Bruce Tuckman's Five Stage Model Of Group Dynamics

Groups are the foundation on which human civilization resides. Human civilization is based off of groups. Whether it be small tribes or massive cities, understanding what makes a group effective has proven to be an extremely valuable to understand. But it was not until the 1940's that anyone would truly study groups and create the foundations of group dynamics. Kurt Lewin was born in Mogilno, Germany where he worked as a professor of psychology at the University of Berlin (Lewin). However in 1932, seeing the imminent rise of the Nazi regime, he moved to the United States (Lewin). He then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he created a research center for the study of group dynamics (Lewin). Because of his accomplishments

The five stage model was created by Bruce Tuckman in the 1960's and theorizes that groups develop in five stages (Group). The first stage of the five stage model is the "forming" stage (Haynes 14). In this stage the group assembles, the assigned leadership is not yet challenged as the group is still quite loose, and members are unlikely to make any rash moves as group norms, (what is deemed acceptable within a group) are not yet established (Frank 19). At stage two, "storming", conflicts arise within the group, the initial leadership is usually tested, and other naturally occuring leaders begin to rise (Greenberg 255). Stage three is referred to as the "norming" stage (Frank 20). During this stage the group should have just overcome internal conflicts (Group). This should cause the group to be more united than it was in previous stages, group confidence is increased and group members begin having more personal interactions, possiably creating small subgroups within the main group (Haynes 15). The fourth stage is the "preforming" stage, during this stage the majority of the work gets done, the group works efficiently and a leadership is firmly established (Group). The fifth and final stage of group development is "Adjourning". By the final stage the group's goals have been achieved and the group will either disband, begin another

It has often been observed that individuals contribute more, and work much more efficiently in small groups than in large groups (Greenberg 264). The phenomena is called social loafing, in which the greater number of individuals contributing to an addative task, the less amount of work each individual contributes (Greenberg 264). Group norms are common beliefs that determine what is or isn't acceptable within a group (Johnson 15). An example of a group norm would be an inappropriate joke, as most work groups and professional settings deem them unacceptabe or "out of the norm". Group structure is the pattern of relationships which hold a group in place and make it effective (Greenberg