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Have you ever wondered how some work groups exhibit effective teamwork and other teams remain dysfunctional for the life of the team? Effective teamwork is both profoundly simple and difficult at the same time and the success of a particular team is also tied in closely with the culture of their organization. Some organizational cultures support teamwork; others don't.

People Are the Joy and the Problem in Better Teamwork

No matter the team or its reason for existing, humans are in the mix, and each team member brings along all of their baggage-for good and for ill. So, diverse people who bring different life experiences, uncommon work experiences, and varying degrees of success working with former teams and the accomplishment of prior team missions, come together. They must work both to meld this diversity and at the same time, converge around accomplishing a new mission.

Given the complexity of forming a team including consciously or unconsciously developing team interaction norms and guidelines, ending up with an effective, functioning team is downright amazing.

You Can Help Your Teams Succeed

Teams have basic needs that must be acknowledged and fulfilled if you expect your teams to experience their greatest success. No team will succeed if these basics do not exist.

These ten tips describe the environment that must occur within the team for successful teamwork to take place. Successful teamwork is the cornerstone for creating a functioning, contributing team.

The Team Is Clear About Its Mission and Goals

The team understands the goals and is committed to attaining them. This clear direction and agreement on mission and purpose are essential for effective teamwork. Team members must have an overall mission that is agreed upon and that provides the umbrella for all that the team tries to do.

The Team Environment Encourages Reasonable Risks

The team creates an environment in which people are comfortable taking reasonable risks in communicating, advocating positions, and taking action. Team members trust each other. Team members are not punished for disagreeing; disagreement is expected and appreciated.

Respectful Communication Is the Norm

Communication is open, honest, and respectful. People feel free to express their thoughts, opinions, and potential solutions to problems. People feel as if they are heard out and listened to by team members who are attempting to understand. Team members ask questions for clarity and spend their thought time listening deeply rather than forming rebuttals while their co-worker is speaking.

They do this by formulating questions that will lead them to more deeply understand their teammate's points of view.

Strong Sense of Group Commitment

Team members have a strong sense of belonging to the group. They experience a deep commitment to the group's decisions and actions. This sense of belonging is enhanced and reinforced when the team spends the time to develop team norms or relationship guidelines together.

Team Members Are Viewed As Unique People

Team members are viewed as unique people with irreplaceable experiences, points of view, knowledge, and opinions to contribute. After all, the purpose of forming a team is to take advantage of the differences.

Otherwise, why would any organization approach projects, products, or goals with a team? In fact, the more a team can bring out divergent points of view that are thoughtfully presented and supported with facts as well as opinions, the better.

Creativity and Innovation Are the Norms

Creativity, innovation, and different viewpoints are expected and encouraged. Comments such as, "We already tried that and it didn't work" and "What a dumb idea" are not allowed or supported. The team members recognize that the strength in having a team is that every member brings diverseness to the effort to solve a problem, improve a process, reach a goal, or create something new and exciting.

Engages in Continuous Improvement

The team is able to constantly examine itself and continuously improve its processes, practices, and the interaction of team members. The team openly discusses team norms and what may be hindering its ability to move forward and progress in areas of effort, talent, and strategy.

The team holds review meetings that assess the team's process and progress in approaching and accomplishing the team mission. The team has a clear understanding of the five stages of team development and the members know what is required to move the team successfully through the stages.

Solves Teamwork Problems and Conflicts

The team has agreed-upon procedures for diagnosing, analyzing, and resolving teamwork problems and conflicts. The team does not support member personality conflicts and clashes nor do team members pick sides in a disagreement. Rather, members work towards the mutual resolution of problems and disagreements.

Practices Participative Leadership

Participative leadership is practiced in leading meetings, assigning tasks, recording decisions and commitments, assessing progress, holding team members accountable, and providing direction for the team. This means that every participant on the team must actively contribute to leading the team to successful outcomes and contributions.

Makes High-Quality Decisions As a Team

Members of the team make high-quality decisions together and have the support and commitment of the group to carry out the decisions made. They also gain the support and commitment of the people they report to in order to accomplish and communicate the team's progress and success.

They gain the support and commitment from senior leadership by demonstrating all of these ten teamwork necessities each and every day. The team lives high-quality interaction that is observable and an example for all other teams to emulate.

The Bottom Line

Now, you know the secret success ingredients for your teams. Why not make them happen?

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10 Tips About How You Can Improve Teamwork in Your Workplace

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Have you ever wondered how some work groups exhibit effective teamwork and other teams remain dysfunctional for the life of the team? Effective teamwork is both profoundly simple and difficult at the same time and the success of a particular team is also tied in closely with the culture of their organization.

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by Jennifer Rita Nichols

Educators have learned much about the benefits of using projects for learning, and collaboration is easily recognized as an important skill for students to build. There are very few arguments against having students work together in class and on assignments.

However, the challenge facing many educators is not in wanting their students to work together, but in figuring out how to group students together in the most effective ways. We do not want to create groups that hinder the progress of any of our students!

This simple guide can help you the next time you are creating groups for an assignment or task in your classroom!

1) Do consider distance and access to online collaboration tools.
If you are assigning a larger project that requires teamwork outside of the classroom, it is important to group students in a manner that allows them to meet easily if needed. If all your students have access to one another online, then great! Usually, though, some may need to meet in person.

2) Do group students according to ability.
Depending on the assignment, you may really want to consider ability grouping. Studies have shown that in many cases, multi-level grouping of stronger and weaker students does not have the effects we would hope for. If the assignment doesn't offer different ability levels the chance to equally participate, then allowing stronger students to work together can push them further.

Also, the 'weaker' group can benefit from the teacher's support, and also can't rely on the stronger students for answers and to lead the project.

3) Do vary between teacher and student chosen groups.
It's an important learning experience for students to create their own working groups. You may want to start with smaller assignments and use them as teachable moments for what went right or wrong in each group. Will they choose to work with their friends? Yes. Should they be able to? Yes! We need to teach students to work effectively with friends, as friends can often offer the greatest distractions from productive work, but also the greatest fun in learning.

4) Do consider common interests.
As a teacher, we can often recognize common interests or skills in different students within our class. Often, those students don't even realize how much they have in common as they are each busy with their own circle of peers. Teacher groupings can provide the chance to keep building your class community by helping students build new relationships. Pair students with similar interests on a project and the results may surprise you - and them!

5) Do group students according to a skill that needs development.
If you have several students that need to work on a certain skill, you may want to group them for an assignment and create a focus on using that skill. Various skills can be used in similar assignments, so it is possible to form groups that are each struggling with a different skill while working on the assigned task. Some may need to work on effective communication, problem solving, organization, or time management; others may need to focus on comprehension or following instructions.

In mixed groupings, a student who is strong in an area will tend to take the lead. If the group is more equal in regard to a skill, they will need to work it out together.

6) Do create completely random groups.
It leaves a lot up to chance, but explaining to the class that their group or team will be chosen by drawing names is a great way to take it out of both the teacher's and students' hands. Make sure to explain ahead of the draw what behaviour is expected of them, and especially that bullying comments will not be tolerated. There is no reason that you can't acknowledge that we sometimes need to work with people we would not have chosen in life, and that it is a very important thing for them to learn how to do.

This method works best for smaller, more general assignments. It's effectiveness varies depending on your class dynamic, but is worth incorporating with other grouping strategies. In fact, once they are used to this, you will find that they complain less with this method than when groups are chosen on purpose.

7) Don't use the same grouping method every time.
Students need to learn to adapt to changes, and also have many different skills that they need to work on. If you always create student groups the same way, you are not considering your goals for the assignment or lesson. There are many ways to group students, and each way is effective for different reasons. Varying your methods will allow you and your students to get the most out of each group work assignment you present. Consider your goals first, then choose an appropriate grouping method to get the best results.

8) Don't avoid using group work.
Your students will never learn to effectively work in groups if they rarely do it. Collaboration is very important, and although students working in groups can be more chaotic than when they are alone at their desks, it is definitely worth doing. Even difficult classes can learn to work together - just don't give up! The more often they are exposed to collaboration, the easier it will become to manage. Your students will learn more from each other than they would ever learn by working on their own!

9) Don't use group work to solve personal conflicts.
Class assignments are not the time to force students to get along. If you have students that clash often or are having trouble in their relationship, do not pair them for an assignment. Personal conflicts should not get in the way of their academic success, don't set them up for failure! You also don't want to compromise the safety of any of your students, and sometimes that means avoiding certain pairings in groups.

You must use your judgement as a teacher and know what is ultimately best for your students. Never put any of your students in a bullying situation for the sake of group work. It's never worth it.

10) Don't be rigid or overcommitted.
Sometimes a group just isn't going to work. It happens. They may start off fine, but then break down and become ineffective. Occasionally, they even become too conflict-ridden to 'fix' in time to save the assignment. You need to be willing to accept this, and open to changing things. You may have spent a fair amount of time creating that perfect group for the project, but it's best to understand that these situations don't reflect on you as a teacher, but are a normal part of learning to work together.

Be open to modifying groups as needed. Split them up, merge them with others, or allow for individual work if the situation calls for it. If you do it right, you are even modelling something very important for your students-the ability to recognize when something needs to be changed and actively changing it.
Image attribution flickr user woodelywonderworks; 10 Dos & Don'ts For Group Work & Student Grouping New Teacher

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10 Dos and Don'ts For Group Work & Student Grouping

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by Jennifer Rita Nichols Educators have learned much about the benefits of using projects for learning, and collaboration is easily recognized as an important skill for students to build. There are very few arguments against having students work together in class and on assignments.

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Accountability from the University of Indiana

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Accountability from the University of Indiana

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Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning

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Holding Students Accountable

How can instructors ensure that students come to class with course assignments prepared and readings completed? Students often ignore traditional assignments, such as "read the text" or "write a question based on the reading" because these neither structure analytic processes nor hold students accountable. Experience has taught many students that they will do "just fine" in courses where they do not complete such assignments. Some students will put forth little effort for assignments that only the instructor will see; the "private shame" of such assignments is not leverage enough. According to research findings of IUB faculty and staff, the more assignments are structured to be authentic, public, and facilitative of peer interaction, the more likely students will be to complete them (Shopkow, Diaz, Pace, and Middendorf, submitted).
In this video Prof. Leah Shopkow (History) describes her methods for holding students accountable, including designing assignments to engage students, getting students to read, structuring peer review of team work, and applying all of this to large classes. Students in Prof. Shopkow's classes describe the effects of her methods on their motivation to come to class and to come to class prepared.
Two methods (along with their many variations) for holding students publicly accountable are described below: Team-Based Learning and Just-in-Time Teaching.

Team-Based Learning (TBL)

In Michaelsen's TBL students study course content outside of class in preparation for an in-class quiz that they take individually. After the individual quiz, the students repeat the quiz as a team. (Michaelsen, Knight and Fink, 2004). Quizzes may be recorded on scratch-off forms, available at the CITL, or by using simple on-line quizzing (e.g., Test & Surveys tool in Oncourse) with results immediately available. Performance on the quizzes can bring positive peer pressure for group members to contribute. With the course content addressed, the majority of in-class time can be devoted to deliberate student practice of concept application, such as making and testing predictions and arguments, solving problems, and critiquing reasoning. In order to further reflection on teamwork, team members evaluate each other's efforts several times over the semester. Alternatively, the TBL method may be combined with Just-in-Time Teaching as the method for structuring student preparation. For more information, see the CITL resource on TBL.

Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT)

Just-in-Time Teaching depends upon instructors being able to review some type of student assignment a short time (usually just a few hours) before class (Novak, 2011). These assignments, called warm-ups, are typically short web-based exercises that help the instructor to identify potential student difficulties in time to address them in the upcoming class. Using the Oncourse Tests & Surveys tool is an effective way to deliver the warm-up activities and to collect student responses; responses can also be collected in Google Survey. To reduce the time spent on grading, instructors can simply assign them a binary score indicating whether the assignment was acceptable.

JiTT also shapes classroom time. The instructor may display and discuss representative student responses to reinforce a point; students may be required to print their feedback page and bring it to class for collaboration and combination within their teams; teams may compare responses, thereby building a natural platform for inter-team competition. Whatever the technique, JiTT allows the instructor to focus class time on concepts that are problematic or particularly challenging to students. In-class practice is more efficient for them, and students see the benefit of class time because they learn how to perform the crucial skill or process.

Brian D'Onofrio (Psychological and Brain Sciences)uses JiTT to ensure his students come to class prepared.

References:

Shopkow, L., Diaz, A., Pace, D., & Middendorf, J. (submitted for publication). Decoding History.

Michaelsen, Larry; Knight, Arletta Bauman; and Fink, L. Dee (2004). Team-Based Learning: A Transformative Use of Small Groups in College Teaching. Miami: Stylus.
http://www.teambasedlearning.org/
Novak, G. (2011). Just-in-Time Teaching. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, (128) p. 63-73, Wiley Online Library DOI: 10.1002/tl.469.

For More Help or Information

Contact Joan Middendorf (812-855-6409) or the CITL (812-855-9023).

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How can instructors ensure that students come to class with course assignments prepared and readings completed? Students often ignore traditional assignments, such as "read the text" or "write a question based on the reading" because these neither structure analytic processes nor hold students accountable.

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From online teaching resources to in-room consultations, the Center for Teaching and Learning supports instructors by helping them take their teaching to the next level.

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Not Just Group Work -- Productive Group Work!

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To ensure productive group work, teachers must communicate expectations, strategically build groups, structure activities, scaffold work with a supportive classroom culture, and stress individual accountability.

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A Blueprint for Effective Collaboration in Education

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Any Barrier Can be Conquered with a Team that Works Together

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Any Barrier Can be Conquered with a Team that Works Together

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Underdogs Become Champions by Working Together

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Underdogs Become Champions by Working Together

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Toward a Comprehensive Theory of Collaboration

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Toward a Comprehensive Theory of Collaboration

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The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science presents two special issues in which nine research-based articles and two overviews address various theoretical and empirical perspectives on the process of collaboration and the forms of collaborative alliances. In the first overview, the articles are mapped onto six theoretical perspectives according to how they address the preconditions, process, and outcomes of collaboration. In this overview, the research findings are analyzed in terms of the following overarching issues essential to a comprehensive theory of collaboration: (a) a definition of collaboration, (b) the auspices under which a collaboration is convened and the role of the convener, (c) implications of the collaboration for environmental complexity and participants' control over the environment, and (d) the relationship between individual participants' self-interest and the collective interests of all involved in the collaborative alliance. This theoretical analysis indicates several fruitful avenues for future research.

Bresser, R. K. (1988). Matching collective and competitive strategies. Strategic Management Journal, 9, 375-385. Google Scholar

Dyzma, W. A. (1986). Success and failures of joint ventures in developing countries: Lessons from experience. In F. J. Contractor & P. Lorange (Eds.), Cooperative strategies in international business (pp. 403-424). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books. Google Scholar

Emery, F. , & Trist, E. (1965). The causal texture of organizational environments. Human Relations, 18, 21-32. Google Scholar

Mead, W. J. (1967). The competitive significance of joint ventures. Antitrust Bulletin, 12, 819-849. Google Scholar

Trist, E. L. (1983). Referent organizations and the development of Interorganizational domains. Human Relations, 36, 247-268. Google Scholar

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Toward a Comprehensive Theory of Collaboration

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The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science presents two special issues in which nine research-based articles and two overviews address various theoretical and empirical perspectives on the process of collaboration and the forms of collaborative alliances. In the first overview, the articles are mapped onto six theoretical perspectives according to how they address the preconditions, process, and outcomes of collaboration.

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This article provides an overview of the theory of collaborative advantage. This is a practice-oriented theory concerned with enhancing practical understanding of the management isssues involved in joint working across organizations. Two contrasting concepts are central to it: collaborative advantage which is concerned with the potential for synergy from working collaboratively; and, collaborative inertia which relates to the often disappointing output in reality. The theory is structured as a set of overlapping themes, which are predominantly issues that practitioners see as causing pain and reward in collaborative situations. Five example themes are discussed: common aims; power; trust; membership structures; and, leadership. It is argued that the theory captures the complexity that underlies collaborative situations and conveys it in a way that seems real to those involved. It aims to empower those involved through legitimising experienced frustration and providing conceptual handles to help address the practical issues involved.

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This article provides an overview of the theory of collaborative advantage. This is a practice-oriented theory concerned with enhancing practical understanding of the management isssues involved in joint working across organizations. Two contrasting concepts are central to it: collaborative advantage which is concerned with the potential for synergy from working collaboratively; and, collaborative inertia which relates to the often disappointing output in reality.

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Theory, Structure, and Process of Collaboration

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Theory, Structure, and Process of Collaboration

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Strategies to Improve group work from Edutopia

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Strategies to Improve group work from Edutopia

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Use these five best practices to help your students build a valuable 21st-century skill.

iStock.com/Christopher Futcher

Most of us who teach believe in the power of collaboration and frequently engage our students in collaborative activities. But how many times have we put students in groups only to watch them interact with their laptops instead of each other? Or pursue their own individual goals instead of consult with one another? Or complain about a lazy teammate?

Promoting real collaboration is hard to do well-and it doesn't just happen on its own. If we want real collaboration, we need to intentionally design it as part of our learning activity. These are five strategies to encourage effective collaboration.

Create Learning Activities That Are Complex

Students need a reason to collaborate. If the assignment is too simple, they can more easily do it alone. At most, they may check in with each other or interact in superficial ways. The real reason to collaborate is because the task is complex-it is too difficult and has too many pieces to complete alone.

Complex activities are challenging, engaging, stimulating, and multilayered. Complex activities require "positive interdependence" (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 2008), a situation in which attaining the goal, completing the task, being successful, and getting a good grade require that the team work together and share knowledge.

One way to do this is through rigorous projects that require students to identify a problem (for example, balancing population growth in their city with protection of existing green spaces) and agree-through research, discussion, debate, and time to develop their ideas-on a solution which they must then propose together.

Prepare Students to Be Part of a Team

Help students understand the benefits of collaboration and what successful collaboration looks like.

Guide students through the stages of team building (forming, storming, norming, and performing).

Give students time and opportunities within the activity to develop leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communication, and conflict-management skills.

Establish expectations and norms for working together.

Design, or have students design, protocols for handling conflict disagreement so they can resolve issues within their teams.

Teach students active listening skills.

Collaborative groups can't be assigned-they have to be built and nurtured. Students often need to learn how to work effectively with others and as part of a team. We have to help students understand the what, why, and how of collaboration. We can do this in several ways:

Minimize Opportunities for Free Riding

Create small groups of no more than four or five people. When there is less room to hide, nonparticipation is more difficult.

Ensure a high degree of individual accountability (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 2008) by assessing students both individually and as a group. For example, at the end of the day give students an individual quiz based on the intended outcome of their collaborative activity.

Design meaningful team roles that relate to the content and to the task. Roles like time keeper are episodic and don't intellectually engage students in the content, and this can encourage free riding. In contrast, more meaningful roles such as manager, monitor, and leaders for each subtask of the activity give students ownership in the process and allow the teacher to assess students based on successful completion of these roles.

Have students evaluate their own participation and effort and that of each team member and triangulate those assessments with your own

When students complain about collaborative groups, it often has to do with the free riding of one member who lets others do all the work and then benefits from the group grade. We can eliminate free riding in a number of ways:

Build in Many Opportunities for Discussion and Consensus

Many group projects are based on efficiency, dividing labor to create a product in the most effective way possible. This focus on the product means that we often ignore the process of collaboration. Rich discussions that connect students with the experiences of others, that engage them deeply in a shared intellectual experience, and that promote coming to consensus are essential to collaboration.

For instance, students can come to consensus around a solution or decision where they must defend or propose a common vision or develop a set of beliefs or principles. This focus on discussion and consensus builds both academic and social skills-students learn to defend their ideas through evidence and analytical reasoning, to negotiate meaning, and to argue constructively.

Focus on Strengthening and Stretching Expertise

The challenge of designing good collaborative activities is ensuring that all students, even those who struggle, play an important role. Collaboration should not just strengthen students' existing skills but ensure that their interactions stretch existing knowledge and expand one another's expertise. If, for example, a student is much stronger in one skill than her peers in her group, she can teach others and her grade can be contingent upon how much her peers learn.

In collaborative activities, we want to ensure that students don't just occupy the same physical space but that they share an intellectual space-that they learn more, do more, and experience more together than they would alone. As teachers, we can promote real collaboration by shifting our role from instructor to coach-promoting team autonomy, checking in on students and providing instant feedback, and helping them increasingly learn to work together productively to attain a common goal.

Reference:

Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R., & Holubec, E. (2008). Cooperation in the Classroom.

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5 Strategies to Deepen Student Collaboration

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Use these five best practices to help your students build a valuable 21st-century skill.

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Developing Group Work from the University of Michigan

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Developing Group Work from the University of Michigan

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Strategies for Developing Students' Group Work Skills in the Laboratory Class | CRLT

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CRLT is dedicated to the support and advancement of evidence-based learning and teaching practices and the professional development of all members of the campus teaching community. CRLT partners with faculty, graduate students, postdocs, and administrators to develop and sustain a University culture that values and rewards teaching, respects and supports individual differences among learners, and creates learning environments in which diverse students and instructors can excel.

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Group Work Motivation from University of Waterloo

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Group Work Motivation from University of Waterloo

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Implementing Group Work in the Classroom | Centre for Teaching Excellence

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Group work can be an effective method to motivate students, encourage active learning, and develop key critical-thinking, communication, and decision-making sk