Teamwork Dynamics Report: Roles, Stages, Collaboration, and Goals

This report delves into the complexities of teamwork, exploring the roles individuals play within a team and the stages teams go through, from forming to performing. It highlights the significance of understanding team dynamics, including the Belbin model for identifying roles and the Tuckman model for team development. The report emphasizes the importance of clear communication, shared goals, and a supportive organizational culture to foster collaboration. It also touches upon the concept of group cohesion, suggesting that shared interests and a common social identity can enhance team effectiveness. The report references key literature and provides insights into how teams can be structured to enhance their performance.

Assignment: Teams
1. A team comprises of individuals with varied skill sets collaborating to achieve a
common goal. Belbin identified nine different roles (Moga, 2017) within a team such
as those of shaper, implementor, and completer finisher, who focus on the team’s
need to convert plans into actions; those of coordinator, team worker, and resource
investigator who meet the interpersonal needs of the team for convergence of ideas
and networking; and lastly those who provide analytical support and subject matter
expertise by being a plant, monitor evaluator, and a specialist.
2. A team goes through the stages of getting to know each other (forming), agreeing on
common goals and discussing openly (storming), delegating responsibilities and
collaborating (norming), and implementing the pre-determined tasks and achieving
the common goals (performing) (Jones, 2019). In the storming stage for example, a
group of students formed for a class project may have teething issues when assigning
individual roles or selecting a leader. This model differs from others in suggesting
that all teams mandatorily go through all the stages of team development, not
necessarily linearly (Norton & Norton, 2017).
3. A team works more cohesively when the individual roles are specified for every
member and the leader shares the team goals so as to align them with individual goals.
Additionally, senior management’s focus on investing in employee training in conflict
resolution as well as providing supportive HR practices is beneficial, too (Haas &
Mortensen, 2016). An organizational culture that is supportive of collaboration and
sound inter-personal relations would enhance the process of team building.
4. When the members of a group share a common identity and goal, it can be termed as
group cohesion. Several factors such as similar interests, shared goals, common
social identity, and size of groups can contribute to group cohesion. It can be
enhanced by getting such people together who are inclined and committed towards a
common goal and complement each other’s skills.

References
Haas, M., & Mortensen, M. (2016). The secrets of great teamwork. Harvard business
review, 94(6), 70-76.
Jones, A. (2019). The Tuckman’s model implementation, effect, and analysis & the new
development of Jones LSI model on a small group. Journal of Management
(JOM), 6(4).
Moga, B. (2017). Belbin Team Roles: Theory and Practice · ActiveCollab Blog.
ActiveCollab. Retrieved 7 March 2020, from
https://activecollab.com/blog/collaboration/belbin-team-roles-theory-practice.
Norton, D., & Norton, D. (2017). Tuckman Was Wrong! — OnBelay. OnBelay. Retrieved 7
March 2020, from https://onbelay.co/articles/2017/5/5/tuckman-was-wrong.