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Tuckman’s stages of group development example

Forming through adjourning, each with what happens to the group and to its task, and one project team as the example.

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Tuckman's five stages of group development as boxes from left to right: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning, the last with a dashed outline as the 1977 addition. Each stage gives what happens in the group structure and in the task activity, and one example follows a fictional coffee roaster's project team launching cold brew concentrate: questions at the kickoff, a dispute between a 6-week and a 12-week schedule, an agreed 9-week plan, first orders reaching 30 cafes, and the team handing over and disbanding.

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Tuckman’s stages of group development with an example. Derek Jansen, Grad Coach, CC BY 4.0.

What it shows

Tuckman’s stages of group development: forming, storming, norming and performing (Tuckman 1965), from a review of 50 articles, plus adjourning, which Tuckman and Jensen (1977) added after reviewing 22 later studies.

For each stage the drawing gives what happens in Tuckman’s two realms, group structure and task activity. One example runs through all five: a project team at Northfield Coffee Roasters, a fictional specialty roaster, launching cold brew concentrate.

How to read it

  1. Forming: at the kickoff, the five members ask the lead what the cold brew launch must include.

  2. Storming: marketing wants a launch in 6 weeks; the roastery says it needs 12.

  3. Norming: they agree on a 9-week plan and a weekly check-in.

  4. Performing: the first cold brew orders reach 30 cafes on schedule.

  5. Adjourning: the sales team takes over, and the project team reviews the launch and disbands.

The five stages

  • Forming: testing and dependence; orientation to the task.
  • Storming: intragroup conflict; emotional response to task demands.
  • Norming: development of group cohesion; open exchange of relevant interpretations.
  • Performing: functional role-relatedness; emergence of solutions.
  • Adjourning: anxiety about separation and termination; self-evaluation.

Ways to use it in teaching

  • Student project groups can place themselves at the midpoint of a course: which stage are they in, and what moved them there?

  • What does the team in the example need from its lead at each stage? Have students compare forming with adjourning.

  • Tuckman (1965) drew the model from 50 articles on therapy groups, training groups, and natural and laboratory groups. Should a workplace project team be expected to follow the same sequence, and what evidence would test it?

  • The same launch appears as a question mark on the BCG matrix and as product development in the Ansoff matrix. Would the team’s 9-week plan look different if leadership saw the product as a gamble rather than a natural extension?

Sources

  • Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384–399. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0022100
  • Tuckman, B. W. (2001). Developmental sequence in small groups. Group Facilitation: A Research and Applications Journal, 3, 66–81. (Original work published 1965)
  • Tuckman, B. W., & Jensen, M. A. C. (1977). Stages of small-group development revisited. Group & Organization Studies, 2(4), 419–427. https://doi.org/10.1177/105960117700200404
  • Tuckman's stages of group development. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 19, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuckman%27s_stages_of_group_development

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