Chapter 3

Exercises

Skills Practice 3.1
Skills Practice 3.2

Skills Practice 3.1: Stages of Group Development: Case of the "Clash of the Titans"

Skills practice worksheet 3.1

Objective

To develop skill in analyzing the progression of a team through the stages of group development.

Procedure

Obtain a copy of the movie "Clash of the Titans." It is available on VHS and DVD and can be rented or purchased from a local video store or retailer.
Watch the movie (this can be done in class or at home on your own). Be sure to note specific scenes and dialogue that demonstrate that the football team in the movie is in a given stage of group development. Also, note the strategies that are used by the two coaches to facilitate the development of the team. Download the worksheet that was developed for this exercise from the text web site. This will help you to document your notes regarding the group's development over the course of the movie.
Discuss the following questions as a class.

Identify and describe the evidence you obtained from the movie that demonstrates when the team was in the forming, storming, norming, and/or performing stage of group development.
Evaluate the strategies used by the two coaches in the movie to facilitate the team's development. To what extent were they effective? Ineffective? Why?
If you were the coach of this football team, what would you have done differently, if anything, to facilitate the development of this team? Why?
What are the practical implications of this exercise for the management of work teams in real world organizations?

Skills Practice 3.2: Building Team Spirit

Objective

To develop skill in applying tools to foster a sense of team identity and spirit.

Procedure

Form teams of five to seven students each. If you are working in teams for a class project, then work with these individuals for this exercise.
Select one of the exercises below and work through it in your group.

Team Name and Commercial

Step 1: Brainstorm a list of names that you feel might be appropriate for your team. Try to base your ideas on what you know about the various members of the team and, if applicable, the nature of the task that the team is working on (e.g., a class project). Be creative and try to generate team names that are meaningful and motivating to your team.
Step 2: Evaluate the various team names and decide on a name for your team. Write this name down on a piece of paper.
Step 3: Now develop a basic slogan that will go with your team name. This should be one sentence in length and describe who the team is, what it does, why it is important, or why it is good (or the best!) at what it does.
Step 4: Based on your team name and slogan, create a 10–30 second commercial for your team. The commercial should focus on communicating the team's goal, function, and/or strengths to others. This is an opportunity for the team to be highly creative and to have some fun with the exercise.
Note: Use any props that you may have in your book bags, notebooks, etc. (e.g., cell phones, clothing,). Once the commercial has been developed, practice it a couple times and then present it to the class.

Human GPS

Note: Your instructor will bring one blindfold for each team and the list of locations that your team will need to go to for this exercise.
Step 1: Place the blindfold over the eyes of one volunteer from your team.
Step 2: Look at the list of locations that your instructor has given you. Everyone else on the team should now guide the blindfolded team member to the first location on your list (Note: All locations will be places with which your team is familiar) without physically holding or touching the blindfolded team member. It is okay for team members to provide basic verbal instructions. The best arrangement for this is for the non-blindfolded team members to walk in front of, besides, and behind the blindfolded team member.
Step 3: Once the blindfolded team member reaches the first location, then he/she should stop and remove the blindfold. Now, have another team member put on the blindfold. The rest of the team will now look at the second location on the list and then lead the blindfolded team member to that destination.
Step 4: Continue this process until the team has found all of the locations on the list.

That's What I Like About You"

Note: This exercise should ideally be used with a team that has been working together on a class project.
Step 1: This is an exercise that builds team spirit through the use of positive feedback. Give each team member an index card and ask him/her to write his/her name of it.
Step 2: Now ask everyone on the team to pass their index card to the team member on their right side. Each team member should now write one positive thing about the person whose name is on the index card in front of him/her.
Step 3: Once everyone is done with step 2, ask them to again pass their index card to the team member on their right and write a positive comment about that person on their index card.
Step 4: Keep repeating step 2 until all of the index cards have been circulated through all of the team members.
Step 5: Return the cards to team members based on whose name is at the top of the card and ask them to read the comments. What are their reactions to the comments that others made about them?

Discuss the following questions as a class.

What were your reactions to the exercise you just completed? What impact did it have on how you feel about your team members and team? Was it effective in building your team spirit?
What are the barriers to using these kinds of exercises with teams in real-world organizations? What actions could be taken to overcome these barriers?
What are the practical implications of this exercise for you as a manager and team leader in real world organizations in the future?

Flashcards

Teamwork Case Studies

Case Study #1:

Building effective learning teams: Lessons from the field

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/SAM-Advanced-Management-Journal/18926776.html

Identify and describe strategies for forming effective teams used by DEC.

They fostered an environment that individual members are encouraged to experiment, learn from each other and innovate.
They extend learning to include key stakeholders, customers, and suppliers.
They continually undergo a period of development and transformation.
They built a skills inventory for the team.
They encouraged self-knowledge and self-mastery.
They encouraged listening and the creation of shared meaning to develop the team.

What suggestions do you have for developing a cross-functional team such as the one at DEC on pg. 7-8 of the case study?

Implement team-building tools to enhance trust and open communication between different functional perspectives.
Foster a team culture that supports learning.
Assess the strengths of individual team members and work to leverage them for the benefit of the overall team.

What are some practical implications that the DEC experience reveals about building and developing teams?

Trust and open communication are the foundation for building high performance teams.
Team-building activities are needed to facilitate team functioning and to break down silos in perspective for different members of a team.
The management of teams requires a systematic approach that address all critical factors together.

Case Study #2:

Successful teamwork: A case study

http://www.unice.fr/crookall-cours/teams/docs/team%20Successful%20teamwork.pdf

Identify and describe some problem team behaviors of the unsuccessful team in this case study.

Some team members failed to contribute to the completion of the team project.
There was resentment between team members during the project.
Team meetings were not effective or productive.
Conflict emerged between team members and it was not possible to reconcile the differences associated with the conflict.
Competitiveness between team members undermined collaboration.
Insensitivity and a lack of consideration for team members’ interests
Lack of commitment to the team process

What strategies for forming effective teams would have been beneficial to the unsuccessful team?

The unsuccessful team did not possess many of the attributes of successful teams including:
Commitment to team success and shared goals
Lack of interpersonal skills
Lack of open communication and positive feedback
Lack of appropriate team composition
Lack of commitment to team processes, leadership, and accountability

What suggestions would you provide to the unsuccessful team to work more effectively together?

Consider the needed qualifications of team members when organizing the team and in defining roles of team members!!
Educate team members about the criteria for effective teamwork.
Conduct team-building exercises to foster trust and open communication between team members.
Assign a coach to the team leader to assist him with performing more effectively in this role.
Set ground rules and formal processes to create a more effective process for the team to achieve its goals.

How could the unsuccessful team have transitioned more effectively into the norming stage and resolved the existing conflicts?

The team leader or an outside facilitator could have intervened by opening up the communication and feedback process on the team to build trust.
The conflict and other issues that emerged should have been openly discussed so that team members could vent and this would help to clear the air associated with these issues.
The team could have established ground rules to ensure that essential norms needed for team success were established.

What are some practical implications for building and developing effective teams in the modern workplace?

A great team starts with a clear sense of the requirements of an effective team member and a process for selecting these individuals.
Team leaders and team members need to be trained on the key success factors of teams.
Team leaders must promote collaboration and the sense that success on the task is interdependent based on the members of the team.
Teams must have a formal system for getting things done that is implemented systematically.

Articles on Teams

6 Tips for Selecting the Right People for a Team: http://brysontrails.com/publications/6-tips-for-selecting-the-right-people-for-a-team
High Performance Team Selection: http://highperformanceteams.org/hpt_sel.htm
Five Questions to Help Leaders Select Team Members: http://thomrainer.com/2013/06/five-questions-to-help-leaders-select-team-members/
How and Why to Create Team Norms: http://humanresources.about.com/od/teambuilding/qt/norms.htm
How Team Norms Can Boost Team Effectiveness: http://www.techwell.com/2012/10/how-team-norms-can-boost-team-effectiveness
Stages of Group Development: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_86.htm

Videos on Teams

Interview with Dr. Meredith Belbin on Team Size: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E95Vw5fbQhU
How Do I Choose Team Members for a Cross-Functional Team: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JkhZe5qzWw
Stages of Group Development: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_gptRmpFyk
A Leader's Role as Seen Through the Stages of Group Development - 2014 NOLS Faculty Summit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2-dufIQx7c
Hot Groups Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxk4J7YeTrc

Books on Teams

Team Turnarounds: A Playbook for Transforming Underperforming Teams, by Joe Frontiera, Daniel Leidl, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, 2012
Help the Helper: Building a Culture of Extreme Teamwork, by Kevin Pritchard and John Eliot, 2012
Harvard Business Review on Building Better Teams, by Bob Frisch, 2011
Teamwork 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know, by John Maxwell, 2009
Extraordinary Groups: How Ordinary Teams Achieve Amazing Results, by Geoffrey M. Bellman and Kathleen D. Ryan, 2009

Additional Downloads

Chapter Review Questions