40 years of storming: a historical review of Tuckman’s model of small group development By Denise A. Bonebright

This article brings to mind the many advancements and studies in group development by naval officers and/or military departments. The need for consistent and repeatable processes within the military is crucial, as a result in the realm of group development is quite extensive when observing military operations. I have found that military studies and developmental models have served as key fundamental research on grpup processes and development.

In the article it is the widespread use of Tuckman’s model in HRD and management is mentioned and is used to show hows how foundational models can become pillars in fields. This reminds me of similar industries adopting early frameworks simply because they are the only available references at the time. I would be interested in learning more about other models that have been developed after the Tuckman model and how common and accurate they are within teams.

Group dynamics are more complex in the real world than Tuckman’s suggest. The idea of moving linearly from one stage to the next is overly simplistic and ignores external pressures. In reality, teams are deeply influenced by external factors like organizational culture, market conditions, or even global events that dramatically affect team functioning. These external pressures can disrupt group development in ways Tuckman’s model doesn’t account for.