Last week I attended a workshop about teamwork as a part of our department retreat. The purpose of this workshop was to understand group development, personalities and roles within a group and learn how groups evolve and improve. During the workshop we learned about the different stages of group/team formation based on the Tuckman model (Tuckman, 1965). The stages are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. I found it fascinating to observe our group in this context while we worked on our assignment.
The first stage is forming. This is when individuals are not clear on what they are supposed to do and the mission is not owned by the group. We certainly began this way. We were unfamiliar with each other, not sure how to best communicate, and we were a little lost. I found communication to be a major issue for me during this first stage. I started off writing on the group discussion board, others sent messages through the blackboard system. Unfortunately, I didn’t get these messages. I looked at my spam box yesterday and was surprised to find all the messages from Blackboard in there. Apparently there was something in the message that made it default into this box. There were so many different methods to use for asynchronous communication, but because we were unfamiliar with each other and our preferences were different, it lead to lack of communication, especially on my part.
The second stage is storming. This is when roles and responsibilities are established, and there may be some conflict, competition may be high, and some push for position and power. As our group began to work on the google doc, we started to move from the first stage into the second stage. I find that the movement through these stages are slower with asynchronous communication. I think one of the aspects that helped us move from forming to storming was the ability to synchronously communicate on the google doc through its chat function. We tried to arrange a google hangout meeting but due to schedules and time differences, this was not possible. However, some of us were working on the google doc at the same time, allowing us to chat. We were able to clarify ideas, bounce stuff off of each other and start to trust one another. With asynchronous communication, this exchange is a lot slower so I find our development as a group to also be slower.
The third stage is norming. This is when success occurs, the purpose is well defined and team confidence is high. As a group, we were able to accomplish our goal of creating a rubric and justifying our choices, but I’m not sure that we were all on the same page so I’m not confident to say that we truly reached this stage. We all come from different backgrounds and experiences, and its not surprising that our ideas are not perfectly cohesive. But given time, more opportunities to communicate, exchange ideas and understand each other’s perspective, we could evolve to become a more cohesive and effective group. Again, I think the challenge is in communication. Technology has made it possible for us to work together from different time zones and locations, but this convenience comes at a cost. From this group experience, I feel that it takes a greater level of communication to progress through Tuckman’s stages, particularly if communication is asynchronous. Especially with a deadline, though we try to exchange ideas, we end up working as individuals in a group rather than group members with well defined roles, responsibilities and expectations. I think we were still hesitant to challenge each other and create conflict, but according to Tuckman (1965) conflict is necessary to progress through the stages. If we had the opportunity to meet with google hangout, our outcome may have been different. With these online courses, I think group work is challenging but also very rewarding. I enjoy group work as it gives me an opportunity to get to know my peers better, and I feel that it is a more personal interaction than through class discussions. I think if we worked with the same group for a number of projects, giving us more opportunities to communicate, we could become a highly effective group and make it to the performing stage.
Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384-399.