Organizational team-work in the view of five stages of group development

Teamwork in organizations

An effective teamwork provides an opportunity to move together and establish a common ground for the completion of specific objectives of an organization. Some of the critical ingredients of effective teamwork are empathy, appreciation and encouragement. 

Alcorn, (2006) provides a definition of a team which defines a team as "work done by several associates, with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole". In other words, Team is a collective whole of people that work together so that they are more productive.

Most of the today's organizations are moving towards enhancing the group development & building the team work concept. This is enabling such organizations to grab a better market place among their competitors. Individual decision making has taken a back stage and team management approach for problem solving and decision making has come in front as it is more productive for the enterprises. This strategy benefits not only the organization, but also the individual employee, which is why businesses have quickly adopted it.    

Tuckman stages of group development

Tuckman, (1965) developed a four staged theory of team building and called it "Tuckman's stages". According to his research findings, if any team wants to deliver high quality results than these four stages are inevitable for  the team members. In 1977, Tuckman jointly with Mary Ann Jensen , added a fifth stage called "Adjourning". 

He emphasized that these five stages need not always be strictly followed one after the other. During the first two stages it is about social emotional tasks. Stage three and four are more focused on task-oriented activities. 

1. Forming 

This is where a new team has to be organized and is therefore concerned with orientation; what kind of people are in the team and what are their tasks? Team members will share information about their backgrounds and experiences. Further, they'll learn about the objective they will be working on and will understand the roles to be played individually. They'll still look for a team leader for guidance. So it is leader's duty to give a clear picture of the task to be achieved and explain the team members regarding the required individual contribution from each one of them. The team leader should ensure that all of the members are involved in determining team roles and responsibilities and he or she should work with the team to help them establish how they'll work together. 

     2. Storming

In this stage the team members start to work together. They'll compete with each other for status and for acceptance of their ideas. Through this stage they'll learn how to solve problems together, how to function both together and independently & how to settle into roles and responsibilities on the team with the guidance of their leader. Leader should facilitate his team members to ensure that they will learn to listen each other and respect their differences and ides. At this stage, the team leader will start transferring some decision making to the team to allow them to become more independent but remain active in resolving any disputes as quickly as possible. Teams which comprised team members who are professionally immature will face difficulties in going through this stage. 

     3. Norming

Team members are beginning to work more effectively as a team. They will not longer focus on their individual goals, but will develop a way of working together. In this stage the team has agreed on their team rules for working together, how they will share information and resolve the team conflict, and what procedures they'll follow to get the task completed. Team members will trust each other and seek each others assistance. The team leaders responsibility will get little less in this stage as he may not be involved in decision making and solving problems like in previous stages since the team members are working better together and able to take more responsibilities. However, the team leader may involve in to move along if the team gets stuck.

    4. Performing

The team will perform in a very high level as a unit and the energy of the group will benefit the task. All team members will work together towards achieving the goals and the objectives as they know exactly what is expected. As the team members will work more effectively and will not require an oversight like the other stages, the team leader will not involve in decision making, problem solving or any other activity. He'll monitor the progress of the team and celebrate the milestones. Not every team make it to this level of team growth and even in this stage some teams may step back to previous stages due to the changes of the team members.

    5. Adjourning 

This is where the task is coming to an end with a success and team members are moving off to different directions. The team leader should ensure there is time for the team to celebrate the success. Further, this will enable the team members to say good-bye to each other and wish each other luck for their future endeavor.  

     

 

Reference

Maples, M. F. (1988). Group development: Extending Tuckman’s theory. Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 13(1), 17-23.

Mulder, P. (2013). Tuckman stages of group development. Retrieved 01/12/19 from toolshero: https://www.toolshero.com/management/tuckman-stages-of-group-development/

Plowman, N. (2011). The five stages of team development. Bright Hub Project Management. Retrieved from http://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-management/101626-the-five-stages-of-team-development/

Tuckman, B. W. (1965), Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychol. Bull. 63:384-99.

Tuckman, B. W., Abry, D. A., Adams, M. P., & Smith, D. R. (2007). Learning and motivation strategies: Your guide to success. Prentice Hall.