Tuckman's Five Stages Of Group Development

To work at their maximum efficiency and develop a cohesiveness between its members, groups should progress through the five stages of group development as outlined by Tuckman (Forsyth, 2009). From the initial stage of orientation through the final stage of dissolution, groups evolve over time through a predictable course. A new group was formed when I joined the adult education team at our learning center almost five years ago. Even though a significant amount of time has passed, this group is still functioning in the conflict stage. It seems we are unable to progress to the next stage without possibly having a significant change occur or an increase in the motivation of the group members to make it occur. This seems to be the norm for this team in this

Even recently, she physically moved her office out of our center to a location across campus. This has led to many team members feeling as though our team is lacking in leadership and questioning her authority when she does make decisions. One member of the group has even begun limiting her contact with our director by decreasing the number of hours she works in a week. Another member, our administrative assistant, has started to openly challenge the director’s decisions. When not applying for any of the open positions on another team on campus, the administrative assistant continuously battles with the director of the center. Constantly throughout the day, one of them will be complaining to other members of the team about something the other one did. They do not get along with each other. Neither of them have respect for what the other one does, nor is there anything one could do right in the other’s eyes. The tension between the two members of the team has created a hostile work environment where staff meetings have almost become