Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Dorming

This article is relevant to those who are taking Paper 5 of the CAT. It is under the the heading of Team Management,where the question relates to explain the stages in the development of a team using Tuckman’s "Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Dorming".

Bruce W. Tuckman produced one of the most quoted models of group development in the 1960s.While there are various differences concerning the number of stages and their names - many have adopted a version of Tuckman's model - forming, storming, norming and performing. He was later to add a fifth stage - adjourning (Tuckman and Jensen 1977). To begin we will look at his original formulation.All groups go through a series of stages of development before performing in a fully mature and effective manner and a team develops from individuals through a series of stages in accordance with the shared experiences of its members. He identified four stages of team development that have been adopted by other researchers. There are:

Forming

-The group is not yet a group, simply a collection of individuals. At this stage, the purpose of the group is discussed along with its title, composition, leadership and life-span. Individuals will be keen to establish their personal identities in the group and make some impression on others. Important mechanisms include developing trust, finding similarities, and norms.Team members become acquainted with each other, information is exchanged. They determine each team member's strengths and assign roles and responsibilities.

Storming

-Most groups go through a stage of conflict following the initial, often false, consensus. Purpose, leadership, roles and norms may all be challenged. Hidden agendas may be revealed, and some interpersonal hostility is to be expected. This stage is particularly important to the formation of trust within the group even though it is characterised by dissatisfaction, competition, conflict , fight, counterdependency.

Norming

The group establishes norms and patterns of work within which it functions. A group consensus emerges, it comes to an agreement on its purpose or function.Resistance is overcome, Members are clear what their roles and responsibilities are. The group has a sense of identity and members strive to work together.

Performing

Only when the previous three stages have been successfully completed will the group reach optimum performance level. Achievement orientation, productivity, group structure, norms, are understood and accepted, members know how to work with each other and become supportive of task performance They can handle disagreements and misunderstandings effectively.

Dorming/Adjourning

- A new "dorming" stage as the group gets complacent or"adjourning" as the group successfully reaches its goal and completes its work and the progress become static.This is the dangerous stage, the team has become complacent and lost interest, its sole concern is self preservation.

As a conclusion,Bruce W. Tuckman's model of the developmental sequence in small groups has rightly been adopted as a helpful starting point about possible stages or phases within different small groups.

**Note:

i would like to raise some issue here,regarding Tuckman and Belbin model, because students often confuse Tuckman’s interesting ideas on teams with those of Belbin. The difference is quite clear; Tuckman deals with the process of formation, whilst Belbin describes the roles undertaken once the team has formed and is working.

Further reading and bibliography:-

www.accountantcy.com.pk

Tuckman, Bruce W. (1965) 'Developmental sequence in small groups', Psychological .

Tuckman, Bruce W. (1988; 1998) The Long Road to Boston, Tallahassee, FL: Cedarwinds Publishing.

Motivation

i would like to post several notes and resources that candidate for paper 5 of CAT should (supposely)know :)

• We can distinguish between content and process theories of motivation. Whereas content theories ask the question 'what are the things that motivate people?'


• Maslow determined the innate needs of all individuals, arranged in hierarchy, starting at bottom with physiological needs and progressing to the top with self-actualisation needs. Each level need within the hierarchy is dominant until it is satisfied.


• Herzberg devised a two-factor theory of motivation.The need to avoid unpleasantness emphasises hygiene factors, while the need for personal growth encourages motivator factors. two example of each type of factor. Hygiene=working conditions Motivator=status


• Expectancy model equation Expectancy x Valence = Force of motivation


• Motivation is chiefly important for managers because it is all about getting extra level of commitment from employees. It can be either positive(offer of rewards) or negative (threats of dismissal)


• Job satisfaction is an example of an intrinsic reward. Wage or salary is an extrinsic reward. The key difference between the different types of reward is the level of control that the individual has cover them.


• The issue of job design derives from the theory that it is job satisfaction that drives motivation.Herzberg suggested three ways of improving job design to make job more interesting to the employee. --> Job enrichment, Job enlargement, Job rotation


• Leadership and management require different actions and different mindsets.Leadership entails creating a sense of direction Communicating the vision and Energising, inspiring and motivating.


• According to Blake & Mouton, a manager's concern for people must be matched by concern for ensuring the task is achieved. These concerns can be plotted on the Managerial Grid.

Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid

-Is a popular framework for thinking about a leader’s ‘task versus person’ orientation was developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton in the early 1960s. Called the Managerial Grid, or Leadership Grid, it plots the degree of task-centeredness versus person-centeredness and identifies five combinations as distinct leadership styles.

Understanding the Model
The Managerial Grid is based on two behavioral dimensions:
Concern for People – This is the degree to which a leader considers the needs of team members, their interests, and areas of personal development when deciding how best to accomplish a task
Concern for Production – This is the degree to which a leader emphasizes concrete objectives, organizational efficiency and high productivity when deciding how best to accomplish a task.
Using the axis to plot leadership ‘concerns for production’ versus ‘concerns for people’, Blake and Mouton defined the following five leadership styles:

Country Club Leadership – High People/Low Production.This style of leader is most concerned about the needs and feelings of members of his/her team. These people operate under the assumption that as long as team members are happy and secure then they will work hard.

Produce or Perish Leadership – High Production/Low PeopleAlso known as Authoritarian or Compliance Leaders, people in this category believe that employees are simply a means to an end. This type of leader is very autocratic, has strict work rules, policies, and procedures, and views punishment as the most effective means to motivate employees.

Impoverished Leadership – Low Production/ Low People. This leader is mostly ineffective. He/she has neither a high regard for creating systems for getting the job done, nor for creating a work environment that is satisfying and motivating.

Middle-of-the-Road Leadership – Medium Production/Medium People.This style seems to be a balance of the two competing concerns. It may at first appear to be an ideal compromise. When you compromise, you necessarily give away a bit of each concern so that neither production nor people needs are fully met. Leaders who use this style settle for average performance and often believe that this is the most anyone can expect.

Team Leadership – High Production/High PeopleAccording to the Blake Mouton model, this is the pinnacle of managerial style. These leaders stress production needs and the needs of the people equally highly. This creates a team environment based on trust and respect, which leads to high satisfaction and motivation and, as a result, high production.

Key Points
The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid is a practical and useful framework that helps you think about your leadership style. By plotting ‘concern for production’ against ‘concern for people’, the grid highlights how placing too much emphasis in one area at the expense of the other leads to low overall productivity.
While the grid does not entirely address the complexity of “Which leadership style is best?”, it certainly provides an excellent starting place to critically analyze your own performance and improve your general leadership skills.

appreciation to: mindtool.com and Professional Education

Effective leadership, management and supervision

Here,i will post down some of the summarised Q&A regarding Effective leadership, management and supervision which is relevant to CAT T5 Managing people and systems.As stated in the syllabus and study guide under the heading of management theory,principles and techniques which consists of 4 topics including the matters above,plus individual and group behaviour, team management, Motivation, concepts and models.As Dr Beverley Lee the examiner already tested theories of motivation of Abraham Maslow last sitting(Dec 06 Q.3),There is a low risk for such question to appear again until a few coming exam sitting,and of course the exam review taken place pin point that it was agreed by the majority that the questions overall in paper 5 were well structured and clear, achieving good syllabus coverage. The examiner also asked the student in June 2006 sitting Q.3 about "Robert Blake and Jane mouton" managerial grid,this question caught candidate by surprise,nevertheless; majority of them well answered.In December 2005,Q.3 on Delegation, examiner reports this question produced some excellent answers and was clearly a part of the syllabus with which many students were very familiar, both in terms of specific knowledge gained from course material texts and also from their own personal experiences.To make it interesting,till now,all question regarding this part of study guide appears in Question 3. Following are Q&A which some of it taken from past year paper relevant to P5 and other sources of External Q's that is in the context of P5.

1) Henry Mintzberg
Q: (a) Briefly describe Mintzberg view of the process of Management.
A: Mintzberg carried out research into how managers actually do their work.He found that:

-Managers do not spend scheduled period of time analysing formal reports and planning event.

- Managerial work includes routine duties, especially related to authority (i.e signing cheques)

- Managers prefer verbal and informal information to the formal output of management information systems.

-General management is a matter of judgement and intuition, gained from experience in particular situation.

Q:(b)From Mintzberg research, describe the three roles which management appears to fulfill.
A: 1) Interpersonal roles identified with leadership and arise from the manager formal authority within the organisation.They include the roles of:
Figurehead: a role which manager is identified with the organisation and its objectives, both internally and in the business environment.
Leader: manager is responsible for integrating individual and organisational objectives,motivation.
Liaison: manager is responsible for establishing and maintaning a networl of relationship within and outside the organisation.
2) Informational roles identified with administration and arise from managerial access to employees and contacts outside the organisation.They include the roles of:
Monitor: manager scans the environment,gather information.
Disseminator: manager spreads relevant information to those who require it.
Spokesperson: manager provides information to interested parties on behalf of organisation.
3) Decisional roles identified with problem-solving arise from the manager's formal authority and access information. These roles include:
Enterpreneur: managers mobilises information to initiate projects.
Disturbance handler: manager respond to unanticipated events.
Resource allocator: manager distributes the finite resources of department
Negotiator: manager negotiates for and with departmental resources.

** 2) Mintzberg research compare to Henri Fayol:-
Mintzberg saw his research in opposition to the work of classical theorists such as Fayol, writing that: "classical view says that the manager organises, co-ordinates, plans and controls". The main ways in which Mintzberg's work differs from classical writers' work as as:

-Mintzberg noted that traditional approaches to management education and training focus on classical assumptions, rather than encouraging active learning by experience.

-Fayol's classification of the functions of management does not explicitly include 'communicating':communication is rather,built through reporting channels embodied in the scalar chain of command. Mintzberg recognised a mangerial for informal, primarily verbal, communication and wider and environmental scanning.

-Mintzberg recognises that managerial work is reactive as well as proactive responding to incoming information, available resources and unplanned events. This is far more entrepreneurial model that the classic view of the manager within a functionally specialised, essentially bureaucratic organisation structure.

3) Charles Handy
a)(Q) Charles Handy’s classification identifies four distinct cultural types. Identify these four types and fully explain any two of these.

(A)The power/club culture, the role culture, the task culture, and the person culture.

1) The power/club culture is dependent on a central power source which controls the organisation. The organisation relies on interpersonal relationships and communications rather than hierarchy and power structures. It is typically found in small entrepreneurial firms, small family firms and small businesses controlled by the owner/manager. As the organisation increases in size this culture is less evident as influence cease to reach all members of the organisation.

2) The person culture exists to serve the individuals within the organisation and is one of the most unusual in Handy’s typology. All rules and procedures within the organisation exist to meet the needs of the individuals within it and can be changed as those needs change. A good example of a person culture would be that which might exist in a small professional business e.g. solicitors’ or dentists’ partnerships.

Business Information Management

1) SWOT Analysis
A SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business environment or in any other situation requiring a decision.
The required first step in SWOT analysis is the definition of the desired end state or objective. Once the objective has been identified, SWOTs are discovered and listed. SWOTs are defined precisely as follows:

• Strengths: attributes of the organization that are helpful to the achievement of the objective.
  what advantages does your company have?
  What do you do better than anyone else?
  What unique or lowest-cost resources do you have access to?
  What do people in your market see as your strengths?
  


• Weaknesses are attributes of the organization that are harmful to the achievement of the objective.
  What could you improve?
  What should you avoid?
  What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses?
  


• Opportunities are external conditions that are helpful to the achievement of the objective.
  Where are the good opportunities facing you?
  What are the interesting trends you are aware of?
  


• Threats are external conditions that are harmful to the achievement of the objective.
  What obstacles do you face?
  What is your competition doing?
  Are the required specifications for your job, products or services changing?
  Is changing technology threatening your position?
  Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
  Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?

- SWOT groups some of the key pieces of information into two main categories (internal factors and external factors) and then by their dual positive and negative aspects.Internal factors - The 'strengths' and 'weaknesses' internal to the organization, its strategies and its position in relation to its competitors.External factors - The 'opportunities' and 'threats' presented by the external environment and the competition.

• -SWOT analysis Framework
  In SWOT, strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. For example:
  


• a) A strength could be:
  Patents.
  Strong brand names
  Good reputation among customers
  quality processes and procedures
  Exclusive to high grade natural resources.
  
  b) A weakness could be:
  lack of marketing expertise
  A weak brand name
  Lack of patent proctection
  poor quality goods or services
  damaged reputation
  


• c) In SWOT, opportunities and threats are external factors. For example: An opportunity could be:
  arrival of new technologies.
  mergers, joint ventures or strategic alliances
  moving into new market segments that offer improved profits
  a new international market
  a market vacated by an ineffective competitor.
  

d) A threat could be:
a new competitor in your home market
price wars with competitors
a competitor has a new, innovative product or service
competitors have superior access to channels of distribution
taxation is introduced on your product or service.

• - The SWOT matrix.
  All the best management models have four quadrants, and the SWOT matrix is no exception. You use each of the four quadrants in turn to analyze where you are now, where you want to be, and then make an action plan to get there.
  

2) BCG MATRIX

The Boston matrix model is a tool for assessing existing and development products in terms of their market potential, and thereby implying strategic action for products and services in each category.° Stars: a business unit that has a large market share in a fast growing industry.
Stars may generate cash, but because the market is growing rapidly they
investment to maintain their lead.If successful, a star will become a Cash Cow
when its industry matures.

° Cash Cows: a business unit that has a large market share in a mature, slow
growing industry. Cash cows require little investment and generate cash that
can be used to invest in other business units.

° Dog: a business unit that has a small market share in a mature industry. A dog
may not require substantial cash, but it ties up capital that could better be
deployed elsewhere. Unless a dog has some other strategic purpose, it should
be liquidated if there is little prospect for it to gain market share.

° Question Marks(or problem child): a business unit that has a small market
share in a high growth market. These business unit require resources to grow
market share, but whether they will succeed and become stars is unknown.

Criticism of BCG matrix:
- The link between market share and profitability is questionable since increasing market share can be very expensive.
- There can be practical difficulties in determining what exactly ‘high’ and
‘low’ (growth and share) can mean in a particular situation. .
-The focus upon high market growth can lead to the profit potential of
declining markets being ignored. -The matrix assumes that each SBU is independent. This is not always the case, as organisations often take advantage of potential synergies.

Image:from netmba.com

3) Parson’s six generic strategies

• IT strategies provided by Parson(1983),describes Six strategies in terms of general framework which guide the opportunities for IT which are identified, and the IT resources which are developed. Parson’s approach provides greater detail and coverage.
  
• 1) Centrally planned – In a centrally planned IT strategy firms has attempts to integrate its corporate strategy and its information system strategy. The firm will focused on integrated systems so that maximum utilization is made of computer processing power. A central planned will used a top down planning approach.
• 2) Leading edge – This IT strategy implies that the firm continuously updates its hardware and software with the latest developments available in the market. In such a strategy, state of the technology is continually acquired. Experimentation is encouraged in the hope that discoveries will be lead to superior performance and sustainable competitive advantage.
• 3) Free market – A free market IT strategy assumes that the user is best qualified to determine his/her own needs. In such circumstances, the user is entitled to acquired hardware,software and service either from IT department or from any outside vendor.
• 4) Monopoly – Monopoly IT strategy rests on the premise that there should be one single source of computer service in the organization. To ensure the succession of monopoly strategy is the satisfaction of the user.
• 5) Scarce resource – Scarce resource IT strategies relies on the intensive control of money being spent on the IT department.Very strict budget are set up,and often not permitted to exceed the amounts laid down. This strategy is based on the concept that the administration is an unproductive costs, Hence management must minimize all expenditure in this direction.
• 6) Necessary evil – Necessarily evil IT Strategy is based on the belief that the use of computer should be curtained as much as possible. Only application that cannot be performed without the use of a computer and which are very well cost justified are entertained. A minimum amount is spent on hardware, software and people.

4) GAP ANALYSIS.
- Gap analysis technique is a set of techniques used to examine and describe the gap between current performance and desired future goals, and investigates the ways in which the gap might be closed. Such analysis can be performed at the strategic or operational level of an organization. The gaps can include:

• a) The difference between the organisation’s current operation of an activity and the activity vision, sometimes referred to as "C delta V" (current gap vision);
  b) Considering strategies to close gap, so that a strategic plan can be devised for achieving the organisation’s target.
  - A variety of gaps can be analyzed which includes, a profit gap, a performance-risk gap, and in the case of information systems, an information system gap.
  They are various stages involved when conducting a gap analysis.
  
• ° The Initial stage normally requires information needs assessment ; where users identify their requirements.
  
• ° The second stage requires Information analysis, identifying where and if these user needs can be currently met.
  
• ° The final stage is the gap analysis where the information provision is compared to information needs and any gaps identified.
  
  - Gap analysis can be adopted at a system level or at an organization level. i.e used in the analysis of an organization requirement of IS
  - Gap analysis is used as a tool to identify situations in which the organization IS appear not to meet either current or predicted requirements from a view of business strategy.
  After identified a gap between a business strategy, the next stage is to close the gap. An alternative approach is to use the W’s framework. It can be shown as a 3 stage process ;
  · Where We Are » First stage
  · Where We Want To Be » Second stage
  · Going To Get There » Third stage
• Gap analysis provides a foundation for measuring investment of time, money and human resources required to achieve a particular outcome (e.g. to turn the salary payment process from paper based to paperless with the use of a system).
• Action may be taken to close the IS gap
  º a program of updating and enhancing the current system
  º Outsource or purchase package software
  º Implementation of a data warehouse and data mining
  º Decision to decentralized the IS function
  Any of these option may provide the opportunity to take advantage of emerging technologies.

5) THE SCORING MODEL
◙ Uses a system of ratings for selected objectives to choose between alternative applications or systems. Scoring models rely heavily on quantitative assessment or fit of the system with the overall evaluative criteria.
◙ Used mainly to confirms, rationalize and support decisions rather than as the final arbiters of the system selection. ◙ Relevant consideration (determining the best fit) with existing system has to be taken.It will need to integrate directly or indirectly with other systems used in the firm. It should also fit with organization strategy, culture and current systems.

6) NOLAN STAGE HYPOTHESIS
◙ Nolan’s model attempts to explain how the role and importance of IS/IT
within an organization and the level of expenditure of IS/IT, may increase
over time. The model lists six stages:

□ Initiation involves the automation of clerical operations and
the initial use of technology by technically employees. The
first introduction of computers for cost savings

□ Contagion involves rapid growth in the use of IS/IT as user
become more familiar with new technology and the benefit
of using technology are seen by more staff. At this stage
many island of automation will develop.

□ Control stage involves the introduction of planning and
methodologies to justify control over IS/IT use; others
may be applications concentrate on saving money rather
making money.

□ Integration of functions within an organization allowing
the development and use of systems spread across an
organization. It also sees the increased involvement of
users in the development process.

□ Data administration organization realizes that the
information it has is a key resources. Corporate
databases, intranet and extranets are created.

□ Maturity stage is reached, IS/IT strategy is seen as part of the
overall business planning and development process. IS/IT is seen
as inherent to operations, not separate; used in the battle of
competitive advantage.

-It can argued that Nolan’s model was more relevant in the early days of
computing, which in some organization , the role of IS/IT developed as described by Nolan’s stages.
-Nolan’s model focuses on an individual organization and how the IS/IT
may increase in importance over time.
-Value of the stage hypothesis is that managers might be able to make sense of IS/IT current position in the organization and where it might be headed, also it suggests remedies which IS/IT managers can prescribe to correct any problems.

7) David Kolb's learning styles model and experiential learning theory (ELT).

David Kolb published his learning styles model in 1984. The model gave rise to related terms such as Kolb's experiential learning theory (ELT), and Kolb's learning styles inventory (LSI). Kolb's learning theory sets out four distinct learning styles (or preferences), which are based on a four-stage learning cycle.

Kolb's model therefore works on two levels - a four-stage cycle:

• Concrete Experience - (CE)
  
• Reflective Observation - (RO)
  
• Abstract Conceptualization - (AC)
  
• Active Experimentation - (AE)

Kolb explains that different people naturally prefer a certain single different learning style. Various factors influence a person's preferred style: notably in his experiential learning theory model (ELT) Kolb defined three stages of a person's development, and suggests that our propensity to reconcile and successfully integrate the four different learning styles improves as we mature through our development stages.A typical presentation of Kolb's two continuums is that the east-west axis is called the Processing Continuum (how we approach a task), and the north-south axis is called the Perception Continuum (our emotional response, or how we think or feel about it).
These learning styles are the combination of two lines of axis (continuums) each formed between what Kolb calls 'dialectally related modes' of 'grasping experience' (doing or watching), and 'transforming experience' (feeling or thinking)

Here are brief descriptions of the four Kolb learning styles:

• Diverging (feeling and watching - CE/RO) - These people are able to look at things from different perspectives. They are sensitive. They prefer to watch rather than do, tending to gather information and use imagination to solve problems. They are best at viewing concrete situations several different viewpoints. Kolb called this style 'Diverging' because these people perform better in situations that require ideas-generation, for example, brainstorming.
• Assimilating (watching and thinking - AC/RO) - The Assimilating learning preference is for a concise, logical approach. Ideas and concepts are more important than people. These people require good clear explanation rather than practical opportunity. They excel at understanding wide-ranging information and organising it a clear logical format. People with an Assimilating learning style are less focused on people and more interested in ideas and abstract concepts.
• Converging (doing and thinking - AC/AE) - People with a Converging learning style can solve problems and will use their learning to find solutions to practical issues. They prefer technical tasks, and are less concerned with people and interpersonal aspects. People with a Converging learning style are best at finding practical uses for ideas and theories. They can solve problems and make decisions by finding solutions to questions and problems.
• Accommodating (doing and feeling - CE/AE) - The Accommodating learning style is 'hands-on', and relies on intuition rather than logic. These people use other people's analysis, and prefer to take a practical, experiential approach. They are attracted to new challenges and experiences, and to carrying out plans. They commonly act on 'gut' instinct rather than logical analysis.

For full list of information refer to http://www.businessballs.com/

Managing People and Sytems

As you should know by now, that Dr Beverley Lee is examiner for this Paper 5. I have done extensive coverage about this paper, and discover that it combines a number of themes including: issues of organisation structure and design, environmental influences, office and accounting systems and practice (including some IT aspects), internal control and internal audit, management, leadership, teams, learning theory, health, safety, and security.Probably the problem that student might face here is the internal control and internal audit which is note to paper 8,however, the syllabus here does not require student to know a detail procedure,what a relief!nonetheless,it is very much a hybrid paper and covers a very broad syllabus.The first title when student start learning this paper is that you must understand the paper are: ‘To develop a knowledge and understanding of the role of the manager in an effective, efficient, safe and secure accounting environment.’ This includes the coordination of work activities, the maintenance of an effective accounting system, people management, personal effectiveness and health and safety issues within the workplace.But warning,to those textbookholics, rote learning material from study guides and textbooks is unlikely to equip you with adequate information to be able to pass this paper..the best way is understand the situation,apply and best recommendation is pratice and pratice past year questions,but not memorising each questions and answers,in fact; learn how examiner approach to questions, and construct the answers.
Syllabus provided is there are five key syllabus areas and all areas are equally important. You can expect to be examined in each of the five areas. The five areas are:
1)the business and accounting environment
2)effective management of business and accounting systems
3)management theory, principles and techniques
4)individual effectiveness at work
5)health, safety and security in the working environment.
but the examiner higlights that he may be examined on security issues associated with data management and protection and you may be examined on the role of IT in effective organisational communications etc. The key theme is that IT can be seen as an enabler in organisations and he may examine it in this context. but note that – he will not be examining any of the technical aspects.