Group Development Case Study

Background

A special project team has been pulled together from various divisions of a large exhibition and events organisation to plan and work on an overseas trade show. The project team comprised of the project director, project manager, designer and production coordinator. I was being assigned to be the secretariat of this project team. The objective of forming this team was to tap on the various division expertises to handle an overseas trade show for our client. No one else had worked with other members of this team. Only the project director worked with the designers on other projects.

Stage 1: Forming

The project director decided to convene a kick-off meeting with all the members of this project team. During the kick-off meeting, some of ‘forming' stage elements was obvious. Most of the members were very excited to meet each other as they have not worked together as a team before. However, one or two members showed uncertainty on their faces. The team members were ‘feeling each other out' and finding their way around how they might work together for this project. The team members were not informed on the objectives and their roles and responsibilities of this project initially. Some of them raised their concerns while others just kept quiet. The project director was directive at this ‘forming' stage. He explained the objectives and his expectations of this project to the team members. He ensured that all the team members were involved in determining their respective roles and responsibilities.

Stage 2: Storming

After the kick-off meeting, the team members began to work on the project. They interacted with each other via emails and sub group discussions. The project was off to a good start but then arguments started to begin.

Differences and suppressed tension began to surface. Conflicts related to time schedule, deadlines, budget, level of commitment and differences in opinion were evident at this ‘storming' stage. Some of the team members revealed their ‘true' identity at this stage. For example, the project manager discussed the project schedule only with the designer. The production coordinator felt as if their input to the schedule was not considered. They believed because they were more junior on the team. The project manager had completely disregarded their concerns about the timeline of the project. They challenged the project manager's schedule, stating that it was impossible to achieve and was setting up the team for failure. Additionally, the designer appeared to be off and running on their own, not keeping the others apprised of their progress. The project coordinator was being blamed for not monitoring the budget closely.

The project director had initially taken a side role during these exchanges as he hoped that the team