Stages of Group development by Tuckman
This article is about the various stages involved in group development. In any work atmosphere working as a team is very important. If one knows the psychology behind this team or group development it would become easier to glide through the various stages. By understanding the workings in a group the individual can also become an effective leader or a team member in a group. Let us see more about group development or group formation.
What is group development?
Group development refers to the various stages a group undergoes until the group serves its purpose. This group development concept was given by the famous psychologist Bruce Tuckman in the year 1965. This stage of group development is applicable in the field of education and most importantly in one's career. Man is a social animal; he thrives by means of his relationship with his society. This forms the major aspect in group dynamics.
Man has always worked in groups from the beginning. Getting along with peers is very important personally as well as publicly. Team work is a new jargon in this information age which also means working together in groups. Team building has become an important aspect for consideration in many organizations and companies. In this age of tremendous competition team building with a sense of greater success has become a difficult thing to achieve.
With the knowledge on group dynamics this team building can be made possible for greater good. Mostly the organizer who works on the dynamics of a team must be aware of the concepts of group development to bring the team together through various stages. Basically as per tuckman's model there are four stages for group development. They are forming, storming, norming and performing. Later Mary Ann Jenson added one more stage to this called adjourning. All the grouping activities do not emphasis independence or dependence. They promote interdependence over each other for the betterment of the team.
Let me explain the four different stages by taking college life of a student as example.
Forming
Forming is the first stage or the infant stage of a team. This is a stage where the members in a group or a team get to know each other. They try to be polite and understanding towards each other. Mostly they hide their negative traits in order to be accepted by everyone in a group. This stage is more of a superficial stage where only positives are considered and negatives are avoided. If the team members during this stage gets to know about the group development processes it would be of great help to them to get over the first two stages easily.
In well established Multinational corporations they have orientation classes for freshers to aid this team building. This program is conducted for 2 to 5 days to make the candidates accustomed to work in teams. The organizer is usually a psychologist who is well aware of group development process. This program is also conducted as training for experienced professionals to re emphasis the importance of group dynamics in teams. Managers or team leaders are given training on a different perspective on group development to make their teams to perform successfully.
Example of forming stage
Simple example for forming stage would be the first year of college life. On an average the college life for a student is about 3 to 4 years. A student would experience all the four stages in that duration. Let us take the first stage. This stage would take most of the first year. Everyone would agree that first year of college would be the most exciting one and sometimes quite the opposite for a few. Most of the students would be excited and they would try their level best to be popular and accepted by everyone. Those who cannot at least wish they were able to do so. Here the students would get along with one another. They would not know the negative traits of each other and try to move with one another without any conflicts. They are mostly dependent on each other. One more example is the students who stay at the hostel during college days or work. During first year the students try to adjust with their roommates assigned to them. Mostly they try to help each other with their difficulties and if there is any misunderstanding they do not express it explicitly.
Storming
Storming is the second stage where the misunderstandings between the team members begin to surface. Slowly the team members do not co operate with each other and have lot of misunderstandings and conflicts. They quit hiding their negative traits and start to become expressive. Those who are dominative begin to fight to become the leader of the group while others do not cooperate with the leader assigned to them. There is lot of confusion within the group. Groups are formed within the group. If the group is small people try to act independent of each other. This stage may be very painful and uncomfortable but this stage is very much required to achieve the goal of the team.
Example of storming
The end of first year and the beginning of second year in college one can observe this storming. The students tend to get violent, they fight with each other, gossip about each other and they become expressive about others flaw. They do not want a common leader among them; the class would be divided into groups where each group would recommend a different leader for a class. There would be a group who would never cooperate with any leader. This is a very important stage because without this stage one cannot reach the next productive stages. Even in hostels, in second year the students start to fight with one another and try to change their rooms. This process would go on till they reach the next stage of norming.
Norming
Norming is a stage of acceptance of the group dynamics. The group tries to understand one another and accept the common goal. They accept their team leader and start to work responsibly under the guidance of the leader. This is more of a training stage where the group learns to work together. In any work atmosphere it is in this stage where the work is assessed by the leader. The team would achieve the basic work requirements at this stage. The individuals in a team try to understand the meaning of interdependence and try to work on it. If this stage goes successfully then the team would reach the next stage of greater performance.
Example for norming stage
In the later point of second year the students would start to accept one another and start to develop the oneness. They consider them belonging to a community and express their togetherness. Their fights reduce and their understanding for one another grows. In hostel atmosphere the roommates understand each other there is no more change of rooms. Acceptance grows among the roommates.
Performing
Performing is the stage where the benefit of team building is reaped. The team begins to perform the best to achieve even sometimes greater than the actual target. There is no more internal or external conflicts they start to perform together accepting and cooperating with their leader to achieve their goal. They even compete with other groups to prove that they are the best. It is only in this stage they become interdependent on each other. They understand that being interdependent is the key to success. More the team gets along with each other Innovation becomes a part of the performance.
Example for performing stage
We can see this in the end of third year where students are more united and they compete with other classes and show that they are the better lot. They become more close to one another. Even if there are conflicts they are resolved with the help of one another. They develop an attachment and they start to relish their college days. Some even get worried that college days are coming to an end. The group starts to participate in competitions and the whole lot gets proud on winning the same. This is the most pleasurable stage in college
Adjourning
This is the final stage where the team after achieving its purpose needs to be dissolved. This stage is a new addition made in Tuckerman model by Ann Mary Jenson. This holds good for companies which works as temporary teams for short term project. Even long term projects also holds good however their performing stage has a quite long duration. In a typical work atmosphere a team is dissolved and the members are used to form various other groups. These groups go through all the above process.
Example for Adjourning stage
The final year especially the final semester of college where the students start to plan for their future is the typical example for this stage. They get engrossed with campus interviews, placements and higher studies. The group gradually begins to dissolve by itself. Also the knowledge of parting each other is considered painful however planning for their future makes it easy for them to get over it. The same is applicable for hostel mates.
Conclusion
The knowledge about these stages would help the team members and team leader to form a group at a faster pace as well as achieve a greater level of performance. In addition to tuckman many others contributed changes to the model however Tuckman's model has been universally accepted in group formation or development. The knowledge on this model gives more acceptance on the current system of team work. This group development model emphasizes that any team traverses through all four productive stages forming, storming, norming, performing by slowly developing their nature from being dependent to independent to interdependent. Being interdependent is always helpful in personal and every other aspect of life. However achieving it requires lot of work. Group development is one way of attaining this interdependence in groups. Moreover being in an era of desk job and team work this knowledge on group formation also seems to be inevitable.