Five Stages of Group Development

 Five Stages of Group Development

Bruce Tuckman identified five stages in a typical group development cycle. Groups will go through these steps regardless of purpose, age or industry. The five stages identified are applicable in management and development of groups in the healthcare setting.

Forming

The first stage is forming which emerges when people comes together for a task. As the team comes together, anxiety and uncertainty appear. The leader clarifies the purpose, rules, formula, schedule and the resource available (Tuckman & Jensen, 2015). In health care setting, the leader is expected to introduce different skills available such as a nurse, clinician laboratory technicians', nutritionist and the role they will play.

Storming

Storming is the second stage in group development, where competition and conflicts emerge. The team members are competing, and the most dominant want their ideas heard. In a healthcare setting, the different specialist will be defending their opinions necessitating a need for the leader to take control so that few members do not dominate (Chou & Garcia, 2011).

Norming

 The calmness of members and acceptance emerge. Individual goals and opinions are no longer an issue, but members concentrate on processes and procedures. The team leader no longer dominates in decision making as members can take responsibilities more quickly.

Performing

The group members at this fourth stage are supportive, focused and royal leading to productivity. Members aim at task completion. Competencies of each member emerge, and autonomy in decision making becomes evident. Problem-solving and solution testing are given room as effectiveness increase (Chou & Garcia, 2011). In a healthcare setting, different expertise is given autonomy in their area of specialization.

Adjourning

Adjourning is the last stage where the group task has been accomplished. The wellbeing of team members is essential rather than managing a team. The team celebrates and document the success or reference reasons for failure (Tuckman & Jensen, 2015). The team experience sadness of parting as members say goodbye to each. The health care project manager needs to set a day to evaluate success.

Conclusion

Understanding group development is essential in a diverse work environment such a health care setting. Leaders in the healthcare setting have workers with different skills that need to work together to accomplish one task. The knowledge is essential in healthcare setting when forming a team to work together. 

References

Chou, S. Y., & Garcia, D. C. (2011). Group Organizational Citizenship Behaviour in the Stages of Group Development. International Journal of Business and Management, 6(10). doi:10.5539/ijbm.v6n10p3

Tuckman, B. W., & Jensen, M. A. (2015). Stages of Small-Group Development Revisited. Group & Organization Management, 2(4), 419-427. doi:10.1177/105960117700200404