The first stage is when an idea occurs; this is when you process what you are going to say and who you are going to say it to. The second stage is message coded; this is when you have thought through what you are exactly going to say but also when you’re planning to say it. Next is, message sent, this is where you speak or sign what you are going to say. Then comes, message received, this is when the person you are speaking with has listened to what you had to say. The fifth stage is message decoded; this is where the message can be translated if needs be. The final stage is message understood, this is where the person who you’ve been speaking with can clarify what has been said and ask any questions.
An example of when this is effectively used in a health and social care context is when the service user wants to make a shopping list for her/his carer for when they go shopping.
Stage 1:
Idea occurs – The service user’s wants to write up a shopping list for their carer, so the carer knows exactly what to get.
Stage 2:
Message coded – The service user decides what he/she wants on the shopping list.
Stage 3:
Message sent – The service user has written out her/his shopping list and handed it over to their carer.
Stage 4:
Message received – The carer has the shopping list and looks through it.
Stage 5:
Message decoded – This particular stage isn’t needed in this situation but it would have been needed if the service user spoke a different language to the carer or had a hearing impediment.
Stage 6:
Message understood – The carer understood the shopping list and everything that was on it.
Tuckman’s Theory
This theory was developed in the 1965’s and the last stage was added in the 1970’s. There are five stages which are, forming, storming, norming, storming, performing and adjourning. Forming is when a group of people who know each other but don’t them well enough are getting together in a group to complete a task. They are slowly building a relationship, but in this stage members of the group tend to behave independently and although goodwill may exist they don’t know each other well enough to unconditionally trust one another. Also individuals don’t show their personality that well.
The second stage is storming, in this stage individuals start to show their true feelings and their personality starts to show. This is all because they are more relaxed and comfortable around others in their group. However, relationships will be made or broken in this phase as problems may arise as members of the group may have a disagreement if they have different opinions and ideas. In this stage some members of the group will fight for domination to ensure their opinions are valued. Also in this phase it is essential that the team has a strong facilitative leader to complete the task successfully.
As the group move out the storming phase they will enter the norming phase. This tends to be a move towards harmonious working practices with the group agreeing on the rules and values which they will operate by. The group will begin to trust themselves and others during this phase as they will accept the vital contribution of each member. This is also when the team leader can taker a step back as individual members will take greater responsibility in achieving their goal.
Not all groups manage to make it to the performing phase, which is essentially an era of high performance. Performing groups are identified by high levels of independence, motivation, knowledge and competence. Also decision making is collaborative and dissent is expected and encourages as there will be a high level of respect in the communication between team members.
Adjourning, this is the final stage which was added later by Tuckman. This is when the task has been completed with a positive outcome. This is also the break up of the team with everything fulfilled and they all move on with a happy attitude with was has been achieved.
