Tuckmans model for Team Development

Abstract

In every project the executing team plays an important role. In 1965, the American psychologist Bruce Tuckman introduced his model for group development. This model consists of 4 stages: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. Tuckman suggested that teams will need to go through all of those stages within a project to grow together and be successful. . With his ideas, Tuckman set the basis for the research on group development and the related activities and processes.

According to the inventor, every phase is defined by certain characteristics and a set of activities that should be performed in order to move on. This translates directly to the role of the project manager, who is responsible for guidance, group development and eventually the success of the project itself .

The Forming phase is characterised by orientation. The group members get to know each other, set goals, a timeline, and a structure. In the Storming stage first problems appear and frustration levels increase. The Norming phase then overlaps with the previous Storming stage. Within this phase, group members become aware of their peers’ strengths and start to value them. Productivity levels typically rise during Norming. Performing is the last of the 4 initial stages. It is about facing the challenges of the project and performing the actual tasks.

Even though Tuckman’s model of group development certainly has evolved over time, it is still relevant today . However, it has been subject to various changes and additions over the last decades. This article will focus especially on those adaptations and evolution and explain the differences, as well as application possibilities.

Introduction

Bruce W. Tuckman

Tuckman's basic Model

Bruce W. Tuckman introduced his model for group development in his article "Developmental Sequence in Small Groups" published in the Psychological Bulletin in 1965. The model consists of four stages that newly created groups tipically go through. The stages are called Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. All of those have certain characteristics, challenges and tasks.

How well a group can manage these challenges can determine the success and the efficiency of the project. The project manager plays a vital role in this environment by guiding and leading the team throughout the stages.

Forming

The first stage in Tuckman's model is called Forming, which marks the start of the development of a team. Forming is characterized by orientation and uncertainty. The members do not fully know the task and the other members at this point. The key in this stage is therefore to identify the assignment and the challenges, as well as set up guidelines and boundaries for the group. Within the orientation process, both interpersonal, as well as professional and task-related acclimatization occurrs to familiriaze with group and project. In his paper Tuckman initially called this stage "Testing and Dependance", which highlights the orientational character of this early phase.

The main activity for project managers on a social level is to establish relationships with the single members and form a culture of acceptance and creativity in the group. He also needs to identify professional strengths and skills of his team members in order to be able to assign tasks in the further process.

Storming

The second stage is called Storming. This is the point in time, when the first problems arrise within the group. Tuckman labelled this phase as "Intragroup Conflict". The key aspects are centered around personality issues and emotional responses. Team members usually take on different opinions about the future process of the group and develop personal issues. The root cause of the ocurring problmes lies partly within the uncertainty already described in phase 1. Other factors are differences in personality and behaviour.

This resistance against the team structure is normal in the development, but needs to be adressed. The project manager has therefore an important role in the Storming phase. He needs to show strong leadership and answer with posistivity to the emotional conflicts. Another part of his job is to match the people and their respective roles within the organization. This can already solve conflicts by setting responsibilities.

Norming

After the disharmony of the Storming, the team develops a sense of unity and cohesion in Norming. "Group Cohesion" as it was called by Tuckman is reached by a common goal that the team members are perceiving. In order to increase the performance and reach their objectives, the participants agree on norms and set up roles within the group. Personal discrepancies are put aside to ensure a succesful operation and therefore hostility displaces the perviously tense and emotional atmosphere.

Project managers should seek to maintain the positivity in this stage and encourage their team members to form bonds and friendships, as well as increase communication and interaction. In case negative feelings or issues appear, the project manager should intervene immediately to ensure the success of the project.

Performing

The last of Tuckman's initial four stages is called Performing and the group structure is characterized by Functional Role-Relatedness. The phase is best described as a mixture between functionality and professionality. The team members have found their roles within the group and execute them according to their individual tasks, which leads to rising performance levels. It is essential that the participants provide support for each other, especially in a professional, work-related level to help others sucesfully execute their jobs.

The project manager has to monitor the group and its performance in this phase, be aware of negative influences and otherwise try to reduce external influences. The team should execute the project naturally and with as few interventions as possible.

Extended model

In 1977 Bruce Tuckman reviewed his own model together with Mary Ann Conover Jensen, a doctoral candidate in counselling psychology. They analyzed additional literature regarding the model and the topic of group formation. They published their results under the title "Stages of Small-Group Development Revisited" in Group & Organization Studies in december 1977.

They identified a fifth stage thorugh their research and review, which extends the model in the end. The new stage is called Adjourning and provides an additional step in the formation of a group.

Adaptations

There have been various evolutions of Tuckman's initial model. Some of them will be presented in the following.

Application

While Tuckman developed the theoretical model of group development, the practical takeaways might differ. Some of the application possibilities, difficulties, issues, and potentials will be displayed in the following.

Bibliography

Susan L. Adams & Vittal Anantatmula (2010): "Social and Behavioral Influences on Team Process" in Project Management Journal 41 (4)

Adams and Anantatmula link the role of the project manager to the different stages of Tuckman's model very clearly. While they mainly use a slightly different model for the team development, they always refer back to Tuckman. Their research highlights the importance of the project manager within the group context and therefore also the role of Tuckman's model within a project management framework.

Kate Cassidy (2006): "Tuckman Revisited: Proposing a New Model of Group Development for Practitioners" in Journal of Experiential Education 29 (3)

This article describes an adaptation of Tuckman's model from a more practical perspective. While it uses the model from 1965 as a basis, it describes several additional strategies to implement and use it in an actual practical context.

Denise A. Bonebright (2010): "40 years of storming: a historical review of Tuckman's model of small group development" in Human Resource Development International 13 (1)

Provides a very good and detailed overview of the history of the model and how it became the scientific standard.

Tudor Rickards (2002): "Creative Leadership Processes in Project Team Development: An Alternative to Tuckman's Stage Model" in British Journal of Management 11 (4)

Rickards uses Tuckman's model to implement his own ideas and solve some challenges within the structure.

Russel Haines (2014): "Group development in virtual teams: An experimental reexamination" in Computers in Human Behavior 39

Especially in the context of the global pandemic 2020/2021, virtual teams become more and more important in the economic work. Haines describes problems that arise in this context and how Tuckman's model has to be modified to deal with those.