Building Learning Teams: How to Explicitly Create Teamwork Skills

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Building Learning Teams: How to Explicitly Create Teamwork Skills
Janet A. Hillier
Kelley School of Business
Indiana University
1309 E. 10th Street, BU640F
Bloomington, IN 47401
Telephone: (812) 855-7118
Email: jhillier@indiana.edu
Linda M. Dunn-Jensen
Kelley School of Business
Indiana University
1309 E. 10th Street, BU630E
Bloomington, IN 47401
Telephone: (812) 855-1953
Email: ldunnjen@indiana.edu
OBTC, 2011
Marquette University
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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ABSTRACT
Most undergraduate and graduate business students participate in team-based class projects. Yet, the team
experience doesn't always capture the potential of team members. While students are assigned into “teams”
they often barely function as groups. The explicit process of becoming a team is often not taught. Building
off Lencioni (2002) "5 Dysfunctions of a Team” model, and many years experience working with high
performing and highly dysfunctional teams, this session will review a structured process in which the
participants learn to "build a learning team" while also engaging in a team building activity called "Who owns
the Zebra (Bailif, 1979)?"
Keywords: team process, interactive activities, feedback
PLANNING DETAILS
Proposed audience:
Instructors at all levels who have team based projects
in their courses.
Maximum number of participants:
A maximum of 40 people.
Type of session:
Activity-based with debrief throughout the session.
Special requirements:
LCD Projector for Laptop Hookup. Tables and
movable chairs are requested.
Length or Type: Please indicate min & max
90 minutes
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DUCTION
INTROD
Team-baseed projects are ubiquitous in undergraduate and graduuate business ccourses. The aaim of team-b
based
projects in
n education is to train futuree employees with
w teamworkk skills. Yet, m
many course p
projects fail to
o
achieve th
his goal. One reason
r
offered
d is that there has not beenn enough expliicit developmeent of teamwo
ork
skills (notaable exception
n Chen, Donaahue & Klimso
oki, 2004). Thhus, the goal oof this session
n is to address that
gap by preesenting an exxplicit process to increase th
he students' te amwork skillss. To provide context for
explicit leaarning about the
t team proceess, the participants will als o be engagingg in a team acttivity called "W
Who
owns the Zebra?
Z
(Bailiff, 1979)"
THEORE
ETICAL GRO
OUNDING
There are several characcteristics that identify
i
a high
h performing team (Katzennbach & Smith
h, 2006). Thesse
characterisstics include a shared purpo
ose, productivve team normss, mutual accoountability, andd information
n
processingg skills. Howeever, knowingg what identifies a team andd the process oof becoming a high perform
ming
team doess not just happ
pen by itself. Team
T
membeers must learn to become skkilled team meembers.
(
presentts five dysfuncctions of a teaam such as: lacck of trust; feaar of conflict; lack of
Lencioni (2002)
commitmeent; avoidancee of accountab
bility; and inatttention to ressults. If these are dysfunctio
onal behaviorrs,
then could
d we determin
ne what would
d be functional behaviors off a team? Whhat would it takke to have a teeam
engage in trust; "producctive" conflictt; commitmentt; accountabiliity; and attenttion to results?? Using thesee five
functionall areas for a teeam, we have developed
d
an explicit proceess using theorretically basedd tools and
feedback loops
l
to increase the teamw
work skills of students.
s
Thiss is illustrated in the figure below:
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Team members develop teamwork skills by working at it [Tool to learn team process in bracket]
• This requires attention to the process of goal attainment as well as the achieving the goals [team
charter]
• Teams always create shared goals, productive team norms and mutual accountability [team charter]
• Effective team members bring interpersonal, communication and collaboration skills in addition to
technical expertise [team effectiveness survey]
• Teams encourage different points of view and honor productive conflict [team effectiveness survey]
• Teams regularly assess performance and exchange feedback to improve performance [personal
assessment of individual (self-assessment) & team performance]
• A team really is only as strong as its individual members, so each participant must be fully engaged
for the team to perform optimally
SESSION DESCRIPTION
We propose a 90 minute session. The session will begin with the participants being assigned into teams. As
team members, the participants will engage in a team activity called "Who owns the Zebra?" This activity is a
logic based puzzle which is structured with asymmetrical information (Edmondson, Roberto & Watkins,
2003). so that team members are dependent on and must work together to solve the problem.
Using this team activity as the context, the session will then have scheduled debriefs in which the participants
will participate in reviewing handouts that cover the explicit process of becoming a team and sharing any best
practices. This process will be illustrated by discussing the team building process, team charter, team
effectiveness survey, and personal assessment of individual & team performance.
Here is a sample of the Team Effectiveness Form. The focus of this feedback is on behaviors at the team
level. This allows the students to begin to get comfortable with the process of feedback but does not focus
on individual behaviors thus creating a process that can be effective for both the students to give and receive
feedback.
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Takeaways will be proviided in the forrm of handouuts which will iinclude
•
Who
W owns the Zebra instrucction guide
•
Team
T
Charter
•
Team
T
Effectiveeness Survey
•
Personal Assessment of Indiividual & Team
m Performancce
APPLICA
ATION TO CONFERENC
CE THEME
The confeerence theme this
t year is "op
pen to possibiilities." As innstructors, are we open to th
he possibility that
we may neeed to extend our current th
hinking about how studentss learn to becoome team mem
mbers and puush
ourselves to take respon
nsibility of nott only providing the contennt of team learrning but also the explicit teeam
process. With
W this posssibility, we nott only enhancee the potentiaal students cann achieve in th
heir collegiate team
performan
nce but also deevelop studen
nts' teamwork skills as they bbecome organnizational mem
mbers.
NCES
REFEREN
n-Claude. 1979. Who owns the Zebra? *P
Puzzle adaptattion taken froom Super Puzzzle. Prentice H
Hall
Bailif, Jean
Publishingg.
M., & Klimoskki, R.J. 2004. Training
T
undeergraduates too work in orgaanizational team
ms,
Chen, G., Donahue, L.M
L
3, 277-40.
Academy Of Management Learning,
Edmondson, A. 1999. Psychological
P
ms. Administrrative Science
safety and leaarning behavioor in work team
Quarterly, 44,
4 350-383.
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Edmondson, A., Roberto, M.A. & Watkins, M. 2003. A dynamic model of top management team
effectiveness: Managing unstructured task streams. Leadership Quarterly, 14, 297-325.
Katzenbach, J.R. & Smith, D.K. 2006. The wisdom of teams. Collins: New York, NY.
Lencioni, P. 2002. The five dysfunctions of a team. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, CA.
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