Business 101: Principles of Management

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Managers must be able to recognize and understand group behavior at its various stages. This lesson explains Tuckman's five stages of group development, including forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.

Group Development

Groups are a common arrangement in today's business environments. Any manager who works with or supervises groups should be familiar with how they develop over time. Perhaps the best-known scheme for a group development was advanced by Bruce Tuckman in 1965. Initially, Tuckman identified four stages of group development, which included the stages of forming, storming, norming and performing. A fifth stage was later added by Tuckman about ten years later, which is called adjourning. It is believed that these stages are universal to all teams despite the group's members, purpose, goal, culture, location, demographics and so on.

Forming

The first stage of group development is known as the forming stage. The forming stage represents a time where the group is just starting to come together and is characterized with anxiety and uncertainty. Members are cautious with their behavior, which is driven by the desire to be accepted by all members of the group. Conflict, controversy and personal opinions are avoided even though members are beginning to form impressions of each other and gain an understanding of what the group will do together. Some believe this cautious behavior prevents the group from getting any real work done. However, the focus for group members during the forming stage is to become familiar with each other and their purpose, not on work.

Typical outcomes of the forming stage include things like gaining an understanding of the group's purpose, determining how the team will be organized and who will be responsible for what, discussion of major milestones or phases of the group's goal (including a rough project schedule), outlining general group rules (including when they will meet) and discovery of what resources will be available for the group to use.

Storming

The second stage of group development is known as the storming stage. The storming stage is where conflict and competition are at its greatest. This is because now that group members have an understanding of the task and a general feel for who they are as a group and who group members are, they feel confident and begin to address some of the more important issues surrounding the group. Such issues can relate to things like the group's tasks, individual roles and responsibilities or even with the group members themselves.

The storming stage is where the more dominate of the group members emerge, while other, less confrontational members stay in the comfort and security of suppressing their feelings just as they did in the previous stage. Even though these individuals stay quiet, issues may still exist. All members have an increased need for clarification. Questions surrounding leadership, authority, rules, responsibilities, structure, evaluation criteria and reward systems tend to arise during the storming stage. Such questions must be answered so that the group can move on to the next stage. Consequently, not all groups are able to move past the storming stage.

Norming

Once a group receives the clarity that it so desperately needs, it can move on to the third stage of group development, known as the norming stage. The norming stage is the time where the group becomes a cohesive unit. Morale is high as group members actively acknowledge the talents, skills and experience that each member brings to the group. A sense of community is established and the group remains focused on the group's purpose and goal. Members are flexible, interdependent and trust each other. Leadership is shared, and members are willing to adapt to the needs of the group. Information flows seamlessly and is uninhibited due to the sense of security members feel in the norming stage.

Performing

At its peak, the group moves into the fourth stage of group development, known as the performing stage. The performing stage is marked by high productivity. Group members are unified, loyal and supportive. Competence in all members is seen, allowing for a high level of autonomy in decision making. Problem solving, experimentation and testing possible solutions are high as group members are focused on task completion and achievement. The overall objective of the group during the performing stage is to complete their mission and fulfill their purpose though goal achievement.

Adjourning

All good things must come to an end; and this is also true of groups. After a group has successfully (or unsuccessfully, in some cases) completed their task, they must dissolve or disband from both the task and group members. This adjourning stage is used to wrap up activities of the group and provide a sense of closure to its members. This stage is also a time for reflection and acknowledgement of participation on part of the group members. Some call this stage 'mourning' to symbolize the sense of loss that some group members feel during this regressive stage of group development. The act of recognizing the completion of a goal and consciously moving on can be challenging for some. However, there will certainly be more opportunities to be part of a group in the future, and members should take what they learn from each group that they are part of to aid future groups in the progression towards the performing stage.

Lesson Summary

Let's review. The best known universal scheme for group development was advanced by Bruce Tuckman, which included four stages: forming, storming, norming and performing. A fifth stage was later added called adjourning.

The forming stage represents a time where the group is just getting started and coming together and is characterized with anxiety and uncertainty. Members are cautious with their behavior and avoid conflict, controversy and personal opinions. The focus for group members during the forming stage is to become familiar with each other and their purpose.

The storming stage is where conflict and competition are at its greatest because group members feel confident and begin to address some of the more important issues surrounding the group. During the storming phase, all members have an increased need for clarification before they are able to move on to the next stage.

The norming stage is a time where group members become a cohesive unit. Morale is high as group members actively acknowledge the talents, skills and experience that each member brings to the group. A sense of community is established, and the group remains focused on the group's purpose and goal.

The performing stage is marked by high productivity. The overall objective of the group during the performing stage is to complete their mission and fulfill their purpose though goal achievement. After a group has completed their task they must dissolve and disband from both the task and group members.

This adjourning stage is used to wrap up activities of the group and provide a sense of closure to its members. This stage can be difficult for some, but members are encouraged to take what they learn from each group they are part of to aid future groups in the progression towards the performing stage