Communication for Patient Safety
More on groups
Communication for Patient Safety
More on groups
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More on groups

1.

Have you worked in teams before?

Describe a time you have worked in a team.

2.

What was good about the experience?

What was challenging about it?

3.

Have you been on athletic teams before? How was this similar or different to a work team? What did you learn that can be applied to a work team?

 

 

 

1.Good teams always have one strong leader.
True     False
2.Good teams always meet regularly with predetermined goals and objectives from which they do not stray.
True     False
3.Conflict in a team is destructive and must be avoided.
True     False
4.Team work can be fun.
True     False

Team Development

In 1965 Bruce Tuckman published a paper proposing a predictable set of stages through which a team will pass while developing[1]

1. Forming - the coming together of a group

2. Storming - the articulation and sorting of various needs, wishes and goals

3. Norming - coming to a an agreed way of being/working together

4. Performing - working together as a well functioning team

5. Adjourning/mourning - not about the function of the team, but an acknowledgment that the experience of being in a team effects us

Much has been written on this, but it is important to know that teams are organic, they grow and change and develop over time.

 

Task vs. Process

Though teams are formed to complete a task or for a purpose (what gets done), there is a lot of process (how it gets done) that happens to make a team work and to keep it working.  There must be a balance between task and process. There are times when one is more appropriate than the other. In an emergency it is clear that the task is more important than the process. Having said this, a team with good process may be more effective at the task.

1.

Describe a team you have been in that focused on task.

Was this the appropriate amount?

2.

Decribe a team that you have been in that focused on process.

Was this the appropriate amount?

3.

What happens to a team that is all task?

all process?

4.

Describe a team you have been on that functioned well.

What was the task/process balance like?

5.

What if some members of a team are more focused on task and others on process? How could you help this team to work well together?

 

 

Roles in groups

Just like there are many leadership styles there are many roles that people play in teams[2]

Start the Task-oriented Team Roles Activity

Start the Social Group Roles Activity

Start the Individualistic Group Roles Activity

Individualistic Group Roles

 

 

1.

How do you work best in a team?

2.

What roles do you most naturally/comfortably play?

3.

What are the connections between your personality profile, learning style and the roles you most often play in teams?

 

 

The next time you are in a team take a mental step back and look at how the team is working and what roles people are playing.  See if you can help the team by playing a role that balances out the other roles and moves things forward, even if it isn’t a role that comes to you easily.


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1. Tuckman, Bruce. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological bulletin, 63, 384-399. There is a link to a reprint of this paper from the Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forming-storming-norming-performing accessed November 9, 2009

2. content for the group roles activities from: www.abacon.com/commstudies/groups/roles.html accessed August 24, 2007

All references for this section

This module was last updated January 02, 2010Created with the Collaborative Curriculum SAT