Tuckman's Theory Of Teamwork

Furthermore Rickards and Moger (2000) argue that Tuckman’s model neither offers enough information on how teams change over time, nor does it provide any indication on how teams would actually perform in solving tasks. Consequently, they propose a two barrier theory of teamwork, outlining weaker barrier between the storming and norming stage. This phase, Rickards and Moger (2000) argue, is usually the one most teams deal with unconsciously and yet many groups have claimed that the negative impacts of the barrier are reduced if issues that arise are addressed wilfully. They suggest there is a stronger barrier between the performing and their proposed stage of outperforming, that must be overcome in order for a team to become high performing. According to Levi (2007) for teams to become performing they need to develop effective social relationship in order to cultivate good cohesion and communication and resolve conflicts. Not all teams transition through every stage during their time working together (Rickards & Moger, 2000).

In this sense, Tuckman’s model should be considered as a lens to analyse a group’s development progression, rather than as a tool for proposing remedies to deal with specific issues that hinder the team