Tuckman's Four Phases Of Group Development

While working with my group, we also experienced the different periodic phases of group development, which Tuckman (1965) describes in four phases as forming, storming, norming, and performing. These four phases are not sequential and not all groups pass through these phases in a liner way and groups can cycle back to a phase that has already been completed. Group development can be classified in an initial phase where individuals join together for some reason, which is the forming phase. We join groups to satisfy a need, which was to get our semester long project done on time and to receive a good grade. If people join groups because they are attracted to the group’s goals, or because they were attracted to the other members, the likelihood
of increased productivity and cohesion is enhanced (Rothwell, p. 75). I joined my group because was attracted to my group’s goals, which was that we all wanted to succeed and do a good job in the class. The other members of my group and I all agreed that this was a goal of everyone, so we formed our group based off of our goals. Because we formed based off of our common goals for the class overall, the increased chance of productivity and cohesiveness were enhanced and the forming process was not challenging. We all agreed that we wanted to be successful within the course and were willing to do what it took to achieve this goal, which is the main reason my group formed together. The storming phase of group development is when a group experiences some social tension because “change in any system can be an ordeal” (Rothwell, p.
79). Even though tension within a group may sound negative, it can also be positive and people are usually at their best when they experience some tension. Tension can also be excessive, which can cause a group to split apart. My group did not experience excessive tension in the storming phase of our group development, but we did experience some tension. We experienced primary tension at the beginning of the project because we were cautious and hesitant with our communication at the beginning of our project, which lead to us finishing the first task of creating a game for the class to be done very close to the deadline. As time went on throughout the semester, we became much more comfortable with each other as a group and our primary tension went away. As a group we became much more comfortable with each other and we were able to joke around and chat about our different interests and experiences, not on controversial issues, which reduced our primary tension and got us through our storming phase in a positive manner. Once we diminished the primary tension within our group our communication became much more competent and we were able to finish tasks more promptly and efficiently as a
group.