Project Homework
Introduction
In your first homework, you analyzed and wrote about the trends you observed in the High Performing Work Teams (HPWT) survey. You also discussed what team members could learn from taking such a survey.
Some of what you may have learned by working through the homework was that the survey and the grouping of the questions provide a good model for the elements required to facilitate team efficiency and effectiveness.
i. The mission provides a statement of the team's purpose which provides the motivation and direction for team members.
ii. The goals are the results the team needs to achieve within specified time frames. Team members perform more efficiently and productively when the goals are easily understood.
iii. In addition to goals, role clarification helps team members understand what is expected of each person in order for the team to achieve its goals. By discussing roles the team ensures that all the responsibilities for achieving the team's goals are covered and being performed.
iv. HPWTs also decide early on the "rules of engagement," or how they are going to work together. They determine things like how and when they are going to communicate; the frequency of meetings; how disagreements and conflict will be handled; and how to handle social loafing, when team members don't do their fair share of the work.
v. Respect, honesty, and trust among team members are hallmarks of effective teams and how they work together. People are different - they have different experiences and different values - so team members need to commit to work with each other despite their differences. The level of respect, honesty, and trust the team develops allows the team to work through conflicts that may occur and successfully achieve the team's goals.
Team Charter
Working together with your team, you will research elements for an effective team charter. Please use the UMUC library to identify a minimum of five appropriate sources about team charters. Appropriate sources are scholarly or practitioner journals and academic books published within the last ten years. Your team will use the results of your research to create a team charter that will guide how you will work together to complete the Group Consulting Project. Your team charter should include, but is not limited to, the following elements:
i. A team mission and vision - an initial team vision that summarizes what your team needs to accomplish and describes how you will interact in order to accomplish its mission. Include any other thoughts to help your team form and focus.
ii. A communications plan - agree on how you will communicate, parameters for communication (e.g., no phone calls after 9:00 p.m. EST); how frequently you'll check in with each other; how your interactions will be documented (meeting agendas, minutes of meetings), etc.
iii. A work division plan - agree on how you will divide work, who will take on what role (will you have a team leader or coordinator or will leadership rotate?), expectations about quality and quantity of work.
iv. A conflict management plan - discuss areas of potential conflict for the team; decide and document how your team will deal with conflict and resolve disagreements.
Add other elements to your team charter, based on your research. Once everyone signs off on the charter, one team member will post a copy in the appropriate discussion forum so other students can read and give your team feedback on the charter. Decide how you will handle responding to comments and questions posted in the discussion forum.
Each team member will upload a copy of the team's charter to his/her homework folder. Make sure your team number and the names of all team members appear on the cover page of your charter.
Format your homework according to the following formatting requirements:
i) The answer should be typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides.
ii) The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the homework, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
iii) Also include a reference page. The Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.