Group Dynamics ..... um interesting

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].