Discussion: View Thread

I have read a posting to another list, STLHE-L, that mentions having teams
of students working on assignments together. I invite your comments on how
you make this work in your classes (or aspects of it that are problematic
for you).

Cybercollegially,
Charles Wankel
Mg-Ed-Dv Moderator
wankelc@stjohns.edu

From: Harry Bury [mailto:HBury@bw.edu]

At Baldwin Wallace in our Executive MBA program we form teams
at the very beginning and they stay together for the 2 years. Some
assignments are team-graded and some are individually-graded.

POSITIVES:

*They learn from the outset to work together as a team as the whole is
greater than the sum of its parts.

*They meet between classes face-2-face and they learn to communicate and
meet via email and virtual team interaction.

*They learn interdependence and trust.

*Graduate school is less threatening for those who have been away from the
books for a long time.

*It is more fun studying and working together and they develop friendships
that last far beyond the EMBA experience.

* The whole approach masks the work environment: at least the one we would
like to see and promote. In other words it fits our values.

****and, many more that I cannot think of at the moment.

NEGATIVES:

*Sometimes the groups do not jell and we need to do conflict management
which is a great learning experience when it works but difficult when it
doesn't and people need to change groups.

*Sometimes one or more do not carry their load and others want to learn or
desire a high grade so much that they will carry the other or others.
Usually they do it quietly but sometimes they object and we go back to the
former.

As you can see, we have experienced far more positives than negatives and
would recommend working in teams. By the way it is a great opportunity to
enable to understand systems theory as opposed to Taylorism.
Respectfully,
Harry

******************************************************
Prof. Harry J. Bury, Ph.D.
Professor of Organizational Behavior and Systems Management
Baldwin-Wallace College
275 Eastland Road
Berea, Ohio 44017-2088
Office Phone: (440)826-2395
***********************************************************

-----Original Message-----

...having teams of students working on assignments together. I invite your
comments on how you make this work in your classes (or aspects of it that
are problematic for you).
Charles Wankel

From: curt wellington [mailto:curtpw@hotmail.com]

Hi All,
By way of introduction, I am from the sunny Caribbean island of Trinidad,
and am attached to the University of the West Indies-Institute of Business
as a Resident Consultant (UWI-IOB).

At the IOB, we offer post-graduate programmes, for which the concept of
"building high performance teams" is an experiential process that is
designed into the programmes.

The first level of interaction of each programme is a 3-day team-building
workshop that exposes participants to the concept, processes and benefits
of using high performance teams in today's workplace. This is simulated in
the teams they form at the end of the workshops, and in how they organise
themselves to udertake project assignments during the programmes.

The experience exposes participants to the dynamics of team performance,
including the issues of leadership and diversity (which is critical in our
societies).

While the IOB encourages teams to confront and to work through their
differences, team members often choose to reconfigure themselves to ensure
successful outcomes (achievement of their post-graduate degrees).

Team members develop their own norms and values, and there have been
occasions when a member has been expunged from the team for conduct
considered to be inimical to the best interests of the team.

We believe that the experience contributes to a great extent to the
subsequent success of our graduates in their workplaces.


Curt P. Wellington
Resident Consultant
UWI-Institute of Business
Tunapuna
Trinidad and Tobago

Phone: 868-662-9894
Fax: 868-662-1411
email: curtpw@hotmail.com
curtpw52@tstt.net.tt

From: Ken Rossi [mailto:rossik001@hawaii.rr.com]

I have used team activities in a number of class environments. The program I
teach in also uses the team approach for many of the courses including the
software engineering practicum. Since mine are graduate students, we try to
prepare them for the 'real' world by having them perform projects in teams
as they would when they graduate. The key points I see to making this work
are:
1. Make sure the task, project, etc. has enough work to keep the team
actively involved. It must be of sufficient scope that one or two cannot
complete the task in the allotted time.

2. Provide a feedback mechanism for the students to comment on the
actions and contributions of their team mates. I use a form that I calculate
the result into the final grade of the project. In other words, the students
have input into each other's grade.

3. Provide them with a mechanism and strategies to deal with conflict.
In some cases, we allow the students to choose their team, such as the
semester-long software engineering project, or I will assign members based
on their discipline, such as the MIS course which is taken by the MBA, IS,
Org Change, HRM, Global Leadership and Comm. students. That way I can
develop multi-functional teams for them to work on projects or class cases.
In both instances, conflict can arise and I must be prepared to deal with it
through coaching or more direct actions (such as changing team members).

4. In cases where the group activities are a portion of the final
grade, I make sure there is also some form of individual assessment so that
none fall through the crack and get away with doing nothing. In the
software engineering practicum, there are regular, detailed feedback
sessions where each member is required to explain their personal
contribution to the overall project and the activities up to that point.
That allows for a constant monitoring of the all the students on the team.

I have found this to be particularly useful in many of the courses that
contain information about activities that will normally be done in teams
anyway. We use a combination of group and individual projects in all our
Professional Studies program (MSIS, MAOC, MAHRM, MA Global Leadership)
because these students will leave and become the group and team leaders in
their filed and they must develop the skills to successfully lead and task
organize before they head out into the 'real' world.


Ken Rossi, Ed.D.
Asst. Professor of Information Systems
Hawaii Pacific University
Honolulu, Hawaii
(808) 544-1412
rossik001@hawaii.rr.com
kgrossi@hpu.edu

Dear Colleagues,
I really like Ken's suggestions and will incorporate those we have not used.
In a previous post today, I mentioned that we use teams of participants in
the program. Today they chose their teammates and I was delighted to watch
them do it as a whole class making sure that each of the four teams had
members of respective functions, such as finance, engineering, marketing,
operations, etc. They realized that what was good for the whole class was
good for the individual teams and each individual in the EMBA program as
well. Already they were beginning to practice systems thinking. As a
professor, I could not have been happier.
Respectfully,
Harry

******************************************************
Prof. Harry J. Bury, Ph.D.
Professor of Organizational Behavior and Systems Management
Baldwin-Wallace College
275 Eastland Road
Berea, Ohio 44017-2088
Office Phone: (440)826-2395
***********************************************************



-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Wankel [mailto:cxx@bellatlantic.net]
Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2001 3:21 PM
To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: [MG-ED-DV] Making teams effective in class


From: Ken Rossi [mailto:rossik001@hawaii.rr.com]

I have used team activities in a number of class environments. The program I
teach in also uses the team approach for many of the courses including the
software engineering practicum. Since mine are graduate students, we try to
prepare them for the 'real' world by having them perform projects in teams
as they would when they graduate. The key points I see to making this work
are:
1. Make sure the task, project, etc. has enough work to keep the team
actively involved. It must be of sufficient scope that one or two cannot
complete the task in the allotted time.

2. Provide a feedback mechanism for the students to comment on the
actions and contributions of their team mates. I use a form that I calculate
the result into the final grade of the project. In other words, the students
have input into each other's grade.

3. Provide them with a mechanism and strategies to deal with conflict.
In some cases, we allow the students to choose their team, such as the
semester-long software engineering project, or I will assign members based
on their discipline, such as the MIS course which is taken by the MBA, IS,
Org Change, HRM, Global Leadership and Comm. students. That way I can
develop multi-functional teams for them to work on projects or class cases.
In both instances, conflict can arise and I must be prepared to deal with it
through coaching or more direct actions (such as changing team members).

4. In cases where the group activities are a portion of the final
grade, I make sure there is also some form of individual assessment so that
none fall through the crack and get away with doing nothing. In the
software engineering practicum, there are regular, detailed feedback
sessions where each member is required to explain their personal
contribution to the overall project and the activities up to that point.
That allows for a constant monitoring of the all the students on the team.

I have found this to be particularly useful in many of the courses that
contain information about activities that will normally be done in teams
anyway. We use a combination of group and individual projects in all our
Professional Studies program (MSIS, MAOC, MAHRM, MA Global Leadership)
because these students will leave and become the group and team leaders in
their filed and they must develop the skills to successfully lead and task
organize before they head out into the 'real' world.


Ken Rossi, Ed.D.
Asst. Professor of Information Systems
Hawaii Pacific University
Honolulu, Hawaii
(808) 544-1412
rossik001@hawaii.rr.com
kgrossi@hpu.edu

As implied by Harry Bury,

For teams to work they require particular skills on team dynamics. This
requires additional attention and know-how, from integrating teams to
dissolving them. It would be ludicrous to think that teaching to swim is
accomplished by throwing someone into the water and then helping them
survive the experience. Certainly knowing what to expect and how to respond
beforehand does help. To really learn you need a coach that knows, observes
and can help you reach peak performance. Any learning requires both an
experience and the appropriate interpretation, a though out process to
facilitate the discipline. Though living on or by the water does create the
incentive to learn how to swim rather quickly and some individuals to poses
the equivalent of an internal coach as a natural gift, and almost anyone
can stand in the water next to one to ensure one learn to survive...

The value may come from exposing the students early on controlled
situations and providing them with better tools to manage the experience so
that when they encounter these same situations in the real world they
respond more effectively. Give them a head start...

Be careful of assuming that everyone knows how to swim, or can survive in
the water, even in a shallow pond, they may never realize that they just
need to stand!

Cordially,

Esteban Treviño








Charles Wankel <cxx@bellatlantic.net>@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> on 08/25/2001
09:17:10 AM

Please respond to wankelc@stjohns.edu

Sent by: Management Education and Development Discussion
<MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>


To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
cc:
Subject: Re: Making teams effective in class


From: Harry Bury [mailto:HBury@bw.edu]

At Baldwin Wallace in our Executive MBA program we form teams
at the very beginning and they stay together for the 2 years. Some
assignments are team-graded and some are individually-graded.

POSITIVES:

*They learn from the outset to work together as a team as the whole is
greater than the sum of its parts.

*They meet between classes face-2-face and they learn to communicate and
meet via email and virtual team interaction.

*They learn interdependence and trust.

*Graduate school is less threatening for those who have been away from the
books for a long time.

*It is more fun studying and working together and they develop friendships
that last far beyond the EMBA experience.

* The whole approach masks the work environment: at least the one we would
like to see and promote. In other words it fits our values.

****and, many more that I cannot think of at the moment.

NEGATIVES:

*Sometimes the groups do not jell and we need to do conflict management
which is a great learning experience when it works but difficult when it
doesn't and people need to change groups.

*Sometimes one or more do not carry their load and others want to learn or
desire a high grade so much that they will carry the other or others.
Usually they do it quietly but sometimes they object and we go back to the
former.

As you can see, we have experienced far more positives than negatives
and
would recommend working in teams. By the way it is a great opportunity to
enable to understand systems theory as opposed to Taylorism.
Respectfully,
Harry

******************************************************
Prof. Harry J. Bury, Ph.D.
Professor of Organizational Behavior and Systems Management
Baldwin-Wallace College
275 Eastland Road
Berea, Ohio 44017-2088
Office Phone: (440)826-2395
***********************************************************

-----Original Message-----

...having teams of students working on assignments together. I invite your
comments on how you make this work in your classes (or aspects of it that
are problematic for you).
Charles Wankel



____________________________________________________________________________
For your protection, this e-mail message has been scanned for Viruses.
Visit us at http://www.neoris.com/

Dear Colleagues,
I agree with Esterban and like very much his analogy and would emphasize the
fear ingredient as a major part of the equation. In our Executive MBA
program we seek to address this in the Organizational Behavior course.
Respestfully,
Harry

******************************************************
Prof. Harry J. Bury, Ph.D.
Professor of Organizational Behavior and Systems Management
Baldwin-Wallace College
275 Eastland Road
Berea, Ohio 44017-2088
Office Phone: (440)826-2395
***********************************************************



-----Original Message-----
From: Esteban Trevino [mailto:esteban.trevino@neoris.com]
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2001 1:27 PM
To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: [MG-ED-DV] Making teams effective in class


As implied by Harry Bury,

For teams to work they require particular skills on team dynamics. This
requires additional attention and know-how, from integrating teams to
dissolving them. It would be ludicrous to think that teaching to swim is
accomplished by throwing someone into the water and then helping them
survive the experience. Certainly knowing what to expect and how to respond
beforehand does help. To really learn you need a coach that knows, observes
and can help you reach peak performance. Any learning requires both an
experience and the appropriate interpretation, a though out process to
facilitate the discipline. Though living on or by the water does create the
incentive to learn how to swim rather quickly and some individuals to poses
the equivalent of an internal coach as a natural gift, and almost anyone
can stand in the water next to one to ensure one learn to survive...

The value may come from exposing the students early on controlled
situations and providing them with better tools to manage the experience so
that when they encounter these same situations in the real world they
respond more effectively. Give them a head start...

Be careful of assuming that everyone knows how to swim, or can survive in
the water, even in a shallow pond, they may never realize that they just
need to stand!

Cordially,

Esteban Treviño








Charles Wankel <cxx@bellatlantic.net>@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> on 08/25/2001
09:17:10 AM

Please respond to wankelc@stjohns.edu

Sent by: Management Education and Development Discussion
<MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>


To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
cc:
Subject: Re: Making teams effective in class


From: Harry Bury [mailto:HBury@bw.edu]

At Baldwin Wallace in our Executive MBA program we form teams
at the very beginning and they stay together for the 2 years. Some
assignments are team-graded and some are individually-graded.

POSITIVES:

*They learn from the outset to work together as a team as the whole is
greater than the sum of its parts.

*They meet between classes face-2-face and they learn to communicate and
meet via email and virtual team interaction.

*They learn interdependence and trust.

*Graduate school is less threatening for those who have been away from the
books for a long time.

*It is more fun studying and working together and they develop friendships
that last far beyond the EMBA experience.

* The whole approach masks the work environment: at least the one we would
like to see and promote. In other words it fits our values.

****and, many more that I cannot think of at the moment.

NEGATIVES:

*Sometimes the groups do not jell and we need to do conflict management
which is a great learning experience when it works but difficult when it
doesn't and people need to change groups.

*Sometimes one or more do not carry their load and others want to learn or
desire a high grade so much that they will carry the other or others.
Usually they do it quietly but sometimes they object and we go back to the
former.

As you can see, we have experienced far more positives than negatives
and
would recommend working in teams. By the way it is a great opportunity to
enable to understand systems theory as opposed to Taylorism.
Respectfully,
Harry

******************************************************
Prof. Harry J. Bury, Ph.D.
Professor of Organizational Behavior and Systems Management
Baldwin-Wallace College
275 Eastland Road
Berea, Ohio 44017-2088
Office Phone: (440)826-2395
***********************************************************

-----Original Message-----

...having teams of students working on assignments together. I invite your
comments on how you make this work in your classes (or aspects of it that
are problematic for you).
Charles Wankel



____________________________________________________________________________
For your protection, this e-mail message has been scanned for Viruses.
Visit us at http://www.neoris.com/