40 years of storming: a historical review of Tuckman's model of small group development

Abstract

This paper presents a historical overview of the Tuckman model describing the stages of group development. Created by Bruce W. Tuckman in 1965 and revised by Tuckman and Mary Ann Conover Jensen in 1977, the model presents the well-known stages of forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. This model has a unique history in that it was initially popular among HRD practitioners and later became common in academic literature as well. Its significance was a reflection of its time, responding both to the growing importance of groups in the workplace and to the lack of applicable research. This paper uses a literature review to trace the history of the model in terms of field practice and academic research.

Keywords:

• teams
• group development stages
• Tuckman, Bruce
• HRD history