Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Group activities for tuckmans four stages of group development theory
Tuckman's stages of group development
Group activities for tuckmans four stages of group development theory
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Group Development and Interaction Theory
Within the business setting, the shift from yesterday’s “singular” culture to today’s “team” culture has brought about a new era of learning, development, and innovation. However, this shift has also brought with it a certain amount of dissatisfaction, conflict, and confusion. This paper will focus on the Tuckman Theory, and discuss how Tuckman’s five stages of group development and interaction applies to the work environment and leadership effectiveness.
The Tuckman Theory
Tuckman’s theory maintains that groups enter four foreseeable and elementary stages of development, and each of these stages contain both task and maintenance functions. These stages are Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. Later, in 1977, Bruce Tuckman, in collaboration with Mary Ann Jensen, updated his model with a fifth stage called “adjourning” (Smith, 2005). To this Tuckman stated:
We reviewed 22 studies that had appeared since the original publication of the model and which we located by means of the Social Sciences Citation Index. These articles, one of which dubbed the stages the 'Tuckman hypothesis' tended to support the existence of the four stages but also suggested a fifth stage for which a perfect rhyme could not be found. We called it 'adjourning' (Tuckman 1984).
The Five Stages of Development
Forming. Forming consists of the orientation of team members, the testing of boundaries between team members, and gathering information about the task and how the team should approach it. Team members are also busy deciding on the organization of the team, roles, and schedules. During this stage, individual team members are assessing his/her acceptance among other team members as well as avoiding any co...
... middle of paper ...
...other and with other subgroups.
References
Lagace, M. (2004). Working knowledge for business leaders. How team leaders show support – or not. Retrieved November 5, 2006, from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4155.html.
Mackintosh, A. (2003). The Coaching Manager. Stages of team development. Retrieved
November 2, 2006, from http://www.performance-am.com/coaching_models.htm.
MacLeod, C. (2002). Leadership tips. 5 Stages of group development. Retrieved November 1, 2006, from http://www.gmu.edu/student/csl/5stages.html.
Miami University. (2006). The leadership handout series. Retrieved November 3, 2006, from
http://www.units.muohio.edu/saf/sac/handout/stages.html.
Smith, M. K. (2005). Bruce W. Tuckman - Forming, storming, norming and performing in groups. The Encyclopedia of Informal Education. Retrieved October 31, 2006, from www.infed.org/thinkers/tuckman.htm.
Pierce, Jon L. and John W. Newstrom (2011) 6th edition. Leaders and the Leadership Process.
Topics explored with this group included; conversational skills, internet safety, bullying, conflict resolution, social media, and personal appearance. Accordingly, I was able to gain insight on how to plan activities tailored to the needs of the group as well as obtain tips on conducting groups effectively. Additionally, I was able to get a sense of the group dynamics, attain knowledge on the stages of a group through observing all the individuals belonging to the group, their uniqueness and how their personality impacted the group itself. Individuals were able to join the group at different stages hence; the forming stage was repeated each time a new member was recruited. This also provided me with the opportunity of gaining first-hand experience of the interaction on the basic dynamics on group stages of forming, norming, storming and
Tuckman stages of group interaction such as forming, storming, norming, performing (Pearson Education, 2013). One of the most important reasons we communicate is to build relationships, effective communication in work setting can affect every aspect of our work and who you work with, including colleagues, parents and children in several ways. It can help build our relationship and trust with line manager, team leaders, colleagues, parents and children and thus, it helps develop our role within the workplace in order to establishes, maintain and adjust relationships in work
When they have been used correctly, they’ve been shown to improve efficiency and profitability in organizations. “Developing team skills is important because of the tremendous explosion in the use of teams in work organizations over the last decade (Developing Management Skills).” An examination of these models will show the similarities and differences they have in the context of team building. Four Stages Model “The Forming – Norming – Storming – Performing model of team development was first proposed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965. This model has become the basis for subsequent models of team dynamics and frequently used management theory to describe the behavior of existing teams (Wikipedia).”
The Tuckmans theory is a model which includes the 4 stages which are: forming, storming, norming and performing, the stages are used to explain how a team is formed. The 4 stages suggest that as the stages go by, individuals in the team will start to develop maturity to work with each other and the ability to communicate without a struggle. The model also suggests that the relationship between the team members would be established and the responsibility of each member would be clear as the leader changes the leadership style.
Bruce Tuckman maintains that there are four stages of group development, forming, storming, norming, and performing. These stages are all essential and unavoidable in order for a group to mature, overcome challenges, find solutions, plan work, and produce effective results. (University of Washington, 2013)
Northouse, P. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
The third phase is norming. This is when team member have an agreement on who does what, the roles and responsibilities are clear and acceptable. Decisions can be delegated to individuals within the group. The team discusses and develops its processes and working methods. Furthermore a leader is also picked which is general respect other member and some leadership is more shared by the team to develop everyone skills.
Once a leader acquires the lessons learned from the first two levels, he is ready to take the next step in his leadership development. The authors claim the next step is leading. Brady and Woodward (2005) argue, “At this level, the group grows when and because the Leader is present” (p. 170). The basis of the authors’ argument is that a Level Three leader is ready to assume greater leadership responsibilities. A Level Three leader develops a leadership perspective.
Tuckman’s theory of development claims, “In the first stage of team development or organization, individuals come together to establish the ground ru...
“Informal groups have a powerful influence on the effectiveness of an organization, and can even subvert its formal groups. But, the informal group’s role is not limited to resistance. The impact of the informal group upon the larger formal group depends on the norms that the informal group sets. So the informal group can make the formal organization more effective, too.” Informal groups can either be a manager’s best friend or worst enemy. Group Development: The Formation of Informal Work Groups Informal work groups are part of any working environment; how they form, the leadership within the group and how these groups communicate, follow the same basic model. “Groups are particularly good at combining talents and providing innovate solutions to possible unfamiliar problems.” “There are five stages of group development. The first is forming,which is where the group first comes together. Everyone is usually polite. Conflict is seldom voiced directly. Individuals will be guarded in their own opinions and reserved.” The second form of developmentis “storming a chaotic vying for leadership and trailing of group operates.” The third is norming as the second stage evolves the rules of engagement for the group becomes established, and the scopes of the group’s task or responsibilities are clear and agreed. Fourth is performing,not all groups reach this point. Everyone knows each other well enough to be able to work together. And the fifth stage is adjourning; this is about the completion and disengagement of the tasks and group members. The formations of informal work groups are employed by an organization to perform specific functions. Informal groups almost always arise ...
Lussier, R.N. & Achua, C.F. (2010). Leadership: Theory, application, skill development (5th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western.
The stages of team development are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Norming is the first stage that involves team members getting to know each other and trying to figure out where they fit in. As a leader, it is important to provide clear directions and set proper goals and expectations during this stage. Storming is the next stage and as the name suggest it is characterized with struggles, challenges, conflicts, and competition among team members. During this stage, I will provide a mediating role and facilitate conversations that steers the team towards the right
Kongvongxay, M. & Chatillion, R. (2013). Tuckman’s Five Stages of Group Development. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/perspectum/5-stages-of-group-development-norms-tuckman-16474067
The first stage in developing a team as it relates to group dynamics is forming, this is the stage where team members come together and they question what they are therefore, who else is a part of the team, who they are comfortable with, and this enables them to get involved as well as allowing the team the opportunity to introduce themselves to each other. The second stage is storming, and in this stage the team members begin to voice their opinions and differences as well as align themselves with others who share their same beliefs. This is an important stage for the team because team members will begin to become more involved with one another, and when they voice their concerns, they can feel like they are being represented and understood. The third stage is norming in the stage team members begin to establish a shared common commitment to the purpose of why the team is there, where they can establish their overall goals and how the goals are going to be achieved. In the fourth stage, known as performing, the team works effectively and efficiently to gather towards achieving the goal.