These colleagues suggested the Guides should be shared with other faculty, both within the University and more broadly. The combination of these guides should improve student experiences with in-class teams. The Guides may seem to be overly formalized and overly complex. There is a justifiable reason for the formalization. Teams are formal manifestations of groups.
Effective groups require extensive development time, often years.
The best way to facilitate this rapid development is to formalize the processes groups evolve through during their development. Therefore, to develop successful teams quickly, it is necessary to formalize the process and perhaps appear to be over complex in their preparation. Therefore, the formalized approach in the guide is used purposefully. The proposed steps for classroom teams are closely related to the requirements for the development of successful teams in the A real world. The guides are intended for use with teams that will be working together for an extended duration.