This
was the first week of the Entrepreneurial Educators module. There was a lot going on in this session as
there were a number of guest speakers, as well as a lot of new learners, in
this session. Clearly, there is a lot of
interest in this module from the Welsh Assembly.
I
enjoyed some aspects of the class but did find it quite hard and
demanding. I don’t know whether this
was because it was a completely new module and was not what I expected or
because there were new learners which changed the group dynamics or because the
session was a bit disjointed with lots of teaching staff.
I
like to see myself as a friendly and welcoming person but I did find it a bit
strange having new members of the class.
It made me think about the psychologist Bruce Tuckman (1965) who
developed the memorable phrase "forming, storming, norming and
performing" as a model of group development. He used it to describe how high-performing
teams work together. He later added a fifth stage which he called "adjourning",
which is also known as "mourning".
I
had a vague awareness of this model but this session has prompted me to learn
more about it. I’ve looked on the
internet and in some text books and found it quite interesting. It then started me thinking about groups I
have worked in and the theory did, in the main, apply in practice. However, like any model it doesn’t apply to
all groups as group dynamics can vary so much; according to both the purpose of
the group and the nature of the individuals within the group. I have been in groups where the “forming”,
“storming” and “norming” happened very quickly as everyone got on well and had
the same priorities. This meant that the
group spent most of the time “performing”, so I would say it was an effective
group. On the other hand I have been in
groups where the “performing” stage never really happened as there was too much
conflict within the group.
Bibliography
Armitage, A., Byant, R.,
Dunnill, R., Hayes, D., Hudson, A., Kent, J., Lawes, S. & Renwick, M.
(2007) Teaching and Training in
Post-Compulsory Education, 3rd Ed, Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Smith, M. K. (2005) Bruce W. Tuckman - forming, storming,
norming and performing in groups, The encyclopaedia of informal education, www.infed.org/thinkers/tuckman.htm.
[Accessed 12th January 2012].
