DESCRIPTION
A team is a entity composed of mutually responsible and mutually reliant individuals who, in a work process, address different aspects of a given problem and have a shared aim to solve the problem as effectively as possible. The aim of their collaboration is to problem-solve collectively and necessitates a positive attitude in relation to one another’s personal differences.
A foundation built upon cooperativeness is essential for any team. In innovation- or praxis-oriented coursework, a significant amount of instruction and study is based upon group work. Therefore, cultivating optimal preconditions for group work is pivotal for the course in general, as well as for ensuring high-quality student work.
Experience has demonstrated that weak groups deliver weak results. The solutions of weak groups are typically processed incompletely, haphazardly and
are unable to be explained in depth. Weak groups also deliver opaque results. Their processes are ineffective and suffer from extensive short circuitry that masks their decision-making, their learning curve and the development of any strong foundation. Furthermore, weak groups brew dissatisfaction among individual members.
The conclusion here is that a lack of ownership and weak sense of responsibility present excessive work for the few – and in some cases the wrong group members – and too little learning for most.
The reasons for group dysfunction are many. Each group comes with its own background, good and bad experiences and differing notions among members about efficacy and how best to achieve. This means that group members have different attitudes towards work methods and motivation, and have divergent ambitions and success criteria with regards to assignments. Subsequently, group efficacy rests greatly upon a group’s maturity:
- The new group is characterised by insecurity, unclear goals, unclear roles, uncertain communication, difficulty to place demands upon, may require help making decisions.
- The young group is characterised by general satisfaction, appreciation of overall goals, individuals visible, deepened communication, impromptu confrontations, can become shut in.
- The mature group is characterised by trust, clear goals, independence/mutual responsibility, clear communication (+quietness), meta-reflexive confrontations, can deal with intervention. Remember, it is extremely rare for teams to start off as mature and effective.
GUIDANCE
When you incorporate group work as a type of instruction in your course, you may want to address what is written above in a briefing with students so that they fully understand that group work is hard work (and not an exercise in shirking responsibility!). Thereafter, you can request students to complete the following exercises and set of questions that address collective expectations.
EXERCISE 1: TEAM FOUNDATION
What should we do?
The team defines a purpose or reason to work together.
Who are we?
Members get to know each other’s experiences, skills, perspectives and engagement in relation to the achievement of a common goal.
How should we get it done?
Members specify shared work forms and divisions of labour, communication and values.
What will we get out of it?
Members have a shared responsibility to balance assignment objectives and individual aims.
Next, it is important to lay the foundation for conscious cooperation in relation to the group’s currently shared project/challenge. A variety of tools are available for this: a vision clarification, manifest, a teamcharter, but fundamentally, it involves a clarification of the following:
EXERCISE 2: PROJECT FOUNDATION
- Agreement upon project brief (background, challenge, requirements)
- Agreement upon the fundamental idea/project description
- Agreement upon the fundamental internal/external needs
- Agreement upon strategic values
- Agreement upon the team’s resource use and competency requirements
- Agreement upon the team’s work methods, social conventions, communication, decision-making process
- Agreement upon the work sequence and division of responsibilities
DOWNLOAD MATERIALS
Download questions for exercises 1 and exercise 2 (in Danish)