Building and Strengthening Teams Worksheet

SOC/110

Building and Strengthening Teams Worksheet

There are many roles in a team and researcher Meredith Belbin has broken these roles into nine categories to describe each role within a team. The first role is the shaper role. Shapers welcome challenges and enjoy looking for new ways to overcome them, they are typically outgoing people and motivate others around them. This is important in not only problem solving aspect but also keeping morality amongst other team members. The next is implementer role in this role team members are considered the “doers”, they take the ideas the team may have and organize them into actual plans of action. Then you have the completer or finisher role. These team members try to keep the rest of the organization on time and on track. They are very detail oriented and pay attention to every detail. However they typically are not good at delegating any work to others. This is where the coordinator role comes in. they usually are good listeners and are able to delegate duties out to other team members. Next you have the team worker role, their biggest contribution is keeping the team together! The resource investigator are quick thinking out going people, they are the team members that are going to ensure the rest of the team has every resource needed. The evaluator role is for the critical thinkers, slow to make a decision and spend their energy solely on analyzing situations and nothing else. Specialist workers have knowledge in specific fields. Plants role is the innovators, they are responsible for original ideas.

The group development stages are forming, storming,norming, and performing. Forming is the first stage, it is the stage where the group comes together. There is uncertainty and members are cautious. Next is storming. The storming stage is where you will find most conflict because this is where objectives, issues, tasks, and responsibilities are discussed. After this the group moves to the norming stage. In the norming stage the group and start working more as a unit, and overall the group is more comfortable amongst each other. The following stage is performing. This is not a stage all groups will reach. In this stage people can work as a group, sub-group, and as a unit. This is when the group have become the most productive. These are the original stages, but there was one more later added, adjourning. In this stage there is termination of task behavior and detachment of relationships within the group.

During the process of group development several things occur. Roles are established, in order to have functioning group, roles, responsibilities, and a dynamic in which these roles work together must be formed. Factors such as skills, intelligence, personality traits, and experience, all weigh in on determining these roles.

Clearly establishing what the goal, or mission of the group is important in creating the correct team together specific to the goal at hand. Encouraging teamwork is very key as well, making sure that working together is a positive experience that motivates team members.Communication is another important factor, when working with others communication is not just important it is a necessity. The better you communicate the better your team will work.

Group cohesion arises when bonds link members of a social group to one another and to the group as a whole. Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it can be broken down into four main components: social relations, task relations, perceived unity, and emotions.