Desert Survival Simulation: Tuckman's Group Development Stages

Desert Survival Simulation Concept Paper The Desert Survival Challenge involved a survival simulation that required us to individually rank 15 items that would be important to the group’s survival. After a plane crash in the hot desert, we were left with limited resources and all the survivors agreed to stick together. After completing the individual ranking, we were assigned to groups where we would share our individual rankings and agree upon a group ranking. We were only given a short amount of time to come up with a group ranking of the 15 items. My group consisted of 4 total members, Wesley, Eva, Nora, and myself.
Forming
Tuckman’s group development stages involve a 5 step process that all types of groups follow. These stages describe
Initially, Wesley felt it was important to reach the mining camp as soon as possible in order to survive. The mining camp was 70 miles away and the temperature was 110 degrees, the rest of the group and myself did not see the logic in that. Eva, Norma, and I explained to him that the scorching heat would not allow us to get very far. Eventually, Wesley bought into our plan to seek shelter from the sun in order to avoid dehydration. With much collaboration, we finally began to move out of the storming stage and into the norming stage of our group’s lifecycle (Engleberg,
Considering the limited time we had to discuss our results, It wasn’t too difficult to come up with a team consensus; as soon as we did, we were able to move through our group ranking fairly quickly. Again, our plan was to seek shelter during the hottest hours of the day in order to avoid dehydration and find ways to signal for help during the mid to late afternoons. Our implicit interaction norms began to fall into place, everyone listened to each other without interrupting, we made sure everyone was contributing to the discussion, and everyone spoke respectfully to one another. Everyone shared their insights as to why they ranked their items the way they did, and when we could not agree on a ranking, we would go by the majority rule. There were no status norms set in place, we all shared power and control over the group discussion. Personally, I believe that one of our group members violated an achievement norm when they failed to bring their individual ranking of the 15 items prior to our group discussion (Engleberg,