Teamwork is an essential aspect of every corporation. For a team to be productive, the team members must be capable of working collaboratively to interject to the collective objectives of the team (Peralta et al. 2018). However, this collaborative effort of teamwork does not occur automatically, since the team must go through definitive phases of development as the team learns to work together. The method of learning to work collaboratively is referred to as team development (Peralta et al. 2018). In 1965 Bruce Tuckman formulated a four-stage development protocol that majority teams pursue to achieve high functioning. Tuckman later updated the stages to five in 1970. Tuckman called the stages: forming, storming, norming and adjourning each stage with its own characteristics. According to Black et al. (2019), Tuckman’s concept expounds explicates that as the team acquires ability and maturity, relationships develop, and the leader transforms his style of leadership. The leader shifts from a directing style of leadership, to coaching, participating, finishing delegating and almost unattached. At this stage, the team may come up with a new leader to take over while the previous leader can go on to form a new team. Hence, the paper discusses the stages of Tuckman’s team development and the characteristics of each stage.
Forming
In Tuckman’s concept, this is the first phase of team development. In the stage, all the rules, expectations, objectives and guidelines are discussed. In the forming stage, members of a team are wholly focused in to deliver the expectations bestowed on them based on their responsibilities, while the leader directs all this information (Black et al. 2019). For a team to achieve success in this stage, the leader needs to be coherent, and to the point, with the information, he or she is dispensing to the group and should be ready to answer questions or concerns raised by team members (Largent, 2016). Typically the forming stage lasts one meeting; however, in some circumstances, it can take a few days. The leader discusses the roles of individual group members while the members start growing into their roles. The leader and team members must comprehend their team members, their roles, and to build a connection between themselves. A challenge that may be encountered in this stage is lack of adequate time to learn each team member and their roles.
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Storming
In the storming phase, the team members are past overly the politeness and nervous attitudes towards the members of the team as they have been capable of working together for some time (Black et al. 2019). Besides, the team members have been able to form a more informal or professional relationship with each other. During this phase, members start to share views about what the team need to engage in and how to participate in the activities as each team member competes for consideration. Team members begin to confront and counter each other’s perception and ideas. According to Black et al. (2019), the storming stage is a rough stage for leaders, since tempers may be high and members who are opposed to the conflict may find this stage very difficult to endure. For the team to be successful in this stage, it is critical to solving any conflict that may arise at any cost and motivate each other. Patience and consideration for each team member and their perceptions are key to resolving disputes to avoid the team getting stuck and unable to achieve its objective.
The Norming Stage
In this stage, it implies the team has weathered the storm of the storming phases, and the team has identified its purpose and strategy of achieving its objective. The stage is considered almost home base (Black et al. 2019). In the stage, the team members have already put forward their worth to achieving the team’s objective, and the team is now ready to work as a group collectively. The team members begin to appreciate each other’s efforts, strengths and limitations. The norming stage at times coincides with the storming phase, as the leader and members solve conflicts and disputes between them and learn to settle their differences in a more prudent way. For the team to be successful in this stage, the leader needs to identify the mentoring needs of each team member (Black et al. 2019). The leader should also make it possible for the members to have a wider scope of practice in which the members can come up with solutions to their challenges. However, the leader may find it difficult to enable some group members to expand within their stipulated roles and coach them into accepting the elements considered in designating their roles.
Performing
Performing is the fourth stage. The stage occurs after norms have been developed, and the team is operating as a group. At this phase, the teamwork collaboratively on interdependent tasks and the members can communicate and coordinate efficiently (Black et al. 2019). The stage can be described by the allegory of the cog and wheel, whereby provided all the spokes are effectively functioning, with some slight glitches, the cog will still power ahead. Largent (2016) states that, playful work banter occurs at this stage without creating any animosity between the team. The successful feature of this stage to know to do you best, motivate other members of the team to efficient play their roles, and allow each member to feel their contribution to the team is acknowledged. In this phase, some group members may be dissatisfied with the work ethic of some members; however, it is at this stage that most of the success of the group is achieved.
Tuckman included the adjourning stage to his updated development model. Conferring to Black et al. (2019), in this stage, most of the team’s objectives have been accomplished, and the much focus is on finalizing final duties and documenting the results. Members of the group may be reassigned to other teams, and the team disbanded.
In conclusion, during the whole process of team development, members of the team can transform into methods of learning adaptability, skills, and enhance their work ethic. The transformations are positive for team members, and they can build upon them as they climb the industrial ladder to new and exciting positions.
Reference
Black, S., Gardner, D. G., Pierce, J. L., & Steers, R. (2019). Team Development Over Time. Organizational Behavior .
Largent, D. L. (2016). Measuring and understanding team development by capturing self-assessed enthusiasm and skill levels. ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE) , 16 (2), 1-27.
Peralta, C. F., Lourenço, P. R., Lopes, P. N., Baptista, C., & Pais, L. (2018). Team development: Definition, measurement and relationships with team effectiveness. Human Performance , 31 (2), 97-124.
