1. Presented by Dr. Debbie Augustin
PM Challenge
Thursday, February 10, 2011
WHEN GOOD PROJECT TEAMS GO BAD!

2. PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
 Groups and teams
 Stages of team development
 What to do when things go wrong

3. WHAT IS ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT?
 Organization Development (OD) is:
 A holistic approach through partnership that
develops organizations, teams, and individuals
contributing to NASA’s mission success
 The process of working across multiple levels of
organizational systems to develop strategy,
improve performance, and build effective
relationships
 A collaborative, planned process for guiding an
organization from current state to desired future
state

4. GROUP OR TEAM?
 Consider a group or team of which you are a
member. Is it a group or a team?
 What leads you to that conclusion?

5. WHAT IS A TEAM?
 A team is a small number of people with
complementary skills who are committed to a
common purpose, set of performance goals and
approach for which they hold themselves
mutually accountable.
5

6. TEAM CHARACTERISTICS
 Two or more individuals
 Shared or common goal(s)
 Task interdependency
 Productive outcome(s)

7. WORK GROUPS VS. TEAMS
WORK GROUP TEAM
Leader directed Leadership Shared leadership
Chain of command Structure Decentralized
decision making
Individual goals Performance Common goals
Goals
Individual Responsibility & Mutual (primary)
Accountability Individual
(secondary)
Matched to individual Skills & Complementary,
job Competencies multi-skilled
Shared information Communication Collaborative
Individual Rewards Shared

8. STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT
Forming “Testing”
Storming “Infighting”
Norming “Disciplined”
Performing “Productive”
Adjourning “Closure”
8

9. STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT
3 2
norming storming
4 1
performing forming

10. YOUR TEAM’S STAGE
 Based on the brief descriptions, what stage
is your team experiencing?

11. WHAT TO DO WHEN THINGS GO WRONG

12. STORMING
 This stage of development is characterized
by competition and strained relationships
among team members
 Conflict cannot be avoided during this stage
and is usually surrounding issues of
power, leadership, and decision making
 This is the most crucial stage a team must
work through

13. TEAM ISSUES
 Commitment
 Communication
 Involvement
 Accountability
 Supervision role
 Pay and rewards
 Management support
 Organizational Integration

14. STORMING BEHAVIORS
 Discrepancy between hopes and reality
 Disagreement about goals, tasks, and action plans
 Lack of progress toward goals
 Feelings of incompetence and confusion
 Competition for power and attention
 Formation of sub-groups
 “Scapegoating”
 Resistance to leadership
 Miscommunication
 Unresolved conflicts

15. TEAM DIAGNOSIS
 Complete the team assessment to determine
which issues/challenges are currently facing
your team

16. HELPFUL MECHANISMS
 Structure
 Analyze
 Create
 Agree

17. What is the one thing that is
true of all teams?

18. UNDERSTANDING THE TEAM PLAYERS
 Tactician
 Seek to have impact, to get results
 Logistician
 Seek responsibility, accountability, and
predictability
 Strategist
 Seek to understand how the world and things in
it work
 Diplomat
 Seek identity, meaning, and significance;
relationship-oriented

19. TRIGGERS THAT MAY LEAD TO STORMING
DIPLOMAT LOGISTICIAN
• Feeling hurt when not appreciated for • Feeling burdened by not
unique personal contributions understanding personal responsibilities
• Feeling apathetic when seeing no • Feeling useless with no sense of place
meaning or significance
STRATEGIST TACTICIAN
• Feeling incompetent • Feeling trapped or stuck with no
• Feeling powerless with no sense of freedom to act
mastery or control • Feeling as though there is no chance
to make an impact
Gerke & Berens,
2005

20. IDENTIFYING THE CONFLICTS
 Mismatch of talents and roles
 Collision of Approaches
 Core values
 Time orientation
 Evaluating solutions
 Styles of learning
 Approach to task and relationships
Gerke &
Berens, 2005

21. NEEDS FROM THE LEADER
 Facilitate the conflict
 Accept and understand differences
 Support and encourage participation
 Acknowledge difficulties
 Encourage two-way communication
 Reinforce commitment
 Facilitate decision making
Gerke &
Berens, 2005

22. THE PLAYERS WANT TO KNOW THAT…
DIPLOMAT LOGISTICIAN
• Team will come out on the other side •Something practical and useful will
of storming come from storming
• The leader will foster team cohesion • The leader is managing the process
• The leader will turn disagreements into • The leader is providing structure for
dialogue working through this stage
• The leader will surface underlying • The leader is sharing the framework
dissatisfaction for the storming process
STRATEGIST TACTICIAN
• What comes out of storming will make • Opportunities won’t be missed and the
sense storming process will pay off
• The leader is competent and • The leader will move the team to
strategically handling the storming action
• The leader is sharing a framework for • The leader will navigate a way through
the storming process the storming process
Gerke & Berens,

23. TOOLS
 Dialogue
 The Ladder of Inference
 Active listening
 Assessments
 Organization development

24. RECAP: HOW TO MOVE THROUGH STORMING STAGE
 Revisit “Forming” actions
 Develop skills
 Clarify work processes
 Discuss differences
 Focus on clarity of communication
 Focus on shared interests

25. QUESTIONS?

26. REFERENCES

27. Gerke, S.K., & Berens, L.V. (2005). The I in
team. Huntington Beach, CA: Unite Business
Press.
Stewart, G.L., Manz, C.C., & Sims, H.P. (1999).
Team work and group dynamics. New York:
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

28. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

29. MORE ON TUCKMAN’S 4 STAGES
Forming: “Forming Teams: A Critical Storming: “When Good Project Teams
Stage for Project Managers” – Go Bad!” - February 10th 4:30 p.m.
February 9th 2-3 p.m.
Norming: “Listening, Learning, Performing – “Project Scientist’s Key
Leading: Use of 360’s in Project Role in Project Performance” -
Teams” – TBD TBD
All Stages: “Collaboration Agreement: A Blueprint for Team Success” –
February 10th 3 p.m.

30. FOR INFORMATION ON OD AT YOUR CENTER…
Center OD Lead Phone # Email
ARC Linda Jensen 650.604.6985 Linda.M.Jensen@nasa.gov
DFRC Paul Condon 661.276.2656 Paul.D.Condon@nasa.gov
GRC Adam Ross 216.433.2941 Adam.P.Ross@nasa.gov
GSFC Kathy Doyle 301.286.8319 Kathryn.L.Doyle@nasa.gov
HQ Kim Haney-Brown 202.358.0433 Kim.R.Haney-Brown@nasa.gov
JSC Paul Cruz 281.483.1158 Pablo.Cruz-1@nasa.gov
KSC Laura Gallaher 321.867.6830 Laura.C.Gallaher@nasa.gov
LaRC Myisha Tucker 757.864.6084 Myisha.Tucker@nasa.gov
MSFC Jim Andrews 256.544.6846 James.G.Andrews@nasa.gov
SSC Anita Douglas 228.688.3698 Anita.W.Douglas@nasa.gov

31. TUCKMAN’S STAGES OF TEAM
DEVELOPMENT

32. • 1. FORMING
Individual Effort
• 2. STORMING
Transition –
• 3. NORMING Group Work
• 4. PERFORMING Team Work

33. STAGE 1: FORMING
 This stage of team development is an
exploration period
 Team members are often cautious and
guarded in their interactions not really
knowing what to expect from other team
members
 They explore boundaries of acceptable behavior
 Behaviors expressed in this early stage are
generally polite and noncommittal

34. STAGE 2: STORMING
 This stage is characterized by continued
politeness in meetings followed by side
conversations in subgroups about problems
 There may be quiet undermining of the teams
and/or team leadership
 Team members may engage in verbal
confrontations

35. STAGE 3: NORMING
 The Norming stage of development is
characterized by cohesiveness among team
members
 After working through the Storming stage,
team members discover they do in fact have
common interests
 They learn to appreciate their differences
 They work better together
 They problem solve together

36. STAGE 4: PERFORMING
 This stage of team development is the result
of working through the first three stages
 By this time, team members have learned
how to work together as a fully functioning
team
 They can define tasks
 They can work out their relationships
successfully
 They can manage their conflicts
 They can work together to accomplish their

37. STAGE 5: ADJOURNING
 This is the final stage of team development
for teams that are not permanent
 Tuckman added this stage to his model later
 Adjourning takes place as the team begins to
break up and individual members move on to
other activities