During the last few decades, a number of quality improvement methodologies have been used by organizations. This article provides a brief review of the quality improvement literature related to academia and a case study using Six Sigma methodology to analyze students' performance in a standardized examination. We found Six Sigma to be an effective…

People in organizations are increasingly called upon to serve as small group facilitators or to assist in this role. This article uses data collected from practicing facilitators at three points of time and a building block process of collection, analysis, further collection, and consolidation to develop and refine a list of competencies. A…

The authors describe the development and delivery of a team-building exercise in an online organizational behavior undergraduate course. Qualitative data of student perceptions, collected at the end of the course, revealed both positive and negative reactions to various aspects of the team-building exercise. Based on these reactions, the authors…

The authors pursue three aims in this article. The first is to underscore critical praxis as an especially valuable approach to understanding and enabling teamwork. The second is to offer four dimensions of teamwork--vision, roles, processes, and relationships--as salient areas to interrogate using critical praxis. The third aim is to consider the…

This paper documents how a team progressed through the five stages of team development as a result of a school-based professional development program using a laboratory class cycle. Six Grade two teachers and their administrator in a primary school in the southeastern United States participated in the study. All the teachers were interviewed at…

This article reports on a study investigating strategies that students can use to develop skills in managing team learning. Two groups of second-year management students participated in a semester-long action research project over two semesters. The students were educated on team development, team processes and conflict management and how to…

Discusses the advantages of and problems associated with cross-training. Looks at the issue of remuneration and offers examples of how two companies that cross-train presently pay their employees. (JOW)

Notes that changes in leadership of organizations can affect many people. Suggests approach that can affect positive transitions through team building. Describes components of STEAMWORK (sensitivity, tolerance, empathy, acceptance, maturity, wisdom, ownership, responsibility, and kindness) model and describes components of the STEAMWORK model that…

Building a high-performing leadership team is the greatest legacy superintendents can leave behind as school system leaders--more important than the programs they put in place, the facilities they build, the budgets they balance, or the improvement strategies they implement. Two key attributes help define strong educational leaders and…

This study employed a quasiexperimental control group design in a university setting to test the effect of a rater-training program on reducing social style bias in intragroup peer evaluations after controlling for ability based on GPA. Comparison of rating scores of the test group to the control group indicated minimal social style rating bias in…

An online survey about the group work training experiences of school counselors was completed by 802 members of the American School Counseling Association (ASCA). Most respondents had one course in group work; a minority had the opportunity to observe or co-lead groups with children and/or adolescents as part of their training. Qualitative…

While adventure activities seem a natural fit for middle elementary, teachers often overlook the importance of cooperative or team building activities with younger students (K-2). This could be due to a lack of knowledge or the misconception that one needs a climbing wall or other low level initiatives to offer such a program. When designing…

A description of a task involving the construction of a product'' which is designed to teach the fundamentals of effective supervision. (AK)