Question: Individual Research Paper

This assignment is worth 25% of your final grade. It gives you an opportunity to investigate relevant trends in one of topics we are discussing. You must complete this assignment individually, without contacting other students. The assignment has the opportunity to addresses Course Objectives 3, 4 and 5.

Take a topic mentioned in our readings and explore it further in 6 to 10 pages. Identify and discuss the current trends in your chosen topic area. Possible topics include (but are not limited to) use of virtual teams in global corporations, methods for managing conflict among virtual team members, team-based compensation programs, or team decision making processes.

Support your opinions and statements with a minimum of 7 or more references from sources published within the last ten years and be sure to integrate concepts, theories, and readings from our work over the semester. You can cite scholarly and practitioner-oriented journals, newspaper articles, and YouTube videos about the topic, but not Wikipedia, vendor websites, or other non-academic sources. The UMUC library can help you identify appropriate sources. See the Library tab in the Resources dropdown menu on the blue ribbon at the top of our classroom for more information about the services provided by the UMUC library.

Use APA format for citations, references, and quotations. This means your list of references should start on a separate page, and should be double spaced, with a hanging indent and no spaces between entries. Your paper should be 6-10 pages (not counting the cover or reference pages), double spaced with one inch margins and a font size of at least 11 points. Writing should be in 3rd person.

3 Learning Objectives:

- Define team performance in organizations;

- Recognize the stages of team development;

- Identify and mitigate the impact of social loafing and free-riding on teams;

- Recommend types of recognition and rewards for team performance.

4 Learning Objectives:

- Describe the makeup of virtual teams;

- Use the life cycle model of virtual teams to diagnose team status;

- Plan communication strategies for successful virtual teams;

- Identify technological tools to facilitate successful team performance.

5 Learning Objectives:

- Discuss advantages and disadvantages of decision making in teams;

- Recognize the challenges of team decision making;

- Recognize groupthink and recommend actions to reduce its effect on the team;

- Explain the Abilene Paradox concept and how to avoid it.