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Файл:Self-management and self-development techniques. Training manual for students in the field of training 08.04.01 Construction
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Changing the communicative side of interaction. The use of digital information space has divided human life into two planes. They are the plane of the real world and the plane of the virtual
world. Each of them exists according to its own laws. Many processes and phenomena change their
structure and way of realisation when moving from the real world to the virtual one.
If a person sets a goal of self- development, he/she must divide it into two tasks: self- development
in the real world and in the virtual one. Once again, real world skills cannot be fully transferred
to the virtual world. Performing the same actions in different planes requires different skills.
Let’s take the process of human communication as an example. Real and virtual communication complement each other approximately as the written speech complements the oral one. A person master’s oral speech in a completely different way than one masters writing. Everyone acknowledges this. However, few people can answer the question of what the difference between real
and virtual communication is.
There are three sides of interaction: communicative, interactive and perceptual. Let us consider
how they change when being moved to the Internet space.
The communicative side is the exchange of information. It is improving in the digital environment. Digital means of communication quickly transmit information in different formats like a document, a picture, an audio file. You make one click, a few seconds pass, and the recipient receives
the information without any distortion.
Network users are more likely to send each other information in short messages rather than files.
These messages can be oral or written. If a verbal message is long or urgent, you can call. If it’s short
and non-urgent, it is sent via a chat. Voice messages convey shades of speech that help people understand each other. They are often used precisely to convey an emotional state. They are also applied
when your hands are busy.
Web users are more likely to use written speech. According to the norms of any language, written speech is subject to strict rules. It must be literate and logically coherent. It conveys emotions only
through the expressive means of language.
Modern people live at a fast pace and try to simplify everything. They don’t have time to think
and express their thoughts continuously. Therefore, in personal online communication, written
speech gets the features of oral speech. Users call uncompleted phrases, rely on the general context,
and don’t use vocatives. In written Internet speech, peculiar punctuation, abbreviated and simplified writing of words, and jargonisms are a commonplace. These changes are more typical of personal messengers’ communication. But gradually they are spreading into the business communication of people who know each other well. In official Internet conversation, the norms of written
speech are still preserved.
Internet communication is not a chaotic process. It exists and operates according to its own rules.
This is the way human being is organised. In any interaction, human makes rules. Rules make us feel
safe and comfortable. Netiquette is a set of rules for respectful and proper communication on the Net.
It is often called Internet etiquette.
The rules of network etiquette depend significantly on the community and its members.
As a rule, they are determined by the administrator of the community. Netiquette is not a set of obligatory rules. These are recommended rules of behaviour. But their violation will be punished with
a warning and a ban.
These are a few rules for comfortable online communication:
1. Don’t break messages into separate words. Sending a message by word or sentence often leads
to confusion. You haven’t finished a thought yet, and your chat partner has already started to respond.
You respond to his comment, he responds to yours, and it’s chaos.
2. Don’t use CapsLock. Writing in capital letters on the Internet means yelling.
3. Voice messages are convenient for the person who sends the message. The receiver must use
headphones or have privacy to listen to the voice message. This is inappropriate.
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4. Personal discussions in the group chat are not acceptable. It disturbs the communication of other users. You should use private chats to discuss issues or disputes with one certain person you are talking to.
5. Internet messaging uses stickers and emojis to convey intonation. Don’t use emoji in the middle of a sentence, and don’t replace words with smileys. The same applies to #hashtags. They make it
difficult to read and understand what you’re saying.
6. Flooding, flaming, and trolling are forms of verbal aggression. Don’t use them if you don’t want
to turn the community against you and get banned by a moderator.
7. Messaging is immediate process. Do not be offended if the person you are talking to does not
respond immediately in a messenger. He/she may be busy, even if his status is online.
It is sometimes impolite to observe the traditional rules of speech etiquette in virtual communication. This contradicts the requirements of the netiquette. For example, in chat rooms and forums, the absence of greetings and goodbyes is not a violation of etiquette. On the contrary, the netiquette instructions state that greetings and goodbyes of users during the polylogue interfere with communication.
In online communication the interlocutors strive to reduce the time of writing a text message.
To do this, they often shorten the label lexemes. Moreover, they do this not only in informal, but also
in business communication: plz — instead of please; thx — thank you; gn — good night, etc.
Most Internet users do not perceive the use of abbreviated words as a manifestation of impoliteness. However, they should not be overused in business communication.
Thus, the self- development of the interactive side of communication in a virtual environment
is awareness of the depth of connections that are established between users, work with identity, building personal boundaries, compliance with digital security rules.
Changing the interactive side of communication. The interactive side is the interaction between
people including cooperation and confrontation. Sociologists consider it necessary to distinguish between
“strong” social ties: love, friendship, hatred, and “weak” social ties: friends, followers, subscribers.
“Weak” connections in the Internet environment are more intense. People are more likely to meet
and “make friends” online than in common life. People are more expected to join thematic discussion groups, communities. They more often support some initiatives or protest, more often participate in mass flash mobs. “Weak” interactive connections are often temporary. They are easy to sacrifice. But people experience the lack of such connections very acutely. It is especially unpleasant when
the interlocutor ignores and breaks off contact. This is like isolation in real life, and in some cases
can traumatise self- esteem.
“Strong” connections in the digital environment are just maintained, but not significantly strengthened. Love, friendship can arise online, and then go offline. But to do this, you need to skillfully use
the capabilities of the perceptual side of Internet communication.
The possibilities of online interaction for many people have become a window into the big world,
in the truest sense of the word. People with physical disabilities, people with problems in socialisation,
volun tary recluses and those who are on self- isolation can interact with the real world only via the Internet.
An example of such a social group is hikikomoris. Hikikomori is a special type of social adjustment disorder mainly in young people and adolescents. They avoid any direct contact with society
and choose voluntary confinement in an apartment. Internet communications in this case are the only
salvation. Online shopping, distance education and work, diverse online communication help hikikomori to remain a member of society.
It is not surprising that after a long interaction with the world only online, they find it difficult
to adapt in the real world and in real relationships.
Thus, the self- development of the interactive side of communication in the virtual environment
presupposes an awareness of the depth of connections that are established between users, work with
identity, building personal boundaries, compliance with the rules of digital security.
Changes in the perceptual side of communication. The perceptual side of communication is
the perception of a person by another person. It changes markedly in online interaction compared
to the face-to-face one.
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Users of social networks base the perception and evaluation of other users on their self- presentations.
As a rule, a self- presentation contains a text, photo and video. Virtual communication is relatively anonymous and distant. This stimulates desire to “embellish” your perceptual image on the network and makes this desire possible. Users may change their biography, life experience, skills, select
a suitable avatar, make photo corrections. They often supplement their self- presentation with elements of some cultural codes. These can be favourite music, authors, groups of performers, films,
books. The developers of social networks themselves determine the list of cultural codes. The absence
of such information in the profile also affects the image being built.
The digital image also includes multimedia ways to interact with friends and followers. It matters how a person communicates: dismissively, with threats, or attentively, politely. The general culture and degree of literacy of verbal messages play an important role in the construction of the image.
A low degree of literacy, ignorance of significant events in the world of culture may easily destroy
the image created.
Creating one’s own image is only a part of the process of social perception. Netizens not only show
themselves. They analyse other participants, identify potential or real “friends”.
Online, you can never be sure that a personally unknown user is exactly who he/she claims to be.
The presentation may be intentionally fake. Photos may not belong to the author of the presentation.
Biographical data may not match the actual biography of the user, or only partially match. A list
of “friends” of a particular participant can help separate truth from fiction. If there is a mutual friend
among them, his/her opinion serves as an indicator for the evaluation of the interlocutor.
Each social network member can have many different digital images for different purposes. Anonymity provides a unique opportunity to experiment with one’s own identity.
The best way to promote yourself is to join a professional community and get recognition there.
If a person is an expert in any issue or activity, his/her other qualities fade into the background, become insignificant to others. Communication on equal terms and interaction in a professional online
environment helps a person with any opportunities to become a successful and in-demand specialist
in the labour market.
Therefore, self-development of the perceptual side of communication in a virtual environment
is the mastering of the mechanisms of digital self- presentation, the formation and maintenance
of a positive digital double, awareness of the need for digital hygiene.
Summary
1. Digital and information technologies have penetrated all spheres of life and activities of modern
man. They free people from routine work and require constant self- development.
2. Information and digital technologies open for a person free access to educational resources
and help to develop self- organisation.
3. Different types of human activities change significantly in the transition to a digital environment. In order to perform them successfully, an individual must independently develop special skills
of behaviour in the digital society.
Think about and answer the questions
1. What is the advantage of digital technology for self- development over information technology?
2. If you compare digital information technology for self- education and digital technology for selforganisation, which is more relevant for self- development?
3. Which communication skills in your view have passed from the real world into the virtual one
almost unchanged, and which require special development?
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Main aims and outcomes. As a result of studying this material, you will learn:
– that working in a team creates favourable conditions for the development of self- management
skills;
– that high demands are placed on team members, including the ability to manage/organise them-
selves and others;
– which roles are appropriate for extroverted people and which roles are appropriate for introvert-
ed people;
– why mastering team roles helps to improve one’s own performance.
Keywords: team, team role.
Management, like self- management, requires certain conditions to be in place. First of all, a group
work situation in which complex tasks are solved is necessary. This is the type of situation that generates a surge of emotions, disagreements, conflicts, all of which require the ability to control oneself (self- management), to convince others, to influence others and to find the best solution (management skills).
One type of group is a team.
The peculiarity of a team is that, unlike an ordinary small group, it is created artificially by taking
into account the professional training of its members and the team roles, which are based on the psycho-physiological characteristics of people. A team is a small group of six to twelve people.
The size of a team is of fundamental importance: a team is built on interpersonal interaction,
which is subject to certain patterns.
The number of interpersonal interactions can be calculated mathematically using the following
formula: n(n − 1) / 2, where n is the number of team members. In a team of four, there are six potential interactions; in a team of nine, there are up to 36 possible interactions! Therefore, achieving consensus among all team members becomes difficult. This is particularly noticeable in teams
of 12 people, where time is progressively wa sted and staff sk ills are used less ef fectively. If the number is even larger, there is disordered communication, disorganisation and a feeling that a lot of time
is being wasted.
If it is not possible to reduce the size of the team, then it is divided into subgroups and each is assigned a part of the overall team task. Twelve is a convenient number, because it is also divisible into
2, 3 and 4.
Dividing large groups is necessary. If this is not done, people will divide themselves into subgroups, but not on the basis of business interests, but on the basis of mutual sympathies and common interests.
Another argument for downsizing: in large groups some people start to work less than in individual work; it is easier for the weak person in groups, he uses the group resource to compensate his weakness, and the strong person has to spend energy not only on himself, but also on the rest of the group
members.
Team members complement each other and sometimes replace each other in the course of achieving their goals, and in some cases may. Teams are consciously and purposefully built on the thoughtful
positioning of the participants, who have a common vision of the strategic goals and the specific situation. An important prerequisite: team members are proficient in interaction, self- organisation and selfmanagement procedures.
Special features of team work. The criterion for choosing how to do a particular job more effectively is the nature of the work.
What is preferable: group or team work? Not every job or situation involves the use of a team (Table 3).
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Table 3
Work for small groups, teams and individuals
Preferably work
in groups or alone in a team
solving simple problems solving complex problems
when cooperation is satisfactory consensus is required for decision-making
diversity of opinion is limited uncertainty and plurality of decision options present
suciently narrow range of competence wide range of competences required
unrecoverable conict of interest ability to realise team members’ goals
organisation prefers to work with individuals
optimal outcome is required requires a multi-faceted approach
organisation prefers to use team inputs for strategy
and vision development
As the table shows, it only makes sense to organise a team in situations where complex tasks
with uncertainty and a multiplicity of possible solutions are to be solved. This is why specialists with
a wide range of different professional competences are preferred. All this should ensure the necessary versatility of the solution.
Requirements for team members. There are serious requirements for team members.
Firstly, there are professional training requirements. They must be highly qualified professionals.
Secondly, there are requirements for the psychological culture of each team member. What does
this mean? Team members:
– have the skills to interact in an intensive teamwork environment;
– have skills in conducting joint meetings and business negotiations;
– know how to think and plan individual and group processes;
– know how to present the results of their work and the results of group work;
– have the ability to solve problems and convert conf lict situations into problems to be solved;
– have the ability to organise themselves and others.
There is another distinguishing characteristic of those who work in teams. These people are selfdirected and do things that interest them. At first glance, these characteristics seem to contradict
the requirements of working in a group. On the contrary! The effectiveness of teamwork is determined
by the fact that everyone sees his or her own personal interest, his or her own interest in the work.
There are different types of teams, each of which has different requirements and creates specific
conditions for improving the capacity for self- management.
Self-management in a leadership team. A leadership team is a well-known kind of team, found
everywhere in the history of human development. In our country, this was the princely squads.
It is a team created by one person, with a pronounced leader characteristic. He is its emotional leader, its organiser. This person who has a great idea, and wants to implement it in life. To do
this, he needs people, sometimes a lot of people. The status of members of such a team is not
the same, and it is defined not on the professional basis, but on the basis of proximity to the leader. The leader’s personal sympathies are paramount. Loss of sympathy automatically eliminates
a person from the team.
Depending on the personality traits of the leader his style may vary, ranging from authoritarian to liberal. The only thing that cannot happen is an acquiescent style.
A serious disadvantage of such a team is the struggle for influence over the leader, aversion to
new people, especially if those people are smart and strong. A lot of time and energy is spent on such
struggles. The lifespan of a leadership team is determined by the lifespan of the leader. If the leader
leaves, the team falls apart.
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What are the opportunities for the development of self- management capacity in this type of team?
In a strict totalitarian management style, there are few opportunities for self- development and selfmanagement abilities.
Self-management in a democratic team. In this type of team, the leadership roles are distributed according to everyone’s professional level and willingness to work together.
The leader is there, and he or she is alone, and he or she is supposed to be in charge.
There can be several leaders in democratic teams and the group members are grouped around
them. For each group, “local” leaders are responsible. There are two types of leaders, depending
on the roles they play in the group. It must be understood that no one person can fulfill all the functional roles, so they are distributed among the team members.
First, purposeful roles: initiate action, gather opinions, discuss and provide information.
Secondly, support roles: encouraging and participating in work, setting criteria and evaluating
work.
A democratic team provides maximum opportunities to develop oneself as a leader and creates
the most favourable conditions for manifesting the ability to manage others as well as to manage oneself.
One way of developing a democratic team is to turn it into a self- organising team. This is a team
in which not only leadership roles are shared, but also leadership roles. In other words, it is a team
in which all members have the ability to manage and self- govern. This type of team is rare, but researchers believe that the future lies in this type of team.
In construction, design work for buildings, structures, utilities, etc. Is widely used. This activity involves the documentation and development of master plans, architectural and structural designs,
development of engineering networks, etc. This work involves the joint participation of different specialists. It is for this kind of work that design teams are established. When the design work is completed, the team splits up.
Over the past decade, R.M. Belbin has become one of the most popular names in management circles around the world. His main merit is that he was able to identify and describe 8 roles that are defined by personality traits (Fig.). It is the consideration of these features that allows the combined people to work as one.
Coordinator
Plant
Shaper
Monitor-Evaluator
TEAM
ROLES
Specialist
Fig. Types of roles in the team
Completer-Finisher
Implementer
Resource Explorer
Team-Worker
A team is not a collection of people with different job titles. Everyone in a team strives to perform certain psychological roles, and their work is most effective in those roles that are most natural
to them, consistent with a person’s physiological and psychological nature.
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The concept of team roles has gained credibility among managers because an evaluation system
has been developed to determine the most appropriate role for a given individual. The expert IT system (Interplace) is based on several criteria and allows for quick reports and recommendations.
R.M. Belbin believes that his concept can be of great benefit to those who strive for selfdevelopment and purposefully build their career. After all, it helps a person find the best role for him
or her, the one which is easiest for him or her to fulfill. It is well known that sometimes talented people, being in the wrong situation, lose the opportunity to contribute to the common cause and realise themselves. It is important that people, even those with little ability, but who are well organised
and able to work as part of a team, achieve great success in their careers.
True collective interaction is not the sum of the efforts of the team members. Collective interaction means much more and has more to give to each individual.
All team roles are valuable to the team, but each has a downside. R.M. Belbin introduced
the concept of “tolerable disadvantages”. All people, to one degree or another, strive to “correct”
the shortcomings of those around them. Seeing and correcting one’s own faults is difficult, but
for some reason it seems that in relation to another person, this is possible. A naive position for
many reasons. It is worth bearing in mind that everything in a person is interrelated and nothing
is accidental or “superfluous”. By trying to eradicate what is, to an outsider’s eye, a weakness,
they risk damaging that person’s strengths: “weak” and “strong” are one natural essence that cannot be separated.
There are many classifications in psychology, which, in one way or another, overlap and complement each other. R.M. Belbin’s classification is no exception. The descriptions of the roles clearly show the psycho-physiological features of a person: extraversion — introversion. You may also
notice a correspondence between a person’s activity styles (Actor, Pragmatist, Theoretic, Reflexive)
and the roles described.
Each person can easily fulfill himself or herself in two roles. If a person sets a goal of mastering two more roles, he will be able to master two more by choosing the roles that best suit his psycho-physiological nature. Mastering the other four roles will not bring good results. However, this
does not mean that a person should give up.
The Implementer. Some people think this is an uncreative person, only capable of implementing other people’s ideas. Not at all! This is a member of the team, who expresses the essence
of the team. His objectives are identical to those of the team. It is the Implementer who systematically draws up plans and effectively puts them into action. He understands the Plant like nobody
else, and most importantly he can translate his ideas into a language that most people can understand. He is characterised by high performance, self- discipline and a focus on the practical relevance of ideas and solutions.
Implementer’s style in the team is organisation of work.
Acceptable shortcomings — lack of flexibility, aversion to fanciful ideas, frequent changes
of plans.
The Coordinator is a person who is usually an extrovert. He is people-oriented, communicates
easily, knows how to work with people, and encourages their contribution to the common cause.
The coordinator has a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the team members
and is able to maximise the potential of each team member. He or she clearly articulates goals
and performs well as a facilitator during discussions. He has communication skills; he is a social
leader, sometimes charismatic and demonstrative. The coordinator is calm, nonchalant and selfdisciplined. Encourages and supports all team members.
Coordinator’s style is to welcome contributions from the team and to evaluate them in line with
the team’s goals.
Admissible disadvantages of the coordinator: can give the impression of being (indeed being) manipulative; at times attributes credit to the whole team; may not be highly intelligent or creative.
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The Shaper is constantly task-oriented and stimulates the work of the whole team. This is an ambitious, entrepreneurial type of team leader. Energetic, strives for excellence, gives full commitment
when working. He formulates goals clearly and precisely, and monitors them rigorously. Otherwise,
he gets easily irritated and has a tendency to “run-ins”.
Shapers’ leadership style is to challenge, motivate, and achieve.
Admissible disadvantages: prone to irritation, impulsiveness and impatience, provocations; cannot
tolerate vague language and indecisive behaviour.
The Resource Explorer is an extroverted type of person, who is outgoing, enthusiastic and inquisitive. He or she explores and reports on ideas, resources and new improvements that are available outside the team. He is good at networking, loves new things and responds to “challenge”. He
usually knows how to reconcile people’s interests with the public interest, knows who can help
solve problems.
Resource Explorer’s work style is building a network and gathers useful resources for the team.
Admissible disadvantage: loses interest as enthusiasm fades, bouncing from one task to the next;
needs increased external pressure.
The Plant is usually an introverted type of person and his “flaws” are a manifestation of his psycho-physiological traits. He is an individualist, serious, broad-minded and highly intelligent. In a team
acts as a source of original ideas, develops strategy.
Plant’s style is to bring innovative ideas to the team and its goals.
Permissible disadvantages of the Plant: often “in the clouds”, misses practical points and is not
concerned about the implementation of their own ideas in practice; psychologically unstable, little sociable. The Plant is usually inexperienced in interpersonal relations.
The Completer-Finisher. This is a person who is diligent, organised, conscientious and genuinely concerned about the common cause, striving to bring all tasks to a solution, and a quality one at
that. The Completer-Finisher moves forward and insists on getting on with the job when the enthusiasm of others has been exhausted. He plans, executes and completes team tasks well. The CompleterFinisher gets irritated and loses satisfaction if the work is not completed.
Completer-Finisher’s style of working is to insist to move forward, to meet deadlines and to complete tasks.
Admissible disadvantages: excessive concern about the state of affairs, tendency to worry internally, reluctance to delegate his duties, aversion to taking his duties lightly by others.
The roles of the Plant and the Completer-Fi nisher show the psychological characteristics of the theorist’s style.
The Monitor-Evaluator is judicious, unemotional and cautious, with a prudent and practical approach. He practices dispassionate critical analysis, a strategic approach and insightful judgment.
His judgment is an objective evaluation of the product and process, not of people. He is characterised
by accurate judgment, striving to consider all possible solutions. He is focused on quality solutions
to practical problems.
The Monitor-Evaluator’s way of working is to objectively analyse, evaluate ideas and team decisions.
Permissible weaknesses: underestimation of incentives and excitement; lack of inspiration and imagination; ability to confuse others by stifling initiative.
The Team-Worker. This is a socially oriented person, soft, sensitive to others, not overconfident.
Is able to respond appropriately to people, supports their team spirit. He contributes to the harmonisation of team relations and the elimination of disagreements; he is able to listen attentively to the interlocutor and draws on the opinions of others.
The Team-Worker’s style of working is to maintain relationships within the team.
Permissible disadvantages: indecisiveness in critical situations, at the moment of taking necessary,
but not popular measures. At such times he may prevent actions from being taken, thus trying to avoid
aggravating the situation.
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The roles of the Evaluator and Team-Worker show the psychological characteristics of the reflective style.
The Specialist has been added last. The importance and significance of the expert’s knowledge
becomes apparent as soon as the team gets to work. Expert advice is always needed, but the problem
is that often the “specialists” turn out to be weak team players. The question of whether to introduce
the “expert” into the team, or to use his advice as an outsider, is often left open.
Teams go through a series of stages in their development. These stages should not be considered
rigidly. However, the sequence of changes in the team itself is so clear that it makes it possible to identify the individual stages.
Once again, the team is formed consciously and purposefully. The process of developing the team
itself does not lead to a top-quality team.
Formation is the first stage. The team is recruited as a working group. At this point, there is no
difference objectively or subjectively to a normal working group. People work side by side rather than together. Everyone does their own work. The overall result of the work is equal to the sum
of the work done by the individual participants: “1 + 1 = 2”.
The members of the working group start to look at each other. At this point, there is a clear surplus
of energy, an over-exuberance, a heightened enthusiasm. People are eager and ready to start working
intensively. They already call themselves a team. But there is still a long way to go to become a fullfledged team. A team is built on trust in each other, and trust takes time. The process of building trust
generates risk. Trust is the result of mental activity. A person must be intelligent, have a good understanding of people, and be capable of reflection in order to trust. People gathered will have to overcome internal contradictions and doubts.
If people are left to themselves, they will begin to group together in small groups based on sympathies, interests not related to the professional sphere.
The role of the leader at this stage is crucial. He or she should introduce people to one another,
clarify objectives and procedures which are relevant to the actions of the team. Roles and responsibilities should be allocated.
The organisational part of the work during the formation phase always takes a long time.
Team members receive objectives in general terms. Such goals need to be made concrete and discussed. The team members give their opinion on how they understand the overall goal and what
tasks need to be done in order to realise this goal. This is one of the most critical moments. It
is quickly discovered that everyone understands the overall goal in his or her own way. Parallel
to the public discussion, team members mentally relate the goal to their personal goals and expectations.
The working group gradually moves to pseudo-team status. The productivity of a pseudo-team tends to decrease. There are usually two reasons: ambiguity of goals and failure to manage interpersonal interactions. These reasons “move” the team building process to the next stage.
Burbling is the second stage. This is a period of intrapersonal and intragroup conflict. Conflict
is an inevitable and necessary condition. If the leader tries to suppress the conf lict, it will lead to latent conflict. Open conflict is necessary. Hidden conflict is dangerous. It will be an obstacle to the development of the team and a new leader may emerge.
The conflict may show some aggression towards each other. People will be stressed. This is all
very unpleasant.
It is considered appropriate at this stage to invite conflict management practitioners. They
are able to provide an open exchange of views in which all points of view are allowed. They are able
to steer the development of the conflict in the right direction, to focus on the important aspects. This
is an emotionally intense phase. If it is led by specialists, the conflict is usually over quickly. However, the team members themselves come out of the intra-group conflict in different ways. Some will
refuse to work in the team, some will try to prolong the conflict and rekindle it. At this point, there
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is a distribution of roles within the group. This distribution of roles may not be the same as that suggested by the leader in the first stage.
The status of the team is changing. It is now a potential team.
Discussion and conflict inevitably lead to the conclusion: all people are different and need to agree
somehow to do the same thing together. This requires rules. No community has ever been without
rules, written or unwritten. Groups elaborate their own norms and rules.
Normalisation is the third stage. This stage, like the previous one, is emotionally charged. After
all, people can adhere to a var iety of rules. It is sometimes impossible to agree on general rules. Transferring the rules of the outside world mechanically to the group is not productive, and neither is transferring the group norms to real life.
Each group develops its own rules, but there are rules that are universal. It is desirable that these
rules end up in the arsenal of group rules.
Rule one: “Here and now”.
This rule directs group members to discuss what is happening in the present moment. Focusing
on the present promotes reflection and self- reflection skills.
Rule two: “Sincerity and openness”.
The more honest and frank the judgment, the more successful the group as a whole will be. However, it should be remembered that people have great difficulty in mastering this rule, because in real
life it can bring serious problems for the individual.
Rule three: “I” (it’s me). It is customary in a collective to use the word “we”: “We think”. The “We”
rule is synonymous with collective responsibility, in other words the absence of personal responsibility. The “I” rule is a claim to personal responsibility. The person says: “I don’t understand”, “I believe”, “I think”.
Rule four: “Activity”. Members of the group have to make it a rule to be active, i.e., to actually participate in the discussion, the decision-making, the reflection.
Experience shows that time spent on forming common norms and rules pays off in a big way.
Finally, it is time for a real team.
Functioning is the fourth stage. Team members consolidate, become a community. A valuebased unity becomes the main obstacle to conflict. A good psychological climate is created, everyone
is focused on work, and the energy is directed towards achieving high results.
The manager’s job at this stage: to evaluate the effectiveness of the team as a whole and of the individuals in particular. This is necessary for remuneration. Actions of the manager: approval, listening to useful comments, reducing the number of instructions.
Labour productivity increases markedly: “1 + 1 = 3”. In a highly efficient team, labour productivity reaches incredible heights: “1 + 1 + 1 = 9”.
Change (parting) is the fifth final stage. Sooner or later, the work for which the team
was created comes to an end. This happens when the team is at the peak of its cohesion, effectiveness.
Team members begin to feel regret, to think about the way forward. Once again, a situation of uncertainty emerges. Whether a new task will be set for the team and, if so, whether they will be able
to cope with it. Some begin to look for a job elsewhere.
The job of the manager at this stage is to support people emotionally and to encourage team members to keep in touch with each other even when the job is at its final stretch.
You have noticed that the manager’s role in working with team members changes each time
the team development stages change. The manager’s role also changes depending on the content
of the work itself.
Today, teams do not have to work in an office. Many companies are responding to today’s challenges and gradually moving employees to work remotely. For some types of business, remote teamwork is not a luxury, but a necessity.
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