ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some guidelines and resources to support faculty in just such an endeavor. Students can readily identify the characteristics of highly functional teams: equitable commitment and participation, trust and respect among team members, mutual understanding of roles as it relates to work and team functioning, effective team organization and structure, and open communication involving both positive feedback and constructive criticism. Tension and potential conflict will predictably emerge as student teams begin the serious work of digging into the project and producing early deliverables. Faculty should consider how their assessment strategies for student project teams will affect the teams’ ability and motivation to manage tension and conflict and their willingness to seek outside support when significant conflict is encountered. Norming project teams require far less faculty involvement, support, and intervention than teams at the forming and storming phases.
