38 Team and Group Work
Mary Shier
Working in groups is a necessary and important skill. We will find ourselves having to work in groups in various situations—at home, at work, at play, and school. When we find ourselves working in groups—whether in a formal or informal situation—certain things tend to happen. Often, the natural leaders will emerge to provide guidance and direction, and those who are natural followers will act accordingly. Conflicts will inevitably occur, as people have different visions for the outcome.
Working in groups in educational settings is a common occurrence. Instructors often require group work because it is such an important skill, particularly moving forward into the workplace. Working on labs together, group project work, group assignments, and even online group work with classmates who are all over the world are all standard situations. Getting along is important, but working effectively together can make a better project when each team member contributes according to their strengths, resulting in a better project than each could have done on their own.
Working in groups has advantages and disadvantages, and works better in some situations than others. Here are some reasons why you might choose to work alone or in a group:
| Working Alone | Working in Groups |
|---|---|
| Free to make all the decisions | Can collaborate |
| Can use your own methods | Can share responsibility |
| Can be creative | Can share ideas and talents |
| Can do things on own time schedule | Can spread the workload |
| No disagreements | A more sociable way to work |
| No compromising — can do everything your way | Able to do something bigger and better |
| Can take all the credit | Can demonstrate ability to work in teams |
Effective Working Groups
Groups that work effectively have the following characteristics:
- The atmosphere is relaxed, engaged, open, comfortable, and non-threatening.
- Group members share a sense of purpose or common goals that each member is willing to work toward. The tasks or objectives are understood and accepted by everyone. There is free discussion leading to group commitment and no hidden agendas.
- The group is concerned not only with the task, but also with its own processes and operating procedures. The group periodically evaluates its performance.
- The group members use one another as a resource. Roles are balanced and shared to ensure that the tasks are accomplished and that group cohesion and morale are enhanced. The group comes up with clearly assigned tasks for people in the group.
- Communication is clear, direct, open, and honest. Group members continually try to listen to and clarify what is being said, and show interest in what others say and feel. They feel free to build on each other’s ideas. Differences of opinion are encouraged and freely expressed.
- The group focuses on problem-solving rather than expending energy on competitive struggles or interpersonal issues. The group is willing to deal with conflict and focus on it until it is resolved or managed in a way that does not reduce the effectiveness of the group and its members. Confrontation is accepted as a challenge to examine one’s behaviour or ideas. It is not viewed as an uncaring personal attack.
- Mistakes are seen as sources of learning rather than reasons for punishment. This encourages creativity and risk-taking.
- Conflict is seen as natural, even helpful. People work through problems together.
- The group has a clear set of expectations and standards for the behaviour of group members.
- The group that understands that developing a climate of trust is important. In order to trust one another, individuals in a group must understand and get to know one another.
Setting Up for Success
When you have decided to work in a group, or you are placed into one, the best thing the group can do is to set up who is responsible for what portion. This is not one person assigning everyone else tasks, but it’s a real conversation about people’s strengths and weaknesses and what they can commit to for the given time frame. Each person needs to have buy-in and commitment so they will do their part.
As a group, divide the large task into smaller tasks. Doing this on paper or with sticky notes is an effective way to see where each part fits in the process. Have people put their initials on at least two of the parts they would enjoy working on. (More if needed.) If more than one person chooses something, they will have another choice they can work on.
Then, as a group, discuss appropriate time frames: “By next week, can we each have abc completed?” “Two weeks from now, can we have xyz completed?” If someone hesitates, re-discuss a time frame that works for all. If you start well ahead of time on the paper or project, you will have time to work a little each week on it and not feel overwhelmed or pressured at the last minute to get it completed.
If There Is Conflict
Even in the best of groups, there is sometimes conflict. Using all of the above information will certainly help you avoid most of it, but what if conflict occurs? What can you do to save the group and your grade? According to author Pamela Reynolds, you need to keep the lines of communication open—always talk face-to-face to resolve conflict if possible—not over Zoom or email, even if you are in an online group.[1] It’s much more difficult to gauge emotions and reactions in online and email environments, which can often lead to misinterpretations.
Second, listen to what is being said. Don’t go to the conversation with your mind made up. The point is to resolve the conflict so you can get back to working and complete the project or paper.
Third, each one in the group should focus on the problem, not the individuals. Is the problem time management? Scheduling? Timeline? Talk through changes in schedules, deadlines, etc, not “well, he’s always late”, and “she’s never here.”
Next, identify points of agreement and disagreement—consider who is in the group. What perspective are they coming from? Does culture play a role in the team dynamics? If so, is there a way to help everyone feel comfortable moving forward? Can some people’s skills be better utilized?
Finally, develop a positive plan together for moving forward, and do so. Try to always keep in mind the main goal—you all want to finish the paper/project, and you all want a good grade!
If conflict continues to occur or won’t resolve, set a meeting with the Professor or TA to help you resolve it. Often, just suggesting that will help reset everyone to a more workable mindset, but if not, maybe the professor can help resolve it. or find another solution.
Stages in Group Formation
Groups that form to accomplish a certain goal go through stages in getting to that goal. It’s not a bad thing that conflict happens along the way. It’s almost inevitable. How people handle the conflict will determine whether or not the process is a positive and successful one.
In the following video, the narrator describes Bruce Tuckman’s simple model to explain the stages of team formation.
Video: Watch “Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing: Bruce Tuckman’s Team Stages Model Explained” by MindToolsVideos to learn about the stages of group process:
Exercise: Groups
Think about some of the groups that you are involved in. What qualities do you have that help in the group process? Is the group effective? What qualities of an effective team does your group have?
License & Attribution
Adapted from Student Success © 2020 by Mary Shier, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. Any changes to the original chapter can be found in the Appendix.
All rights reserved content: “Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing: Bruce Tuckman’s Team Stages Model Explained” is by MindToolsVideos. Standard YouTube License.
- Reynolds, P. (2024, January 8). Preventing and managing team conflict. Harvard Division of Continuing Education. https://professional.dce.harvard.edu/blog/preventing-and-managing-team-conflict ↵
