A new elementary principal had four tough challenges: following an effective, highly respected predecessor; handling daily complaints, catastrophes, and distractions; combining vision with competence and consistency; and developing resiliency at handling negative criticism. A collaborative, improvement-oriented leadership style helped him and his…

Assessment of 20 students who learned word processing through cooperative learning and 20 who used an individual learning method found that cooperative learning students learned faster, needed less teacher assistance, and earned higher scores. Most felt positive about the experience. (SK)

The most successful companies must be flexible and rapidly adaptable. This requires creative management and creative teamwork. Like a kaleidoscope, creative thinking is the ability to rearrange pieces to form a new reality, to see connections, and to think on a global scale. (SK)

Interdisciplinary teams are loosely coupled (systems in which elements are weakly, infrequently, or informally linked). Applying loosely coupled systems theory to team training increases its effectiveness, because learning activities may be disjointed and learning goals may diverge. (SK)

Work teams can be highly motivating and can reduce overhead costs. Teams with clear, limited objectives and the right skills, feedback, and incentives will perform well. Personality difficulties, resistance to change, and lack of training can short circuit their effectiveness. (SK)

Describes the stages of a team performance model: orientation, trust building, goal/role clarification, commitment, implementation, high performance, and renewal. (SK)

Data from 207 middle-level government employees and ratings by 896 of their peers and 202 supervisors showed that significant predictors of their managerial effectiveness included managerial self-awareness and their ability to establish strong, supportive lateral relationships (manifested in their ability to influence others). (SK)

Offers a day-by-day description of an experiment in which several anonymous teammates try to work together to outlearn, outthink, and ultimately outperform an opposing team--all via the Internet. Includes a quiz sampler with answers. (JOW)

This template for use in managing student team assignments includes activities for an introduction to teamwork, development of team member expectations, and preparation of an assessment instrument with team member input. (SK)

In adaptive schools, working groups grow, develop, and learn from experience, becoming more effective as they go. Three premises about group development include the following: each group is unique, some groups mature, and attrition need not block development. Four guidelines for successful group meetings include decide who decides, define the…

Four themes were identified in a conference of managers undertaking workplace learning programs: modeling learning processes in organizations, organizational readiness, teamwork and learning, and networked learning. An agenda for systemized organizational learning was developed. (SK)

Discusses the unseen but essential qualities of team spirit that are necessary for success. Offers five learning activities to help build team spirit and develop high-performing teams. (JOW)

Comparison of student teams working on class projects and workplace teamwork finds similar characteristics of successful and unsuccessful teams. Differences include the relatively short duration of classroom groups, organizational culture, team formation, leadership, accountability, diversity, and type of task. (SK)

A survey of 508 Canadian workers showed that moderate levels of high-performance work practices were associated with increased belonging, empowerment, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behavior. At higher levels, the association became negative. Work was more stressful with these practices. Team autonomy, just-in-time practices, and…

Examines interdisciplinary health care teams, focusing on perceptions of team processes and their relationship to assessments of team performance and individual outcomes. Suggests that hospice interdisciplinary teams are perceived by their members as only somewhat democratic in the practice of decision making. (SG)