Using your supervisor effectively

172 Chapter 7 n Controlling your project members need to focus on the goal of the project and not the relationship and emo- tional issues that seem to be overtaking the team during this stage. n Norming. This stage represents the settling down of the team following the chaotic storming process. It is during this stage that the team begins to stabilise into a working environment, patterns of work are established and people are committed to the project. The team now has a sense of identity, a team spirit forms and everyone knows what their roles and responsibilities are. n Performing. The team can now achieve its optimum performance and really focus on getting the project completed. Performing can only be achieved if the previous three stages have passed successfully. Any disagreements can now be handled effectively within the team, all team members know their strategic direction and team members tend to look after one another. n Mourning or adjourning. When the project is complete, the team might well be disbanded unless there is another project in the pipeline. To many group members this can be quite a culture shock for those that have been in a close-knit team for a long time. In an industrial context team members may move onto other projects, have to form new relationships or be returned to their original departments. For student projects it may mean the end of your course or a shift to other things such as exams or coursework. Whatever the case be aware that emotions you might feel at the end of a group project are not unique and you should reflect on your time in the team positively. Some group projects require students to undertake a reflective summary of their project at the end. This will normally take place after the project has completed so occurs during the mourning stage. This is discussed in Section 7.5.6.

7.5.4 Managing the team

You have ‘selected’ your team and the project is underway – how should the group and its communications be managed? Group coordination will clearly rest on the shoulders of the team leader. It is his or her responsibility to coordinate effort by breaking a large project down into manageable chunks and assigning these chunks appropriately. The main coordinating link that should be maintained within a group project is through frequent team meetings. These should be minuted, everyone should be in attendance and work should be agreed and assigned. When work is assigned you should all agree on what should be done and by when. Work should be assigned to individuals based on their technical skills and sometimes subgroups might form to work on particular parts of the project. The Gantt charts and activity networks, introduced in Chapter 4, can help you assign work to team members, as they provide a strategic view of workloads and responsibilities. It is useful to get people to sign up to their obligations at this stage so that everyone knows who is responsible for what. If problems do arise later, and the team falls apart for whatever reason, individual contributions can be identified for assessment purposes. Frequent meetings also provide a useful means of project control. They enable progress to be monitored and provide a time and place for team members to meet and discuss ideas. Motivation of team members also becomes clear at frequent meetings and 7.5 Working in teams 173