In todays world, teamwork is a central concept that is applied in various different fields such as universities and businesses. Bruce Tuckman’s model of group development provides valuable insights for evolving teams through five important stages for team growth. These stages include forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning (Bonebright, 2010). This simplistic model helps groups to introduce ideas, work through conflicting ideas, come to a consensus, implement ideas, and then reflect on the process. Working through these steps helps to make the teamwork process run smoothly and hear each team member’s point of view.

As a college student, I have unknowingly used this model before but now that I have read more about the process, I will be able to better use each step for my own enrichment as well as to show my peers in other courses that have maybe never heard of Tuckman’s model. Finding effective teamwork strategies can be a challenge, especially in online courses. Making sure that everyone participates and respects each other is a key part of producing efficient work and walking away with new knowledge. In one of my other classes, my team and I were asked to do an assignment where we were given seven different candidates and we had to rank them on how “worthy” they were for getting a heart transplant. Having read this article previous to doing that assignment would have helped my team with cohesion since we had very differing opinions. I think that using each step is important to avoid conflicting ideas that could weaken your team and lead to disagreements. Although everyone may never fully agree, being able to respectfully come to common ground is crucial to effective team decision making.

Bonebright, D. A. (2010). 40 years of storming: A historical review of Tuckman’s model of small group development. Human Resource Development International, 13(1), 111–120