Building a team model A model to explain the context and process of teamwork must operate on two levels. There is a group dynamic that impacts the team process as a whole and a personal dynamic that tracks the phases and changes that team members experience during the team process. After examining the University of Phoenix team life cycle model, reflecting on course readings, and conferring with teammates, two paths were identified that have application for University of Phoenix teams; and possibly, broader representation for industry and nonprofit organizations. Team A concluded that Bruce Tuckman's 1965 team development model provides one of the best descriptions of team dynamics. It represents the typical group stages experienced by members of the A team as they participated on the University of Phoenix teams. It also describes the typical evolution described by Team A members with respect to their team activities at work and social activities. As group dynamics evolve, changes also occur within the individuals participating in teams. This is most clearly observed in teams at the University of Phoenix, where individual team members share only the personal goal of earning a college degree. They are not employees of the same company, they are not members of a particular political or social organization, nor do they share other ties. They come from different backgrounds, countries and socioeconomic experiences. When forced by the University to work as a team, members evolve through a predictable process that mimics Tuckman's model. When these two evolutionary models are visualized – Tuckman's group dynamics and the observed individual evolution models – a model is formed that can be applied to a wide range of organizations in order to provide leadership with tangible direction, complete with metrics of reference,Group Dynamics - Bruce Tuckman's 1965 Team Development ModelTuckman's Team Development ModelThis section will summarize Tuckman's contribution to the field of team development given its recognized validity and generalized applicability. A brief review of his work will be followed by his and Jensen's extension of his theory in 1977, which added a fifth phase to the model. Finally, the implications of the theory will be briefly summarized and a starting point for the presentation of a unique model of team development will be provided. BackgroundTuckman examined, in 1965, 50 articles that at the time dealt with the stages of development of groups. Tuckman's purpose was to review this literature and, through evaluation and extrapolation of the general concepts, be able to suggest and formulate a general model applicable to most cases of group development (Tuckman, 1965).