Stages of Team Development
(Tuckman)

Identifying factors that are critical for building and developing teams. Explanation of the Stages of Team Development of Bruce Tuckman. ('65)




  

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Tuckman Stages of Team Development

What are the Stages of Team Development? Description

The Tuckman Stages of Team Development can be used for identifying factors that are critical for building and developing small groups.

Tuckman's Stages of Team Development model seeks to explain how a team develops over time. The five stages of development are: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. The Adjourning stage was added later in 1977. According to Tuckman, all of the phases are necessary and inevitable - in order for the team to grow, to face up to challenges, to tackle problems, to find solutions, to plan work, and to deliver results.
 

Origin of the Stages of Team Development. History

Bruce Wayne Tuckman (1938- ) published in 1965 a short article "Developmental Sequence in Small Groups". In 1977, he added the fifth stage: Adjourning (Stages of Small Group Development Revisited). The model of group became influential in group development theory, partly thanks to its rhyme.

 

Usage of Tuckman's Stages of Team Development. Applications

  • Build and develop teams.
  • Analyze the behavior of teams.

the Stages of Team Development. Process

  1. Forming. Project team initiation phase.
    • Project Team is initially concerned with orientation, accomplished primarily through testing. Such testing serves to identify the boundaries of both interpersonal and task behaviors. Coincident with testing in the interpersonal realm is the establishment of dependency relationships with leaders, other group members, or pre‑existing standards.
    • Team Members behave quite independently. They may be motivated but are usually relatively uninformed of the issues and objectives of the team. Some team members may display traits of uncertainty and anxiety.
    • Project Manager must bring the team together, ensuring that they trust each other and have the ability to develop a working relationship. Directing or "telling" style. Sharing the concept of "Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing" with the team can be helpful.
  2. Storming. Various ideas compete, often fiercely, for consideration.
    • Project Team gains confidence, but there is conflict and polarization around interpersonal issues
    • Team Members are showing their own personalities as they confront each other's ideas and perspectives. Frustration or disagreements about goals, expectations, roles and responsibilities is being expressed openly.
    • Project Manager guides the project team through this turbulent transition phase. Coaching style. Tolerance of each team member and their differences needs to be emphasized.
  3. Norming. Rules, values, behavior, methods, tools are being established.
    • Project Team effectiveness increases and the team starts to develop an identity.
    • Team Members adjust their behavior to each other as they develop agreements to make the teamwork more natural and fluid. Conscious effort to resolve problems and to achieve group harmony. Motivation levels are increasing.
    • Project Manager allows the team to become much more autonomous. Participative style.
  4. Performing. The interpersonal structure becomes the tool of task activities. Roles become flexible and functional, and group energy is channeled into the task.
    • Project Team is now able to function as a unit. It gets the job done smoothly and effectively without inappropriate conflict or the need for external supervision.
    • Team Members have a clear understanding of what is required of them at a task level. They are now competent, autonomous and able to handle the decision-making process without supervision. A "can do" attitude is visible. Offers to assist one another are made.
    • Project Manager lets the team make most of the necessary decisions. Delegating style.
  5. Adjourning. The tasks are being completed and the team is disassembled.
    • Project Team. Some authors describe stage 5 as "Deforming and Mourning", recognizing the sense of loss felt by group members.
    • Team Members' motivation levels can decline as uncertainty about the future begins to set in.
    • Project Manager: Good point to introduce new projects in order to recommence the forming stage of team development. Detaching style.

Strengths of the Stages of Team Development model. Benefits

  • Provides a level of guidance for team development.

Limitations of the Stages of Team Development framework. Disadvantages

  • Note that the model was designed to describe stages in small groups.
  • In reality, group processes may not be as linear as Tuckman describes them, but rather cyclical.
  • Characteristics for each stage are not set in stone, and as the model deals with human behavior, it is sometimes unclear when a team has moved from one stage to another. There may be overlap between the stages.
  • The model does not take account of the individual roles that team members will have to undertake. Compare: Belbin Team Roles
  • There is no guidance on the timeframe for moving from one stage to another. This is a subjective as opposed to an objective model.

 

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Recent User Comments
 - Uganda Relationship Btn Team Development, Management Styles and Leadership Styles "What is the relationship between team development, management styles and leadership styles?"    0
 - Canada Teams - Going from stuck to unstuck "I am interested in understanding how to move a project team forward from what I call being "stuck" - not sure about the way forward to becoming "unstuck" - getting clarity on the way ahead. Any suggestions as to team activities or process to break the inertia?"    0
Oscar - USA Diverse Team Building "DIVERSE (cross-functional, multidisciplinary, multicultural) TEAMS can be very creative and perform extraordinary well. At the same time, achieving a fit or “interpersonal congruence” among team members of diverse teams requires unconventional team building activities. Interpersonal congruence is the degree to which members’ appraisals of one another are similar to their self-assessments on dimensions relevant to team functioning. Sharing honest 360-degree feedback can be useful to correct inaccurate perceptions and adjust behavior and self-assessments (source: Jeffrey T. Polzer in HBR Jul/Aug 2008)."    1
Rolf - US Team Types "Is Tuckman's model valid across various types of small teams, such as project teams, program teams, sport teams, work teams or even management teams?"    -2
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Stages of Team Development Education & Events


 

Compare with the Tuckman Stages of Team Development: Team Management Profile  |  Belbin Team Roles  |  PMBOK  |  IPMA Competence Baseline (ICB)  |  PAEI  |  Action Learning  |  Appreciative Inquiry  |  Leadership Continuum  |  Situational Leadership  |  Johari Window

 

Return to Management Hub: Change & Organization  |  Human Resources  |  Program & Project Management

 

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Copyright 2009 12manage - The Executive Fast Track. V10.4 - Last updated: 11/21/2009. All names tm by their owners.



  ● benbouazza (morocco) about stage of team development "linearity of Tuckman's model is not realistic.Managing project is too complicated than giving describing stages far from conflict relations between individuals and the job environment. Adjourning stage is negative stage because it doesn't capitalise the experience as a knowledege management for the organisation."
  ● B Abdul Al Barten (UK) Workgroups versus Teams "The Formation process of a team generates a culture which is different from that of the host organisation. Therefore a Program will find itself sub-optimised by cultural conflict between one project and another. A Workgroup approach led by a Facilitator would not develop this cultural split and so not suffer this problem and could be just as efficient."
  ● Mohammed S.AL-Ghamdi-(Sabic) (Saudi) Team Members Involvement "The main thing is to build a real team where all will be invloved and actively participate into the task.The of doing may differ based on the case but it is essential to kkep the same node where all are invloved ."
  ● Clive W (South Africa) Team development "This concept can be seen to work in a stable work environment, or for short term projects. When the labour market / economy is in a state of flux or disarray, staff turnover would continuously disrupt the team's progress? as far as "diverse team building" is concerned : South Africa has 11 official languages with even more cultures and sub-cultures. Providing the team members are tolerant of these ethnic differences a measure of success will be achieved but what of those who are not willing to see past such differences? First world concepts are not easily applied or adapted to third world scenarios. Any comments ?"
  ● PRASAD SN (India) Diverse Team Building "l disagree with Mr Clive. In India, we have over 700+ languages and a variety of social back grounds. But you will find that teams with members from different language and backgrounds always do well as compared to the teams which have members of the same feather.
Uniformity leads to higher levels of 'satisfaction' and the desire to do something different is frowned upon. A level of entropy brings out the creativity readily and in that, members from diverse backgrounds adds spice and quality to the results."
  ● Mamta Wasan (India) Human Resources "This model is just a guide. Human beings and social interactions can be a lot more complicated. This merely helps in getting a better understanding of what is likely to happen when new teams gets formed or even one team member leaves or joins. With this understanding we are better able to allow time and space for teams dynamics to play out and then have expectations of performance in a more realistic manner. Roles may or may not be assigned."
  ●  (India) Tuckmans model "its a continous process of evolution of a team and not discrete events . Well one shoudnt be taking it literally but I have experienced that the model is valid in reasl life situations and the case of adjourning "quoted by one of us as a negtive event" is a necessity. When the Project life cycles have shortened and there is constant pressures of building and rebuilding teams this stage becomes necessary. It helps one shed the perspective of the role played int he earlier project and assume the new one"
  ● Suresh Rigia (USA) Diverse Team Building "A team with diverse backgrounds (cultures, langauages, races, countries, religions..) can work effectively if they are motivated by common goal(s) & their commitment to success of that goal(s). Also unsefishness of individual team memeber will create a team which will have an energy to solve difficult problems."