Question

explain how the tuckman model for team development can eliminate barriers amber is likely to encounter in completing this project.

Answer 1

Q. Explain how the Tuckman model for team development can eliminate barriers that are likely to encounter in completing a project.

Ans- Bruce Tuckman gave a Team Development Model in 1964 under which he talks about how a team behaves, develops over the period of time, and what are the challenges a team has to face and the solution for those emerging challenges. He has argued that every team has to go through five stages. These five stages are “forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning ”. The challenges/barriers in team development at each mentioned stage are different and unique which needs to be accordingly resolved.

1. Barriers in team development and its solution at the Forming stage-

The forming stage is the first stage of team development, at this stage, everybody comes together for the first time. Since at this stage people barely know each other, so the barriers in team development at this stage come in the form of a “trust deficit among the team members”. The team members at this stage of team development are often cautious and reserved.

Hence, we need to apply the Tuckman model to eliminate these barriers which suggest helping the team members to get to know other team members. So that they can eliminate their suspicion against each other and can understand other team members. It can be done by highlighting the purpose of the formation of the team, the objective which is supposed to be achieved by working collectively, and assigning the duties to each member of the team in a very clear manner so that they can be held accountable for fulling those tasks. By doing this, the barriers which arise at the forming stage of team development can be eliminated as per the Tuckman model.

2. Barriers in team development and its solution at the Storming stage-

This is the second stage of team development as per the Tuckman model. At this stage, team members get to know each other. They start asserting their opinion. Sometimes, this leads to an argument among the team members which causes a decrease in motivation, conflict among team members and other similar barriers. Hence, as per the Tuckman model at this stage of team development conflict resolution should be the goal of team leader so that the task/objective can be achieved. This can be done by adopting conflict resolution techniques and by forming small sub-teams so that the barriers in team development can be eliminated and the group objective could be successfully achieved.

3. Barriers in team development and its solution at the Norming stage-

This is the most important stage in team development. At this stage of team development, every team members start trusting each other, they acknowledge others' skills and talents, and they also accept positive criticism from their colleagues so overall there is a positive work environment. So at this stage, the team leader is supposed to maintain the same work environment and team spirit by asking them to focus on the end result of their work otherwise the barriers at this stage can ruin the total hard work of the group. Hence, by applying the Tuckman model, the barriers at the norming stage can also be resolved.

4. Barriers in team development and its solution at Performing stage-

At this stage of team development, team members become competent and can be left alone to work independently. This stage of team development is of high importance as members start making their decisions independently and respect others' work. They are about to achieve their objective at this stage. But at this stage, due to the presence of high independence in decision making by the team members, arguments, clash of responsibilities may become barriers in the team development. So by applying the solution provided by the Tuckman model, the team members should be encouraged to work as a group without causing any conflict among them.

5. Barriers in team development and its solution at the Adjourning stage-

This is the last stage of team development as proposed by the Tuckman model. At this stage, the goal is achieved successfully by the group and hence are disbanded. At this stage, some members who love routine may face some difficulty hence they should be counselled to not worry about their future and should be added to other projects.

Hence, this is the way to solve barriers that may arise in project completion by applying the Tuckman model.