The Forgotten Group Member

“The Forgotten Group Member” Case Study

Merissa A. Hanley

ladyezz32@gmail.com

MGMT-591-20133 Leadership & Organizational Behavior

Professor Ifeanyi Ugboaja

September 17, 2013

Group Development:

After carefully analyzing “The Forgotten Group Member” Case Study, I realized that the group was in the “Storming” stage of their team development. The “Storming” stage is the second stage of Team Development process. According to Organizational Behavior textbook, “storming stage is a period of high emotionality and tension among the team members.” The study focuses on the tension between Mike and the team members. Christine, as the team coordinator, should have made the expectations and goals clear individually and collectively when they first met. Since Christine is a person who doesn’t work well within a group, she neglected to have an understanding of the importance of effective team building. The storming stage is very important in order for the team to mature. If Christine had a better understanding of the stages of team development, the maturity level of the group would be higher. She would understand that storming is a normal process that the team must overcome in order for them to work together effectively. According to our textbook, “social loafing is occurs when people work less hard in groups than they would individually”. When I observe Mike’s behavior, he representing social loafing within the team. Mike is doing the bare minimum as a group member while everyone else is contributing to the project. As we continue to observe Christine’s and the rest of the group’s behaviors, we will see that she was more concern about what her personal accomplishments and how the team suffer because of it.

Problem Identification:

The primary problem that the group is facing is not transitioning through the forming stage. The secondary problem they are facing is Christine not giving clear expectations and goals as the team coordinator. If...