Five Stages Of Team Development Suggested By TUCKMAN

Discuss about the Five Stages of Team Development Suggested by TUCKMAN.

Team building is a group of people working for a single thing with cooperation with each other and moving to achieve some success. However, during the process, the team undergoes various stages and they are expected to cross those stages successfully in order to achieve their goals (Raes et. al. 2015).The paper discusses about the TUCKMAN stages of team development to evaluate the stages the team worked through these stages while preparing the report. Further, it illustrates on the three professional objectives of the group such as the time management, effective communication building with the audience and successful interaction within the group. Further, it shows the use of these objectives in our group activity.

Team is not a static phenomenon, as it needs to pass through various stages of self-development as well as team development. The members of the team need to learn continuously in order to operate effectively within the changing environment. Each stages of team development process in crucial and interlinked with one another. The members of the team moves from one stage to another and on completion get to know their skills and areas they are lacking. TUCKMAN has suggested five stages of team making process such as forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Each of these stages is important as one wants to the team to develop through the period. This also helps to know the way the team has helped in dealing with the challenges, problems and found the solution to deliver effective results (Scherrer et. al. 2016).

The development of a team or a group is a natural phenomenon and applies to all cultures and environment. Human beings desire to form a group while undertaking any activity so that they can develop solutions easily to cope up with the challenges faced by the team or any individual in the team. Group processes are based on values offering stages of group progress through which each member can develop their functioning in a group (Humphrey and Aime 2014). The five stages suggested by TUCKMAN group development model are discussed below:

The initial stage of group development is forming that is features as relying. Here the members of the group depend on their leaders for suggestions and direction. The members of the group seek the choice of the group leader to accept them in the team in order to work successfully. After the group formation, the members try to keep the rules of the team simple and acceptable. It is the stage where the team meets to discuss about the task they are going to deal with and the goals of doing it. In this stage the team members work in together to form the task and try to show their best behavior and capability. However, they are too focused on their individual needs and benefits. The matured members tend to succeed faster on behavior motive than the less matured members. Further, there the surroundings of the place where the meeting takes pace also affects the team members’ behavior. The surrounding of the meeting environment also alters the actions of the team members and plays an important role in this initial phase of team building. If the environment is too friendly and easily adaptable then the team members will easily gel up with each other. Finally, the team needs to decide the task they will do to move to next stage and avoid conflicts regarding any topic (Betts and Healy 2015).

Forming

It is a stage after the formation of the group and decision of the group members’ actions. In this stage, the team member after analyzing the behavior of their fellow mates can raise their voice if someone is trying to dominate or escapes from doing a task. They can also question the decision taken by the team leader without consulting the other members. This stage requires the team to solve all types of problems and disagreements they are facing in their group in order to move successfully with their goals and topic. However, in this stage it is also realize that there is a scope of reentering in case there are some clashes arising in the later stages of team building. On the other hand, there are also cases where the teams are so supportive that they directly jumps from stage one to stage two. Thus, this shows that the effect and duration of the storming stage varies from one group to another. The team must first analyze the tolerance level of their members to question them in the storming stage as teams that lack patience fail to succeed in future. Thus, in the end of this phase each member will be able to understand each other and participate in the teamwork more comfortably (Woodcock 2017).

The next phase where the team enters after crossing the storming stage successfully is the norming stage. This stage displays the spirit of the team to work together after solving all the clashes. Coming to this stage is only possible if each member of the team realize the importance of competition that it might face in order to succeed unexpectedly (Heinz, K., 2014). Thus, this stage makes it visible the efforts that the team is putting to achieve their goals and the ambitious motive they hold. The realization of the amount of competition from other teams makes them tolerate everything and work with zeal to succeed. Moreover, this stage is witnessed by a free flow of data in the group without any hindrances. There is a feeling of openness and sharing between group members as they work for the betterment of the team as a whole. However, this phase is also backed up by the sense of fear of untying among the group members (Putnam 2014). Thus, this might stop them from taking up any changes.

This stage is the fourth stage that a team might gain after crossing the other three stages successfully. It is seen that if the team is able to reach this stage then they there is a strong bond in the team and they were able to resolve all kinds of clashes. In this stage, teams are interdependent on each other for all their activities and prefer taking each other’s view before pursuing with a task (Yang 2014). Along with this, they also support each other’s view and this enables them to move faster with the team task. Thus, this shows that this stage helps in the development of personal relationships along with effective problem solving capabilities. The people are now become more leaned towards task and people of the team. There is an evident development of unity in the team with high group identity, moral and loyalty. Group moral and loyalty is one positive factor embedded in team that allows the team to perform better and stand out from other competing teams. Thus, it is seen that stage four allows the members to show their performance on the task with the team spirit that they have developed while crossing the other stages.

Storming

A team achieves this final stage after successful completion of other stages. The final stage adjourning is the time when the team separates after completion of task. This is the time when all the team members separate themselves from the task behavior and from any kind of relationships with the task members. This is the concluding stage as all the activities get over after performing the task. However, it might lead to some apprehension about the group or the task. It is also a regression stage where there is termination of group control as well as group inclusion. Thus, it is the finalize stage where all the work related to the task is completed and the group members departs from the group and their responsibility. This stage is also not approachable easily by a group as they need to cross the first three phase successfully and perform the task effectively to reach to the final stage. However, it might happen that the group, which fails to achieve stage 3 directly, separates from their teammates and comes to stage five of adjourning (Griffith and Yombo 2015).

Thus, from the above discussion it is seen that the five stages group development model suggested by TUCKMAN is very effective in evaluating the stages of growth in a team.

Manage the use of time and other resources to complete project

Table 1: Time management for boat, flag and logo building and social club

Source: (Taylan et. al. 2014, Maier, and Branzei 2014)

It is vital to develop a proper idea, build connection and extension with the audience. Identifying the needs of the audience is the most fundamental element in communicating with them. It is necessary to consider the requirements and needs of the audience in achieving the optimal effect. Interaction with the help of various presentation formats also helps in building connection with the audience. It is important to adapt the existing presentation styles to fulfill the needs of the new audience. Using proper vocabulary and the terms appropriately and correctly will also help us to develop good relationship with the audience. Simple and lucid language must be used while communicating with the audience so that it becomes easy for them to understand the basis of their interaction i.e. building a boat, social activities, making a logo and joining the social club (Stock Mahoney and Carney 2013). It is necessary to adapt a particular style, vocabulary and tone while communicating with the new targeted audience for joining the social club. One should not use jargons and it must be assumed that others understand the theme or the subject very easily. It is vital to select the best method in building the boat or making a logo so that they properly understand it. We also asked questions to the audience to check their level of understanding and also explain it in different ways if they failed to answer them. The audience must also be encouraged to exchange their views and ideas and sometimes even address the small and unpopular issues in an assertive way (Levi 2015). The most vital aspect of effective communication is to think before speaking out in the public. This will help to convey the idea concisely and it will also be easier for the audience to follow them. Providing correct and necessary supporting information while communicating with the audience is important in this aspect.  By using varied social contexts with different expectations related to the communication style, it is important to stay focused on the particular topic and communicate with the audience. Thus, it is important to communicate in a strategic direction with the audience (Wood et. al. 2014)  

Norming

Effective communication within the team members will help in the creation of healthy work relationship. It will be easier to communicate how we feel about the team or communicate the passion via open meetings. This is considered as one of the best approach of communicating with the team members.  The team members shared their ideas and viewpoints in the open meetings and this helped in the successful implementation of the project such as making a logo, building the boat and engaging in various social activities. Moreover, the team members were also encouraged through formal and informal team activities in all these social activities. The leaders arranged team outings which encouraged the team members to feel a part of the team and thus develop a good relationship with the team mates. We also rewarded the team members who made excellent contribution in building the boat, making the logo or engaging themselves in varied social activities. It is also important to demonstrate to the team members that we are accountable to them by being responsible and reliable (Dyer and Dyer 2013). Each one of us should try to be a role model by doing the best possible work always and at all times. This will help in developing the trust among the team members. It is also vital to look at the positive side and recognize the team work. Moreover, it is also vital to listen to the team members what they say about others and the project in a non-judgmental manner. The most vital element that is important and essential while working in team is developing mutual respect within the members. Everyone in the team must be treated equally and this will help in maintaining proper relationship with others as well as help to complete these projects completely. Active listening skills must also be developed within the team members and this will help in the successful implementation in building the boat, engaging in various social activities or making a logo. Regular contact and communication with the team members is important to maintain proper relationship (Miller 2015).

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that team building is not an easy task. Various types of problems and steps need to be dealt successfully in order to be an effective team. The team development model recommended by TUCMAN is very true in the real life teamwork. There are these five stages of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning which a team needs to cross in order to come up with the best task. However, a team also needs to manage the time of the work, maintain perfect team interaction and creation of affective work relationship.

References

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