Forming is the first stage of the team development process. During this stage, members of the newly formed team become oriented to the team and acquainted with one another. This period is also characterized by exploring issues related to the members’ new job situations, such as what is expected of them, who has what kind of authority within the team, what kinds of people are team members, and what skills team members possess.

The forming stage of team development is usually characterized by uncertainty and stress. Recognizing that team members are struggling to adjust to their new work situations and to one another, managers should be tolerant of lengthy, informal discussions exploring team specifics and not regard these discussions as time wasters. The newly formed team must be allowed an exploratory period so that it will become truly productive.

After a team has formed, it begins to storm. Storming, the second stage of the team development process, is characterized by conflict and disagreement as team members become more assertive in clarifying their individual roles. During this stage, the team seems to lack unity because members are continually challenging the way the team functions.

To help the team progress beyond storming, managers should encourage team members to feel free to disagree with any team issues and to discuss their own views fully and honestly. Most of all, managers should urge team members to arrive at agreements that will help the team reach its objective(s).

When the storming stage ends, norming begins. Norming, the third stage of the team development process, is characterized by agreement among team members on roles, rules, and acceptable behavior while working on the team. Conflicts generated during the storming stage are resolved in this stage.

Managers should encourage teams that have entered the norming stage to progress toward developing team norms and values that will be instrumental in building a successful organization. The process of determining what behavior is acceptable and what behavior is not acceptable within the team is critical to the work team’s future productivity.

The fourth stage of the team development process is performing. At this stage, the team fully focuses on solving organizational problems and on meeting assigned challenges. The team is now productive: After successfully passing through the earlier stages of team development, the team knows itself and has settled on team roles, expectations, and norms.

During this stage, managers should regularly acknowledge the team’s accomplishments because productive team behavior must be reinforced in order to enhance the probability that it will continue in the future.

The fifth, and last, stage of the team development process is known as adjourning. Now the team is finishing its job and preparing to disband. Normally, this stage occurs only in teams established to accomplish some special purpose in a limited time period. Special committees and task groups are examples of such teams. During the adjourning stage, team members are generally disappointed that the team is being broken up because disbandment means the loss of personally satisfying relationships and/or an enjoyable work situation.

During this phase of team development, managers should recognize team members’ disappointment and sense of loss as normal and assure them that other challenging and exciting organizational opportunities await them. It is important that management then do everything necessary to integrate these people into new teams or other areas of the organization.

Although some work teams do not pass through every one of the development stages just described, understanding the stages of forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning will give managers many useful insights into how to build productive work teams. Above all, managers must realize that new teams are different from mature teams and that they are responsible for building whatever team they are in charge of into a mature, productive work team.43

Earlier in this chapter, teams were defined as groups of people who influence one another to reach organizational targets. It is easy to see why effective teams are critical to organizational success. Effective teams are those that come up with innovative ideas, accomplish their goals, and adapt to change when necessary.44 Their individual members are highly committed both to the team and to organizational goals. Such teams are highly valued by upper management and recognized and rewarded for their accomplishments.45 Recent research suggests that a substantial amount of mutual trust within a team can have a positive effect on the team’s performance and result in even more rewards from management.46

Figure 15.7 identifies the characteristics of an effective team. Note the figure’s implications of the steps managers need to take to build effective work teams in organizations. People-related steps include the following:47

1. Trying to make the team’s work satisfying

2. Developing mutual trust among team members and between the team and management

3. Building good communication—from management to the team as well as within the team

4. Minimizing unresolved conflicts and power struggles within the team

5. Dealing effectively with threats toward and within the team

6. Building the perception that the jobs of team members are secure

Organization-related steps that managers can take to build effective work teams include the following:

1. Building a stable overall organization or company structure that team members view as secure

2. Becoming involved in team events and demonstrating interest in team progress and functioning

3. Properly rewarding and recognizing teams for their accomplishments

4. Setting stable goals and priorities for the team

Finally, Figure 15.7 implies that managers can build effective work teams by taking six task-related steps:

1. Developing clear objectives, directions, and project plans for the team

2. Providing proper technical direction and leadership for the team

3. Establishing autonomy for the team and challenging work within the team

4. Appointing experienced and qualified team personnel

5. Encouraging team involvement

6. Building visibility within the organization for the team’s work

Modern managers must focus on building the effectiveness of not only domestic teams but also global teams. In the past, the effectiveness of a global team depended chiefly on a company having staff and factories on the ground in various countries and corporate headquarters carefully and methodically coordinating their activities. Today, however, the challenge is much different. Globally dispersed teams must be built into highly effective, sometimes even self-managed teams. Because of the ever-changing and fast-moving nature of competition, workers spread across the globe must be able to communicate and collaborate instantly. Fortunately for modern managers, the Internet is available to enable such collaboration. Managers must remember, however, that the availability of the Internet does not guarantee that global teams will be effective. The appropriate use of the Internet by global teams, however, can be a significant contributor to their effectiveness.

Probably the most fundamental ingredient of effective teams is trust. Trust is believing in the reliability, ability, and integrity of another. Unless team members trust one another, the team leader, and management, managers may well find that creating an effective work team is impossible.48

Today the concern is that management is not inspiring the kind of trust that is essential to team effectiveness. The lack of trust within a team is likely to discourage team members from contributing and participating in the growth of a creative, productive team.49 In addition, subordinates’ trust in their managers is critically low, and employee opinion polls indicate that it may well decline even further in the future. Without trust in its manager, it seems that a team would have only marginal interest in forging productive working relationships.

As an example of a manager communicating often with team members to build trust, consider Burberry president Angela Ahrendts. Burberry, the quintessential British fashion house, offers British fashion elegance throughout the world. Ahrendts has become known as a people-oriented manager and communicates often with members of her team. According to Stacey Cartwright, the company’s chief financial officer, Ahrendts is collaborative, likes to gather her team around her, and seems energized by the debates within the team. Ahrendts obviously knows that such communication with her team will almost certainly help build trust within the team, which should significantly contribute to team—and company—success.51

Management urgently needs to focus on reversing this trend.52 Managers can use a number of different strategies to build trust within groups.53

• Communicate often to team members —This is a fundamental strategy. Keeping team members informed of organizational news, explaining why certain decisions have been made, and sharing information about organizational operations are examples of how managers should communicate to team members.

• Show respect for team members —Managers need to show team members that they are highly valued. They can demonstrate their respect for team members by delegating tasks to them, listening intently to feedback from the group, and appropriately acting on that feedback.

• Be fair to team members —Team members must receive the rewards they have earned. Managers must therefore conduct fair performance appraisals and objectively allocate and distribute rewards. It should go without saying that showing favoritism in this area sows mistrust and resentment.

• Be predictable —Managers must be consistent in their actions. Team members should usually be able to forecast what decisions management will make before those decisions are made. Moreover, managers must live up to the commitments made to team members. Managers whose decisions are inconsistent and who fail to live up to the commitments they’ve made will not be trusted by their teams.

• Demonstrate competence —To build team trust, managers must show team members that they are able to diagnose organizational problems and have the skill to implement solutions to those problems. Team members tend to trust managers they perceive as competent and distrust those they perceive as incompetent.