The Team

ACCA - F1   ACCOUNTANT  IN  BUSINESS

Team development: Tuckman identified five stages of team development. They are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.

Forming: In this stage, members familiarize each other, organising routines and rituals, learn about opportunities and challenges, agrees goal and begins the task.

Storming: This time team members open up to each other and confront each other's ideas and perspectives on their functions as an individual and as a group.

Norming (Norm/Principle): At this point team defines its only goal. Responsibility sharing and alignment of individuals and team interest takes place.

Performing: Members together as a unit use their knowledge and skill to achieve their defined goal.

Adjourning (unforming/stop meeting): It entails end of role and completion of tasks.

Team role: Belbin Team Roles measure behaviour, contribution and interrelation with others in a particular way. Nine team roles identified by Belbin are:

Team Role	Contribution	Allowable Weakness
Plants /Individual	Creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Solve difficult problems.	Ignores incidentals. Pre-occupied to communicate effectively
Resource Investigators	Extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative. Explores opportunities	Over-optimistic. Loses interest once initial enthusiasm has passed.
Monitor Evaluator	Sober, strategic and discerning. See all options. Judges accurately.	Lacks drive and ability to inspire others.
Coordinators	Mature, confident, good chairperson. Clarifies goals, promotes decision-making, delegates well.	Can be seen as manipulative. Offloads personal work.
Implementers	Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient. Turns ideas into practical actions.	Somewhat inflexible. Slow to respond to new possibilities.
Completer/Finishers	Painstaking, conscientious, anxious. Searches out errors and omissions. Delivers on time.	Inclined to worry unduly. Reluctant to delegate.
Team-workers	Co-operative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic. Listen, builds, averts friction.	Indecisive in crunch situations.
Shapers	Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. The drive and courage to overcome obstacles.	Prone to provocation. Offends people's feelings.
Specialist	Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated. Provides knowledge and skills in rare supply.	Contributes on only a narrow front. Dwells on technicalities.

Team success: Peters and waterman identified five key aspects of successful team. They are size of team, duration of team, voluntary membership, informal communication and action orientation.

Four (Five) Stages of Team Development

ACCA Article: THE IMPORTANCE OF TEAMS