Teams Q2

Question 1

What is FORMING? (tuckman)

Answer 1

• During the early stage (forming) the group is just coming together, and may just be seen as a collection of individuals.
• Each individual wishes to impress his/her personality on the group, while its purpose, composition and organisation are being established.
• The individuals will be trying to find out about each other, and about the aims and norms of the team.
• At this stage there will probably be wariness about introducing new ideas.
• The objectives being pursued may as yet be unclear and a leader may not have emerged.
• This settling down period is essential, but may be time-wasting; the group as a unit will not be autonomous, and will probably not be efficient at planning its activities.
• It may resort to complex bureaucratic procedures to ensure that what it is doing is at least something which will not get its members into trouble.

Question 2

What is STORMING? (tuckman)

Answer 2

• The second stage is called storming because it frequently involves more or less open conflict between group members.
• There may be changes agree in the original objectives, procedures and norms established for the group.
• If the team is developing successfully this may be a fruitful stage as more realistic targets are set and trust between the group members increases.

Question 3

What is NORMING? (tuckman)

Answer 3

• The third stage, norming, is a period of settling down. There will be agreements about work sharing, individual requirements and exceptions of output.
• The enthusiasm and brain-storming of the second stage will be less apparent,
• but norms and procedures may evolve which enable methodical working to be introduced and maintained.

Question 4

What is PERFORMING? (tuckman)

Answer 4

• Once the fourth stage has been reached the groups set to work to execute its task.
• Even at earlier stages some performances will have been achieved but the fourth stage marks the point where the difficulties of growth and developments no longer hinder the group’s objectives.
• It would be misleading to suggest that these four stages always follow in a clearly defined progression, or that the development of a group must be a slow and complicated process.
• Particularly where the task to be performed is urgent, or where team members are highly motivated, the fourth stage will be reached very quickly while the earlier stages will be hard to distinguish.