Chapter 5

1. Chapter 5 The Transition Period in a Group: Storming and Norming Prepared by: Nathaniel N. Ivers, Wake Forest University

2. Roadmap • The Group Stage of Storming • Techniques for Overcoming Resistance and Resolving Conflict • The Group Stage of Norming

3. Storming • Time of conflict and anxiety • When the group moves from primary tension (awkwardness about being in a new situation) to secondary tension (intragroup conflict) (Bormann, 1975) • Group members and leaders struggle with issues related to structure, direction, control, catharsis, and interpersonal relationships (Hershenson et al., 2003; Maples, 1988).

4. Storming • Each group experiences the storming process differently • A group’s development may be arrested in this stage by either dwelling on conflict or ignoring it • It is essential that group leaders help members recognize and deal with conflict, anxiety, and resistance (Gladding, 1994, Mahler, 1969). • Conflict resolution: Based on premise that conflict is primarily negative • Conflict management: Based on the premise that conflict can be beneficial

5. Peer Relationships in Storming • Fears of losing control, being misunderstood, looking foolish, or being rejected • Concern for power • Informational power • Influential power • Authoritative power • Trust among peers

6. Resistance During Storming • Resistance: Any behavior that moves the group away from areas of discomfort, conflict, or potential growth • Resistance appears to increase during the early part of the storming stage (Higgs, 1992) • Unprepared group leader may become defensive when resistance occurs

7. Common Forms of Resistance • Indirect • Intellectualization • Questioning • Advice Giving • Band-Aiding • Dependency • Monopolizing • Direct • Attacking the group leader

8. Task Processing in Storming • Ways of accomplishing a specific goal • May regress during storming, as a great deal of attention is placed on personal matters • Regression of task processing may result in scapegoating

9. Working through Storming • Use a process observer • Use the process of leveling • Acknowledge what is occurring in the group independent of a process observer • Get feedback from members about how they are doing and what they think needs to be done (Greason, 2011; Ponzo, 1991) • Formal feedback • Informal feedback • Use motivational interviewing

10. Results of Working through Storming • Cultivates a new dimension characterized by members making emotional space for one another and being accommodating • Increases group members’ response range, particularly around conflict management

11. Conflict Management Orientations • Competing • Accommodating • Collaborating • Avoiding • Compromising

12. Norms and Norming • Norms • expectations about group members’ behaviors that should or should not take place (Forsyth, 2013) • “Group norms regulate the performance of the group as an organized unit” (Napier & Gershenfeld, 2004, p. 101) • Group Norming • Feeling of “We-Ness,” identity, groupness, or cohesiveness that comes when individuals feel they belong to an association or organization larger than themselves

13. Peer Relationships During Norming • Peer interactions are manifest through the following: • Identification • Here-and-now experiences • Hope • Cooperation • Collaboration • Cohesion

14. Task Processes During Norming • Agreement on the establishment of norms, or rules and standards from which to operate the group • Prescriptive Norms • Proscriptive Norms • Commitment to the group as a whole, its rules, and to individual goals

15. Promoting Norming Can be promoted through actions by either the group leader or group members: • Supporting • Empathizing • Facilitating • Self-Disclosure

16. Results of Norming • Prepares groups for the working stage of a group • Helps members feel connected with the group and, therefore, allows them to concentrate on being productive • Provides guidelines under which to operate • Helps group members feel good about themselves and the group as a whole