This reflection is structured around Tuckman’s group development model.
Bruce W. Tuckman’s scholarly interest focuses on motivation: ‘its manifestation in the form of self-regulatory behavior, and its absence in the form of procrastination, particularly as applied to the behavior of studying‘
In future I would like to explore the implications of procrastination (and speed of decision making) in the management of complex problems. (If I get around to it.)
Forming
It is important for a team to have a clear vision of what they are trying to achieve. Unfortunately none of us had written a policy brief previously, so it was difficult achieve this vision at the time the group was formed.
We initially decided to use Alliance to collaborate on our project.
Storming
Since we chose an international topic (aid)Â it would have been good to have an international relations student in the group. Without this background knowledge, there was more effort required to get up to speed.
Like most university group projects, this one suffered from :
- lack of an identified leader, making it difficult for group members to decide what part of the project they could most effectively focus on at any time
- competition with other concerns (work, interstate travel, other classes and assignments), for example it proved very difficult to find mutually agreeable times to meet as a group
We had some difficulties with emails not working through Alliance. This highlights the importance of two-way communication to ensure that messages are received. (Applied to the policy process, we should build in mechanisms to ensure that people affected by policies understand what we are telling them.)
Norming
Despite the inherent challenges of working as a multi-disciplinary group of students we achieved the goal of writing a policy document and giving a policy presentation. One of the breakthroughs was to use Google Docs to collaborate on writing the document. We were able to sit in a group and simultaneously make changes to the document, which sounds chaotic but actually worked well. It would be interesting to try this for pair programming (a software development methodology), but to work simultaneously on two computers instead of using one.
Taking a method from computer science, we implemented a “code freeze” on the policy document. This enabled us to focus on preparing for the presentation, rather than continually tweaking the policies.
Performing
We all practised giving the presentations before we actually had to deliver them. We also had a strategy to have each question answered by only one person. This enabled us to present a more coherent image to the “PM” and to withstand the intense questioning from John (with the intimidating t-shirt and tie combination).
One group used the term “compulsory” in their proposal, which didn’t give them any room to manoeuvre during questions.
Tools to Manage Complexity
- plan (properly)
- know what the goal is
- allow flexibility