Last spring I took a course in mechanical synthesis in which teams of students designed, manufactured, and marketed an air motor. My team consisted of myself and four other students. The professor provided us with required design specifications and instructed us to devise our own design specifications that would enable the motor to function on the Moon. Our teaching assistant also provided us with Solidworks, a CAD program that enabled us to design our air motor on our local computers. This was great, since each member of the team could work on different parts of the design which we could then piece together when we met up, avoiding territorial conflict.
One of our first decisions as a team was to have meetings three times a week, and we specified which days immediately. The project had tight deadlines, and by scheduling frequent meetings we were able to avoid some of the detrimental effects of distance work. As K&C state, “if the group is small and members are physically proximate, effective coordination can occur because the group can talk out problems together, keep all the details of the task in focus and organize work” (64).
First and foremost, we could easily identify if someone was struggling to complete their component of the project. This enabled another member of the group to lend assistance quickly, something that would be far more difficult if we worked in isolation. The teamwork led to better ideas, more interested team members, and what I think was most important, made the project fun.
This fun, however, did lend itself to social loafing. On many occasions, our relaxed atmosphere led us to stray off topic. In the end, we split the group into two subgroups, one that worked in the machine shop, and one that worked on the technical report and marketing of the finished product. This eliminated the social loafing and ensured that each group member was doing an optimal amount of work.
What made the end result of this group so satisfying was not only the success of the project (the most powerful motor in the class), but also that our group all liked each other enough to be able to work with each other again in the future. In fact, I worked with two of the members on an assignment last semester.
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I always enjoy classes that have one large assignment for the entire semester because, as you mention, the end product is quite satisfying. But good post. It seems like Kiesler and Cumming's theories really applied to your situation last year. I would have liked to see a bit more analysis about your process and task, for example, how you would classify your task in terms of McGrath's Task Circumplex. I also would have liked to see more about your output. You mentioned that a few of you worked together last semester, which relates to group maintenance, but what about member needs?
ReplyDeleteAlthough you mention that every person in your group was happy with the physical result, I wonder what other satisfactions they might have gotten out of the experience, such as did each of them feel like they learned a sufficient amount and was involved in enough of the project to feel pride and ownership? Great post.
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