LEARNING TEAM PROJECT

Team C Charter - BUS 5010 Green Mountain College September 9, 2010

TEAM MEMBERS/OBJECTIVE
Aimee Siegler sieglera@greenmtn.edu Michelle Wheeler wheelerm@greenmtn.edu Christine Wilson wilsonc@greenmtn.edu Team Objective Team C was formed to complete the Week 2 group assignments for the Communications Management course (BUS 5010).

TEAM CHARTER

Potential barriers to achieving team goals are: different work

schedules, various personal obligations, and getting accustomed to working in the online environment.

Team Rules

Be flexible with methods of communication. Use electronic communication as the primary method. Complete any assigned tasks or reading prior to meetings and due dates. If unable to attend a meeting, give prior notice and provide assigned work for other team members to review. Work together to resolve technical difficulties. Complete assignments on time, and contact fellow team members for assistance when necessary. Check the Team C discussion board at least twice daily.
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TEAM CHARTER (CONT.)

Conflict Management

Avoid conflict by maintaining open communication and professional behavior. Members agree to discuss any conflicts in an open forum such as the class chat room or a conference call.

Type of Team

Virtual project team. (Scholtes, Joiner, & Streibel, 2003)

Team Management

Team members will take the lead as necessary, especially where the task at hand relates to one or more of a members core competencies. However, the team will do its best to complete course work in such a way that contributes to the learning experience for all members.
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TEAM CHARTER (CONT.)

Commitment

All members will participate in every assigned group project, and take the lead as appropriate.

Assignment Plan

Twenty-four hour advance notice of team meetings will be given as possible. Draft assignments shall be completed at least two days before the due date to allow members to review the document and suggest recommended changes. Finalization of the project will occur one day before the assignment due date.

Evaluation

Team members will consider all feedback from the instructor after project grades are received, and team meetings will be scheduled as necessary to discuss feedback.
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STRATEGY: EVALUATE NEEDS

Based on both the organizational philosophy and the situation at hand, determine the need for a team and the appropriate type of team (Abbott, Boyd, & Miles, 2006).

STRATEGY: TEAM STRUCTURE

Whenever possible, structure teams so they are made up of individuals with varying backgrounds (King, 2002, p. 240).

STRATEGY: PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ideally, teams should include members who have prior background on the subject at hand (Beck, 2003).

STRATGEY: CONNECTING WITH TEAM MEMBERS

Initiate contact with your team members as soon as they are identified.(Poe, 2009 p. 34)

STRATEGY: GETTING STARTED

Make sure you all have a common understanding of the requirements for the project.(Poe, 2009 p. 34)

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STRATGEY: ROLE CLARIFICATION

Start clarifying individual roles, responsibilities, and expectations right away.(Poe, 2009 p. 35)

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STRATEGY: ESTABLISH A TIMELINE

Set up a timeline for achieving the project milestones that allows you to progress reasonable toward the final due date .(Poe, 2009 p. 35)

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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abbott, J., Boyd, N., & Miles, G. (2006). Does Type of Team Matter? An Investigation of the Relationships Between Job Characteristics and Outcomes Within a TeamBased Environment. The Journal of Social Psychology, 146(4), 485-507. doi:10.3200/SOCP.146.4.485-507.
Based on the information available in literature review, this article sets out to prove that members of substantive teams will be more satisfied with their jobs and the team process, as well as more committed than employees on consultative team. Further, they analyzed how the changed perception of job tasks of substantive team members affects the outcomes. However, the authors found that consultative team members were in fact more satisfied than their counterparts. They also confirmed that there was little relationship between team type and outcome measures, but were surprised to find that the members of consultative teams actually perceived their jobs to be more enriched.
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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY (CONT.)

Beck, A. (2002). Work team effectiveness, group efficacy and the role of informal leaders. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 52(2), 311.
Beck writes an interesting article about a field study conducted of two self-managing focus group, the first group represents external integration while the second represents internal differentiation (Beck, 2002 p. 311). The author goes on to analyze the groups based on their team effectiveness, group efficacy, and the role of an informal leader. It was determined teams in external integration; decreased interpersonal understanding, increased team self evaluation and that organizational influence motivated team self-evaluation. Whereas, the internal differentiation teams; increased team self-evaluation, increased interpersonal understanding and decreased cross-boundary actions (Beck, 2002 p. 313). Overall, both teams showed that the informal leader in a group plays a significant role (Beck, 2002 p. 313).

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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY (CONT.)

King, G. (2002). Crisis management and team effectiveness: A closer examination. Journal of Business Ethics , 41 (3), 235-249.
The author discusses the importance of preparing and planning for a crisis by forming a crisis management team to develop a crisis management plan. Responding quickly and confidently to a crisis is critical, and testing the plan via a mock crisis scenario helps to determine the solidity of a plan. The author determines that varying backgrounds allow team members to feel more comfortable questioning one anothers ideas, a charismatic leader will guide the team more effectively, people who have a history working with one another will perform more effectively together, and the team will be more successful if the companys culture is in alignment with the crisis management plan. An effective crisis management plan is a key component in addressing a crisis, and if used properly it will minimize the potential damage to a companys reputation.

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ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
Poe, T., Barrett, S., and Spagnola-Doyle, C. (2009). Power up: A practical student's guide to online learning. Prentice Hall. Scholtes, P. R., Joiner, B. L., & Streibel, B. J. (2003). The Team Handbook (3rd ed.). Madison, WI: Oriel. Sherratt, I., Stork van Swelm, M., Toomey, C., & Wilson, C. (2009, September). Team C Charter BUS 5020, Green Mountain College.

A team charter, developed in the Management-Triple Bottom Line Perspective class.

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