A team is a “specific type of group composed of members who are interdependent who share common goals, and who must coordinate their activities to accomplish those goals” (Northhouse , 2012 p. 287). Just about any situation can benefit from teamwork. Most of us have had the opportunity to participate in group projects here in Penn State or at work. Tuckman’s model (Tuckman & Jensen, 1977) explains “ that as the team develops maturity and ability, relationships establish, and the leader changes leadership style. Beginning with a directing style, moving through coaching, then participating, finishing delegating and almost detached.” (Businessballs.com)
In my Pyschology 281 class, it was interesting to note how these stages played out in one of my group projects.
Forming is characterized by information gathering about fellow members. (PSU, WC, L.9, p.4) This is the process when members are orienting themselves with polite introductions. At the beginning of the group project, the team members sent emails with everyone acquainting with each other. Here group members got a chance to say about themselves, what they liked to do and what their schedules were.
Storming is characterized by group conflicts. This is the stage that marks the end of polite introduction. Due to technical difficulties that arose with the portal some team members did not know which team they had been assigned so a little bit of time that could have been used for forming by all team members was lost. This resulted in some team members not communicating with the teams that they had been assigned to, or others taking advantage of the situation and not communicating at all.
Norming is seen in the emergence of a leader and development of group norms. This is when unity develops and standards of dealing with conflicts are addressed. At this point one of the team members initiated how the roles would be established thus the emerging of a leader was seen. The communication issue was resolved from an email from the instructor that urged those who had not initiated their first communication to do so or they would be penalized. At this point those who had not communicated did so and the team was ready to move on with the project. It is important to note that even though this was an external force that caused the conflict it still affected the team’s ability to move on with the project on time.
We agreed on email as the mode of communication to be used. “Continuous communication is regarded as not only acceptable but also desirable because it helps the team achieve results it might not attain otherwise” (Muchinksy, 2012, p.284).
Performing is the point where the group moves from forming and organizing and assigning roles to the team members. At this point each team member worked on their particular part of the project which was combined into the final product by one of the team members.
Adjourning is the period when the group disbands. This is when the project ends or adjourns when there arises a conflict resulting in a goal not reached. At the end of the project our group formally ended.
References:
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2014). PSYCH 485 Lesson 9:
Leadership in Work Settings. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp14/psych485/002/content/09_lesson/04_page.html
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage.
Muchinsky, P.M. (2012). Psychology applied to work (10th ed.). Summerfield, NC: Hypergraphic Press
Bruce Tuckman’s 1965 Forming Storming Norming Performing team-development model retrieved from http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm
Jason Perrin says
It is amazing how accurate Tuckman’s Four Stages of Team Development are. I have two examples. When I went to my first leadership class for the military I was forced (along with everyone else in the class) into a group setting. It was a 6 week class. The first two weeks, we were in the forming stage. We all received basic information about everyone and started to learn how class was to operate. We then entered the storming stage. “The second stage, storming, is characterized by group conflict. This is when group members decide how the task will be accomplished. There is often some disagreement about how to proceed” (PSUWC, 2014, L. 9, p. 4). Unfortunately in this scenario, we never really left the storming stage. The disagreements on how to accomplish tasks never got settled. Thankfully everyone passed the class. The second example I have is when we actually got through every stage. It was actually my second leadership class I went to. We formed as always. But this time, we stormed for only a short time. The storming came from different leadership perspectives. But this time it was a good thing as it brought different ideas to the table. Leaders emerged in the norming stage and finally, by the end of this 8-week class, my team began performing.
Reference
Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2014). PSYCH 485. Lesson 9: Team Leadership. Retrieved on April 14, 2014 from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp14/psych485/001/content/09_lesson/01_page.html.