Career

 

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Career

7

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Form, storm, norm and per perform form Understanding Tuckman’ Tuckman’ss stages of group development to create winning teams n Ahsan Sajid

suring tolerance and patience for each members’ membe rs’ ideas and opinio opinions. ns. Without Without acceptance of differences and patience, this stage might turn the team self-destructive. While tension, struggle and arguments are natural, an effective leader can steer the team out of troubled waters and arrive at agreeable decisions. Some frustration and stress are to be expected.

A team just coming together is a collection of strangers, one that may or may not perform well together. Given the importance of a well-performing and water-tight team that can work holistically in any organisation today, our education system prepares us to be effective group members from the very first semester of university – with group research, assignments, presentations, etc, much to many students’chagrin. It takes time for a collection of strangers to become a group working towards a common goal. In university, group work is always taxing because of the uneven burden between members.  This happens because group members are mostly selected at random and then left to their own devices, without further guidance. At work when a team is formed from different departments, there is often added friction arising at first from not just professional differences but also personality clashes.  The stages that a group goes through to become a united one was observed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965 and understanding it can help one become a team player, and eventually team leader more effectively and quickly. Take note of the list of suggested leadership responsibilities at each individual stage to take control of your team.

Norming

During the norming stage, the team finally arrives at one goal to work towards, and comes to a mutual plan for the team. To arrive at this stage, many undoubtedly has had to relinquish their own ideas and agree with others to make the team function. Team members begin to resolve differences and respect one another’s strengths. By now, all team members know their roles and responsibilities and have the ambition to work for the success of the team’s goals. However, occasionally the team may lapse back to the storming stage as new issues arise, but they are better informed on how to resolve such issues. The pitfall during

Forming

During this stage of team building, the team is formed. Team members are

 The storming stage follows, which is a stage many teams fail at while others never fully leave it. After the initial diplomacy of the first stage, during this stage different ideas storm and compete for consideration. The team

keen to avoid conflict at this stage, and everyone is generally polite. The team members are not yet sure of their individual roles or responsibilities, but they are aware of the common goal that

are still self-motivated and behaving independently. It is a good time for the team’s would-be leader to take charge, as most members are unaware of what they are supposed to be doing.

together address issues of role, leadership model, individual responsibilities, goals, etc. Since individual roles are not yet established, every member vies for their position.

es. This is another opportunity for the natural leader to take charge and comb through the knots.  The most important aspects to focus on during the storming stage is en-

Workday idioms it does exactly what is needed, or achieves the desired effect. Dab hand at something - If you are a dab hand at something, you are very good at doing it. BIZ VOCAB

(Whole) bag of tricks - If you use your (whole) bag of tricks to do something, you try (all) the clever methods you know in order to succeed. On the ball - If you are on the ball, you are aware of what is happening and are able to deal with things quickly and intelligently. Do nothing by halves - When a person does everything they are engaged in completely and thoroughly, they are said to do nothing by halves. Chase your (own) tail - Someone who is chasing their (own) tail is spending a lot of time and energy doing many things but achieving very little.  To the best of one’s ability -When someone does something to the best of their ability, they do it as well as they possibly can. Do the trick - If something does the trick,

WORDS OF WISDOM

‘Often people attempt to live their lives backwards, they try to have more things or more money in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are then do what you need to do in order to have what you want.’ – Margaret Young, singer and comedienne

conflict and delay. The team functions autonomously as a whole and are able to handle the decision making process with little supervision from the team leader. Disagreements still occur at this stage, but are handled through acceptable means. Sometimes the team may revert to one of the former stages such as storming or norming, but once they have reached the performing stage they are aware of how to return to it.  These disruptions are usually caused by changing circumstances, such as change in roles or addition of members. It is the job of an effective leader at this stage to delegate much of his work and focus on developing team members. l

RES PO NSI BILITI ES   Establish clear o objectives bjectives ffor or the team as a whole and whole  and for individual individual   team members. Determine individual roles. n 

 

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BIGSTOCK 

Storming

 The length of this stage depends largely on the maturity of team members – as previously mentioned, conflicts might arise from both professional differences and personality clashes. The team must choose to move on instead of focusing on the smallest differenc-

n Career Desk 

Performing  This is the final stage where groups become high-performing teams. Unfortunately, not all teams reach this stage. High-performing teams function as a unit and always manage to find ways to get the job done without unnecessary

Leadership p responsibilities at individual group formation stages Leadershi STAGE

they have to collectively work towards.  This is also the time during which team members are gathering information; they are busy finding out about one another and each other’s strengths and weaknesses, ability to handle pressure, etc. At this stage, most team members

Forming

this stage is that some team members may become reluctant to share new ideas to avoid further conflict.

Kill two birds with one stone - If you kill two birds with one stone, you succeed in doing two things at the same time.  Take the bull by the horns - To take the bull by the horns means that a person decides to act decisively in order to deal with a difficult situation or problem. Cannot hold a candle to - If one person cannot hold a candle to another, they are much less competent or do not perform as well as the other. Like clockwork - To say that someone or something goes, runs or behaves like clockwork means that everything happens exactly as expected. Acid test - To refer to something as “the acid test”means that it will prove how effective or useful something is. Cut the ground from under feet - When someone cuts the ground from under another’s feet, they do something that weakens their position or spoils their plans. Deliver the goods - If a person delivers the goods, they do what is expected of them or what they have promised to.

Storming

  Establish individual roles.   Resolve conflicts as efficiently as possible. Provide support to team members. Address imminent challenges to your le eadership adership positively positively.. n  Explain Tuckman’s“forming, storming,norming, and performing”modperforming”modn  el, so team members understand why problems are occurring, and realise that things will eventually get better.

 

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Norming Performing

 

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  ity Onfor topprogress ofyour own responsibility, towards the goal. helpteam members takeresponsibil-

 

  Once the team team is performing well, aim to to develop individual members to the best of your ability and keep a keen eye out to avoid reversion to earlier stages.

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Peeking behind perceptions: Career prospects for Arts and Humanities majors n Anita Zeba Bakhtiar and Naiian Yazdani

Getting admitted to a degree of choice quite often seems to be as difficult as looking for a needle in a proverbial haystack in today’s world of competition. In the current domestic socio-economic scenario, a major in the arts or humanities is generally perceived to be unsafe in terms of both career and compensation packages, packag es, and only “r “rich ich kids” are presumed to follow such career paths. After studying in courses like History and English Language, many graduates find themselves despairing over the looming unavailability of jobs in their preferred sectors. In this particular scenario, one could choose to study and sit for the BCS (Bangladesh Civil Service) exams, passing which would enable them to get a government job that is respected worldwide, along with many additional fringe benefits on offer. Furthermore, there are also jobs in the education sector for those who want to help teach and nurture the future generations of Bangladesh. In order to do so, graduates may choose to take a well-trodden route by becoming a lecturer at a university after completing their Masters in the chosen discipline and later moving on to higher posts. However, if they know that they want to be professors in their subject, a PhD should be undertaken as soon as possible in order to maximise their chances of being selected by a reputed university. Another option for these graduates is a career in the banking sector, which recruits from any discipline. Graduates are required to sit for a generalised bank examination to qualify for the particular post for which they are applying. Once they get into a particular  job at a bank, they can always choose to progress in their careers by sitting for higher banking diplomas, and if they perform well, the time span from one promotion to the next can be shortened significantly. However, many still believe that educating young minds is an extremely fulfilling and satisfying experience. For those studying Philosophy, English or History, you could go for masters in child psychology and educational development. You could then join organi-

sations like the UNICEF, where you will be able to teach underprivileged children, thus helping to spread the light of knowledge to those who still live in the dark. The added satisfaction of making a social contribution makes this career particularly attractive. A career in the performing arts such as playwriting and drama does not necessarily imply a life engrossed in the theatre. On the contrary, if a graduate of drama decides to get an MBA from a leading public or private university, he or she will have a diverse skill set combining the communication skills and business nous. This may be of particular interest for public relations, media, advertising and marketing roles.

 The limitations limitations of an arts and humanities career are just as much about perception as it is about reality

BIGSTOCK 

A key example would be Ramendu Mazumder, who is a noted theatre personality of Bangladesh. It is perhaps little known that this famous personality majored in English from Dhaka University, and his first job was as a lecturer at the Chaumuhani College in Noakhali for three years. While he kept himself associated with the literary canon

taker government near the end of the year 2006. He has written various books on Economics and is a part-time faculty member of the BRAC Business School (BBS), a department of BRAC University. These examples demonstrate that the limitations of an arts and humanities career are just as much about per-

as an executive at any of the leading NGOs, such as UNICEF or the World Bank. Just because one has majored in a course that is rarely opted for does not endorse the conclusion that you have limited options for a prosperous career. On the contrary, if a graduate does have the characteristics of what it takes -

and the theatre scene, he later gained prominence for working in client services for advertising firms in Karachi, Kolkata, and later on in Dhaka. Akbar Ali Khan is also another personality worth mentioning when talking about subjects within the Humanities stream. Although he had studied history from the University of Dhaka, achieving first class in both his Bachelors and Masters degrees, he is more well-known for working in the civil service, and later going on to serve as one of the advisors of the care-

ception as it is about reality. For those who choose to take the conventional path, there is still a variety of options available. A graduate of linguistics for example need not necessarily be a teacher or a lecturer; he or she might choose to work as a translator for a foreign embassy in Bangladesh.  This may be especially attractive as it might involve lucrative travelling opportunities on a regular basis along with excellent compensation packages. In addition, one might choose to work

that is attitude, aptitude and creativity - the land of opportunity is quite fertile. One only needs to open up his or her mind to see the exciting careers that await. l Anita Zeba Bakhtiar recently completed her research internship at GradConnect, an international career information and advisory firm. Naiian Yazdani is the Director of Strategy at GradConnect. You can email him at [email protected] and find more career information at www.grad-insights. com and www.grad-connect.com.