What are the Stages of Group Development?

Stages of group development

Bruce Tuckman (1965) developed a 4-stage model of group development.  He labelled the stages, Dr Suess-style:

1. Forming: The group comes together and gets to initially know one other and form as a group.

2. Storming: A chaotic vying for leadership and trialling of group processes

3. Norming: Eventually agreement is reached on how the group operates (norming)

4. Performing: The group practices its craft and becomes effective in meeting its objectives.

Tuckman added a 5th stage 10 years later:

5. Adjourning: The process of "unforming" the group, that is, letting go of the group structure and moving on.

More information on Tuckman's 5 stages of group development model

• Bruce Tuckman's 1965 forming storming norming performing model of group development

• Group dynamics: Basic stages of groups and how they develop

• Tuckman's stages of group development - forming storming norming performing adjourning

• Five stages of group formation in adventure education [.pdf]