Bruce Tumckman's Model

Teams are vital to an organisation’s functioning and they exist at all levels of organizations and fulfil a wide range of purposes. Team is defined as a small number of people with different skills and tasks that have come together to achieve a common goal. Work teams can also be known as an interdependent collection of individuals (Hackman, 1980). Good team management leads to good team performance which is being proven to be the key building blocks within organisations (Boddy, 2011).
In this essay, individual behaviour will be assessed based on five stages of Bruce Tuckman's team development model. Each team member exhibit different behaviour depending on MARS (motivation, ability, role perception and environment) model which impact the individual’s
performance (Thin 2011). Teams must not be viewed in isolation rather it should be assessed in relation to the support provided by the external conditions. External factors like organisation’s overall strategy, culture, social rewards and performance evaluation, social dilemmas, physical work settings, resources and social identity have the potential to provide favourable or unfavourable climate for the team to operate within which greatly affects the behaviour patterns of its members. Consequently affecting organisation development and performance (Robbins et al. 2002, O'Connor 2006).
Forming is the first stage of Tuckman’s model. In this stage, team members are likely to be working through start up issues and they strive to clarify team’s mission or goals, its structure and each member’s role expectation (Robbins et al. 2002). During forming processes, members are usually uncertain and anxious about the team’s prospects however they are also anticipative of likely success of team (Kur 1996). Team members might argue the relative significance of satisfying individual and organizational needs. Support and guidance is essential during this stage to eliminate fears and doubts (Kur 1996).
In storming stage, team members usually experience confusion, anger, withdrawal or substantial dissatisfaction and they tend to express this in a disruptive manner (Kur 1996). It is characterised as intragroup conflict stage. Members become discouraged and engage in disputing (Kur 1996).
In Norming stage, teams focus on harmony and they exchange and accept opinions and ideas because they want to ensure the continuation of positive feelings within the group (Kur 1996). They develop cohesiveness and close relationships (Robbins et al. 2002). They overcome differences by establishing and following specific performance standards and rules. This may not result in the utmost level of task achievement, but it does maintain a strong sense of group identity (Kur 1996).
Performing is a stage whereby teams become fully functional (Robbins et al. 2002). Members are individually empowered and open with one another. Role flexibility is a key descriptor of high performing teams. Members attempt for agreement and shared decision making. These periods of high performance have lasting, positive impact because they are motivating and personally fulfilling (Kur 1996).
The adjourning stage is applicable to temporary teams. In this stage, the teams start wrapping up activities and finalize their results. This benefit individuals to take away valuable learning lessons which can then be applied to future projects and teams (Kur 1996).
While going through the team development stages, the individual behaviours differ from person to person. Some team members responds positively while others show deviant behaviours. These behaviours are associated with a number of team’s structural factors. The model of individual behaviour also known as MARS assist in explaining these behaviours. It consist of motivation, ability, role perception and situational factors (Thin 2011).
Motivation can be categorized in two forces which are extrinsic and intrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is the feeling of self-satisfaction, self-accomplishment arises when something that is desired for is achieved and it is free from financial rewards (Thin 2011). For example, people feel satisfied when their contribution is recognized in the team and they are being involved in the decision making. They feel valued when appreciated by higher management. On the contrary, extrinsic motivation includes financial rewards, benefits, profit sharing scheme, health and medical insurance etc. (Thin 2011). To motivate employee to produce desirable behaviour, the financial rewards should be set as powerful as possible so that employees remain motivated and determined in performing their job (Thin 2011).
Moreover, the ability is the competence or capability of individual to perform a task successfully. Thin (2011) stated that the effectiveness of job performance can be determined by the natural aptitude that a person has and develops overtime. It is important to assign individual with a task which are appropriate to his or her abilities or those who do not possess enough abilities or skills, training should be provided to strengthen their knowledge and skills (Thin 2011).
Role perception is the individual belief of his or her responsibility towards achieving and performing well in the assigned tasks. Employees might have wrong role perceptions if they interpret inaccurately. Employees with clear roles perform better than the employees with role ambiguity. They remain confused and cannot concentrate on their job which results in poor performance of individual and teams. Therefore role perception is crucial in producing proper behaviour and to increase performance level of teams and consequently organisation.
Last of all are the situational factors which refers to the environmental factors that enable individual to react or act with it. Thin (2011) categorised environmental factors in to social and physical environment. Physical environment refer to the organisation setting such as nature of job, cleanliness, noise level which greatly affect employee’s behaviour (Thin 2011). The employee’s productivity decline if he or she has to work under poor physical environment. Social environment relates to interaction among people and respect of social rules and norms made to regulate behaviour of people (Thin 2011). Poor communication and weak social network within teams affect behaviour of employees and result in decrease efficiency. Moreover, rules and norms in a team can be directed to increase team performance and to achieve set goals.
The team performance is largely dependent on external factors, the factors include organisation’s overall strategy, culture, social rewards and performance evaluation, social dilemmas, social identity, physical work settings and resources (Robbins et al. 2002, O'Connor 2006).
A senior leadership team that advocates a vision for their organisation is far more likely to persuade and motivates their employees which results in extra discretionary effort, energy and focus from employees which is essential to attain sustainable high performance (Robbins et al. 2002). The vision, purpose, strategies and goals become the single guiding light that points the way for employees and adds focus and urgency to their individual plans, actions and goals (O'Connor 2006). However, the lack of direction and support from high level leadership is considered as one of the most critical barrier to team performance, which lead to a lack of standards and control mechanisms (O'Connor 2006). Enforcement of formal regulations and policies are also vital to the effective development of team (Robbins et al. 2002).
Organizational culture works as social glue to bond the employees together and make them feel a strong part of the corporate experience, which is useful to attract new staff and retain the best performers and it is very useful to assist the sense making process, helps the employees to understand the organizational events and objectives, which enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the employees (Saffold 1998).
Strong culture has almost considered as a driven force to improve the performance of the employees. It enhances self confidence and commitment of employees and reduces job stress and improves the ethical behavior of the employees (Saffold 1998).
The incentives structure of an organisation can affect the way team functions. This has the ability to impact a team member’s contributive effort to the collective team in both positive and negative ways (O'Connor 2006). Performance evaluation is associated with employee satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The higher the employee satisfaction, the better his/her contribution to the team work (Robbins et al.
2002).
Social dilemma defined as a disagreement or argument within a team which impacts individual motivation and it is critical to individual or team success and performance. It is imperative to foster respectful communication (O'Connor 2006). Conflicts are certain but if these are managed in a respectful manner it can help maximise team performance (O'Connor 2006).
Social identity entails information such as the extent to which individuals feel committed or attached to a specific group as well as the status and characteristics of this group relative to other social categories (O'Connor 2006). For enhanced team performance, the team should focus on team identity, team goals and team dynamics rather than individual identity and goals. This hinders attainment of social identity and hence compromise team performance (O'Connor 2006).
Moreover, physical environment which includes basic human needs such as safety, hygiene and accessibility along with adequate resources are vital to team performance. Lack of resources and uncomfortable work setting decreases individual and team productivity (Vischer 2007). These needs are met through applying current building codes and standards to architectural design and construction decision making. Functional comfort is defined as support for users’ performance of work-related tasks and activities. For example appropriate lighting for screen-based work, appropriate furniture for computer users, and enclosed rooms available for meetings and collaborative work help ensure functional comfort (Vischer 2007).
To conclude, teams are the key building blocks of organisations (Boddy, 2011).
Tuckman’s five stage team development model consist of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning stages. In each stage, team members modify their behaviour. Forming is categorized as ambiguity stage where team members are unclear about team role, goals and structure. Storming is characterized as the intragroup conflict stage and individuals argue on the mechanisms of team functioning followed by norming stage where teams develop strong sense of group identity. Performing is the stage where teams are highly functional and individuals show cohesiveness and respect for each other. MARS (motivation, ability, role perception and situational factors) model of individual behaviour facilitated to understand behaviours and its impact on team performance. A number of external factors also influence team performance. More prominent are organisation’s overall strategy, culture, social rewards and performance evaluation, social dilemmas, social identity, physical work settings and resources. Identifying and maintaining an awareness of external influences, demands, and changes can help build a team that can reach a higher performance
level.