Group Work Tuckman

Tuckman in his "Stages of Development' model identified 5 stages of team formation: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (CIPP, Unit 1). Based on his analysis and characteristics of each stage it becomes possible to recognise that the team has reached the stage of 'Performing'. According to Tuckman it is the final stage of development when a team is fully functioning and produces its 'best work'. The main features of the ‘Performing’ stage are (CIPP, Unit

Communicating in Teams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

To further understand Belbin Team Role Theory, I, together with four students formed a team and simulated as being authorized by the Songjiang Government Bureau to investigate into the current situation and the prospect of the higher education industry in Songjiang District. Through unremitting team efforts, we successfully demonstrated our findings and recommended several ideas via a formal presentation. Reviewing the three-months-long process of cooperation, I really found this experience of learning meaningful and fruitful. This reflective essay is a conclusion of my sympathetic introspection of the

Some people may be good at developing someone else’s idea and so are more effective within a team than working alone.

The identification and understanding of an individual’s role and that of the other team member’s roles is crucial as is the recognition of how the different roles complement each other and work together.

In the 1970’s Meredith Belbin devised the Belbin team inventory behavioural test. It was aimed to assess how an individual behaves and interacts in a team environment before placing these people into 9 categories. A person may be spread across multiple categories -not defining them to a single possibility. Using the Belbin test has been shown to may improve work in a team. One piece of research used 84 teams to find that “forming groups based on Belbin role balance assumption might enhance group performance” (Curseu & Meslec, 2015, para 36). This means that having a full range of team roles in the group and understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses can impact team performance.

Whilst it is important to know and succeed in your own role within the school it is also beneficial to have knowledge of others roles within your team and how you all can work effectively together.

When the project is completed the roles of implementers and completer have their own place in a team. The Belbin theory allows every role to play a secondary role in a team. The secondary role possesses the second higher skills in results. In this way a role can perform more than one function to become a secondary role player in a team.

The five stages of developing groups is an important part of the position. In many cases it is the relationships that a person will have with other individuals who will determine the best members to put into the different groups. As well, the different skill sets that individuals have are also an important part in placing group members together. The observation of the first groups placed together will be a good gauge in learning how some of the individuals work and observing how others work well together. The group size should be eight to 10 people to facilitate greater ease of equal participation among the individuals.

Roles and responsibilities – It is possible that during the project development some staff may have difficulty in defining their roles within the team or were not part of the role development process that takes place during the forming stage of Tuckman’s team development model. It is also likely within the project team to have duplication of roles/function, even though Belbin’s Team roles model may have been used. However it is not a pre-requisite that all team must have the nine roles specific by Belbin. ‘Team members can take on more than one role and some roles are not necessary in certain teams’. (Horn 2009:13)

I still remember the time I was chosen to lead the public relations team at one of the student activities back when I was in college, an experience that shaped a lot of the person I am today. I had to establish and maintain good relations with all stakeholders and media, prepare newsfeed updates for all social media platforms, and above all manage a team of 20 members. I spent a lot of time thinking that I am now donning the shoes of my seniors and becoming the person that freshers would look up to. Being an influential leader is not easy, I was sure, and it is more than just telling others what to do. In the following few lines, I employ Tuckman's stages of group development: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing to outline my journey

I have recently accepted an employment position with a large, high profile jewellers firm. The organisation manufactures imports and repairs jewellery for distribution to its many stores in all states. My position title is ‘Team Leader of Distribution and Warehousing’ – a frontline management position. There are 12 team members in my team from different backgrounds and with differing levels of expertise. Some team members have worked with the organisation, and in this division, for a number of years. Other team members are relatively new, while some have worked in other departments/ sections

The Tuckman Model of Group Development has 5 stages: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Adjourning (Maples, 2008). During the first session of MOP, everyone was tasked with forming their own small project team. The very first class workshop activity involved meeting two new people and introducing one of them to the entire class. The aim of the activity was to indirectly assess who we would want to be in a team with, based on our perceptions of a person’s behaviour, values, and work ethic. Most people would want to be in a team with people similar to them on a surface level (age, gender, ethnicity) and on a deeper level (personality, attitudes, believes, values) (Liang, Shih, & Chiang, 2015). We were free to choose whoever we wanted in our team under the condition that the team we form is diverse.

This theory is a combined of two influential theories on group behavior, which Kenneth Benne and Paul Sheats have wrote in article of ‘’Functional Roles of Group Members’’ in 1940. This theory worked in some teams that are effective in some but for some it isn’t. Their work influenced other earlier research and thinking about the function of group. The have researched more recently and have refined many ideas. Group roles are extremely useful and interesting in the way of looking at the behavior of the team. 26 different group role have been defined which can be played by one or more people within a group depends on that person’s skill.

In this case it is possible that a member of the team may show more leader like qualities, this could become disadvantageous to the team as the leader may attempt to dominate the group work and not consider the needs or views of other team members. This again could create conflict and unease amongst group members and will ultimately affect the collaboration of the group project.