While reading the article “40 Years of Storming: A Historical Review of Tuckman’s Model of Small Group Development,” it reminded me of a group project I had freshman year in my leadership class. We would use Tuckman’s model of small groups to formulate answers as a team. We went through the stages of forming when we would work together to think of opinions. After the stage storming occurred when disagreements would be debated among the group. Then, norming by working together to get the project done and trying new communication styles. After in the performing stage, we created a project to present and turn in for a grade. Finally, in the adjourning stage, we received a high grade on the project and our team modeled a successful use of Tuckman’s stages of small group work.

This reading reminded me of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe because of Tuckman’s stages. In The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, four siblings enter a new world called Narnia and are faced with many challenges throughout. The siblings successfully work together through the stages of forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning to defeat the Witch and complete their mission. At first the siblings disagreed and argued, but ultimately they developed to work together.

Tuckman’s model of group development can be seen in many companies such as CISCO. CISCO implements many teams to work together to create the most care for people, “At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the model was being applied in studies of a wide variety of work settings from project teams to leadership teams and even public health partnerships. As office technology broadened in importance, the model was applied to development of virtual teams” (“40 years of storming: a historical review of Tuckman’s model of small group development”, pg. 118). Tuckman’s model can be applied to many situations and the workplace is a successful example of small group development.