Annotated Bibliography of Group Work

It is actually a fairly difficult task to complete a project through a collaborative group. It is simply not as easy as breaking up the task, each person doing his/her part, and joining it all together for a final product. There are many aspects to be considered, and many problems to give some thought to before the actual process begins. These web sites do an effective job of pointing group members in the right direction.

http://www.mgmt.utoronto.ca/~baum/mgt2003/meetings.html

This web site provides all the basics of running a team meeting. These characteristics are very helpful when putting a group together effectively to reach a final product at the end. The tips that most stand out from this site are deciding how to decide, everyone responding out loud, and keeping minutes of the meeting. The web site lists the first move as making a game plan. Then, members should decide how to decide. This is so incredibly important because inevitably there will be disagreements, and those disagreements must be solved in order to be able to reach a conclusion together. The idea of consensus is so misunderstood, and this site does a good job of explaining what consensus really means.

The site points out that brainstorming is great if the task is creative but is not necessarily helpful in all situations. Under the heading Everyone Must Respond Out Loud, the point is made that responding out loud not only helps to energize the team but also to confirm decisions being made. Other aspects listed are calling your own time outs and finding ways to provide feedback. Decisions must be logged in the minutes, so there can be no disagreements later. All of these helpful hints aid in making the process very plain and easy for everyone so that the group will run smoothly. Therefore, the end product will be from all group members.

http://www.buec.udel.edu/kmetzj/business_consulting/Managing%20the%20project.pdf

This web site provides information about how to continue the project once in groups. Ground rules have already been set, and the task is to move forward. One of the most helpful ideas is to listen to the client. Only by truly listening to the client will the product be successful. This web site also provides many good thoughts in presenting your ideas and managing the team's ideas for the project leader.

When presenting ideas, it is important to keep your explanations simple so as not to use too much of the group's time, for example. There are some matrices provided in order to assess the group and some tips for problem solving. On this site, the most helpful thing is its organization. Being presented on colorful PowerPoint slides helps the reader condense information in order to take it all in. Many of these points are again useful for being a part of an effective group, which typically means having an effective final product.

http://writesite.cuny.edu/work/team/index.html

This group contains three separate parts, which are Guidelines and critical skills for writing as a team, Models of collaborative writing, and Roles and Responsibilities of Team Members. The part containing Models of collaborative writing breaks down three separate ways in which groups function. It would be very helpful to look at this at the very beginning of group formation in order to clarify everyone's role in the group. Under Roles and Responsibilities, each role is further broken down. Again, this would be very helpful for clarification before actually beginning the crucial work at hand.

http://www.ensc.sfu.ca/users/whitmore/public_html/text/chp4/team_writing.ppt

This presentation begins with when to use team writing. This is beneficial at the beginning in order to assess as to whether this is the process to begin with. The web site is really fairly basic in its content. The most helpful parts are when the authors go further and provide more specific information, such as tips for group revision or team drafting. Certainly, these "basics" are good to review and keep in mind before beginning to attempt the task at hand.

https://mit.imoat.net/handbook/collabor.htm

In terms of actually coming up with a cohesive document as a final research paper, this is actually the most helpful web site. This site is nothing more than a list of steps to be taken in each group. It begins with listing all tasks and research necessary. The great part about this web site is that it lists things that might be overlooked in other sites. For example, developing a style guide is extremely important. If the team has decided to break tasks into parts, it is crucial that when each member does a write up, these all look the same and are worded in some of the same ways using common terminology.

Someone must then manage the document's production and oversee this in order to ensure that the document remains in a similar format. Another tip worth mentioning is that sections must be reviewed by all members as they are written by individual writers, and there must be a process in place for doing this. This list of steps will make the process go much more smoothly for all members of the group and will result in a much more effective final research paper.

All of these web sites contain at least something useful about how to have a cohesively functioning group in order to create a final product that meets all the standards. Group work can be very challenging, but using web sites such as these help all members be proactive in order to create mechanisms to solve conflict or problems before these are even created within the group. It is so much easier to develop rules and governing policies beforehand rather than trying to come up with them in the middle of the process while group members are actually working on the given task. Many of these web sites also contain the basics of the end product for those unfamiliar with carrying a task like this to completion.