Earth Buddies: The Five Stage Model
ANALYSIS
The five partners i.e. Rabie, Harary, Varadi, Michelle and Austin form what we call a team. A team is “a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common objective and are accountable to one another.” This common purpose was to make ‘Earth Buddies’ and the company a success.
The Five-Stage Model can be used to describe the standard sequence of stages that groups go through. These are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. However, for the five partners, performing will be the last stage for development as it is a permanent workgroup. Once these stages are achieved, the team learns to resolve conflicts and develop norms which enable them to perform. Because of the team’s ability to resolve
conflicts in friendly ways and perform, they made ‘Earth Buddies’ a huge success in a relatively short span.
Each individual had their role. The roles were both task-oriented (initiating, clarifying, providing info and opinions) and maintenance roles (harmonizing, compromising, encouraging). When balanced well, these two roles contribute to effective team functioning. When meetings took place between the five partners, these two roles were playing a significant part. This helped them to stay focused towards the objectives and also resolve conflicts if any.
Motivation and leadership have also played a vital role in the success of the product. Production grew to 17,000 buddies a day from 5,000 buddies. The goal was to achieve 16,000 to meet K Mart’s order. The executive team worked well with the employees and motivated them to work towards the common goal.
The five partners i.e. Rabie, Harary, Varadi, Michelle and Austin form what we call a team. A team is “a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common objective and are accountable to one another.” This common purpose was to make ‘Earth Buddies’ and the company a success.
The Five-Stage Model can be used to describe the standard sequence of stages that groups go through. These are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. However, for the five partners, performing will be the last stage for development as it is a permanent workgroup. Once these stages are achieved, the team learns to resolve conflicts and develop norms which enable them to perform. Because of the team’s ability to resolve
conflicts in friendly ways and perform, they made ‘Earth Buddies’ a huge success in a relatively short span.
Each individual had their role. The roles were both task-oriented (initiating, clarifying, providing info and opinions) and maintenance roles (harmonizing, compromising, encouraging). When balanced well, these two roles contribute to effective team functioning. When meetings took place between the five partners, these two roles were playing a significant part. This helped them to stay focused towards the objectives and also resolve conflicts if any.
Motivation and leadership have also played a vital role in the success of the product. Production grew to 17,000 buddies a day from 5,000 buddies. The goal was to achieve 16,000 to meet K Mart’s order. The executive team worked well with the employees and motivated them to work towards the common goal.