Applying Tuckmans model for team development

Abstract

A team can be defined as a group of people or individuals who work together to achieve a common goal. This is defined by Professor Thomson of the Kellog School of management in the book “making the team – A guide for manager” here it is stated that “"[a] team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to information, resources, knowledge and skills and who seek to combine their efforts to achieve a common goal". [1]

Which makes it quite different from a group if you compare it to something more mundane. A football team is a team working together to a common goal. It is individuals who are interdependent, this means that the work needs to be a joint effort and synergy effects emerge. Whereas groups are individuals who are put together in different groups, here they exchange information to achieve a specific goal, which has been explained based on Robbins and Judge (2009). [2] Therefore, it is clear on who did what and the result is the sum of the work of everyone.

When a team is formed it goes through a maturity stages which can be described with the Tuckman’s model, also known as the “Form-Storm-Norm-Perform" (FNSP)-model which was introduced and determined in 1956 by Bennis, Shepard and Tuckman. [3]

The Tuckman’s can easily be applied to crack the code of understanding how teams behave and what to expect during the process, from the beginning of forming the team the thoughts and work that goes through before they can reach a high-level performance and until the end where they reach their common goal. Teamwork is not something that can be forced, it needs the time to evolve to get to its full potential and this can only be done by letting the team members get to know each other better and go from strangers to co-workers, which makes the work more effective at the end, due to the mutual understanding and respect.