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The Hidden Value of Virtual Teams (Part II)

Lucia Worthington

Collegiate Faculty

School of Undergraduate Studies

Published: July-August 2006

Category: » Online-pedagogy » Group-team-projects

In Part I of this two part series Professor Worthington discussed the importance of team work and why students need to understand the value of learning to manage themselves as well as the team process in getting commitment from team members and overcoming resistance. In Part II Professor Worthington presents useful tools and support materials to aid the team process as well as describes how teams learn from evaluating their team process.

Support Materials for Virtual Teams

Teams need to manage a project and should be reminded of the project management process, which is to:

• Define objectives
• Identify activities and resources
• Establish sequences of events
• Estimate time and activities
• Determine project completion date
• Compare objectives
• Determine additional resource requirements

It is helpful to give assignments that are structured and broken down into specific components such as: an introduction, sections a, b, c, d, etc and a summary so that students can break the project into tasks, roles. This allows the group to easily divide the project tasks among all the members.

A Gantt Chart

A simplified Gantt Chart can serve a team well. By outlining due dates and project tasks each member is made aware of their responsibilities to the project. This adds accountability to the process and also provides a comprehensive overview of the project.

A Gantt Chart template can be posted in the Course Content area of the classroom. I also post a group activity report template so that teams know how they will be evaluated. Below is a sample of the group activity report.

Group Activity Report

• State the group number and industry category
• State the activity and the date
• List each member in alphabetical order with surname first
• Briefly – in once sentence establish the member's contribution and the value. Example: member X participated fully (100%) by providing ideas and coordinating the information from the group.  Or, member Y participated partially (80%) by contributing ideas but was unable to proofread and approve final project.

In my class the person responsible for the group activity for a particular week submits the groups work to the discussion area but also submits the group's activity report to me privately by email. When the student sends a group activity report to me, I ask to use the email subject line stating the name of the group and activity. For example: Subject line: BMGT …. Group 1 week 3 report.

Managing Dysfunctional Teams

I make it a rule to visit each team area periodically and post a message in their team space to cheer them on and encourage team spirit. This also serves as a deterrent for students to ignore their team and their project responsibilities because they know I am monitoring participation. Unfortunately, some students may disappear from the group or become a passive drag on the team.  When this happens, it is time to take action. A reminder is sent to the whole class that the team process needs to be managed to keep momentum and that free riders will not be tolerated. Inactive members will be removed and will lose the opportunity for the group credit which generally results in a loss of one or two grade points for the course because of the group point loss.

This reminder message to the class usually serves as a catalyst to rouse inactive members to participate.  If a member of a group continues not to participate then I get in touch with the offending student to let them know that they will be removed from the group. In the majority of cases, inactive members are already in the process of withdrawing from the class because of other contingencies.

Assessment of Process and Results

I set up one final group conference titled "lessons learned". This allows students to reflect on the process and consider what they have learned and what they can improve in future team projects. These conferences give me valuable information in planning future group activities, while giving the students a chance to make constructive suggestions and become actively engaged in recommending group process strategies.  Students frequently show a more assertive style when assessing the process and tend to speak with conviction on what they have learned about managing time, tasks and responsibilities as a team. Overall, these assessment conferences reveal that students often become convinced that team processes can be managed effectively and with enthusiasm.