual teams by creating and enforcement of regular patterns in work, for example, creating specific time and standard environment to have the online meeting. Workers might be in different time zones necessitating the need for standard time to hold the meeting and the environment, and connection should be up-to-date as background noise might interfere with communication over the Skype or internet calls. The adjourning phase may be reached when the goals and objectives of the team have been reached or accomplished. It is important for the virtual team to pay concern to the termination phase as some team members may lose focus during this stage thereby not handling the tasks efficiently. Clarification and tracking down of commitments are critical to the virtual teams considering that the teams work remotely, and the underlying functions may have been neglected by their respective team members that postpone the adjourning phase. Cohesiveness is a major issue in the creation of virtual teams. Virtual teams are lesser cohesive as compared to traditional teams. Communication in virtual teams is lower and is also not physical which downgrades the emotional information that can be accrued from interactions between the team members. Communication can be enhanced in virtual teams by creating a regular norm and mode of communication for the team (Gibson, 2003). This involves the use of the latest technological cues for communication and setting up a standard time or routine to hold meetings. Guidelines on which form of communication should be used and under which circumstances should be outlined, for example, there is a time or some information which should rather be communicated via phone conversation rather than the use of the e-mail to check on their credibility. Also, incorporating physical contact or get-togethers will go a long way in improving the cohesiveness of virtual teams. Physical interaction is better at building trust that is a good foundation for virtual work as compared to virtual interaction. The in-person meeting should be scheduled early in the forming phases to get to know the team members, personally and professionally. Get-togethers should also be frequently organized so that the team members often...