1 Week 3 Case Study
The Forgotten Group Member
Janail Richard-Brown
8565 W Sam Houston PKWY S Houston, Texas 770??
Jrich_26@yahoo.com
713-988-1038
GM 591 Leadership Organizational Behavior
Kim Nugent
January 23, 2012

Group Development As of right now, the group is somewhere between norming and performing-this stage is actually called storming. My reason for using the two stages is that one group member is still not performing up to standard (Mike). I find that this has occurred and been encountered quite often in my experience at DeVry. Most members will be onboard and one will just do the lease amount of work necessary to pacify other members. Christine having and understanding of the stages of group development would better suit her in two ways. First she would be aware of how the group is functioning and the dynamics of a group activity. Then secondly, she would see that Mike was not falling under any of the developmental practices in the stages. Also, I think it would give her a better idea on how to obtain Mike’s full efforts on the assignment.
Problem Identification Christine is first facing the lack of participation by one of the group’s members. Secondly the group is at a critical point because the assignment is nearing a close. Christine needs to understand how to motivate each member to be the best at giving a total effort to the assignment. People are a very delicate lot. She needs to have each member perform at a high standard and at the same time she needs not to appear autocratic which can be a very tough balance to obtain. What she really needs to know most of all is that every person and their work ethic are different. Some people need to be coached to perfection whereas others tend to fall right in and do what needs to be done.
Retrospective Evaluation The two solutions I have are for this scenario is: a. Have a one on one with Mike revisit the importance of the assignment with him privately. b. The other solution is having a team meeting and discusses what the expectations are for the assignment. Make sure that attendance by all members is strictly adhered to.
For the first solution it is simply gain and understanding of how Mike does his work. It is vital to try and gain and understanding as best as possible of all group members early. Especially Mike since it seems as if he really is not focused on the project. Problems of this nature need to be handled quickly and with tact. The role of the group leader is not to alienate a person but to have the group member contribution to be of substance. The team meeting solution is one that requires members to be adamant about submitting a quality assignment. Do not just single out the person not performing but speak of ways to fix the problem and also ways to have the person put forth the best effort possible. Be realistic in your expected outcomes however, not all students are task oriented. By this I mean not every person is just going to execute at a high level all the time. Some require a bit more coaching to achieve a desired output.
Reflection
After reading the case and drafting the paper I cannot fairly judge Christine on her leadership capabilities. She did try to get the group to a point where the assignment was done satisfactorily. I do not think that she was prepared fully to take on such a role simply because it appears to me that she knew very little about the stages of group development. Also add that from the reading she was in no way ready to deal with Mike and the problems he presented to the group. This is not meant by no means to bash her for the attempt she made. That giving the situation she was just not ready for such a tasking. What could Christine have learned from this?

References
Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J., Osborn, R., & Uhl-Bien, M. (2010). Organizational behavior. (11ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.