Team Guidelines Project

Team Guidelines Project

Teamwork is an essential component that facilitates cooperative learning. Team works comprise various individuals who work towards the achievement of particular objectives. Oakley et al. (2004) explains that grouping of students is not sufficient for the achievement of conceivable learning. For conceivable learning to be achieved, there is need for the teams to work in a setting that allows high performance. In achieving high-performance environments, teams are required to work within explicit guidelines. The following section considers some of the guidelines for academic teams.

General Guidelines

There is need to ensure exemplary behavior in any given team. In effect to this requirement, team members would be expected to observe the following guidelines in their activities outside the group.

1. Ensure discipline in every activity.
2. Members should have personal objectives in other areas and share them with team members. Team members will monitor each other.
3. Team members will be required to ensure peer rating at a personal and group level (Oakley et al., 2004).
4. Every team member will be required to ensure confidentiality when dealing with personal objectives as well as confidential work of the team.

Failure of the team members to ensure the general guidelines will result in warning and expulsion if no positive progress is observed. Members who do not ensure discipline in other areas, as well as the group, will be required to write an apology to group members or face expulsion from the group.

Communication Guidelines

1. Place and time of communication channel within the team members and with the external members such as tutors should be stipulated (Oakley et al., 2004).
2. Communication should involve stating the team’s objectives and aims.
3. A platform that allows airing of every participant’s opinions and grievances should be created. Such process eliminates storming in the teams.
4. The channel for communication within the group should also be formulated.

Failure to adhere to the stipulated means and channel of communication would entail the following consequences;

1. Warning to the responsible member
2. Member will be required to write an improvement plan to the team leaders.
3. Member will be required to explain the accepted communication means to group members to ensure they are conversant with them.

Work Guidelines

1. The process of duty delegation for every assignment should be stipulated. Such stipulation helps to avoid domination and promotes every member is active.
2. Every member should do personal preparation ahead of any team meeting to enhance team discussions and improve efficiency. Members should share results of work since their last meeting.
3. The process of assignment submission should be stated and the process of undertaking team assignment. The team should also review circumstances of an upcoming activity.

Failure any team member to adhere to the work guidelines set by the team will result to;

1. Warning
2. A written plan for improvement
3. Expulsion from the team if unreasonable consistency in failure to meet work guidelines is identified

Problem-Solving Guidelines

1. Team members should ensure tolerance during meetings
2. Means of solving problem ought to be stated
3. Establish brainstorming sessions to discuss team conflicts
4. Every team member should be expected to interact freely with the rest of the members

Failure of any member to ensure tolerance with group members will result in their warning. If the member does not change their intolerance altitude will result in their expulsion.

References

Oakley, B., Felder, R. M., Brent, R., & Elhajj, I. (2004). Turning student groups into effective teams. Journal of student centered learning, 2(1), 9-34.