SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Departments

Engineering Design and

Management Implementation
Lecture 1: Introduction and
Group Norms
Overview
• Safe Return to Campus Rules

• Reflection

• The Course Outline

• Building Teams

• The Project

• Reflection
Reflection
Take some time to reflect on the Courses “Engineering Skills” and
“Engineering Design and Management Planning” from previous Semesters.

1) How do you describe your experience with PBL from the beginning until now?

2) What do you think about advantages and disadvantages of PBL concept over
traditional learning scheme?

3) How do you evaluate the concept of group work?

4) Thinking ahead to this new course: Engineering Design and Management

Implementation What are your expectations for this course?
Course Outline
Building Teams and Group Norms
What is a Team?
A group of people with complementary skills
who are committed to a common mission,
performance goals, and approach for which
they hold themselves mutually accountable
Why Teams?

➢ Good when performing complicated, complex,

interrelated and/or more voluminous work than
one person can handle

➢ Good when knowledge, talent, skills, & abilities

are dispersed across organizational members

➢ Empowerment and collaboration; not power and

competition

➢ Basis for total quality efforts

Building Teams

➢ Professional Teamwork is expected!

➢ Team building is not a kick-off event, but it rather

focuses on the “group process”

➢ To build a cooperative team, focus on:

− Developing common expectations

− Developing effective group norms
Group Norms of Behavior:

➢ Norms are defined as, “The mutually agreed upon

standards of behavior.”
➢ Norms usually involve communication, consensus,
conflict, and respect.
➢ Social norms, norms of collaboration, societal
norms, and educational norms are examples.
Examples of Norms:

1. Be PUNCTUAL.
2. Meeting attendance is an excellent indicator of the
way people view the importance of others' time.
3. Be PREPARED
4. Be PARTICIPATORY.
5. A good meeting involves interaction among the
facilitator and the attendees.
6. Be POSITIVE.
7. Be PRODUCTIVE.
8. Be POLITE.
9. Be PROACTIVE.
9. Be PROFESSIONAL.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lisa_Newman
➢ Effective Groups Norms

▪ The team shares common vision, mission, goals

and is committed to achieving them.

▪ Members are flexible and accept different

assignments.

▪ Positive atmosphere and comfortable climate of

TRUST

▪ Mutual feeling of “we”.

▪ Members keep to schedule and are prepared for

meetings.

▪ Issues/problems addressed as soon as

possible.
▪ Conflict and disagreement are viewed as
healthy and natural—they are surfaced, not
avoided, with an emphasis on resolution, not on
personalities.

▪ Decisions are reached through consensus.

▪ Equitable work assignments.

▪ Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined,

distributed, and carried out. Leadership is
shared.
➢ Problem-causing norms include:

▪ People procrastinate (delay actions)

▪ Unclear responsibilities
▪ Un-kept promises
▪ Lack of challenge
▪ Poor communication
▪ Not knowing what others are working on
▪ Inefficient use of time
▪ Poor work quality
▪ Do the minimum to get by
▪ Waiting for others to do their work
▪ Lack of initiative
▪ Lack of helpfulness to a team member in “need”
▪ Lack of frankness
Team Leader Responsibilities:

▪ Works on development of team goals and team

expectations.
▪ Establishes goals, objectives and target deadlines for
team.
▪ Establishes and gains consensus on team ground
rules.
▪ Encourages fair play with team rules and ensures all
team members are held accountable for their actions.
▪ Communicates expectations of the team and the importance
of completing team assignments on time.
▪ Ensures team establishes measurable goals.
▪ Takes proactive steps in dealing with team members who do
not adhere to team rules.
▪ Helps the team with conflict resolution and educates them on
how to constructively solve problems.
▪ Reviews and monitors team progress toward goals.
YOU MIGHT HAVE CONSENSUS IF”…

▪ All group members contribute/participate

▪ Everyone's opinion is heard and encouraged
▪ Differences are viewed as helpful
▪ Everyone can paraphrase the issue
▪ Those who disagree seek to understand
▪ All members agree to support the final decision
▪ All members take responsibility for implementation
▪ All members seek the success of the decision
Team work summary
1. Decision Making
How will your team make decisions?
2. Conflict Management
How will your team resolve differences of opinion or points of view?
3. Responsibilities
How will your team assign roles and responsibilities?
4. Work Completed
How will your team ensure that assigned work is completed?
5. Candor and Equal Participation
How will your team ensure that everyone
- Participates equally in the project
- Feels everyone else is interested in their ideas
- Feels open and honest about sharing concerns during meetings
6. Group Process Evaluation
How will the team assess its ability to perform effectively as a team, and take corrective action when
necessary?
Note: process evaluation is not the same as output evaluation
Building Teams

Each team should be composed of 5 members from

mechanical and civil engineering disciplines (subject to
the total number of students registered from each major
in the class
Project brief
Reflection
5) What did you learn from this lecture, and how are you
going to apply it along the course as a team member or a
team leader?