Editorial

Citation

Wing, L.S. (2000), "Editorial", Team Performance Management, Vol. 6 No. 7/8. https://doi.org/10.1108/tpm.2000.13506gaa.001

Editorial

Team development theory describes a series of "stages" of development to describe how the individuals within a team exhibit behavior change over time. Tuckman (1965) in his seminal work "Development sequence in small groups", identified five stages of team development: forming; storming, norming; performing; and adjourning. During these stages, individuals in the team move through the relational goals of acceptance, belonging, support, pride and satisfaction.

Because of the rapid change of projects and goals in the workplace, team forming is becoming a central issue for team managers. The ability of the team to come together, identify its goals, become committed to the task, and arrive at acceptance of one another is a principal challenge for team leadership.

Here are some actions (Gilbertson and Ramchandani, 1999) a team leader can take to help a team during the forming stage:

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  identify potential contributions of team members;

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  spend adequate time on introductions;

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  allow time for people to reveal why they are interested in being part of the group;

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  encourage each person to talk;

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  be a role model for open behavior;

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  be organized and ready to answer questions about what the team is supposed to be doing;

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  know the task, mission and goals, especially if the task is set by some manager or group other than the team;

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  define and agree on individual roles team members will play to get the task done;

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  ask for and discuss, as a team, people's concerns and questions;

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  be a little more directive in style as a team leader during forming; the team needs more direction at this stage.

Tools available to the team leadership at this stage of the forming process include:

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  writing a team mission statement;

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  setting team goals; and

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  creating ground rules to manage team dynamics.

Getting started well will provide a sustaining momentum for the team as it positions itself to accomplish its goals. The challenge is to establish an environment which promotes rapid assimilation of individuals into a cohesive, committed group of individuals focused as a cohesive whole on the accomplishment of a common goal.

Linda S. WingEditorE-mail: lwing@usinternet.com