Facilitating Teamwork With Lean Six Sigma and Web-Based Technology

Abstract

is usually a good thing, but conflicts about interpersonal or procedural issues can hurt a team. Groups can become more inhibited when tasks are complex or ambiguous, so create frequent opportunities for groups to meet and exchange information.• Be sure that groups structure their tasks to meet the project's goals.Ask teams to create a project plan that includes task analysis, task management, a timeline, and document management (be clear on your style and format expectations). The plan should divide the writing part of the project into equitable portions for all group members and make clear who will do what. For longer projects, teams can submit progress reports, which can be as simple as a single email, to keep in touch with you and each other.While it would be wonderful to address every desirable learning objective with one assignment, we've found that trying to make one project do all things is likely to result in its doing none of them well. But with careful planning, combining the report and the group assignments can bring rewarding results.

Ready for action: Developing classroom teams to prepare students for the business world

“…Aligning with the idea of preparing students for teamwork by helping them understand their preferences, some scholars suggest grouping diverse and complementary students together based on the results of personality tests (Scarfino & Roever, 2009;Amato & Amato, 2005). Others recommend collecting information from students about their majors, abilities, interests, and other assets (Roebuck, 1998;Krause, 2009). On the other hand, in McAlister's (2006) courses, students' work with clients, and the student groups are formed based on affinity for particular clients and student availability.…”

“…Task schedules or implementation plans detail the tasks necessary to complete the project and the team member(s) who will complete each task, including a deadline for each task (Wolfe, 2010;McAlister, 2006;Krause, 2009). Wolfe (2010) recommended that each task should be rated for difficulty so as to ensure "fairer" distribution of workload.…”

Teaching Six Sigma to Undergrads: A Simplified Real Project Approach

“…During the kick‐off event, students are grouped into project teams of three or four students and each team is given a circuit breaker that has been opened to reveal the inner mechanisms (for a more detailed discussion of Six Sigma student project teams, see Krause, 2009). The students also receive a memo from the company describing the market, product, and possible problems.…”