Groups: Interaction and Performance - Coursework Example

ESTABLISHING TEAMS Executive Summary Hospitals work in multidisciplinary teams. Teams makes it easier for teams to coordinate efforts and ensure that work is completed on time. However putting up teams is challenging and unless the best models are applied, it becomes difficult to mitigate resistance. However, this has not been the case in this case study as staffs are working individually. There is no teamwork and any attempt to establish teamwork is met with different struggles. This report looks into the challenges of establishing teams in the given healthcare set up. Although the policy of they health care set up acknowledge the important of team work in staff work, there has been little efforts to establish team work and most individual’s work alone having their own list of patients. It looks into the struggles that are facing healthcare team and the challenges of establishing working team which include power struggles within the organization, lack of will to change, misplaced priority on the importance of team in staff work, and many others. It also looks into the different strategies that can be employed to overcome initial resistance to establishment of the teams. The strategies that will be employed in the process to mitigate resistance to change include creating the desire to change, the ability to change, and the permission to change. Table of Content Title page …………………………………………………………. 1 Executive Summary ………………………………………………. 2 Table of contents ………………………………………………….. 3 Introduction ……………………………………………………….. 4 Challenges facing establishment of teams ………………………… 4 The most challenging group formation stage ……………………… 6 Overcoming resistance ……………………………………………. 8 Conclusion …………………………………………………………. 10 List of References …………………………………………………. 11 Introduction In healthcare set up teams are very important because the best model for delivery of healthcare involves use of multidisciplinary teams. Not all healthcare set up use multidisciplinary teams and this comes with devastating consequences on patient care. Teams are important as they enable unity at work. It makes it easier for teams to coordinate efforts and ensure that work is completed on time. However putting up teams is challenging and unless the best models are applied, it becomes difficult to mitigate resistance. Challenges facing establishment of teams There are major impediments on the way to building an effective team. As presented in the case study, there are many forced which are pulling in one way or another, with different people who come with different interest who are likely to make it difficult to implant the desired change. The following are major impediments that are encountered in the first stances: Although there is a belief within the organization that multidisciplinary teams, which bring together professional with different qualifications, works best in delivering the most appropriate care to patients, these teams have not work in the hospital due to different factors. The current professionals who are brought to work together in these teams include psychiatry, nursing, clinical psychology, occupational therapy, and social work. However, collaboration and skills mix is influenced by profession allegiance instead of what is best in the interest of the client. Meetings which are likely to resolve issues facing the hospital are dominated by psychiatrist he is considered the most powerful individual in the hospital. However, he is often overpowered by nurses since they are the majority during any meeting. This situation presents a power struggle between nurses who feel that they are majority and hence should have more say in the hospital and psychiatrist who think he is the most powerful individual in the hospital. There is no desire and value for teams as can be learned from reaction of members of the team. They are disinterested and resentful that money has been used to hire a consultant to develop teams rather than buying additional resources which could be used to deal with the clients in the growing waiting list. Nursing are not willing to change. They are antagonistic towards any perceived change in their nursing role. They feel that they have been carrying out their duties in the same way for many years and there is little motivation for them to change. When staff are brought together to start team formation process, some of them claim that they have been too busy to get to these meetings. This means that they value their current struggles in the workplace to coming together and finding working solution to their work. When they finally come together, they sit around and say nothing. Also, the psychiatrist is very angry that staff is now occupied with team building process and these changes have structured the work place in different ways. It has disrupted the normal flow of work in the organization and he feels that the whole exercise is waste of time. Support workers also feel isolated and overwhelmed and they seem to agree that the whole exercise is a waste of time. They feel that management does not understand that is going on in patient service, which means their idea of team work is a waste of time and money. They reiterate their need for increased investment of this money to other important areas like uniform record keeping system and increased salaries for the support staff or increase beds for the hospital as this would improve service delivery in the healthcare facility. The most challenging group formation stage The five main stages of group formation include (McGrath, 1984): 1. Formation 2. Storming 3. Norming 4. Performing 5. Termination According to the information presented in this case study the group is already in the formation stages. It has already presented the challenges which are experienced at this stage. During the formation stage: a. Members come together to form the group. b. They are moderately eager about what will happen to the group c. Have positive expectations of the success of the group d. Have anxiety about other members of the group like who they are and what they are like e. They also have anxiety about why they are there These are characteristic of the formation stage of a group. The current effort to establish groups in the healthcare facility has experienced challenges that come with this state. There is reduced production and work output has gone low as the members of the group are mainly focused on defining goals and tasks, how they are going to approach it and the skills they need. Already, the psychiatrist has complained that work output in the hospital has gone down and clients are no longer able to receive the service they used to receive. This is characteristic of the formation stage of the group. Although this stage comes with its own challenges, it is not however challenge in the like the consequential stage of storming. This means that although the group has not been able to come through the formation stage, the length of this stage id not longer and it is easy to deal with challenges that arise at formation stage. The storming stage is likely to be the most challenging stage for the group. The most challenging stage for the group will be the storming or dissatisfaction stage. During this stage, group members become dissatisfied with the progress that is being made in the group and the there are many conflicts arising from members. The main characteristics of this stage include (Morgan and Salas, Glickman, 1994): a. Arguments b. Conflict c. Dip in morale This stage is mainly characterized by arguments about the process of the group. There is an evidence of power struggle in which different members of the group tries to gain power and control of the group. Conflicts in the team result from differences between initial expectations of the team and the reality of the situation that team members achieve. In most case, the reality of the situation contradicts the actual expectations of the group and members feel dissatisfied with the way group activities are conducted. Members in the group hold different opinion about what the group wants to do and this brings about conflict. There is disagreement on how group targets will be achieved. At the same time, members also begin to confront the differences in their personalities and values (Tubbs, 1995). This is a condition that is experienced every time strangers meet. Members feel anger or frustrations with their task or with other members and they even resent the presence of formal leadership. However, this stage is relatively short. Some groups come through the stage successful while others are stuck at this stage for a long time (Hare, 2003). Judging by the power struggle already prevalent in the organization, it is evident that this will be a major challenge for group formation in the health care facility. This stage may be demoralizing and counterproductive. In some worst cases, some groups may never emerge from the struggles of this stage and may be disbanded. However, there is hope that this group will emerge from this stage successful. Overcoming resistance If the exercise has to be successful, there will be need to craft strategies that will ensure the success of team formation. This means that there must be mitigation strategies that will overcome resistance to team building (McGrath and Tschan, 2004). Unless the resistance is mitigated, it will be difficult to come up with working teams. The following are some of the strategies that will be applied to mitigate group resistance: The process will follow three main elements which include:- (i) The desire to change (ii) The ability to change (iii) The permission to change First, it will be important to engage with all team members to ensure that they understand the importance of teams. This will ensure that every member in the healthcare facility understands why change is important and it for the benefit of the whole organization rather than a management orchestrated plan (Poole, 2004). It is the desire of every human being to change their beliefs, habits, and behaviors, but this comes with a difficult. When the desire to change is created, it become relatively easy for them to initiate and implement that change. Most people will not change unless there is a given compelling reason why they have to change. Therefore this state will be aiming at creating the desire to change for the betterment of the organization and the individual growth. This strategy will be mainly aimed at creating awareness of the need to change. This will involve education the member of the benefits they will reap from formation of teams in the short and long term (Tuckman, 1977). Specifically, I will target on information members the benefits this change will have on their workload, workplace relationships and the overall impact on client. The second strategy will include creating members ability to change. This will include creating the mechanism for change. Once there is motivation for change, it will be easier to encourage members to change and what they will require is framework for implementing that change (Roth, 1989). This means that once there are framework for group formation, members will only be required to attend group meetings and create the change. Finally, the whole process will work only when everyone is included. Members from different teams must be brought together to work in harmony. They must realize the importance of the whole organization functioning in unison rather than when individuals function in isolation. This means that it will be healthy to bring all teams together to understand the vision of the change strategy. Conclusion In healthcare set up teams are very important because the best model for delivery of healthcare involves use of multidisciplinary teams. However, not all healthcare set up use multidisciplinary teams and this comes with devastating consequences on patient care. As was learned from this case study, there were many impediments to formation of healthcare teams including power struggle, unwillingness of the team members, misplaced priority, and general lack of faith on the model of team work. Team formation takes place in different stages and as highlighted in the report, the first two stages are crucial for formation of team. The norming stage however represents the most challenging period for the team. There are many strategies that can be employed to mitigate the resistance to change in the process and as has been highlighted, they include the compass creating the desire to change, the ability to change, and the permission to change. References Hare, P 2003, ‘Roles, relationships, and groups in organizations: Some conclusions and recommendations’, Small Group Research, 3 (2):123-154. McGrath, J 1984, Groups: Interaction and performance, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall. McGrath, J. E., & Tschan, F 2004, Temporal matters in social psychology: Examining the role of time in the lives of groups and individuals, Washington, DC, American Psychological Association. Morgan, B., Salas, E., & Glickman, A 1994, ‘An analysis of team evolution and maturation’, The Journal of General Psychology, 120 (3), 277-291 Poole, M 2004, Central issues in the study of change and innovation, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Roth, R 1989, ‘Decision development in small groups’, Human Communication Research, 15, 549-589 Tubbs, S1995, A systems approach to small group interaction, New York, McGraw-Hill Tuckman, B 1977, ‘Stages of small-group development revisited’, Group Org. Studies 5:478-90 Read More