Distinguishing teams from college classroom groups and social loafing

¶ … team consists of a group of individuals who share a common goal or a common reason for joining the group (Chapter 9 p.2). A college classroom resembles a formal group more than a team because the individual group members do not necessarily share a common goal and typically, they are all interested in their own individual goals and the benefits they hope to achieve by their participation rather than sharing an common interest or goal that they hope to pursue for the benefit of the group (Chapter 10 p.5).

There are only very loose parallels between work teams and college classroom groups. For example, college classrooms may evolve through a forming stage (Chapter 9 p.6); and individual members of the class may establish roles and identities (Chapter 9 pp. 8-9) such as contributors and non-contributors to discussions. Otherwise, college classrooms share little with traditional teams, mainly because teams tend to unite in the pursuit of some common goal whereas college students ordinarily have no interest in what other students do or how well or poorly they perform except in instances where they are assigned to work together on joint projects. Unlike a bona fide team, college classrooms do not typically feature any selection process designed to produce a specific shared result, they are not necessarily cohesive, and they rarely feature significant conflict other than discussions about different ideas or viewpoints.

On the other hand, the notion of social loafing (Chapter 9 p.20; Chapter 10 p. 21) can apply to classrooms. Specifically, when some students fail to prepare or to participate productively in the class discussion, they can reduce the value of the class for others by wasting time, delaying the scheduled coverage of material, and by reducing the value of group discussions through non-participation. Obviously, when students are assigned to work on group projects, social loafing can become even more of an issue because it forces some students to do the work of others.

Question 2

Key Suggestion #1: Approach you division manager and explain that you are thankful for the opportunity and that you are confident that you have the necessary technical skills, but be honest about your concerns that you have no experience leading teams and that you might need some help to get started on the right track as far as the leadership role is concerned. In the meantime, consider what type of leadership might best suit your nature and might best match the type of work environment and organizational culture involved.

Key Suggestion #2: Request specific training and/or learning resources from the division manager and from your organization about leading and managing others. Project confidence in your ability to master the art of being a team leader, but be completely honest about the fact that you will need some guidance in that regard. There is no point to trying to pretend to be more confident than you are or in hiding your lack of experience because that will only set you up for blame if the team is unsuccessful under your leadership.

Key Suggestion #3: Be honest with the other members of your new team about your reservations being the leader. Try to establish that you deserve to be the leader based on your performance and subject-matter expertise, but acknowledge that the leadership aspect of your leadership role is something new to you and express your appreciation (in advance) for their patience about that. Try to earn and maintain their respect by being honest with them about your abilities and experience and indicate that while you are ultimately in charge of decision making, you welcome their constructive input.

Essay Prompt

Section 1

A Lesson in Team Building (see attached)

One of your Facebook friends has posted this note: "Help! I have just been assigned to head a new product design team at my company. The division manager has high expectations for the team and for myself, but I have been a technical design engineer for 4 years since graduating from college. I have never managed anyone, let alone led a team. The manager keeps talking about her confidence that I will be very good at creating lots of teamwork. Does anyone out there have any tips to help me master this challenge? Help!" You immediately start to formulate your recommendations. What are the three key things you will advise her to do, and why those three first? This is an all-too-common occurrence. People are selected to lead with ABSOLUTELY no training, preparation and (assuredly) limited guidance. Here is your chance to comment (in some detail) on what you would do, what THEY should do, and what the org can do - all to make this process work better. How would you do it?