David Noer, a professor emeritus in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, had his monthly column published Jan. 10, 2010, by the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C.
Noer used Bruce Tuckman’s theory of group development (forming-storming-norming-performing) to review the new Greensboro City Council.
Specifcially, at a recent retreat, council members dismissed the necessary interpersonal feedback to move away from storming as too “fuzzy-wuzzy.”Noer pointed out that to avoid getting stuck in the bickering, role conflict, and power struggles of the storming phase, it is necessary to work through group process issues before they can move from a group to a team.
From the column:
“With four new members, including a new mayor, the organizational culture of this important group of our employees has definitely changed. I use the words ‘group’ and ’employees’ intentionally because at this stage in their evolution, they are a group, not a team, and although we may need to remind them from time to time, they really do work for us.
“We are not getting the most out of our employees. At a mid-December retreat the council and top city staff members met to work out how to become a more effective team. The effort failed because council members were unable to get beyond their personal agendas and unwilling to pay the price in terms of openness and vulnerability that is necessary for authentic communication. Instead, they disparaged the effort as unnecessarily ‘fuzzy-wuzzy’ and retreated into task.”
To read the full column, click on the link to the right.