**Group Development Theory**

In *The Impact of College on Students, Volume I*, Feldman & Newcomb
(1969) reported that peer groups are the most influential body on
campus. In a commuter institution such as SFCC, students turn to student
organizations for their peer groups. The opportunity to work with a
group the will have a significant impact on its members is a unique
opportunity for advisers. As student organizations have the potential to
greatly assist students in their academic, social, and moral
development, advisers can have an impact on individual development
through their work with the group.. To understand how these groups work,
and how they can affect students, advisers need to be familiar with
group development.

**Tuckman's model for small group development**

While several theories exist, one of the best-known models for group
development was proposed by Tuckman in 1965. This four (later revised to
five) stage-theory describes how groups come together and work. While
each group develops in its own way, Tuckman's model can easily be
transferred across group boundaries.

Tuckman saw group development as a function of two dependent realms, the
Task and the Social realm. The Task realm includes group members
experiencing orientation, emotionality, relevant opinion exchange, and
emergence of solutions. Movement along the Social realm is characterized
testing dependence, conflict, cohesion, functional roles.

Meshing the realms together to comes up with the Forming, Storming,
Norming, Performing, and Adjourning Model. As the group moves through
the stages, they experience the following:

> A. Forming: orientation, testing, dependence\
> B. Storming: conflict, emotionality, and resistance to influences and
> task requirements\
> C. Norming: in-group feeling and cohesiveness develops, new standards
> evolve, new roles adopted\
> D. Performing: the group becomes a functional instrument for dealing
> with tasks and present reality\
> E. Adjourning: the group ends its existence, closure

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Please note that while Tuckman's model is a stage-theory, by no means
will the group go in only one direction and spend an equal amount of
time experiencing each stage. The Adviser's role can change
significantly as the group moves through its stages; indeed the needs
during storming are quite different than the needs during performing.
Being aware of these stages can help Advisers decide on how active they
need to be with the group and what activities to encourage the group to
participate in. Through careful observation, advisers can determine
which stage their group is in, and design interventions and activities
to move the students through the stages

The next page gives a brief look at the two realms and at
characterizations of the four critical stages. More information on
Tuckman's Stages can be found at the SLA.

+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| **Tuckman\'s Model**              |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| **Task Realm**\                   |                                  |
| Those factors that promote        |                                  |
| accomplishment of group goals and |                                  |
| objectives and are view as being  |                                  |
| action oriented. This is          |                                  |
| reflected through doing and       |                                  |
| working towards the group\'s      |                                  |
| purpose.                          |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| **Social Realm**\                 |                                  |
| Those factors that affect the     |                                  |
| relationships between individuals |                                  |
| in the group and are primarily    |                                  |
| concerned with cohesion, care,    |                                  |
| feelings, and the emotional       |                                  |
| stability and health of the       |                                  |
| group.                            |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| **Storming**\                     | **Norming**\                     |
| Members become hostile and        | Members accept team roles and    |
| combative.                        | behaviors of others.             |
|                                   |                                  |
| Characterized by:                 | Characterized by:                |
|                                   |                                  |
| -   Infighting                    | -   Attempts at harmony by       |
|                                   |     avoiding conflict            |
| -   Creating unachievable goals   |                                  |
|                                   | -   Establish and maintain team  |
| -   Disunity, jealousy, tension   |     boundaries                   |
|                                   |                                  |
| -   Polarization of members       | -   Ability to express emotions  |
|                                   |     constructively               |
| -   Resistance to task demands in |                                  |
|     order to deal with personal   | -   Sense of team cohesiveness   |
|     issues                        |     with common spirit and goals |
|                                   |                                  |
| -   Sharp fluctuations and        | -   High levels of intimacy,     |
|     reversals of feelings         |     confiding in each other,     |
|                                   |     trust                        |
| -   Establishment of pecking      |                                  |
|     order                         | -   Moderate work accomplishment |
|                                   |                                  |
| -   Minimal work accomplishment   |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| **Forming**\                      | **Performing**\                  |
| Members come together to form a   | Members have established norms   |
| group                             | and are able to diagnose         |
|                                   | problems and come up with        |
| Characterized by:                 | solutions.                       |
|                                   |                                  |
| -   Hesitant participation        | Characterized by:                |
|                                   |                                  |
| -   Intellectualizing             | -   Members experience insight   |
|                                   |     into personal and            |
| -   Identify how group will do    |     interpersonal processes      |
|     its tasks                     |                                  |
|                                   | -   Constructive self-change is  |
| -   Feeling of initial attachment |     undertaken                   |
|     to team                       |                                  |
|                                   | -   **A great amount of work is  |
| -   Complaints about              |     accomplished!**              |
|     organizational environment    |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| -   Suspicion, fear, and anxiety  |                                  |
|     about new situation           |                                  |
|                                   |                                  |
| -   Minimal work accomplishment   |                                  |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------+

*Rodkin, D.M., The Art of Student and Group Development Theory, SAACURH
Conference 1999*

*SOURCE:
http://admn.sfcc.edu/\~sla/resources/adviserresources/GroupDevelopment.htm*