An informal meeting geometry. In many meetings today, some participants are attending virtually. The geometry shown above provides enough table space for each participant to have access to a laptop computer that supports video conferencing. It therefore provides equal access to all participants by eliminating the unfair advantage otherwise provided to in-person participants.
As I noted last time, when a task-oriented work group undertakes work on task, it transitions from one stage of Tuckman's model (TDSSG) to another according to six principles. [Tuckman 1965] [Tuckman & Jensen 1977] In this post, I offer examples of using these six principles to describe what happens in examples of everyday events in a task-oriented work group. Naturally, there are many more scenarios than are listed here. I chose these to illustrate how to use the six principles, and to show how they could lead to the puzzling observations some have reported, such as an absence of Storming, or continuous Storming. [Knight 2007] [Cassidy 2007] [Norton 2017] For convenience, briefly, the six principles are:
- Forming Events follow every change in group or task
- Storming is the result of progress in Forming
- Storming ends when the group reaches consensus about a new or revised set of norms
- To devise or revise norms about working together, a group must enter a Norming stage
- Group consensus about norms is a prerequisite of high performance
- Upon termination of work on task, Adjourning takes place
Some examples of applying these principles
Forming Events can be either planned or spontaneous. Planned Forming usually involves at least one meeting or a portion of a meeting. But it can be much more elaborate, expanding to several meetings over a span of weeks or longer. Spontaneous Forming Events usually take the form of brief email or text message announcements. But they can also involve meetings. As the table below makes clear, Forming events can overlap, which is one reason why their respective Storming stages can overlap. And overlap of distinct Storming stages contributes to an impression of continuous Storming.
Rather than write a fictionalized narrative of some of these scenarios, including real-life details, I'll leave that to you. The patterns below are merely examples of how one group might handle these situations. Other approaches are certainly possible.
| Situation | Transitions that follow in that situation |
|---|---|
A new member joins the group | If the group was in a Storming stage, Storming continues, with possibly new foci of conflict. The two storms might or might not merge, depending upon how separable are the sets of issues raised by the "incumbent" storm and the storm resulting from the addition of the new member. If the group was in a Norming stage or a Performing stage, a Forming Event begins. The extent of Forming necessary depends on how well the group knows the new member, on how many group members will be affected by the change, on how well the new member knows the group and its work, and on how well the resulting group works together. New task work might be added. Work might need to be redistributed. |
A group member exits the group | If the group was in a Storming stage, Storming continues, with possibly new foci of conflict resulting from the member's exit. The two storms might or might not merge, depending upon how separable are the sets of issues raised by the "incumbent" storm and the storm resulting from the exit.```If the group was in Norming or Performing, a Forming Event begins. The extent of Forming necessary depends on how much of the group's work is affected by the exiting member, and whether the exit affects the structure of the group or relationships among its remaining its members. Work might need to be redistributed. |
Management recommends that the group add an "AI teammate" trained in organizational procedures to help the group stay "on track and in compliance" | Although adding (or removing) AI teammates to (or from) a group does have some of the same effects as adding or removing human teammates, there is a significant difference between the human beings and AI beings. In some organizations, AI teammates bear a heavy burden of suspicion of being "management spies." Groups that admit AI entities as members must find ways of addressing this problem. If they don't, the effect of adding AI teammates could be to chill conversations in which openness and trust are important, which could dramatically depress performance. |
Two group members report that their progress is blocked by lack of availability of a component another group was to have provided by now | The group initiates a Forming Event to charter two subgroups: (1) one subgroup (possibly consisting solely of a leader/manager) that works with the component's provider to resolve the block; meanwhile, (2) a second subgroup works with the blocked members to find alternative subtasks for them to work on. Each subgroup follows its own TDSSG sequence. If this blockage is one of long standing, the incident could affect the structure of the group. |
Several members, outraged that their subtask has been again deferred, decide not to express themselves at the weekly meeting | This is an example of a Storm that appears not to have happened, but which is actually underway. |
Customer feedback leads to a change in the task | If the group was in Storming, Storming continues, with possibly new foci of conflict. The two storms might or might not merge, depending upon how separable are the sets of issues raised by the "incumbent" storm and the storm resulting from the change in task. If the group was in Norming or Performing, a Forming Event begins. The extent of Forming that is necessary depends on how extensive the task change is. Work might need to be redistributed. |
The group initiates a Forming Event | Storming always follows a Forming Event. The extent of the Storming depends on how extensive the Forming is. |
In Norming, a member of the group asks a question that causes others to recognize a need to amend the task | If the group was in Storming, Storming continues, with possibly new foci of conflict. If the amendment is minor, affecting only one or two group members, Norming continues and those affected work out the amendment. For more substantial changes, the group initiates a Forming Event to work out the task amendment. |
One of the group members becomes a parent for the first time | Life events (births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and more) can cause members to be temporarily unavailable to the group. Groups would do well to acknowledge this fact somehow; many don't. A Forming Event is usually beneficial, because the temporary consequence of a member's life event is analogous to a temporary exit from the group. |
Two subgroups of the group spin off as independent groups with their own tasks | Each resulting element initiates a Forming Event. If the intention is that some of the elements should collaborate, working out the ground rules for those collaborations is best done after each element has made a start at defining its identity in its own Forming Event. |
Three groups merge into one | The resulting group initiates a Forming Event. |
Two Forming Events overlap | A meeting on Tuesday followed by corrective text messages on Thursday and the following Monday might actually be three Forming Events, each followed by its own Storming stage. This can give the appearance of continuous Storming, if the different Storming stages are closely spaced in time. |
Last words
Task-oriented work groups would do well to have standard approaches to these situations. Knowing in advance that Storming is likely to occur can enable the group to deal more effectively with the issues raised in Storming. If there is a scenario of interest to you, but not included here, rbrenjTnUayrCbSnnEcYfner@ChacdcYpBKAaMJgMalFXoCanyon.comcontact me and I'll add it. Meanwhile what's most urgently needed is a framework for guiding groups toward a more productive and useful approach to Storming. That's my next topic. 
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Footnotes
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Related articles
More articles on Conflict Management:
Workplace Bullying and Workplace Conflict: II- Of the tools we use to address toxic conflict, many are ineffective for ending bullying. Here's a review
of some of the tools that don't work well and why.
Anecdotes and Refutations- In debate and argumentation, anecdotes are useful. They illustrate. They make things concrete. But they
aren't proof of anything. Using anecdotes as proofs leads to much trouble and wasted time.
Toxic Conflict at Work- Preventing toxic conflict is a whole lot better than trying to untangle it once it starts. But to prevent
toxic conflict, we must understand some basics of conflict, and why untangling toxic conflict can be
so difficult.
Strategies of Verbal Abusers- Verbal abuse at work has special properties, because it takes place in an environment in which verbal
abuse is supposedly proscribed. Yet verbal abuse does happen at work. Here are three strategies abusers
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Even "Isolated Incidents" Can Be Bullying- Many organizations have anti-bullying policies that address only repeated patterns of interpersonal
aggression. Such definitions expose the organization and its people to the harmful effects of "isolated
incidents" of interpersonal aggression, because even isolated incidents can be bullying.
See also Conflict Management and Conflict Management for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming January 22: Storming: Obstacle or Pathway?- The Storming stage of Tuckman's model of small group development is widely misunderstood. Fighting the storms, denying they exist, or bypassing them doesn't work. Letting them blow themselves out in a somewhat-controlled manner is the path to Norming and Performing. Available here and by RSS on January 22.
And on January 29: A Framework for Safe Storming- The Storming stage of Tuckman's development sequence for small groups is when the group explores its frustrations and degrees of disagreement about both structure and task. Only by understanding these misalignments is reaching alignment possible. Here is a framework for this exploration. Available here and by RSS on January 29.
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