QSO 680 Module Eight Team Activity Guidelines and Rubric Overview: In the project management profession, if you have not already been part of a project team, you likely will be at some point in your career. This activity is meant to simulate the opportunities and challenges of teamwork at the same time you discuss how best to manage effective teams. The use of teams in business creates diverse views and experiences to address the issue at hand, most often leading to increased productivity and better problem solving. The most common challenge in teamwork is conflict, but if each member of a team shares a goal and an equal commitment to the final outcome, the challenges can be mitigated. Management consultant and educator Peter Drucker said, “Meetings are by definition a concession to a deficient organization. For one either meets or one works. One cannot do both at the same time.” As Drucker noted, there is no bigger waste of time than an ineffective, unproductive meeting. Yet, project management often requires a team approach. So how does a project manager create a unified team, run effective and purposeful team meetings, and keep the team motivated and running smoothly? In this team activity, you will discuss the efficient management of project teams and project team meetings. Prompt: You will be working in the same team you were assigned to for the Module Four assignment. Connect with your team early in the week, and stay engaged in your team meeting discussion throughout the week. In other words, this is an ongoing discussion/team meeting rather than one initial post and two follow-up posts as you might be used to in typical discussion topics. Use the following guiding questions provided to guide your discussion. Your posts should be well-researched, illustrated with specific examples, and properly cited.
From the beginning through completion of a project, what types of team meetings are usually held and for what purpose? Share your own experience and/or research with project team meetings.
Specify some typical team meeting rules and guidelines. How can they make meetings more effective and productive? What is your direct experience with team meeting rules? Have you used them to facilitate a meeting? If so, with what result? How have you (or how would you) enforce team meeting rules if you were in charge of the meeting?
As a project manager, how would you empower your team? Use concrete examples to support your ideas.
Do you/would you set meeting objectives and an agenda in advance? If so, how would you ensure that the objectives are met and the agenda is followed? Are there instances that justify moving away from a predetermined agenda? If so, when and why?
How have you used (or how would you use) project team meetings to manage scope creep? How do you hold team members accountable? What tools are available to you?
What team building activities have you used (would you use) to keep the team focused and motivated? Share specific examples and outcomes.
What types of conflict have you experienced while working on teams, and how did/would you handle the conflict? Is conflict always negative? Provide an example of productive conflict.
Rubric Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (90%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value Comprehension Meets “Proficient” criteria and
supports ideas with relevant examples from project management experience, observation, and/or research
