Preface for Instructors

Team Writing is a brief guide about how to collaborate to produce a major written document. This book grew out of a research project, funded by the National Science Foundation, to discover factors that limited women’s participation on technical teams. The ultimate goal of this project was to develop and test pedagogical strategies that would improve women’s experiences on technical teams. However, as I and my research assistants observed 17 teams in technical writing and engineering classes, we were dumbfounded by the sheer number and scope of the problems we observed at all levels of the team process. Certainly we saw many gender-related problems, but far more compelling were the major breakdowns in collaboration — for example, students missing meetings and then complaining to instructors that their teammates were not keeping them informed; a student so defensive about his writing that he resisted fixing even basic grammatical errors; teams that to us looked as though they were proceeding logically and productively, only to discover later that some of the team members were angry and resentful because they didn’t feel empowered to suggest changes to work that others produced; teams that started out with great and ambitious ideas but ended up throwing the project together sloppily at the last minute because nobody had written these agreements down. In all, nearly half the teams we observed experienced major breakdowns such as these.

Perhaps even more disturbing was the fact that the instructors responsible for these teams were rarely aware of the problems students were facing. Students almost never notified instructors of these problems or consulted them for advice — no matter how bad their team’s problems might be — and instructors had no independent information that could help them anticipate and head off trouble. It became clear that students needed guidance and structure, which instructors were unaware they had to explicitly provide.

To address these issues, Team Writing focuses on the role of written communication in teamwork. It teaches students how to use written documentation to manage a team by producing task schedules, minutes, charters, and other materials and also provides models for handling the writing, research, and revision that large collaborative documents require. This focus on writing and teamwork is unique: whereas most textbooks that address team skills focus almost exclusively on verbal, face-to-face communication (which is just one, and not even the largest, aspect of a collaborative project), Team Writing draws on published research, observations and interviews with student teams, and my own experience in the classroom to show how written communication is not merely an afterthought but is the substance of most team activities.

A unique feature of this textbook is the inclusion of five short videos based on actual team interactions. These short vignettes allow students to see firsthand some of the problems teams can face. In the end-of-chapter exercises, students are asked to analyze the teams’ behavior, providing hands-on opportunities to put some of the book’s principles into action. These short videos reenact dialogue and behaviors observed in real student teams. Although in some cases the original interactions were modified slightly to remove distractions or clarify details, the dialogue remains faithful to the look and feel of the original groups’ exact words and actions. These videos are further supplemented by comments that team members made at the end of the project or by observations from professional managers who viewed the videos.

Throughout the book, you will find examples of students’ own words as they encounter and then solve problems on their teams. The book offers specific advice for avoiding these problems, as well as many examples of e-mails and documents that students can use as models for handling common situations. The troubleshooting guide inside the back cover lists some of the problems that this book teaches students to overcome.

This book, which is intended as a supplement to other course texts, has eight short chapters. The entire textbook, including all exercises, could be completed within the span of a two-week unit. Alternatively, the text could be spaced out over the course of a major project to correspond with issues that teams will be tackling at each stage of the project. Students can view the accompanying videos and respond to the exercises as independent homework, or they can watch the videos with their peers in class as a way to spark discussion on issues such as how to organize a project, respond to revisions, deal with people with different communication styles, or handle teammates who will not listen.

♦ Acknowledgements

Grateful acknowledgment is made for the support of the National Science Foundation, Grant No. HRD-0225186. However, the flaws are my own, and any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

I am particularly grateful to my two research assistants, Kara Alexander and Elizabeth Powell, who helped me collect and analyze the massive amount of data involved in this project and have worked with me to pilot and troubleshoot the materials contained in this book. I have been privileged to work with them, and this book owes much to their insights and observations. I am also greatly indebted to the many students and instructors who allowed me into their classrooms and permitted me and my assistants to observe their interactions. Thanks are also due to Ruta Sevo, Randall Walker, and Keith Ware, who provided their professional insights into the team process and commented on the videos. I would also like to thank the student actors who participated in the videos, as well as Mike Peak, who provided his technical and artistic support and advice in creating the videos.

I also want to acknowledge my appreciation for the reviewers who commented specifically on this manuscript: Jennifer Courtney, Rowan University; Doug Eyman, George Mason University; Susan Grover, Brigham Young University–Idaho; Ann Jennings, University of Houston–Downtown; Michael Knievel, University of Wyoming; William Lenox, Johnson & Wales University; Karen Powers Liebhaber, Black River Technical College; Steve Lytle, University of Central Florida; Ron McNeel, New Mexico State University at Alamogordo; Becky Jo McShane, Weber State University; Derek Mueller, Syracuse University; Paul Pedroza, University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign; Janine Solberg, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Gretchen Vik, San Diego State University; Audrey Wick, Blinn College; John Zuern, University of Hawaii at Manoa; and one anonymous reviewer.

I am also indebted to the staff at Bedford/St. Martin’s for their expert and thoughtful advice in shaping this book. Leasa Burton helped launch this project and provided her advice and vision as executive editor. Sarah Guariglia steered this project, providing exceptional editorial advice, insights, and encouragement. Her work was first-rate, and I cannot thank her enough. Dan Schwartz provided expert advice and assistance with the videos. My thanks also go to Joan Feinberg, Denise Wydra, and Karen Henry for their direction and help in making this a pleasurable project. Thanks also to Annette Pagliaro Sweeney and Nancy Benjamin for guiding the manuscript through production, Linda McLatchie for careful copyediting, and Anna Palchik and Janis Owens for the design work.