Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction to the organization and the virtual team formed - ONEContact.........2
2.0 Evaluation on merits and demerits of Tuckman's Group Development Model......3
2.1 Merits of Tuckman's Group Development Model...................................................4
2.2 Demerits of Tuckman's Group Development Model..............................................5
3.0 Evaluation on merits and demerits of Belbin’s typology for managing effective
teams............................................................................................................................6
3.1 Merits of Belbin’s theory in managing the virtual team effectively......................7
3.2 Demerits of Belbin’s theory in managing the virtual team effectively.................7
References...................................................................................................................8
1.0 Introduction to the organization and the virtual team formed -
ONEContact
ONEContact is one of the fastest
growing pharmaceutical call center
companies in Sri Lanka. It was originally
established as a Pharmaceuticals import
and distributing company. Among the
drugs imported are both western and
non western products.Currently, it provides the customer service for a well-
established Australian pharmaceutical firm named AUPharma.
AUPharma is based in Melbourne, Australia and ONEContact is based in Colombo,
Sri Lanka. As the parent company and the BPO service provider is geographically in
two locations, the organizations have formed a virtual team on a contract basis.
By forming a virtual team AUPharma has been able to get the workforce working of
an experienced and skilled virtual team of ONEContact they will be able to get their
entire call-centre operations efficiently. Increased diversity of the virtual team as
team members are based in two different countries and as an advantage multiple
points-of-view on this project is given by this multicultural team.
2.0 Evaluation on merits and demerits of Tuckman's Group
Development Model
In 1965, Bruce Tuckman presented a paper outlining this model saying that four
phases were necessary for a team to develop and grow: 1) Forming, 2) Storming, 3)
Norming and 4) Performing. Tuckman's Group Development Model has since formed
the basis of many future models. (The Coaching Tools Company, 2020)
Below are the stages of Tuckman's Group Development Model:
Forming Stage:(Orientation)
Members carefully explore both personal and group goals.
Tentatively feel uncomfortable about working with a group of strangers or
unfamiliar colleagues try to understand and test personal relationships.
Orient itself to itself. (The Coaching Tools Company, 2020)
Storming Stage: (Power Struggle)
Conflict - cohesion dialectic.
Leadership - follower ship dialectic.
Group members become argumentative also emotional.
The most confident members begin to compete for both social acceptance
and leadership.
Many groups try to skip this stage in order to avoid competition and conflict
Conflict is necessary to establish a climate in which members understand the
value of disagreeing with one another. (The Coaching Tools Company, 2020)
Norming Stage: (Cooperation and Integration)
Members start learning to work as a cohesive team and task-oriented.
Start developing “rules of engagement”.
Feel more comfortable with one another and are willing to disagree and
express opinions – communication becomes open.
Finally, a feeling of trust and clear goals emerge. (The Coaching Tools
Company, 2020)
Performing Stage: (Synergy)
Members are fully engaged and eager to work at this stage.
Adjust and adapt, Members start solving critical problems.
Group identity, loyalty, and morale are generally high.
Disagreements do occur, but members usually resolved intelligently and
amicably.
“Interaction patterns reflect virtually no tension; rather, the members are jovial,
loud, boisterous, laughing and verbally backslapping each other”. (The
Coaching Tools Company, 2020)
Adjourning Stage: (Closure)
Members have usually achieved their common goal and may begin to
disband.
Disband = confront relational issues (For example, how to retain friendships
with other members).
They are happy for what they have achieved but feel a sense of loss when the
group dissolves. (The Coaching Tools Company, 2020)
2.1 Merits of Tuckman's Group Development Model
Tuckman's model helps managers, leaders and team members:
Notice what stage their team is at, helping team members to process and
acknowledge the inevitable conflicts and changes during group development.
Helps teams and groups accelerate through the group stages with awareness
and compassion for each other.
Ultimately improve team performance.
In addition to that, learning more about primary tension and secondary tension
also how to solve it.
Tuckman’s group developing model shows the perfect way of solving group
uncertainty issues. (The Coaching Tools Company, 2020)
As explained above, the virtual team of both companies AUPharma and ONEContact
can identify the stage they are at, resolving problems, helping team members to
progress achieving goals of the virtual team.
By applying and understanding this model, it gives awareness to the virtual team to
accelerate through the group stages. As a result the team members will coordinate
with each other more and team spirit will be built. Ultimately, it will improve team
performance.
This model will also help the virtual team to solve and acknowledge primary tension
and secondary tension which rises in the forming and storming stages.
2.2 Demerits of Tuckman's Group Development Model
Some of the demerits of this module are practically, group processes may not be as
linear as described in this model, but rather recurring. Once the virtual team is
formed some of the tensions, conflicts and uncertainties will occur again, the process
won’t go smoothly as explained from stage to stage.
Characteristics for each stage are clearly definite as this model explains, as the
model deals with human behaviour; at times difficult to identify the stage where the
virtual tem is at and whether the team has moved from one stage to another. There
can be overlaps between the stages and as this is a virtual team completely relying
on digital communication there can be more stages in between as well.
3.0 Evaluation on merits and demerits of Belbin’s typology for
managing effective teams
Developed by
Meredith Belbin in
1981, following nine
years of study and
has become one of
the most accessible
and widely used
tools to support
team building. The
team roles were
designed to define
and predict potential
success of management teams, recognising that the strongest teams have a
diversity of characters and personality types. Has been criticised due to its potential
oversimplification and 'pigeon-holing' of individuals. However, when used wisely to
gain insight about the working of the team and identify the team strengths and
weaknesses it can be extremely useful. (Ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk, 2020)
Action-oriented roles focus on improving team’s performance, putting ideas into
action, and meeting deadlines. The three action-oriented roles are:
Shaper - extrovert that questions assumptions
Implementer - brings self-discipline to the team
Completer Finisher - pays attention to the smallest details and makes sure
things are done right. (ActiveCollab, 2020)
People-oriented roles bring people and ideas together. The three people-oriented
roles are:
Coordinator - brings order into the team
Team worker - provides support to the team in a diplomatic way
Resource Investigator - develops outside contacts (ActiveCollab, 2020)
Thought oriented roles analyze options and provide technical expertise. The three
cerebral roles are:
Plant - comes up with innovative, ground-breaking solutions
Monitor evaluator - assesses team decisions analytically and critically
Specialist - experts in a particular subject matter (ActiveCollab, 2020)
3.1 Merits of Belbin’s theory in managing the virtual team effectively
Through applying the Belbin’s theory, team members of the virtual team have a
greater self-understanding of each other’s strengths, which leads to more effective
communication between colleagues and managers. This is essential as this is a
virtual team 98% of the time the discussions and meetings will be on digital platforms
and over the phone.
This virtual team can be formed in the best way, and once it’s formed the virtual
teams can be managed well understanding, improving and everyone can feel that
they are making a difference and adding value to the virtual team.
3.2 Demerits of Belbin’s theory in managing the virtual team effectively
As demerits of this theory team members and managers should not depend in a
great deal on this idea when structuring and managing the virtual team as this is only
one of many factors that is vital for the best performance of the virtual team of the
two organizations.
When Belbin Team Roles model is applied can there is no perfect role models which
are explained in this theory, as the team members and behaviours of this virtual
team is unique and the situation when handling this call centre operations are
different. When team members learn that there are different approaches that are
important in different circumstances the team will perform at its best naturally and not
based on a model.
References
Ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk. 2020. Belbin's Team Roles. [online] Available at:
<https://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/dmg/tools-and-techniques/belbins-team-
roles/> [Accessed 2 July 2020].
The Coaching Tools Company. 2020. Tuckman's Team And Group Development
Model | By Emma-Louise Elsey | The Launchpad - The Coaching Tools Company
Blog. [online] Available at: <https://www.thecoachingtoolscompany.com/get-your-
team-performing-beautifully-with-this-powerful-group-development-model/>
[Accessed 3 July 2020].
ActiveCollab. 2020. Belbin Team Roles: Theory And Practice · Activecollab Blog.
[online] Available at: <https://activecollab.com/blog/collaboration/belbin-team-roles-
theory-practice> [Accessed 4 July 2020].
