Group Needs and Member Functions: T I M

T I M is a well-known model for understanding group life: every group has a Task, is made up on Individuals and exists as a unit requiring Maintenance.

Task Needs
The need to get a job done
The need for a worthwhile goal
The need for a clear goal
The need for agreement about the goal
The need for a plan of action to achieve the goal
The need to be able to recognise when the goal has been achieved

Individual Needs
The need to belong
The need to contribute
The need for status
The need for power
The need for dependency
The need for freedom
The need for recognition of problems

Maintenance Needs
The need for the group to stick together until the job is done
The need to improve understanding
The need to aid co-operation between members
The need for members to support each other even when disagreeing
The need to obtain clarity

Initial visible needs
                                                                    T


Needs
discovered over                             I
time                                                                     M         



All three types of need overlap. At first sight it is often the Task Needs that are most obvious. Many of them lie immediately to view above the surface: there are certain things it is obvious that the group needs to do. However, the main areas of need lie hidden beneath the surface. The strength and continued life of the group depend on the degree to which these three types of need in the group are recognised and met.

It is frequently assumed that the person responsible for ensuring that three types of need are met is the leader.  However, members also have a responsibility to take on some of the functions required in a group.

There are characteristic functions of ensuring that the task of the group gets done.

There are characteristic functions of ensuring that the maintenance of the group’s life takes place.

Again, there will always be some overlap between these. Below is a list of typical functions.


TASK FUNCTIONS

Initiating   Proposing tasks, goals or actions;  defining group problems; suggesting procedures.
Informing   Giving expression of feelings; giving an opinion.
Clarifying   Interpreting ideas or suggestions; defining terms; making clear the issues before the group.
Summarising   Putting together related ideas; restating suggestions; offering a decision or conclusion for the group to consider.
Reality testing   Making a critical analysis of an idea; testing an idea against some evidence; trying to see if an idea will work.
Encouraging   Prodding the group to action or decision; stimulating the group to greater activity.

MAINTENANCE FUNCTIONS

Harmonising   Attempting to reconcile disagreements;   reducing tension; getting people to explore difference.
Gate-keeping   Helping to keep communication channels open; helping others to take part; suggesting ways of sharing.
Consensus testing   Finding out whether the group is nearing a decision; sending up a ‘trial balloon’ to test a possible conclusion.
Encouraging   Being friendly, warm and responsive to  others; showing that other people’s contributions matter.
Compromising   Offering compromises that yield status;   admitting mistakes and errors; changing position in the interest of group growth.
Process observing   Watching how the group is working and sharing the results with the group.
Standard setting   Expressing standards for group behaviour, and testing its behaviour against such standards.




Material in this leaflet is drawn from Understanding Groups by Paul Bates and Lois Smith originally for the St Albans Diocesan Board of Ministry