| Course | HCS 370 Organizational Behavior (HCS/370) |
|---|---|
| Week | 3 |
| Paper type | Team building plan |
| Length | about 1,029 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | BS in Health Administration |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for HCS 370 Week 3
Four Pharmacists, Six Technicians and a New Satellite in the Emergency Department: A Team Building Plan From Forming to Performing
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
HCS/370: Organizational Behavior
Week 3 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The hospital, the satellite pharmacy team and its measures are composites written for a model paper; research findings come from the sources listed.
The emergency department of a composite 300-bed hospital had a medication problem: first doses of antibiotics for patients with suspected sepsis took a median of 74 minutes from order to administration, partly because orders traveled to the central pharmacy and back. The hospital decided to open a satellite pharmacy inside the department, staffed around the clock by four pharmacists and six technicians. Most of the ten had worked in the central pharmacy on different shifts and barely knew one another. This paper plans how to turn them into a team.
Group or Team?
A group is a set of people who interact and share information; a team works toward a shared goal with interdependent roles and mutual accountability. The satellite must be a team. A technician preparing an antibiotic and a pharmacist verifying it depend on each other minute by minute, and both depend on emergency nurses.
Choosing Members
The pharmacy director selected pharmacists with emergency or critical care interest, including one with board certification in emergency medicine pharmacy, and technicians who volunteered, balancing two experienced technicians with four newer ones who wanted growth.
Stages of Development
Tuckman (1965) reviewed studies of small groups and proposed a developmental sequence: forming, a period of getting acquainted with the work and one another; storming, when conflict emerges; norming, when the group develops cohesion and shared expectations; and performing, when the group's effort turns fully to its work. The plan addresses each stage rather than hoping the team moves through them on its own.
Forming
The team will spend two paid half-days together before opening: touring the emergency department, meeting its nurse leaders, walking through the satellite's layout and hearing from the medical director why the satellite matters. Each member will share their experience and what they hope to learn.
Expected Storming
Conflict is predictable. Experienced technicians may resist newer technicians' ideas; pharmacists may disagree about how to divide coverage of resuscitations and verification; emergency nurses may expect instant turnaround. The team lead, the board-certified pharmacist, will hold short weekly debriefs in the first two months where disagreements are raised openly and resolved.
Norming: Writing Norms Together
In the second half-day, the team will write its own norms, which carry more weight than rules handed down. Draft norms include: say it out loud if something looks wrong, regardless of role; no one leaves a critical dose unverified at shift change; corrections are given privately with a reason; ask for help before falling behind.
Performing
The team will know it is performing when routines run without discussion, members cover for one another and the team starts proposing improvements.
Roles
Pharmacists: verify orders, respond to resuscitations and trauma activations, advise physicians on dosing and review high-risk medications. Technicians: prepare doses, restock automated cabinets and deliver urgent medications. Team lead: schedules, conflict resolution and liaison with emergency leadership. The first-dose antibiotic process has a named owner on every shift.
Training Together
Salas et al. (2008) conducted a meta-analysis of team training and found moderate positive effects on team processes and outcomes, including performance. The team will train with emergency nurses in two simulations before opening, a sepsis patient and a cardiac arrest, practicing communication and handoffs. Simulation will repeat quarterly.
Psychological Safety
Edmondson (1999), drawing on teams in one manufacturer, reported that teams whose members believed candor would not be punished did more learning, asking for help and talking openly about mistakes, and that this learning went with stronger results. In a satellite where a newer technician may be the first to notice a wrong dose, whether that technician speaks up depends more on the team's climate than on any written procedure. The team lead will model this by thanking people who raise concerns and admitting her own mistakes in debriefs.
Communication
The team will hold a five-minute huddle at each shift change covering pending critical doses, shortages and any issues from the previous shift. A shared message thread links the satellite, central pharmacy and emergency charge nurses.
Diversity of Experience
The mix of experienced and newer members is a strength if structured. Each newer technician is paired with an experienced one for the first month, and experienced technicians are recognized for mentoring.
Building Trust With the Department
Pharmacists will attend emergency department staff meetings monthly for the first six months to answer questions and hear concerns, so nurses see the satellite as part of their team.
Cohesion Without Closing Ranks
A cohesive team can become an insular one, defending its members against the rest of the pharmacy. The satellite will rotate one central pharmacy technician through it each month and send its own technicians to the central pharmacy for a shift each quarter. The rotations keep skills current across both settings and prevent an us-and-them divide from forming between the new team and the department it came from.
Support From Leadership
The pharmacy director will meet the team lead weekly for the first three months and attend one debrief a month. The emergency department's medical director has agreed to raise satellite issues at the physicians' monthly meeting, giving the team a voice with the prescribers it serves.
Measures
Median time from antibiotic order to administration for suspected sepsis, target under 45 minutes. Pharmacist attendance at resuscitations, target 90%. A team climate survey at three and six months. Emergency nurse satisfaction with pharmacy support.
When Conflict Arrives
Conflicts that the weekly debrief cannot resolve go to the team lead, then to the pharmacy director. Conflicts with emergency staff go to a joint meeting of the team lead and the emergency nurse manager, focused on patients rather than blame.
Results After Six Months
Median antibiotic time fell to 41 minutes. The team climate survey showed high scores for speaking up, and two technicians began certification in sterile compounding.
Conclusion
A group of capable people became a team through deliberate attention to each stage of development, clear roles and norms, joint training with the nurses they serve and a climate where anyone can speak up. The results show in faster antibiotics for patients who need them most.
References
Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999
Salas, E., DiazGranados, D., Klein, C., Burke, C. S., Stagl, K. C., Goodwin, G. F., & Halpin, S. M. (2008). Does team training improve team performance? A meta-analysis. Human Factors, 50(6), 903-933. https://doi.org/10.1518/001872008X375009
Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384-399. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0022100
What the HCS 370 Week 3 instructions ask
HCS 370 Week 3 often asks students to plan or analyze team building in a health care organization, and some sections have used a presentation format. Prompts may cover the difference between groups and teams, stages of team development, roles, norms, cohesion, diversity, communication, trust, team training and conflict. Students are usually asked to recommend strategies a manager could use to build an effective team for a specific purpose. Length or slide count varies. Strong work applies a development model to a real team, sets clear roles and norms, uses evidence on what makes teams effective and includes measures and a plan for handling conflict.
How this HCS 370 Week 3 example is built
The sample starts with the reason for the team: medication delays in the emergency department and a decision to place pharmacists there around the clock. It distinguishes a team from a group and explains why this unit must be a team. Member selection balances experience and interest. The stages of group development frame the plan: forming activities, anticipated storming, norms written together and the move to performing. Roles are defined, including the pharmacist's role in resuscitations. Evidence from a meta-analysis of team training supports joint simulation with emergency nurses. Research on psychological safety shapes how the team will discuss errors. Measures and a conflict plan close the paper.
HCS 370 Week 3 grading rubric: where the points go
The team building week is typically graded on application and evidence. Faculty look for a clear distinction between groups and teams, correct use of a team development model, specific roles and norms, strategies grounded in research and measures of team effectiveness. Attention to trust, communication and conflict earns credit. If a presentation is required, clear slides with speaker notes carry the analysis. Organization and APA style complete the grade, and a timeline adds clarity. Plans that list generic team building exercises, such as retreats and icebreakers, without connecting them to the team's real work, or that ignore conflict, usually earn less than plans that build the team around the work it must do.
HCS 370 Week 3 help: mistakes to avoid
A frequent gap in HCS 370 Week 3 is team building treated as social events. Build the team around its actual work: shared goals, clear roles, practiced routines. Another is naming Tuckman's stages without planning for each; say what the manager will do in forming, how storming will be handled and what norms will be set. Students also forget that health care teams extend beyond the department; the emergency satellite team works daily with nurses and physicians. Use evidence on team training, not only opinion. Plan for conflict, since it is normal. Include measures, such as medication turnaround times and team survey results. Finally, consider diversity of experience as a strength that needs structure to work.
Related HCS 370 sample papers
Other HCS 370 week samples
- HCS 370 Week 1: Organizational Behavior Foundations
- HCS 370 Week 2: Perception and Motivation
- HCS 370 Week 4: Positive Organizational Culture
- HCS 370 Week 5: Leading Organizational Change
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HCS 370 Week 3 questions, answered
What does HCS/370 Week 3 usually ask for?
Sections commonly have students plan or examine team building in a health care organization, including team development stages, roles, norms, communication and strategies for effectiveness, sometimes as a presentation.
Where can I find a free HCS 370 Week 3 sample paper?
The emergency department satellite pharmacy team plan above is free, with margin notes on each stage. A no-cost first paper can be written for your own team.
What are Tuckman's stages of group development?
Forming, storming, norming and performing, describing how groups move from orientation through conflict to shared norms and effective work; a later stage, adjourning, was added for groups that disband.
Does team training improve performance in health care?
A meta-analysis of team training found moderate positive effects on team processes and performance, supporting structured training such as simulation for health care teams.
What are team norms?
Shared expectations about how members behave and work together, such as how they communicate, make decisions and handle mistakes.
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