Five Stages of Group Formation in Hell's Kitchen, S01E10
Analysis by Amna S., Haya al-D., and Fatima al-F.
Hell’s Kitchen is a show in which the world famous chef Gorden Ramsey, who is the host of the show and the owner of the restaurant “Hell’s Kictchen”, puts 12 young chefs through a distressing challenge to win the restaurant of their dreams. Moreover, in the last episode (episode 11) of season 1, chef Ramsey puts the two last contestants, which are Ralph and Michel, into the final test. In the final test, which is a 60 hours test, chef Ramsey splits Hell’s Kitchen into two parts.
Then, he puts the two contestants head to head with their own restaurants so that he will designate which one of the contestant is going to be the winner of the restaurant. In this episode, the test begins when the two contestants design their restaurants, write up their own menu, come up with a name for their own restaurant, and choose their staff from the former competitors who were eliminated in the previous episodes. After that, the competition of running their own restaurants and giving the best food and service begins. In other words, the two chefs constraint mostly on managing their group in the most efficient way in order to produce good food and service that will satisfy their customer.
Finally after the final test is over, chef Ramsey depends on the evaluations of the customers and his own judgment of the performance of Ralph and Michel to decide over who wins the restaurant. At the end of the episode, Michael won the competition.
The five-stage model explains the group development process. In Ralph’s group we can see the following stages:
1. Forming:
The forming stage is shown in the scene where Ralph starts choosing his group members. Also in the scene were he meets with them to explain about what is going on his kitchen. Moreover, he is explaining the things that each of them should do. In addition, the forming stage is evident in the scene where he shows and explains his points of success to his team members.
2. Storming:
The storming stage is evident in the scene where Ralph is giving them orders about how much time they need to spend on preparing for dishes. In this scene Andrew seems to be stressed, Dewberry is lost on what he is suppose to do because he is not fully concentrating on what Ralph says, and Windy is not paying attention to what Ralph is saying. In other words, the group members are still confused about what their roles are. Also this stage is evident in the scene when Ralph starts giving the orders that should be served and Windy gets confused about what she is suppose to prepare. This scene also shows Windy asking and trying to understand what her position and role are in the group.
3. Norming/ Performing:
This us shown in the scene when Andrew comes back from the hospital and the group becomes more confident and starts working more efficiently as one group. Moreover, the Norming and performing stages occur together in the scene where Dewberry comes back to the kitchen after he felt dizzy. Ralph’s group starts working more effectively and they manage to serve half of Ralph’s main courses in about 3 hours. So, this shows “the sense of cohesiveness, togetherness and attraction between the group members.” Also it shows how the group is working as a unit to accomplish the same goal which is to finish serving a whole dinner and winning the competition for Ralph.
4. Adjourning:
This is shown in the scene where they have finished serving all the tables. Each member of Ralph’s team has done his/her task perfectly in order to accomplish the goal, which is serving a whole diner.
The Five group development stages in Michael’s group were:
1. Forming:
The forming stage is shown in the scene where Michel starts choosing his group members and in the scene where Michel sets with his group on the table to explain and discuss his menu. Also to explain his strategy to serve a whole dinner and gives each member his/her role in the kitchen.
2. Storming:
The storming stage is evident in the scene where Michael starts messing up the order ticket. The group members are confused about what is the order that they should prepare. Also, the storming stage is evident in the scene where Jessica and Elisa have a conflict over each person’s position in the kitchen. Each of them is trying to work on her work rather than helping each other in accomplishing the tasks that is given to them.
3. Norming:
The Norming stage is in the scene after the mistake of not serving a medium well steak. The group started to listen more to Michel and what each of them has to do. They started working more effectively and efficiently in accomplishing their tasks and serving the orders.
4. Performing:
The performing stage is when the group starts to speed up their performance in the kitchen and work together. This is in the scene where the group serves most of the main courses and starts sending out the deserts.
5. Adjourning:
This is shown in the scene where they have finished serving all the tables. In addition, each member of Michal’s group has done his/her task perfectly in order to accomplish the goal, which is serving a whole diner.