Group Development - The Tuckman Model

The Big Idea

The Tuckman model

In his article, ‘Developmental Sequence in Small Groups’ from 1965, Bruce Tuckman introduced the phrase ‘forming, storming, norming and performing’ to describe how groups are developed . These four stages of group development were based on Tuckman’s literature review. Tuckman, analysed 50 articles where group development was the main focus. The articles examined included three types of groups: Groups therapy, training groups, and laboratory groups . In his research, Tuckman explains how as the group progresses through the four stages, it changes from being a collection of random individuals to a high performing group - i.e. a group that effectively works together to fulfil its full potential.

Figure 1: Bruce Tuckman’s Group Development Stages, adapted from

Forming

At this first stage, group members start to get acquainted with one another and try to get an understanding of the group’s intended purpose and what they would be expected to do to reach the group’s common goals (p. 376). Because of the level of uncertainty, the forming stage is also “characterized by the emergence of leadership”, where group members rely on a group leader “to define the directions the group will pursue” .

Storming

The storming stage is an important stage to pass through. “The lack of unity is an outstanding feature” and it can make or break the group’s development. As the members start to feel confident in expressing themselves within the group, an inter group conflict starts to emerge due to the different personalities and working styles. The group leader must ensure that the conflict does not get out of hand (p. 376). Group members must use their varying opinions to the group’s advantage to achieve the group’s tasks and goals.

Norming

In the norming stage, the group becomes “a cohesive unit and develop[s] a sense of being as a group”. In fact, Tuckman further stated that “task conflicts are avoided to insure harmony” in the group. In other words, the group is able to resolve their differences, appreciate each other’s strengths and share a stronger determination to achieve the group’s goals.

Performing

In the performing stage, the group develops “a positive interdependence” and a sense of autonomy. This means that if a problem arises, the group members do not specifically have to be instructed by the leader on what to do but they are able to adapt in the roles and take the appropriate decisions themselves in order to overcome the problem constructively. Hence, there are more functional roles within the group and “group energy is channeled into the task” at hand.

Figure 2: Level of effectiveness of the group within each stage adapted from

Adjustments

In 1977, Tuckman and Mary Ann Conover Jensen, who at that time was a PhD student with a background in counselling psychology, carried out a follow-up study - “Stages of small-group development revisited” - in order to find out if anyone had empirically tested the model, modified the model or invented a new model regarding group development in the years since the article came out it 1965. The investigation ended up identifying a fifth stage - adjourning.

Adjourning

The adjourning stage is based on the approach that the development follows a life cycle model view, where the group’s goals have been accomplished and the focus is on completing the final tasks and documenting the efforts and results. In other words, this is the break-up of the group, where group members are reassigned. The group development progress and the level of effectiveness of the group within each stage is visualised in Figure [2].

Application - A practical approach

Even though the Tuckman model was developed 56 years ago, it is well-known and widely used today. It is considered to be a helpful source to understand not only the possible stages within different groups but it allows the group leaders to take practical steps in developing a high-performing group.

In order to depict how the Tuckman model can be applied by a group leader, let us take a scenario where Tom has been asked to lead a major project (adapted from ). He has been assigned five individuals within his department to help him. Tom has a tight deadline to complete the project. Therefore, he must try to be an effective group leader so that together, they would be able to effectively complete the project in time. Tom is familiar with Tuckman’s model of group development. In every stage, we will see how Tom is able to manage the group.

Forming

Tom is aware that this initial stage is represented by “a period of orientation and information”. Consequently, he calls for a kick-off meeting for the project. Before the meeting, Tom ensures that he is well-prepared to answer any questions that the other group members might ask, for example, regarding their roles and the goals they need to achieve. Tom decides to start the meeting by having a tour de table, where every group member (including himself) was able to introduce themselves. After the ice-breaking session, Tom provides information about the project they have been assigned, keeping it as simple as possible and focusing on the objectives they have both as a team and as individuals. As the meeting continues, Tom can see that the group members are more at ease and trusting of his leadership.

Having ticked all the right boxes in this initial stage, the group is able to move onto the storming stage.

Storming

Tom knows that the storming stage is a crucial phase of group development to manage. Although he is content to see that the group members are more vocal about their opinions and ideas during the meetings, Tom begins to notice that disagreements and disputes begin to break out in the group. Anne and Peter have had previous experience in project management, and Peter can see that they are trying to establish themselves in the group and undermine his leadership. Additionally, he also sees that Sophie is not as engaged. Sophie has recently joined the company so Tom thinks that she is feeling insecure to share her opinions with the rest of the team, who seem to be more experienced than her.

Tom remains positive. He decides to create a governance process to ensure that unresolved disputes are not left unchecked but dealt in a professional and non-judgemental way. Tom also reminds the group’s objectives and responsibilities, and establishes short-term milestones to focus their attention on the tasks at hand. At this crucial stage, he also organises meetings with the individual members of the group so that they can share any concerns and opinions.

By exerting his influence and providing direction, Tom reasserts his leadership and the group is brought back on track.

Norming

The group is working well and is fully committed to achieving the project’s goals. Tom can see that the group is not solely dependent on him. He continues to encourage the members of the group to support each other, to ask feedback from one another and to share their knowledge with each other.

Performing

The group has been performing very well and in fact, Tom is also able to step back and focus on other projects and tasks, whilst he delegates the remaining tasks respectively among the group’s members. The group has become high-performing and autonomous and does not require full supervision of the group’s tasks. During a social gathering, Tom thanks all the group members and expressed that the project’s achievements would not have been possible without them. As the most experienced members of the team, Peter and Anne expressed to Tom that they really enjoyed working on the project and it was the most fun they have had in a while on a project.

The project is set to finish on schedule.

Adjourning

The project has been completed on time and all the relevant documentation has been filed. Tom’s boss is very happy with the results. Feeling positive about what the group has achieved, Tom invites the group members to a celebratory dinner to recognize the group’s achievements. Tom and the group members have already been assigned to other projects in the company but they do hope that they get to work together again.

Limitations

Even though the Tuckman group development model is still the most popular model describing group development theory, it is not without its critics.

The first significant limitation of the model is that it “cannot be considered truly representative of small-group development processes”. In fact, the therapy-group setting was the most dominant amongst the group-settings that Tuckman analysed. Cassidy (2007) conducted a study to find out whether Tuckman’s description of group development is applicable to other contexts outside of the therapy-group setting. Cassidy’s findings indicated that although Tuckman’s five stages of group development were able to be applied in the sample of group models she studies, the difference was that conflict did not only appear in the storming stage. In this regard, she considers that the focus should not be to look at conflict as a stage but rather to explore the concerns that drive the conflict. This shift in focus would “integrate the seemingly diverse models found in practitioner literature”.

The Tuckman model was also criticised as being idealised and lacking face validity. Rickards and Moger’s empirical observations reveal that specific teams are more complex than in Tuckman’s simplified model. In fact, another limitation considered by several authors is that the Tuckman model assumes that the groups progress linearly (Agazarian & Gantt, 2003; Connors & Caple, 2005; Miller, 2003; Tubbs, 2004). Furthermore, Rickards and Moger ask two questions, which the Tuckman model failed to address: “what mechanisms are at play when a team fails to achieve expected performance?” and “what mechanisms lead to outstanding performance?”. In other words, under Tuckman’s model, a group can never effectively achieve their goals, if it is unable to progress from the norming to the performing stage.

Researchers, such as Gersick (1989), have also called the Tuckman model into question in its inability to “address mechanisms for change over a group’s lifespan”, including the time it would take for a group to move from one stage to the next. Additionally, Tubbs (2004) suggests that the Tuckman model should be more circular in nature to allow the group to learn from their mistakes and improve as a whole.

Is the model still relevant?

In the age of ‘social distance’, organisations across every sector have shifted their operations to an online setting. Managers have unexpectedly (and in certain cases, without preparation) have had to lead their teams virtually for the first time. The question then arises as to whether the Tuckman and Jensen model (1977) is still applicable to the development of an online group.

Figure 3: A circular approach to Tuckman’s group development model

Whilst Tuckman’s five stages of team development is generally applied to form new groups, it can also be applied to already formed groups that experience change. What may be different today is whereas in the past, we would have waited on our manager to tell us how to get our job done, we tend to work according to the agile movement approach, where once we understand the objective, we tend to self-organise around tasks without the need of waiting on the manager.

As indicated in the limitations section, the Tuckman model is a linear one. When we work remotely, we may encounter challenges: technological issues (e.g. choosing the appropriate platform or tool to have online meetings with your team); building relationships at a slower pace due to a lack of face-to-face communication; learning curve to adapt to the new ways of working and/or to use the online platforms. In this regard, the Tuckman model could be further adapted to be more cyclical. Most often than not, the group needs to adapt their way of working and collaborating with each other (e.g. a new person joins the group or the group receives another strategic direction to consider in their project). Therefore, even when these unexpected circumstances may push back the group down a stage or prolong the group in a particular stage, it does not mean they fail but rather that the group would have to adapt to get back on track to becoming a high-performance group. A representation of the more circular approach to the Tuckman model can be seen in Figure 3. The adjourning model has been excluded from the figure, given the fact that at this stage, the objectives would have been achieved.

Patience, persistence, communication and presence are required to lead virtual teams. To complement these leadership traits, models like the Tuckman group development model can be adapted to allow managers and leaders to build upon existing skills to create a highly successful virtual team.

The application of the Tuckman model has not only shown the importance of leadership in a group setting, but also the importance of delegation when the group is working well and high-performing (at the norming and performing stages). This is also what makes management more effective, that is leaders that are not just focused on how well they perform, but in developing a group of people (a team) that successfully delivers results).

Annotated bibliography

The following list provides resources for further research and study on the Tuckman Model for group development:

• "Hurt, A. C., & Trombley, S. M. (2007). The Punctuated-Tuckman: Towards a New Group Development Model. Online Submission"

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• "Bonebright, D. A. (2010). 40 years of storming: a historical review of Tuckman's model of small group development. Human Resource Development International, 13(1), 111-120. [1]"

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• "Jahng, N. (2012). An investigation of collaboration processes in an online course: How do small groups develop over time?. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 13(4), 1-18."

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