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UA MATH 115A - Study Notes

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Guidelines for Writing Team ContractTo prepare you for the teamwork in the business world, you will be assigned a team for thesemester. Your team will work together to complete the collaborative projects in MATH 115Athis semester.RationaleAccording to concepts from Organizational Behavior, there are five stages of team development:forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. During the forming stage, teams tendto communicate in indirect polite ways rather than more directly. The storming stage,characterized by conflict, can be often be productive, but may consume excessive amounts oftime and energy. In this stage it is important to listen well for differing expectations. Next, duringthe norming stage, teams formulate roles and standards, increasing trust and communication.This norming stage is characterized by agreement on procedures, reduction in role ambiguity,and increased “we-ness” or unity. These developments generally are precursors to theperforming stage, during which teams achieve their goals, are highly task oriented, and focus onperformance and production. When the task has been completed, the team adjourns.To accelerate a team’s development, a team contract is generated to establish procedures androles in order to move the team more quickly into the performing stage. This process ofgenerating a team contract can actually help jump-start a group's collaborative efforts byimmediately focusing the team members on a definite task. The group members mustcommunicate and negotiate in order to identify the quality of work they all wish to achieve, andthe level of group participation and individual accountability they all feel comfortable with.Successful team performance depends on personal individual accountability. In a teamenvironment, individuals are usually effectively motivated to maximize their own rewards andminimize their own costs. However, conflicts can arise when individualistic motives orbehaviors disrupt team-oriented goals. For example, conflict can stem from an unequal divisionof resources. When team members believe they are receiving too little for what they are giving,they sometimes reduce their effort and turn in work of lower quality. Such "free riding" occursmost frequently when individual contributions are combined into a single product orperformance, and individual effort is perceived as unequal. At this point, some individual teammembers may take on extra responsibilities while other team members may reduce their ownefforts or withdraw from the team completely. These behaviors may engender anger, frustration,or isolation—resulting in a dysfunctional team and poor quality of work. However, with a well-formulated team contract, such obstacles can usually be avoided.Team Contract AssignmentYour team contract template is divided into three major sections:1. establishing team procedures2. identifying expectations3. specifying the consequences for failing to follow these procedures and fulfill theseexpectationsSince the basic purpose of this team contract is to accelerate your team's development, toincrease individual accountability for team tasks, and to reduce the possibility for team conflict,make your contract as specific as possible: (a) specify each task as detailed as possible, (b)specify each step in a procedure or process as detailed as possible, (c) specify the exact person(s)responsible for each specific task, and (d) specify the exact time and exact place for completionor submission of each task. The more specifically you describe your team expectations, roles,and procedures, the greater chance you have for a successful team experience.Use the Team Contract template to discuss and finalize your team roles, procedures, andstandards. Complete, sign, and submit a copy your finalized contract to your 115A instructor inyour next class meeting.Once your team contract has been developed, your team is ready to begin work on collaborativeassignments. However, you may soon find that your team is not working as well as you hadhoped. This is normal but needs to be attended to immediately. Perhaps your team is simply notfollowing the established contract procedures or roles as strictly as you should be, or perhaps youneed to change some of the procedures or roles as outlined in your contract. Call a team meetingimmediately to discuss and resolve the challenges your team is facing; do not delay. Seekguidance from your instructor, TA, or preceptor to resolve any conflicts so that you will have themost positive team experience possible.TEAM CONTRACTMath 115A, Section # _______ Team # ______ Team Name ______________________Team Members:1) _______________________________2) _______________________________3) _______________________________4) _______________________________5) _______________________________Team Procedures1. Day, time, and place for regular team meetings:2. Preferred method of communication (e.g., e-mail, cell phone, wired phone, Blackboard Discussion Board, face-to-face, in a certain class) in order to inform each other of team meetings, announcement, updates, reminders, problems:3. Decision-making policy (by consensus? by majority vote?):4. Method for setting and following meeting agendas (Who will set each agenda? When? How will team members be notified/reminded? Who will be responsible for the team following theagenda during a team meeting? What will be done to keep the team on track during a meeting?):5. Method of record keeping (Who will be responsible for recording & disseminating minutes?How & when will the minutes be disseminated? Where will all agendas & minutes be kept?):Team ExpectationsWork Quality1. Project standards (What is a realistic level of quality for team presentations, collaborative writing, individual research, preparation of drafts, peer reviews, etc.?):2. Strategies to fulfill these standards:Team Participation1. Strategies to ensure cooperation and equal distribution of tasks:2. Strategies for encouraging/including ideas from all team members (team maintenance):3. Strategies for keeping on task (task maintenance):4. Preferences for leadership (informal, formal, individual, shared):Personal Accountability1. Expected individual


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UA MATH 115A - Study Notes

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