01/21/2014

Workplace climate

Classroom climate

Characteristics of Effective Teams

1. There is a clear unity of purpose. There was free discussion of the objectives until members could commit themselves to them; the objectives are meaningful to each group member.

2. The group is self-conscious about its own operations. The group has taken time to explicitly discuss group process -- how the group will function to achieve its objectives. The group has a clear, explicit, and mutually agreed-upon approach: mechanics, norms, expectations, rules, etc. Frequently, it will stop to examined how well it is doing or what may be interfering with its operation. Whatever the problem may be, it gets open discussion and a solution found.

3. The group has set clear and demanding performance goals for itself and has translated these performance goals into well-defined concrete milestones against which it measures itself. The group defines and achieves a continuous series of "small wins" along the way to larger goals.

4. The atmosphere tends to be informal, comfortable, relaxed. There are no obvious tensions, a working atmosphere in which people are involved and interested.

5. There is a lot of discussion in which virtually everyone participates, but it remains pertinent to the purpose of the group. If discussion gets off track, someone will bring it back in short order. The members listen to each other. Every idea is given a hearing. People are not afraid of being foolish by putting forth a creative thought even if it seems extreme.

6. People are free in expressing their feelings as well as their ideas.

7. There is disagreement and this is viewed as good. Disagreements are not suppressed or overridden by premature group action. The reasons are carefully examined, and the group seeks to resolve them rather than dominate the dissenter. Dissenters are not trying to dominate the group; they have a genuine difference of opinion. If there are basic disagreements that cannot be resolved, the group figures out a way to live with them without letting them block its efforts.

8. Most decisions are made at a point where there is general agreement. However, those who disagree with the general agreement of the group do not keep their opposition private and let an apparent consensus mask their disagreement. The group does not accept a simple majority as a proper basis for action.

9. Each individual carries his or her own weight, meeting or exceeding the expectations of other group members. Each individual is respectful of the mechanics of the group: arriving on time, coming to meetings prepared, completing agreed upon tasks on time, etc. When action is taken, clears assignments are made (who-what-when) and willingly accepted and completed by each group member.

10. Criticism is frequent, frank and relatively comfortable. The criticism has a constructive flavor -- oriented toward removing an obstacle that faces the group.

11. The leadership of the group shifts from time to time. The issue is not who controls, but how to get the job done.

Source: http://www.stanford.edu/class/e140/e140a/effective.htmlSources cited: The Human Side of Enterprise, by Douglas MacGregor The Wisdom of

Teams, by Kaztenbach and Smith

Additional resource – What makes a good team player: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/ten-qualities-of-an-effective-team-player.html

Mutual dependency Mutual respect

Our team worked together. That is the key to having good group experiences is to have people work together and be willing to have constructive argumentsThe team worked well as a group and was able to use everyone's personal strengths and weaknesses

The people were nice to work with.Open communication within the group helped us manage the work load and make it fair for everyone

the splitting up of jobsMost of the group was interested and contributed, and we received a decent grade. It was for Software Engineering.We divided up the group work among individuals based on skill level and understanding of the assignment.The group project was done with students/friends of mine who I had prior knowledge of their work ethic and reliability. This made the project run smoothly and made it a good experience.Everyone did their fair share of work. We all got along well also which is easier for guys I guess.I made friendships with the people in my group. We learned to collaborate. We also finished our project with some confidence

My teammates were fitting of my personality, and we all made an effort to do our work and do it together.

Great team members who all wanted to contribute

Learning to work together is important in real life.

Having multiple people working on a project together, so we don't have to do as much work and separate the job with what each person is good with.

Collaborative communication.

Understanding each individuals strengths

Everyone was very polite and understanding of each other's schedules. Our personalities and various skills molded for a well formed group.

The people I worked withThe experiences were good when all group mates treated each other as equals and communicated well. I've had bad group experiences too, this usually occured when one group mate did not communicate well, was easily offended or believed they knew more than other group mates.

Other members were not motivated to do well in the course so they slacked off

I was in 4 semester long project groups and there was no time to dedicate to each group.

I ended up doing 90% of the work.

Incompetence and procrastination within the group, making it very hard to get along and accomplish tasks.

Group work not distributed equally. Vastly different levels of experience between the members.

Having to meet up with each other and meet group deadlines.

Show up. Plan outside of class meeting times.

Doodle is a great tool for setting up meeting times

Team members must have a common goal regarding the importance of grades and of the work.

Team members must have clear communication with one another.

Team members should not volunteer to do something that they cannot do. Under promise and over deliver.

But team members should be willing to pitch in even if “it’s not MY job”.

You will get with your team and fill out the “getting to know you” forms. This just helps groups to have the conversation about meeting times, strengths, weaknesses, etc.

These will be scanned and uploaded to your team area on Canvas.

Come out of the meeting with a standing meeting time of no less than one hour per week. While work may get done in smaller groups, you should plan to meet regularly to touch base. Something will be due just about every week.

Our lab will provide a chance for you to work together to learn about SQL. Work with one other person on your team for this lab.

Homework to follow should be submitted individually, but may be done with the team.

Each group (with members submitting the survey) has at least two common meeting times during the week.

Spread out the Technical Writing, Web Development, and Interface Design folks to different teams.

All other assignments were based on meeting time.

Team 1ButlerHullJohnsonMeier

Team 2PolisettiGruszeckiLewisSutton

Team 3LongSchimmelTrumpoldtWetherell

Team 5HallamTerrellThomasWilliams

Team 4DaoudJoseMustainSeith

Team 6BrathovdeLoyParadisPhung

Team 7ChoNorwoodRamirezYoung