Gm591 the Forgotten Group Member

When dealing with a group project, productive team work is the most important aspect of producing a successful project. With every member contributing their assigned parts and working well with every team member projects can go much more smoothly. Though, when teams cannot come together and work in unison, projects can go south for everyone. This is evident in Christine’s situation with the unproductive team member Mike.

Based on the situation that is presented in the case study, the team still seems to be in the Storming Stage. The team is still in the Storming Stage because of the team member Mike. The reason for this is because Mike has not performed at all with in the five weeks of the projects existence. He has only offered some notes and showed no sign of producing any sort of useful material that the group can use. “The written case analysis was due next week. All the others had done their designated sections, but Mike had just handed in some rough handwritten notes. He had called Christine the week before, telling her that in addition to his course and his job, he was having problems with his girlfriend” (Ramsoomair, 2010). Along with the lack of producing, Mike is also distant from the group being more of an outcast than a valued team member. If Christine had a better understanding of the stages of team development, she would have known that her group had still not moved passed the Storming stage. Yes, the rest of the team was at the stage of performing, but because of not addressing the situation with Mike early on, the group stayed at the Storming Stage. By week two, Christine should have realized that the team as a whole was not progressing and dealt with Mike to help the team move forward.

The primary problem facing the team was the team member Mike. The main problem with Mike is that he does not attend meetings made by the group and barely contributes. “She had called everyone to arrange a meeting for a time that would suit them all, but she seemed...