Successful Teamwork!: For Undergraduates and Taught Postgraduates / Edition 1

by Peter Levin

Overview

A must for all students involved in

group projects

This concise, practical guide is for anyone placed

in a group and assigned a project to carry out.

It goes straight to the heart of the matter and

deals pragmatically with common student

concerns such as:

• How to allocate work appropriately
• How best to communicate and conduct

  meetings

• How to keep a team together
• How to deal with people who are taking

  a “free ride” or who try to dominate

• How to work constructively with people

  one doesn’t know—and people one doesn’t

  like very much

• How to resolve disagreements in the team
• How to make good use of teamwork

  experience when looking for a job

This guide helps students appreciate the tensions

among the demands of the task, the needs of the

team, and their own individual needs.

Using this guide, any student can learn from the

teamwork experience and make a success of the

project!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780335215782
Publisher:	McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing
Publication date:	04/16/2005
Pages:	136
Product dimensions:	8.27(w) x 5.83(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Peter Levin is an educational developer at the

London School of Economics, United Kingdom.

He works with students on a one-to-one basis on

managing their studies, including working in

teams. Prior to taking up this role, he lectured in

social policy at LSE. He is the author of Making

Social Policy (Open University Press, 1997).

Table of Contents

Contents

Teamwork in universities. READ THIS FIRST!

Part One: Basics and context

What do we mean by ‘a team’?
The benefits of working in a team
Teamwork skills
Academic teamwork and the job market

Part Two: Getting started
Get in your groups
Get to know one another

Formulate your ground rules
The value of ground rules
Mission statements
Communication
Meetings
Taking decisions

Check out your assignment and plan your work
The project brief
The elements of project work
Programmes of work: the ‘critical path’
Allocating tasks

Part Three: How are we doing?

Progress on the project
Progress from ‘group’ to ‘team’
Personal progress

Part Four: Perspectives on team behaviour

Tensions: the task, the team and the individual
Team roles
Management systems and team organization
Team development: forming, storming, norming, performing …
The decision-making process
Negotiation
Cultural traits and differences
Individual traits: ‘cats’ and ‘dogs’

Part Five: Teamwork issues and solutions

The task: getting the work done
Getting help from your teachers
Sharing the work load: ‘social loafing’
The ‘free rider’ problem
Focusing on the task
Taking decisions: ‘risky shift’, ‘group polarization’ and ‘groupthink’

Personal and inter-personal issues
The group that doesn’t storm
Getting your multi-cultural group to ‘bond’
Do teams need leaders?
Dealing with a team member who tries to dominate
Working constructively with someone you don’t like
Finding your place in the team

Part Six: Benefiting from the experience

Getting feedback – including appreciation
Reflection
Learning logs
Reflective reports

Applying for jobs
Polishing up your CV
Being interviewed
Group tests in assessment centres

Notes and references

Further reading

Background and acknowledgments