Teamwork and Collaborative Writing

Final Thoughts

Business leaders commonly complain that college graduates do not know how to work productively in groups. In American classrooms, we tend to prize individual accomplishment, yet in professional careers, we need to work well with others. Unfortunately, the terms "group work," "teamwork," or "committee work" can appear to be oxymorons – like the terms "honest politician" or "criminal justice." Many groups, teams, and committees simply do not work, despite the potential of individuals in the group.

It is certainly true that many people waste time in group situations, politicking as opposed to defining tasks and solving problems. In writing classrooms, some students want to slide by and get a grade without doing the work; others are willing to do the work but are not sure how to proceed. While working in groups presents unique challenges, your success as a writer, leader, or manager is somewhat dependent on your ability to help others focus, communicate, and collaborate.

Tips for Effective Groups

Follow these tips for nurturing teamwork in group situations. Try experimenting with the following strategies to help ensure the success of group work.

• When the group first meets, select a project manager. This person provides leadership and helps forge consensus and a coherent plan. Being a leader is different from being an autocrat or a dictator. Even if you are selected as the project manager, it is important to remember that you are an equal team member and collaborator who has simply been assigned the task of coordinating the project and ensuring that progress does not fall behind schedule. This does not, in effect, make you the "boss" of all the other team members, so remember to act like a partner rather than an overlord. As team coordinator, your attitude and behavior may help set the tone for the rest of the group.

If you are the leader, be sure to make fair assignments and let others own ideas and parts of the project. If people slack off, talk to them discreetly, giving them fair warning before speaking with other members or your teacher. Be concrete and specific about building consensus regarding shared goals, due dates, and processes.

• All team members need to work to be positive. Be generous. Be respectful regarding members' feelings and needs. Focus on the strengths of the members in your group. Give more than you take. Ideally, collaborative projects should not be about one person being in control. Decisions should be made by the group, not by one individual.
  
  
• Respect different ideas and approaches. Listen before talking; be articulate about your position but flexible when others want to go another way.
  
  
• Clarify evaluation criteria up front. Understand what your instructor wants, how the documents will be evaluated, and what the due dates are.
  
  
• Beyond outlining the project, come up with a project management plan, outlining:
  • Responsibilities for each group member
  • Descriptions of the steps or tasks involved in implementation
  • Timelines for completion
  • Summaries of problems/opportunities you anticipate (and a list of possible solutions/recommendations)
    
    
• Draft a document planner for the group project. Write a research proposal and submit it to your instructor/supervisor. Your proposal – which is a formal request that will be discussed at length in the Proposal chapter – should identify what you want to do, how you want to do it, and when you can have it done.
  
  
• Your instructor (or supervisor) may ask you to maintain individual journals or progress reports or keep a log of your contributions to the project. Alternatively, you can log about your collaborative efforts in a wiki, perhaps writingwiki.org. The advantage of using the wiki space is that it enables group members to enter their contributions on the same page. Teachers appreciate the wiki format because each edit to a page is recorded by the wiki software, enabling the instructor to see when particular contributions were made and by whom. Teachers can account for individual efforts when they keep records and perhaps include a one-page summary about what they learned as a result of the collaborative experience. Create a Web portfolio for the project with an index or default page that links to major sections of the group project and relevant appendixes. Report appendixes should include links to the document planner, the document proposal, individual students' journals, and related resources.
  
  
• Evaluate your peers' contributions; be sure to copy your peers on your evaluation.

Group work can be difficult, and the amount of time required to complete a group project may very well take longer than if you were tackling the project on your own, but group work can also be a richly rewarding experience with synergistic results that are impossible to achieve otherwise. With a clear understanding of each group member's strengths and qualifications, with clearly articulated roles and responsibilities, and with a well-defined plan, any group project can be a success.