Psychological Perspectives On Interpersonal Communication: Reflection On Team Building Process And Group Development Essay.

Discusa About The Sychological Perspectives On Interpersonal Communication.

This essay will reflect upon my learning experience gained during week nine of the semester i.e. team building process and group development related concepts. Shum, et al. (2017) asserts the necessity for individuals to reflect critically so that awareness is raised and changes can be made wherever needed in ourselves. Whereas Prabhakar (2008) distinguishes teams and groups along with discussing how groups develop to form teams and engages themselves in group decision making. Since I aspire to became an efficient team leader in future, it becomes significant for me to understand the process of team development and ways through which team building process can be held efficiently. To understand the concept more precisely, I have used journal articles and credible sources to support literature related to week nine’s concept that I present in this report.

It has been very well documented in literature that working in teams is conductive as well as effective that involves learning through shared information’s and collaboration among team members. My own team activities worked both co-operatively and collaboratively that facilitated readiness to identify individual roles within the team along with maintaining regular meetings, communication links and sharing information and idea with each other’s. The viewpoint offered by Ramaraju (2012) is that team cohesion along with peers helping each other’s are majorly due to the reason they strive to succeed in future career. This, idea is applicable for my future career also as our team work activities was assessed as combined effort. Kumar, Deshmukh & Adish (2014) states that strong group cohesiveness enhances cooperation and personal support for team development that was again evident in our weekly activities. However, Klug & Bagrow (2016) acknowledges the constraints realised by team members while going through the development process as each team member may have limited exposure to other members knowledge. Since our group had dissimilar timetables, we experienced few difficulties at the times meetings were called, nevertheless, we manged this issue by maintaining contacts via digital communications and emails. Prabhakar (2008) also acknowledges that complications raised in teams need stability when team members aspire to produce optimum performance. The author also adopts effectivity stance by signifying the application of team activities and cooperative learning through reinforcement amongst group members and discussions made of peer review. This collaborative team work concept has proved significant in my work activities also as it constructed knowledge within me and etiquette in assuming the negotiation of team members diversified perspectives.

Importance of Critical Reflection

There are many formal and informal roles played by team members while creating successful projects and even a single person in a team can play more than others significantly for which each team members are bound to work in collaborative manner (Fapohunda, 2013). Putting succinctly, every team member in projects carry their own responsibility that relates to formal and informal tasks for which they facilitate critical arrangements for formal and informal meetings. However, to manage small or big projects, understanding the team development stages proves significant for me as I lack in depth knowledge about it. Besides for managing a team as a team leader, it is necessary to hold, inspire and motivate all the project team members to achieve success. As stated by Fapohunda (2013), successful team leaders recognise individual importance as they know that project without them would not deem accomplished. I will therefore, release my idea as well as present literature concerning team development stages as mentioned in peer reviewed article.

Most of the contemporary workplaces group development theories focus on identification of series of evolutionary steps that teams have to go through from the moment they form a group until their dissolution. For explaining the theory of team development stages, most of the researchers and practitioners rely on Bruce W Tuckman model (Hingst, 2006). This theory has been developed and taken over the years into several concepts in theory of organisational behaviour and management theory that includes five critical stages for developing a team. According to Zoltan & Vancea (2016), “A true team does not appear overnight but must complete several steps to overcome the initial stage of its existence as a group” (p. 241). This widely accepted theory has served framework to many group development practices experienced by students like me. I can still remember the experience when I was told to write an analysis paper of a chosen article. While completing the paper, I composed, revised and published different successful stages for critical writing in terms of topic and contents. I can now realise how my initial process of writing and reviewing article were divided between negative and positive elements. Few of my writing stages included sequencing, organising, positioning and classifying the topic from the beginning. Like Tuckman’s model, I involved different stages to accomplish my critical writing assessment. Moreover, communicational methods were also utilised by me with my group members that tested my inner knowledge and made the work easier for me by getting difficult areas sorted through team support.

Team Development Process

Coming back to the literature review of team development stages, as I was going through one of the articles “Stages of Small-Group Development Revisited” by Tuckman & Jensen (2010), I found that Tuckman provided an enhanced developmental model for group development stages by conceptualizing and organising theoretical precepts and research data rather than presenting empirical information to provide backup to any particular model. However, the author himself suggested further testing due to ever-changing business environment. This notion is supported by Edson (n.d) where the author pinpoints that team development theories arises questions like whether or not team behaviour reflects on normal team development. Nevertheless, I admire Tuckman’s work and have gained quite knowledge regarding team development stages which had been discussed in below.

The first stage in team development is forming that involves introduction of team members thereby exploring acceptable team behaviour while evolving individual towards team status. Team members often experiences several emotional stages during team formation that includes pride for chosen team, anxiety about allocated task, anticipation, and how tasks can be accomplished successfully (Frances, 2008). Second stage in team development process is storming that proves toughest stage among all. Team individuals often have strong sentiments about how teams must function or bringing up personal agendas to the community. They are confronted with the actualisation that tasks allocated are dissimilar and sometimes proves tougher than anticipated. In storming stage, group members often rely on their personal and professional experiences instead of collaborative efforts of team. Resistance among them can also be envisaged at this stage results in conflicts and anxiety (Sinha, 2017). Furthermore, the tendency to involve in arguments and competition in teams gives way to productive behaviour in third stage that is norming. The teams in this stage becomes cohesive and recognises that they need to adhere to team development regulations and rules while assuming their responsibilities and role as needed for team development (Hingst, 2006). Team members experience enhancement in collegial relationship and hence decreases conflicts and resistance. Next come performing stage that is characterized by team’s capacity for problem-solving along with implementing changes that can accomplish the given task successfully. The performing stage also develops within emotions within team members where they start understanding and accepting weaknesses and strengths of other members (Sinha, 2017). Adjourning is the last stage that brings closure of the team development process or the task. In reflection, the teams are able to envisage what they have found and what they have lost during experiencing their team development journey (Hingst, 2006).

Importance of Team Cohesion

Understanding the role of groups and teams within the workplace and organisational structure are two of the concepts that will help me in my future career where I aspire to become manager or a team leader in corporate organisation. Organisational structure concept will provide much needed guidance to me while laying out official reports related to employee relationship and in governing the workflow within my workplace. As stated by Tran & Tian (2013), formal outline structure of organisations makes easier to add or dismiss employees’ position in companies along with providing flexible and means for growth. Since, workplace groups and teams are becoming more common these days, organisations seek synergies that can develop teams when individuals come together to accomplish common project. Being a team leader, I will utilise the concept related to the role of groups and teams within workplace by leading teams to various departments and work according to clients demands as well as implement programs wherever needed. As Klug & Bagrow (2016) says, teams help in solving operational issues like customer service and quality and they remain as a team until the issue is solved. Therefore, to achieve my goal of establishing enhanced relationship with my team members and in understanding what is desired from team formations, this concept will prove significant for me in my professional career.

Team is highly important to run any project successfully. Without an effective team, it becomes difficult to achieve project objectives. The above essay shows my critical learning journey that has considerably enhanced my viewpoint towards team management and development that I lacked earlier. Especially team development stages and team building concepts developed qualities within me that are required to be present in an effective team leader. The above essay has reviewed team development stages where I made a research on series of journal articles that even helped me understand the concept more precisely. Now my future aspiration to become a team leader and manager in a workplace has become more prominent since now I feel enriched with core concepts and theories that requires to be adapted by a well-organized leader.

References

Edson, M. C. (n.d.). Group Development: A Complex Adaptive Systems Perspective. Retrieved from https://www.adaptivecycle.nl/images/Complex_Adaptive_Systems_perspective.pdf

Fapohunda, T. M. (2013). Towards Effective Team Building in the Workplace. International Journal of Education and Research , 1-12.

Frances, M. (2008). Stages of Group Development - A PCP Approach. Personal Construct Theory & Practice, 5, 10-18.

Fulk, H. K., Bell , R. L., & Bodie , N. (2011). Team Management by Objectives: Enhancing Developing Teams’ Performance. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 12(03), 17-26.

Hingst, R. (2006). Tuckman’s theory of group development in a call centre context: does it still work? . 5th Global Conference on Business & Economics. Cambridge.

Klug, M., & Bagrow, J. P. (2016). Understanding the group dynamics and success of teams. Royal Society Open Science, 03(04).

Kumar, S., Deshmukh, V., & Adish, V. S. (2014). Building and Leading Teams. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 39(04), 208-213.

Prabhakar, G. P. (2008). Teams and Projects: A Literature Review . International Journal of Business and Management, 03(10), 3-7.

S.Ramaraju. (2012). Psychological Perspectives on Interpersonal Communication. Journal of Arts, Science & Commerce , 68-73.

Shum, S. B., Sándor, Á., Goldsmith, R., & McWilliams, R. B. (2017). Towards Reflective Writing Analytics: Rationale, Methodology and Preliminary Results. Journal of Learning Analytics, 04(01), 58-54.

Sinha, A. (2017). The Role of Team Effectiveness in Quality of Health Care. Integrative Journal of Global Health, 1(1:2), 1-4.

Tran, Q., & Tian, Y. (2013). Organizational Structure: Influencing Factors and Impact on a Firm. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 229-236.

Tuckman, B. W., & Jensen, M. A. (2010). Stages of Small-Group Development Revisited. A Research and Applications Journal , 43-48.

Zoltan, R., & Vancea, R. (2016). Work group development models - the evolution from simple group to effective team. Ecoforum, 05(01), 241-246.