The third stage of team development, in which team members settle their differences and develop more trusting relationships describes which term?

• A. Norming
• B. Negligence
• C. No-show
• D. Contingency plan

Answer: (A)

Norming is the stage where team members settle differences and start trusting each other, forming a cohesive unit with agreed-upon norms and roles. In this phase, relationships deepen, communication improves, and collaboration becomes more natural as the group aligns on how to work together and hold each other accountable. This follows the earlier forming stage, where the team is getting oriented, and the storming stage, where conflicts and power struggles may arise. The other options don’t describe a stage of how a team develops: negligence refers to careless behavior, no-show to missing participation, and a contingency plan is about preparing for unexpected events, not about team cohesion and trust.