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Dear Colleagues

What can we do in team projects in our classes that will help
students learn to manage teams in the outside world?

For example, many students who participate in team projects complain
about a fellow team member who doesn't contribute his/her share of
the work of the team. Most responses I've seen to this solve the
problem for the team in the class. There are suggestions of having
students rate each other's contribution at the end of class, for
example. But in a way, this teaches students to rely on whoever is
designing the team.

Solutions like that don't address the real problem of teaching
students how to manage team problems in the workplaces.  In their
workplaces, students won't necessarily have someone design a system
for all the teams they work on where team members rate each other's
contributions.

What skills can we teach students in our classroom team projects that
they will also be able to use in their workplace teams? I assume
there is something else beyond teaching them assertive communication,
I-messages, and conflict resolution. Am I wrong?
--

- Don

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Don McCormick, Ph.D, Associate Professor
University of Redlands School of Business
1200 E. Colton Avenue, Redlands, CA 92373-0999
(909) 748-6249    [log in to unmask]
http://newton.uor.edu/FacultyFolder/DMcCormick

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