Saturday, January 11, 2014

Group Formation: Tuckman's Model 1

In the last byte, we began discussion about Tuckman's model of group formation.  In today's byte, we begin looking at the forming and storming stage of group formation.

Forming stage is the first stage of group formation - in such a case, the team members would still be unclear about individual roles and responsibilities. Guidance is crucial in this phase in fact; the dependence on guidance and direction is really the defining characteristics of this stage. The dependence on the leader is very heavy in this phase - the answers to the questions of the teams’ purpose, objective, external relationship etc are all to be answered by the leader.

Storming is the next phase following the Forming phase of group formation. The team members, having understood the purpose and other related aspects of the group in the earlier phase would be found competing for positions in this phase. One could expect considerable conflict as power struggles, cliques and factions within the group become visible. Over time, these conflicts lead to a greater clarity of purpose, but we would also find the members assessing one another for trustworthiness, emotional comfort etc. A leader is expected to have a coaching style of leadership during this phase.

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