Sheila Longchamp Case Study Week 3 Professor Matasha Murrell-Jones November 13, 2011

The Forgotten Group Member Our text book lays out the different stages of group development and they are as follows:

ADJOURNING

FORMING

STORMING

PERFORMING

NORMING

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. PART I: y

Adjourning: Disbanding and celebrating accomplishments Forming: Getting to know each other Storming: Dealing with tensions and defining group tasks Performing: Maturing in relationships and task performance Norming: Building relationships and working together

The group presented in the text seems to be in between stages but mostly because of one individual. The group is stuck between Forming and Storming. NAMES OF TEAM MEMBERS THEIR ROLE IN THE GROUP CHRISTINE GROUP COORDINATIOR AND MIKE GROUP CLOWN STEVE BUSINESSLIKE INDIVDUAL JANET RELIABLE MEMBER DIANE QUIET BUT GIVES GREAT SUGGESTIONS WHEN ASKED

Mike has presented himself as unreliable and most a clown. During the forming stage, Mike chose to joke around about meeting before class, he s always late to class, he presents so many excuses and when the group meets up, on informal bases, he s offended that he s left out.

PART II: y PRIMARY ISSUE: Lack of communication. Christine is a bit scared and frustrated that her team member Mike is slacking on the assignment but she has not verbalized her concern with the group. Instead she is taking his drafts and notes and putting it together with the rest of the groups work. Christine not verbalizing her concerns puts the rest of the group at risk of getting a lower grade. In addition, she has not spoken to Mike at all in regards to his behavior and how it s affecting the work of the group. SECONDARY ISSUE: Facing the problem alone. Christine has taken on too much. She has to coordinate the group while still dealing with the slacker. In order to have a strong team dynamic, Christine is going to have to separate the responsibilities a bit more clearly and delegate her team into success by communicating.

PART III: There are two ways that Christine can resolve this issue. y One is talking to the professor. Professor Sandra should be involved, especially since she is the one that will be grading the assignment. If she knows then she can take into consideration the clown in the group and choose not to penalize the entire group or she could have a serious talk with the group clown and push him to play his role in the assignment. Christine can also set up a group meeting and talk to the problem child of the group and express her concerns to everyone. If everyone in the group is aware of the concern then the group can reexamine and give in a better assignment. They can either choose to kick Mike out the group and redistribute the responsibilities or they can give Mike a stern conversation and get him to really contribute or else. It would be an ultimatum that works for all members of the group.

PART VI: Based on the reading, it seems to me that Christine to verbalize her concerns to the group and her professor. This makes her an effective leader. Being afraid to address the issues weakens your ability to lead the group. I think that if she really spoke to the group about her fear of getting a lower grade and Mike bringing less to the table than the rest, she would have a stronger and more connected team thus giving her the desired grade.