Bruce Tuckm The Challenging Group Dynamics Of Managing Small Groups

Forming, storming, norming, and performing. To most people, these words grouped together would not have much meaning, but to Bruce Tuckman, famous for his 1965 article called “developmental sequence in small groups”, these words are the key to success for small groups.
Managing small groups can seem daunting to inexperienced leaders, but it will be even more challenging if you do not understand the dynamics of managing a small group. The first thing you must do is gauge your current comfort level of managing the various group dynamics that will occur. How equipped do you feel to work through challenging group dynamic issues? Have you ever dealt with group dynamic issues on past projects, and if you have, how did you go about handling them?

The most obvious dynamic is size. Although there are no set rules for the amount of people that make up a group, virtually every small group’s expert argues that more than 20 people, and you begin to lose most of the properties that define a small group. Research has shown that a group of 10 people often produce results at a quicker rate and with higher profits than do groups of several hundred. Not only can there be a copious amount of people to be considered a group, but there can also be too few. Most experts say two people do not form a group, because when disputes arise, two members must either persuade, compromise or flat out give in to solve disputes.
The second important dynamic that differentiates a group and a team is having a shared purpose. On a team, the members all work together under a leader to produce collective products. In a group, they may all be working towards the same goal, but each member is working on individual products to contribute towards the ultimate

This is the most challenging dynamic you will encounter as a manger, and requires strong leadership in order to succeed. Members of the group may push boundaries or fight for different positions once their roles are clarified. Whichever member that wants to shy away from working, this will be the stage that they will, which may cause added stress for the other group members.
If you proved your leadership skills in the storming stage and were successful through issues that arose, you will be relieved to enter the “norming” stage. In this stage, members will being to resolve differences that they had, and should begin to respect your authority as a leader. One thing to pay close attention to as a leader in this stage, is that there may be some overlap from the storming stage when different tasks come up. Members may lapse back into the negative behavior, and will need to overcome those once again.
Most small groups’ experts say that once you hit the “performing” stage, your chances of success greatly increase. In this stage, the members of the group are able to perform their tasks without friction as they collectively work towards the goals of the group. As a leader, you will be able to delegate much of your work so that you can focus on developing team