The Stages of Teamwork Safety Performance（团队合作阶段的安全性能）.pdf

ISHN98-11 1 The Stages of Teamwork My ISHN contributions (October and November) addressed the advantages of using teams to get the best out of behavior-based safety. In October I discussed paradigm shifts needed for successful teamwork, and my November contribution defined the roles of seven different teams in the quest for a Total Safety Culture. Here I want to review the four developmental stages of teams. Work groups on a shared mission progress through four phases on their way to becoming high-performance teams. And the most effective team leaders adjust their style depending upon a teams stage of development. Thus, an awareness of these four stages of teamwork can enable understanding and patience among team members as well as inspire effective team leadership. Although researchers, scholars, and organizational consultants have used different terms to refer to the four developmental stages of teamwork, there is no disagreement that these four stages exist and call for special kinds of leadership. The most popular labels for these progressive phases are: forming, storming, norming, and performing. During the early stages of group interaction (forming and storming), work groups need structure and a clear vision and mission statement. At this time, an autocratic or directive leadership style is often most appropriate, although its advantageous to get input from group members before the first group meeting. After the group members become familiar with each other and start implementing their assignments (the norming and performing stages), a democratic leadership style is usually most effective. Interpersonal trust (as I addressed in my ISHN column last March and April) is lowest duri