Working in Teams A Brief Introduction

1
Working in TeamsA Brief Introduction

• The Cain Project in Engineering and
  Professional Communication
• ENGINEERING SERIES

2
Why Learn Team Skills?

• Sample of Job Qualifications That Employers
  Requested
• Ability to work effectively in a
  multi-disciplinary team setting
• Ability to work with moderate supervision on
  multidisciplinary teams is desired
• Possess good communication (oral and written)
  skills and be able to work well in a team
  environment
• Must be a team player

3
Why Work in a Team?

• Teams outperform their best member what ___ of
  the time?
• Especially if members are
• competent
• motivated
• diverse
• trained
• Michaelsen, L.K., Watson, W. E., Black, R.
  H. (1989)

4
What Is a Team?

• A diverse group of people who
• share leadership responsibilities
• work towards a mutually defined goal
• are interdependent
• work within larger group or system
• have created an identity

5
A Successful Team

• Accomplishes team goals
• Balances task and maintenance functions through
  effective communication

Lumdsen, G, Lumdsen, D (1993)
6
Teams Task and Maintenance Functions

• Task Functions
• Accomplish the task (giving or seeking info,
  evaluating, elaborating, etc.)
• Maintenance Functions
• Build relationships between members (establishing
  norms, gatekeeping, supporting, etc.)

7
Resolve Maintenance Problems

• Dont try to solve difficulties in the way your
  group performs (maintains relationships) by
  altering the way you do your task.
• Dont think, Ill show him how it feels to get
  things at the last minute. Ill just wait to
  deliver my portion of the report until 2 hours
  before we have to hand it in!
• Do say, Armand, we need to talk about delivering
  things to one another. Lets set aside about 20
  minutes on the agenda before we go on to other
  issues.

8
What Tips the Balance Between Average and
Excellent?

• Stays focused on goals
• Engages in open communication
• Supports one another
• Creates strong team spirit

• Makes decisions collectively
• Collaborates no power hoarding
• Appreciates debate or differences
• Balances participation

Adapted from Lewis, P., Aldridge, D.,
Swamidass, P. (1998)
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Good Engineering Teams

• Make sure everyone knows the task/goal
• Plan realistically
• Make sure roles and norms are understood
• Help each other meet group goals

10
References

• Michaelsen, L.K., Watson, W. E., Black, R. H. A
  realistic test of individual versus group
  consensus decision making. Journal of Applied
  Psychology, 74(5) 834-839.
• Lewis, P., Aldridge, D., Swamidass, P. M.
  (1998) Assessing teaming skills acquisition on
  undergraduate project teams, Journal of
  Engineering Education, 82, pp 149-155.
• Lumdsen, G, Lumdsen, D. Communicating in Groups
  and Teams Sharing Leadership, 4th ed. Wadsworth
  Publishing (2003).

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Lead through Excellence in Engineering
Communication

• More resources are available for you
• under Engineering Communication at Connexions
  at http//cnx.org
• at the Cain Project site at http//www.owlnet.rice
  .edu/cainproj
• in your course Communication Folder in OWLSPACE.