Group Development Model Essay

You are required to organize your company dinner. The company has chosen 20 people from various departments to be in the dinner committee. Using a group development model, discuss the stages that the group will go through from the beginning to the end of the task (organizing dinner). A group is defined as two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve specific goals. Formal groups are working groups defined by the organizational structure that have designated work assignment and task. Informal groups are groups that is independently formed to meet the social needs of their members. There are five stages in a group development model which are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. The forming stage in which people join the group and then define the group’s purpose, structure and leadership. Team members tend to behave quite independently. The members of the team get to know one another, exchange some personal information, and make new friends. Supervisors of the team tend to need to be directive during this phase. From 20 people, I will decide who is going to be decorating sub committee, food sub committee, funding sub committee, marketing sub committee, program sub committee, and volunteer sub committee. Because of they are from different departments, they tend to know each other first before they start working. They have to determine what activities and programs are already in place and serving the needs of the community. Determine the need for the dinner and availability of resources. The next stage is storming. Storming stage characterizes by intragroup conflicts and disagreement among group members. Team members open up to each other and confront each other’s ideas and perspective. Normally tension, struggle and sometimes arguments occur. Supervisors of the team during this phase may be more accessible, but tend to remain directive in their guidance of decision-making and professional behavior. All the subcommittee has to set goals for the dinner. They have to know their target population and their desired objective or outcome. They have to brainstorm ideas and at this stage all ideas are good ideas. They also can explore the idea of partnership to share the workload or get mileage out of the work they do. The third stage of group development is norming stage. It is characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness. The team manages to have one goal and come to a mutual plan for the team at this stage. Some may have to give up their own ideas and agree with others in order to make the team function. In this stage, all team members take the responsibility and have the ambition to work for the success of the team’s goals. The sub committee now able to find a leader among them and establish a small but effective working group with a broad range of skills that is able to function as a team. The subcommittee also has to compare the skills and abilities of the committee members against the task to be performed to determine what training is required. Besides that, they have to determine the actual fiscal resources necessary. The fourth stage of group development is performing stage when the group is fully functional and work on group tasks. The team members are now competent, autonomous and able to handle the decision-making process without supervision. Supervisors of the team during this phase are almost always participative. Even the most high-performing teams will revert to earlier stages in certain circumstances. At this stage, all sub committees implement what they plan before. They are co-operating together and help each other to succeed the dinner. Each member knows their responsibilities and tasks. The marketing subcommittee has to publicize to catch the attention of their target group and make them want to seek more information about the dinner. The program subcommittee has to make sure all needed material such as equipment is on hand and in good working order. The final stage of group development stage is adjourning stage which group members are concerned with wrapping up activities rather than task performance. This stage involves completing the task and breaking up the team.