Joining Together

1st MSG: Joining Together

As a first message, please respond with a minimum of 150-200 words. Subsequent posts can align with our 100 word minimum.

One of the best team books I have read is a piece of scholarship by David and Frank Johnson (2000) (brothers) in their exploration and research of teams titled Joining Together. My edition was the 7th, and I suppose they have more recent versions. One of the key reasons for team success was contained in the five essential components for cooperative teams:

1. Positive interdependence (the work of one person is dependent on the work of another and so on as in a chain of reactions)
2. Face to face interaction
3. Individual and group accountability
4. Interpersonal and small group skills and
5. Group processing.

Any of these sound familiar? Consider your work teams…how does it measure up with these criteria?

What do you think might be most important from your personal point of view?

Answer Preview

The five essential components for cooperative teams are essential from distinguishing cooperative team from the other forms of teams. The elements are like a puzzle presenting a group situation that result in cooperative team. In my view, interpersonal and small group skills is the most important because it deals with the smooth operations in the group by helping members through discussion opportunities, helping each other and keeping updated.

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