Stages of Group Development in The Apprentice, S01E01
Analysis by M. Hasnain.
Part 1
“It's always interesting to watch people who have been incredibly successful in their own businesses work in a group made up of equally strong personalities”, -Donald Trump
The theory being used is the Five-Stage Model from Chapter 8 that describes the stages of group development. A group is defined as a “collection of individuals in which behavior and/or performance of one member is influenced by behavior and/or performance of other members.” We are looking at how groups evolve over a period of time from the very initial stages of forming until the very end when the group is adjourning. The following fully describes the five (5) stages:
*Forming: this is very first step of group formation when no one knows each other and begins by “breaking the ice” and “getting acquainted”. This is the time when “group members are trying out behaviors, testing their position, and asking others questions. “The group is establishing loose, but specific ground rules”.
*Storming. “This is the conflict phase” where members clash with each other through “arguing, debating, and experimenting with roles”. Attempts are made to “move into leadership roles”. At this point “the group’s hierarchy starts to take shape”.
*Norming. “The group starts to work more effectively together. There is a sense of togetherness or attraction to being a part of a group. This is the beginning of cohesiveness. A set of group-driven expectations is communicated within the group.”
*Performing. “A group structure, hierarchy, and norms are in place. The group is focused on accomplishing goals and being an efficient unit. This is an important stage in that the group is mature”.
*Adjourning. “The group prepares to disband. The goals have been accomplished and tasks finished. Some members will be depressed over the loss of cohesiveness in the future”.
The textbook points out that these stages don’t have a set time limit or period. In fact two or more stages could easily occur at the same time; this is just a “general framework”.
Part 2
“You’re fired” , - Donald Trump, The Apprentice
The video being used for analysis is the very first episode of The Apprentice from season 1, “Meet the Billionaire”. The Apprentice is a reality TV-show where 16 people go through a 13 week interview process where at the end of each week one person is fired. Ultimately one person is left and is hired by billionaire Donald Trump to manage one of his organizations or a major project. The important point to focus on in the first episode is that the candidates are divided into 2 groups. In each episode the two groups compete against each other and have to complete business-related tasks. The winning group is rewarded and the losing group has to face Trump in the boardroom where one person is fired. Thus the development of the group is critical to their performance and ultimately whether their going to win or lose.
This video also requires several scenes for the analysis. You probably need to watch the entire episode for a full context of the situation. However, this is the breakdown of the specific scenes used for my analysis in chronological order...
Part 3
“Success is in business is focused not only on individual contribution but working as a team as well.”, Amelia Henry, The Apprentice
Scene 1 definitely fits into the definition of stage 1, forming. Everyone is drinking champagne, celebrating, asking each other questions, and getting to know each other. For example we see one of the men (Sam) asking about another member’s (David) education and why he decided to do an MBA after medical school. Sam decides he can not relate to David because of the years of schooling and his perception of an entrepreneur, this can be considered testing a group member’s position. Sam is clearly trying to find group members that he can relate to and affiliate with.
In Scene 2, although the forming stage is definitely not over, and will most likely continue throughout the entire episode since we are looking at the very first day of the group’s formation. Nonetheless, the groups definitely enter the storming stage. As the women’s team tries to decide on a name for the team, conflict arises between the members. Omarosa does her best to move into the leadership position; she even says that “organizing and motivating people” is a skill of hers. Omarosa also points out that due to the conflict, the “simple” task of coming with a name became a “3-hour ordeal”. After no one seems to come up with a name, the group seems to disperse, and finally Ereka comes up with a name that everyone agrees on. These are all aspects of the conflict phase in storming. We basically see group members attempting to assert themselves and the beginning of a hierarchy. On the other hand we find that even though the men’s team debates different names, they seem to be getting along relatively better and even a few jokes are cracked. They easily come up with a name with much less debate than the women, even though Nick thinks the name is “dumb,” “corny” and not that impressive. I would say there is less storming in the men’s group, and its look more like the next stage of group development, norming; as Nick says, they are now working as a team and they are there to win. The conflict within the women’s group is fairly prevalent, and their transition into the norming stage is not as smooth.
The norming stage may not be applied as easily as the first two stages as there is a definite overlap of norming with the performing stage in Scene 3. Nonetheless, the scene definitely fits the description of both stages. The groups already have very clear goals and everyone is working towards winning the assigned task. Troy begins to delegate tasks, and we start to see a group structure. However the group is not mature as they still do not each other’s skills and who would be best for what task. In the other group conflict still continues between the women and arguments over getting a table to sell lemonade. In scene 4, we never really see the women working as a “cohesive” group as they argue over Tammy taking a lunch break. It seems the women’s group never gets out of the storming stage.
Scene 5 where the task is over and the men are in the suite can be considered as the final stage, adjourning. Although there never will be complete adjournment as the teams have to continue working as groups for the remaining week. The men definitely feel the loss and are depressed about it. However Troy says that they will do better next time.
Even though the men’s group lost, they can still be seen as a relatively more mature group than the women in terms of the stages of development. We can see also how important the storming stage is in determining how effective the norming and forming stage will proceed. The women never really get along and thus they never enter the next stages. From the beginning we see that there is less conflict among the men and they easily transition into the next stages. The five-stage model really does help in understanding the development of groups for this episode of The Apprentice.