Group Dynamics
Stages of Group Development
Group Dynamics
O This week we will be looking at the
importance of working in groups
O Positive and negative roles/attitudes that
individuals can assume
O Comparing formal and informal group
structures
O Advantages and Disadvantages of group
structures in a business
Stages of Group Development
There are four stages to group development.
They are:
1) Forming
2) Storming
3) Norming
4) Performing
Forming
Forming
O The group comes together and gets to initially
know one another and form as a group
O At the end of the forming stage, team members
should know the following:
O The project’s overall mission
O The main phases of the mission
O The resources at their disposal
O A rough project schedule
O Each member’s project responsibilities
O A basic set of team rules
Forming
O Activities usually found in this stage:
O Making acquaintances
O Sharing information
O Discussing subjects unrelated to the task
Storming
Storming
O Storming is when members of the team
learn to bend and mold their feelings, ideas,
attitudes, and beliefs to suit the team
organization
O Usually through competition and conflict
O Questions about who is responsible for
what, what the rules are, what the reward
system is, and what the evaluation criteria
are arise
O These questions reflect conflicts over
leadership, power, and authority
O Team members must move from a testingand-proving mentality to a problem-solving
mentality
O Listening is the most helpful action
Storming
O Typical Activities found in this stage:
O Expressing attitudes
O Establishing norms
O Establishing goals and discussing tasks
openly
Norming
Norming
O Team members actively acknowledge all
members’ contributions
O Team members build community
O Team members maintain team focus and
mission
O Team members work to solve team issues
O Members are willing to change their
preconceived ideas or opinions
O Leadership is shared
O Cohesions occurs when individuals place
trust in one another
O Team members begin to experience a sense
of group belonging
Norming
O Typical activities:
O Working on tasks as a team
O Being cooperative
Performing
Performing
O Teams enjoy team members who work
independently but also support those who
can come back together to solve problems
O Team is most productive at this stage
O Team members are highly task-oriented and
also highly people-oriented
O Team is unified
O Team identity is complete
O Team morale is high
O Team loyalty is intense
O The task function becomes genuine problem
solving, which leads to optimal solutions
O Support for experimentation in solving
problems, and an emphasis on achievement
Performing
O Typical activities include:
O Working independently
O Assigning tasks according to ability
O Being spontaneous and flexible
Roles within Group Structures
O There are a variety of roles/attitudes that
team members can embrace while working
in a group
O They can be positive roles/attitudes, but
they can also play a negative role, or have a
negative attitude
Positive
Positive Task Roles
O Contributor
O Information Seeker
O Information Giver
O Opinion Seeker
O Opinion Giver
O Elaborator
O Evaluator
O Energizer
O Recorder
Positive Social Roles
O Encourager
O Harmonizer
O Compromiser
O Gatekeeper
O Observer
O Follower
Negative
Negative Task Roles
O Aggressor
O Blocker
O Recognition Seeker
O Disruptor
O Dominator