I agree with John Warfield in that the three or four stages indentified in
team development are for the most par "social overhead." I think that
they are mostly the result of how we develop O.B. or social behavior
models, and not necessarily tied to reality.
Richard Hackman [Groups that Work (and Those that Don't), Jossey-Bass,
1990], says that "... group development has portrayed aas a universal
sequence of stages or activities through which groups gradually and
explicitly prepare to perform... Two characteristic models are:
`orientation, evaluation, control' (Bales & Strodtbeck, 1951), and
`forming, storming, norming, performing' (Tuckman, 1965). These models
are grounded in the paradigm of development as inevitable, hierarchical
progression: a group cannot get to statge four without first going through
stages one, two, and three."
He continues by saying that his "research found no universal sequence of
activities in the groups studied-nor was group progress steady and
gradual. They varied widely in the way they began and in the sequence of
issues that preoccupied them." And there are some other very interesting
aspects of groups that were revealed in their research. I think that the
major difference is that Hackman and associates used real work groups, and
not student subjects as many social and behavioral (including my own
field) do.
In my own experiences, I have seem some storming taking place after the
first feedback from the group performance is received by the group. I
have not seen the four stages at work either. In fact, I would say that
the four stages become one at times. In real organizations, members
assigned to teams do not spend too much time in "forming" because they
generally have some preconveived (right or wrong) expectations about what
each would contribute. As they perform these expectations would be
moodified, confirmed, etc., and the group would restructure itself if
necessary. I have seen groups in many situations, again, in real work
organizations and their behavior as they develop as a team does not tend
to support Tuckman's notion.
Ivan,
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R. IVAN BLANCO, Ph.D. Voice 305 899-3515
Assoc. Prof. & Director Fax 305 892-6412
International Business Programs
Andreas School of Business _________E-Mail Addresses________
Barry University Bitnet: Blanco%bu4090@Barryu
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"Las naciones marchan hacia el termino de su grandeza, con
el mismo paso que camina su educacion." "The nations march
toward their greatness at the same pace as their educational
systems evolve." Simon Bolivar
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