Case study: Developing Management Skills

Dilemma

One of your instructors has just informed your class that you will be working on a new major assignment worth 30 percent of your course mark. The assignment is to be done in teams of seven. Realistically you will need to function as a virtual team, as it turns out that each of you has a different work and class schedule, so that there is almost no time when more than three people could meet face to face. As you know, virtual teams have benefits, but they can also face problems.

Discussion Questions

1.How will you build group cohesiveness in this team?

2.What norms might help the team function, and how should the norms be decided?

3.What will you do to prevent social loafing?