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Team composition
will be posted to the VOW web page during the weekend of You should get in
touch with your team members immediately. With that said, however,
everyone please note and do your best with one unavoidable work-around:
The University of Auckland is on mid-semester break from Sept. 6-17,
having begun the semester on July 21. Establish that you have accurate
email addresses for each other, start to get to know each other, and
begin work on the two team-building assignments: the Totem Exercise
and the Team Contract. The Totem Exercise is due by email to each
instructor at approximately 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24 GMU time, 9 a.m.
Saturday, Sept. 25 UWA time, and 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25 AU time.
The Team Contract is due by email to each instructor at about the
same time one week later (October 1-2). The two team-building deliverables
will be graded together and are worth 10 percent of your grade in
the course you are taking. Team members from
George Mason University will send their partners at the other schools
information about how to access the Lotus Notes database that has
been set up to facilitate each team’s work. In addition, we invite
you to visit the "Tool Kit" on the VOW web page. It contains
links to two different web-based personality tests that teams may
choose to explore, time zone information, and tips on working in a
virtual team, working cross-culturally, and using ICQ, Lotus Notes,
NetMeeting and videoconferencing.
Introduction. The
word “totem" comes from the ancient Ojibwa Indian word "nintotem",
meaning "mark of my family or group." Totems are symbols that capture both the
"who" of a group and often, the "how" ¾ they represent personal
and collective identity and are used in various group rituals. You are becoming a
member of a new type of work group. It represents new possibilities
for the "who" and "how" of work groups, with membership
spanning continents and new tools for communication and collaboration.
Your work group also is part of a larger learning community exploring
culture, technology, change and collaboration. In this assignment,
you will be using the totem concept to begin learning about the individuals
who compose your new group and creating a group that can work and
learn effectively. Instructions. Your
central task is to create a group totem that can be portrayed visually
and to post the group’s totem to a web page. On 24 September, your group should turn in
by email to each instructor a report (maximum of 3 pages) which includes
the following: 1)
A visual representation of your totem.
This can be a drawing, a photo, or some combination of these. The totem need not be just one thing; it
can depict a scene. Thus,
you could have some kind of action taking place - a deer jumping, a phoenix flying, hands
applauding, etc. 2)
A written description of the totem which details its symbolic
value for the entire group. This
should address the following: · What are the important features of
the totem? Why this symbol and not another? · What are the numinous/archetypal aspects
of the totem? In other words,
how does the symbol connect you to more
than your group? (Note: Symbol dictionaries can be helpful here, though
please use them only as starting points and not definitive guides). · What group values and beliefs are
captured by the totem? How
does it speak to the kind of group you think you are and the kind
of group you want to be? · What does the totem suggest about
practical group doings and behaviours?
Does it suggest particular ways of doing things? 3)
Written descriptions of how the totem connects to each person
in the group. · Where does the symbol find its place
in individuals' beliefs? · What does the totem suggest about
individual actions and commitments? 4)
The URL for
the web page to which your group’s totem and description is posted.
Creating a team
contract can help your team clarify its goals and operating guidelines,
ultimately improving team performance.
Now that you have worked together once, on the Totem assignment,
you may have more specific ideas about how team members can best work
together on the Jacobs Suchard case. Your contract should
outline the behaviors your group agrees to and supports. At a minimum, your contract should include
the goals, roles and norms for your team. Goals – The measurable, expected outcomes
from your group work. Roles – Roles specify who is responsible
for what on the team. Some
possible roles for case analysis teams include: ·
meeting coordinator,
assembler of the final paper, writer of the diagnostic section, writer
of the recommendations section, writer of the implementation section ·
change management
expert, technology expert, group process facilitator, culture expert
Norms – Norms specify the behaviors the team
believes are important to achieving its goals. Often norms can be identified by discussing what has gone wrong
(or right) on previous collaborative efforts. For your VOW team, you may want to pay special attention to communication
norms: how often people will check email or databases, how quickly
they will respond to messages, the extent to which they will keep
teammates apprised of their schedule and constraints, etc. Sanctions – Measures your team will employ to
control or prevent undesirable behaviors while working on the project. Feel
free to use the sample contract below as a model. A Sample Team
Contract
Our goals are to improve
the coordination of work between Technical Sales and Operations, raise
customer satisfaction, and reduce delivery time. Team roles will consist
of a team leader, a scribe and an observer. These roles will be rotated among the group members. To achieve our goals
we agree to (norms): ·
We will be on time for scheduled group
meetings ·
Each member is expected to attend all
group meetings. If unable
to attend, the team member must notify the group of the intended absence
(preferably at the prior group meeting) and arrange for another member
to take over his/her responsibilities. ·
We will come to each meeting with assignments
completed. Maximum utilization
of time is key. ·
Everyone will actively participate in
each meeting. ·
We will have bi-weekly 2-hour meetings. ·
We will encourage open discussion and
be willing to try new ideas. ·
Last, but not least, we will learn from
each other. Sanctions – We will
check with team members who seem to be violating our agreed-upon norms. If their behavior doesn’t improve, we will
ask the leader to discuss the behavior with them. Ultimately, if the behavior doesn’t improve, the member risks
receiving poor peer evaluations.
November 9, 1998 Pat Smith Lynn Falkowski Syd Hayden 
Jacobs and Zinser
have asked your team to answer the following questions for Jacobs
Suchard. You are not bound by what was possible technically in 1989-
1992 period. Your team’s analysis of the Suchard case will be worth
20 percent of your grade in the course you are taking.
Your
recommendations should address the situation that exists when the
case ends in April 1989. Big actions, such as closing manufacturing
plants, should be considered final. However, current roles, organizational
structure, etc. may not be final.
In
other words, what is your overall strategy for change and the sequence
of key events and activities that you think need to happen? You need
not specify time periods, such as first 30 days, second 30 days, etc.
In particular, think about 1) initial steps/readiness for change,
2) management of the change process itself and 3) institutionalization
of the change. Finally, on the
last page of this paper, we ask your VOW team to reflect on how you
see yourselves as a group now that you are coming to the end of your
work together. You began the process by creating a totem for your
group. Do you choose the same image now, a modification of that image,
or a completely different image? You do not need to provide any explanation
of the image your team chooses now. Just make the image the last page
of your case assignment paper and post it at the same web site as
your original totem. There are no right and wrong answers. Rather,
it is an invitation to reflect honestly on the experience your team
had in this new world of collaboration. |
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Updated 8/16/1999 |
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Copyright 1998 George
Mason University |
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