Assignment 1 Task 2 PDF

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Unit 1 – Task 2 As Nurses you’re bound to use Tuckmans theory of stages of group interaction. This is a simple 4 stage model that explains how groups are formed and that they develop over time. Tuckmans theory helps you, as nurses; understand group development and how groups grow and mature and the stages you go through before you start communicating as a team. It also helps provide guidance to what stage the group you are in or with is at and when you may need to intervene. Within Tuckmans theory of group formation there are two roles with the leader and the team member. This is like you as a nurse, within your job there are lots of different people communicating with each other to get a particular job, or individual, seen to. Such as you and a doctor working together. There are 4 key stages within Tuckmans theory. These are the Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing stages. The forming stage is the first stage within Tuckman’s theory. The forming stage is where the group starts to join and ‘form’ together. Within this stage you may ask questions to other members, starting a discussion and give information and suggestions to the group in which you can connect as a group and begin to agree on ideas. This would be like if you are having a discussion about the care for a patient, with many other health care professionals involved such as doctors and surgeons. You, as a nurse, would be involved in the care of the individual that is the topic of the discussion therefore the forming stage is crucial. Especially for those in a health and social care sector. Storming is the second stage of Tuckman’s theory. In this stage conflicts can emerge due to differences of individuals opinions and disagreements about things, such as, in your case for example, a patients treatment or care that they receive. The discussion in which you are in may mean that there are many professionals and in this there may be sub groups developing, withdrawal of members or some members of your group may be unclear as to what is being discussed. This means that in this stage communication skills are vital on everybody’s part so you can all express feelings on the particular topic, or individual in question, enforcing rules and relieving tension to harmonise with everyone. This brings us very steadily onto the third stage. The norming stage. In the norming stage your group should become focussed on the common goal, in your case being the patients care for example. You may all now share the same beliefs and values and realise that you all have the patient as your main priority. In this stage you will also begin to understand what your role will be and the part you play. Finally, Tuckman made stage 4 the performing stage. The performing stage is the stage where everyone works efficiently to get on with what they have been assigned to do in order for a good quality of care to be put into place and the needs of the patient being met are made the main priority. This stage is also where it is vital to make sure everyone involved feel as comfortable as possible with what they are

Unit 1 – Task 2 doing. You will all share the same beliefs and values and therefore you all aim to succeed in the best possible outcome for your individual.

For Tuckman’s 4 stages of group interaction to work you must make it effective. To make it effective you must all work together and communicate with each other to help with both agreements and disagreements in order to reach an end result that everyone is happy with. With the patient in question your main priority at all times. Teams and groups develop over time and you won’t necessarily all ‘click’ straight away, that’s what the forming stage is for! However you can make it effective by giving your opinions and speaking up when you feel something isn’t quite right, even if you feel your point isn’t valid speaking up may always provide a different solution in which everyone else agrees with. You’ll never know if you don’t speak up! You can also make it effective by taking a mature and professional approach to the situation. As a nurse you may become attached to certain people and if the individual you are discussing is someone you have built a close relationship with it may be hard to emotionally detach yourself. However it may be a good idea to take a professional approach to the situation in order for your patient to receive the best care. Tuckman’s theory is best used within a group setting both formally and informally. It is best used in a group due to the stages involved. Because of these stages it will work more effectively when in a group format as there is more room for discussion, giving both the storming and norming stages to successfully work. It also works well in a group because when carrying out the task in question roles will already be assigned in the norming stage so the task will be done quicker with everyone fully knowing what they are doing. Tuckman’s theory works well in a hospital based group, therefore you as nurses will be involved in much of Tuckman’s theory without even knowing you are. Hospitals use the 4 stage theory a lot so that patients care is really thought about and so members of staff, such as nurse, doctors, surgeons etc can clearly share their opinions and beliefs on particular subjects. Of course with theories come strengths and weaknesses. A strength of the theory is that everyone, including you, will get to share your views and opinions before a

Unit 1 – Task 2 conclusion is drawn, therefore you will have a say in the final decision, as no decision will be made until everyone agrees. Another strength of the theory is that it provides a certain level of guidance for your team’s development. This means that for the leader, along with everyone else involved it provides a good outline of where to start when beginning the discussion. A weakness of Tuckman’s theory is that there is no objective or time gap for the theories to take place meaning there is no clear guideline of how long a stage should process, it’s just merely a framework of how to interact in a team, therefore stages may be in discussion for a lot longer than anticipated meaning there is more time for others to change their beliefs and values. Another weakness is that it doesn’t necessarily focus on the effective communication on building good relationships, it, of course, focuses on communication because for it to work it needs good communication skills but it doesn’t completely focus on the relationship side meaning things may be rushed because individuals don’t want to be there. Within a hospital this is vital as everyone must have the patient’s best interests at heart and therefore it means that if this isn’t thought about and is rushed then these interests aren’t put first. Tuckman’s theory may impact the services you provide via the NHS for both good... and not so good reasons. Tuckman’s theory can be hard to implicate and so therefore nurses, such as yourself, and other key professionals in your health care setting may not actually use Tuckman’s theory and you may perform your own way of working. Of course this is completely fine as long as the interests of the patients are at heart. It may impact the services provided when you hit disagreements. Disagreements may mean that patients care and treatment is prolonged due to the lack in agreement and decision making. This can have a huge impact on the National Health Service because not only does it slow down one patient’s recovery it can also slow down everyone else’s....