University Team Formation Reflection Report: Tuckman Model

This report presents a student's reflective analysis of the team formation process, guided by Bruce Tuckman's stages of team development: forming, storming, norming, and performing. The student details their experiences, observations, and actions within each stage, highlighting the importance of team dynamics, communication, and conflict resolution. The report discusses the team's strengths, such as effective collaboration and communication, as well as identified gaps, including skill deficiencies and time management issues. Suggestions are provided for enhancing future team performance, emphasizing regular communication, promoting collaboration, and setting clear team goals. The student concludes with lessons learned about team dynamics and the significance of assigning roles based on expertise, advocating for improved communication and conflict resolution in future team endeavors. This report serves as a valuable case study for understanding team formation and leadership within a project context.

Running head: REFLECTION
Reflection on Team Formation
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

1
REFLECTION
Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
Reflection on Team Formation............................................................................................2
The process (Use of Tuckman Model)............................................................................3
What Team has Done Well..............................................................................................5
Gaps and Deficiencies Observed.....................................................................................6
Suggestions......................................................................................................................6
Lesson Learnt.......................................................................................................................6
References............................................................................................................................8

2
REFLECTION
Introduction
Team formation is an essential aspect of a delivering a successful project as success of a
project is largely dependent on various aspects of team development along with the skills of the
team members (Grand et al., 2016). Therefore, it is of paramount necessity to give an increasing
focus on team formation as an essential step of managing the entire project. This reflective report
aims in providing an insight to the formation of our team. The methods applied for team
formation and the issues faced while doing so are reflected in the following section. We have
made use of Tuckman’s model of team formation. The activities and the processes that were
executed in each stage of forming, storming, norming and performing are discussed in the
following pargraphs.
Reflection on Team Formation
Team Formation is an essential aspect of managing a project. In the early stages of team
formation, it is of foremost necessity to identify the key skills that are required to form an
efficient team for the project. There are certain factors that contribute to team effectiveness. In
the initial stages of team formation, we had arranged a group meetings to discuss and brain storm
about the skill requirements of the team and the process in which the effectiveness of the team
can be improved (Lykourentzou et al., 2016). The very first meeting was lengthy yet fruitful. Our
entire group had brainstormed and discussed about the different factors that collectively
determine team efficiency (Woodcock, 2017). These factors include, team cohesion, smooth
communication among the team, stability, team size and homogeny (Wang, Waldman & Zhang,
2014). I documented the meeting minutes and decided on the date of the next meeting prior to
development of the actual team.

3
REFLECTION
One of the positive outcomes of the very first meeting that we had arranged was that it
helped me to understand the team dynamics required to ensure that an efficient team is formed. I
have identified that few of the members in the meeting were less vocal that indicated that they
have to work on their communication process.
The process (Use of Tuckman Model)
After several meetings and brain storming session, we could finalize the requirements of
our team and it was time for team formation. From the theoretical knowledge and understanding
of team formation, I knew that formation of a team is a time consuming aspect and the members
of the team are required to go through certain recognizable stages to become a group from
strangers (Humphrey & Aime, 2014). Although the initial meetings acted as a good ice breakers,
a lot of understanding among the team members were necessary to ensure that the entire team
works towards achievement of common goals. The activities that I had performed and observed
throughout the four broad stages of team formation are reflected below-
Forming Stage:-
This is the initial stage of team formation and I have observed that at this stages the
prospected team members were quite polite among themselves. The team leader at this stage had
the most important role to play in deciding which team members will be allocated to certain
specific task (Hu & Liden, 2015). I have observed a good unity among the members, which was
possibly the result of the previous group meetings and brain storming sessions. After first two
meetings, most of the members became accustomed to each other contributed to easier assigning
of roles to each members. At this stage, the team generally make an effort to know each other,

4
REFLECTION
which was successfully fulfilled in our case. This stage was necessary to build the trust among
the team members and we could successfully achieve that.
Storming:-
This is a critical stage of team formation as at this stage, the team members start to push
against the boundaries that are established at the forming stage (Natvig & Stark, 2016). The
different working styles of few of the team members proved to be an issue and possible source of
clash. However, since the members of our team were quite accustomed to each other by that
time, the conflicts among the team could be resolved. I was enthusiastic to learn from my leader
about the various aspects of team management and my observation skills have certainly helped
me to understand the team dynamics. At this stage, I ensured that I communicate my issues with
my team so that the chances of conflict among the members are considerably reduced. This
forming stage has helped me to learn the importance of conflict resolution in team formation.
This stage could successfully identify the strengths of each of the team members.
Norming:-
The norming stage was quite smooth for our team. There were no such major issues
among the team and the team conflicts were negligible. This stage has helped me to identify my
strength. By this time, I could realize an improvement in my communication skill and my
decision making skills. I had gained an understanding of the process of team management.
Several group meeting were held at this stage to discuss on the team goals and progress. Since by
this time, all the team members were well accustomed to each other, most of the meetings were
held on video conference. This digital medium has considerably helped in keeping the team

5
REFLECTION
united and in improving the team communication. Effectiveness in delegating the tasks to all the
team members could be achieved at this stage.
Performing:-
This stage was reached in a significantly lesser time as the team dynamics were quite
effective at stage (Pons & Haefele, 2016). At this stage, I have learnt the importance of
commitment and meeting the target that has been set up by the team. The personal level of
engagement with the team is improved at this stage. At this stage, all the members performed to
their best to ensure that the project goal is achieved.
What Team has Done Well
The entire team has shown an efficient team collaboration to ensure that all of them work
towards a common goal. The most important aspect of team formation is effective management
of the team dynamics, which could be achieved in this case. Our team was able to ensure smooth
communication with the leader and all the team members which contributed positively towards
team formation.
Throughout the different stages of team formation, I have closely observed the role of
recorder and reporter. The efficiency in the process of team formation could be achieved mostly
because of the active role played by these individuals. I have played the role of facilitator in this
team formation. I have assisted the leader in setting up different meetings and events linked with
team formation. I am quite enthusiastic in playing this role in future as well. I have got to learn
about the importance of team meeting and group events while playing this role. The reporter
made an effective use of digital mediums in keeping the team up to date about the latest

6
REFLECTION
modifications and changes in the team. Most of the meeting were carried out in video
conference.
Gaps and Deficiencies Observed
In the initial stages of team formation, during the group meeting, several skill gaps were
identified in few of the members. For example, two members had serious communication issue
that were needed to be fixed. Our team further lacked time management skills. However, these
gaps were addressed eventually till the team went to the norming stage. The efficiency of the
leader helped in addressing these major gaps and helped in effective team building.
Suggestions
On basis of my understanding and knowledge about team formation, following
suggestions are provided. If I need to build team in future, will ensure all the below criteria are
met.
1. Regular communication among the team should be promoted to ensure lesser team
conflict and increasing team collaboration (Raes et al., 2015)
2. The leader should always encourage collaboration among the project team members
and not competition, this will help in increasing the efficiency of team formation (Morita &
Burns, 2014).
3. The team goals should be clear to every members from the start (Aga, Noorderhaven &
Vallejo, 2016)
4. It is necessary to gather feedback from every members (Boies, Fiset & Gill, 2015)

7
REFLECTION
Lesson Learnt
The team formation has helped me to gain quite an effective knowledge about the team
dynamics and importance of team formation. The dynamics of the team such as team
collaboration and cohesion and effective communication among the team had a positive
influence on my personal level of engagement. I could improve my communication skill which
helped me to improve my level of confidence. I have learnt about the various aspects of team
formation and collaboration among the project team. In future, if I need to establish a new team,
I will focus on team communication and conflict resolution. These are the two most important
aspect of team formation. Along with that, I shall ascertain that the team members are assigned
with the roles as per their area of expertise, which will improve their confidence level and will
further contribute in formation of the team in an effective manner. I have learnt about the
importance of timely decision making and the need of collection of feedbacks from all the team
members to ensure less inter team conflict.

8
REFLECTION
References
Aga, D. A., Noorderhaven, N., & Vallejo, B. (2016). Transformational leadership and project
success: The mediating role of team-building. International Journal of Project
Management, 34(5), 806-818.
Boies, K., Fiset, J., & Gill, H. (2015). Communication and trust are key: Unlocking the
relationship between leadership and team performance and creativity. The Leadership
Quarterly, 26(6), 1080-1094.
Grand, J. A., Braun, M. T., Kuljanin, G., Kozlowski, S. W., & Chao, G. T. (2016). The dynamics
of team cognition: A process-oriented theory of knowledge emergence in teams. Journal
of Applied Psychology, 101(10), 1353.
Hu, J., & Liden, R. C. (2015). Making a difference in the teamwork: Linking team prosocial
motivation to team processes and effectiveness. Academy of Management Journal, 58(4),
1102-1127.
Humphrey, S. E., & Aime, F. (2014). Team microdynamics: Toward an organizing approach to
teamwork. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 443-503.
Lykourentzou, I., Wang, S., Kraut, R. E., & Dow, S. P. (2016, May). Team dating: A self-
organized team formation strategy for collaborative crowdsourcing. In Proceedings of
the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing
Systems (pp. 1243-1249).
Morita, P. P., & Burns, C. M. (2014). Trust tokens in team development. Team Performance
Management.

9
REFLECTION
Natvig, D., & Stark, N. L. (2016). A project team analysis using Tuckman's model of small-
group development. Journal of Nursing Education, 55(12), 675-681.
Pons, D., & Haefele, S. (2016). Team interactions for successful project management in small
and medium-sized enterprises. International Journal of Information Technology Project
Management (IJITPM), 7(2), 17-43.
Raes, E., Kyndt, E., Decuyper, S., Van den Bossche, P., & Dochy, F. (2015). An exploratory
study of group development and team learning. Human Resource Development
Quarterly, 26(1), 5-30.
Wang, D., Waldman, D. A., & Zhang, Z. (2014). A meta-analysis of shared leadership and team
effectiveness. Journal of applied psychology, 99(2), 181.
Woodcock, M. (2017). Team development manual. Routledge.