Teambuilding

Amsterdam, 08/12/2001

The NASA - Exercise

You are part of a group of astronauts (5 persons) that had the task of meeting the mothership
on the bright side of the moon. Technical difficulties forced you to land your spacecraft 300 km
apart from the mothership. Much of your equipment has been crashed. Your only chance of
survival is to walk to the mothership. You can only take those things with you that are
absolutely indispensable to walk this distance. This is a list of 15 items that were not destroyed.
Arrange these items in order of priority considering which are more or less important for your
team to reach the mothership. Position "1" is for the most important item, position "2" for the
second most important item etc.; all 15 positions have to be allocated.

1 box of matches

_________

1 can of food concentrate

_________

20 metre of nylon rope

_________

30 m2 of parachute silk

_________

1 portable cooker

_________

2 guns, 7,65 mm

_________

1 can of dried milk

_________

2 oxygen tanks (each 50 l)

_________

1 map

_________

1 rubber dinghy with CO2 cylinders

_________

1 compass

_________

20 litre of water

_________

signal cartridges

_________

first-aid-box

_________

FM-receiver-transmitter

_________

Teambuilding
Amsterdam, 08/12/2001

The NASA-Exercise

Group decisions
This is an exercise for realistic decision-making-processes. Your group has to
decide unanimously, i.e. each position of the items has to be decided upon
unanimously. Unanimous voting is difficult to achieve therefore not all of you will
be satisfied with all the positions. Try nevertheless to achieve a list that most of
you can agree with. Here are some hints:
Avoid to force you opinion on the others. Argue with logic.
Do not give in because you want to reach a unanimous decision or because you
want to avoid conflict. Only support other opinions if you can agree with
them at least to some extent.
Do not use problem-solving techniques like majority decisions or horse-trading
(if I become President I will appoint you VP AA ).
Regard other opinions as a useful contribution rather than an annoying
deviation.
You have 40 minutes to accomplish your task!

Teambuilding
Amsterdam, 08/12/2001

The NASA-Exercise
Key:
matches

15

little or no use on the moon

food concentrate

necessary daily ration

nylon rope

useful for climbing or transporting injured

parachute silk

sun protection

cooker

13

only useful on dark side of the moon

2 guns

11

may be used for creating drive units

dried milk

12

liquid food if mixed with water

2 oxygen tanks

essential for breathing

map

essential for finding your way

rubber dinghy

useful with CO2 cylinders for crossing cliffs

compass

14

no magnetic poles, therefore not useful

20 litre of water

against loss of water through perspiration etc.

signal cartridges

10

giving signs when in sight of mothership

first-aid-box

pills and injections are valuable

FM-receiver-transmitter

useful for SOS; connection to mothership

Teambuilding
Amsterdam, 08/12/2001

The NASA-Exercise
Evaluation:

1.

Did your work have a structure?

2.

How did you distribute the roles?

3.

Was somebody appointed leader?

4.

Who has taken the most important decisions?

5.

Was there much useless talk?

6.

How was the work climate?

7.

Did you feel personally limited by group actions? Which were these?

8.

Was somebody passed over by the group?

9.

Did every member of the group take part actively in the work?

10. Was every contribution being respected?

11. Were there attempts to force opinions on group members?
12. How did these members react?
13. Was the atmosphere aggressive or tense?
14. Was criticism stated in a factual or emotional way?
15. How close do you think the game came to reality?