Why are most small businesses found in the service-producing sector? Identify five small service-producing businesses that you patronize frequently. What kinds of small businesses are found in the goods-producing sector? What small goods-producing firms do you do business with regularly?
Knowing how to be an effective team member is a vital lifetime skill. It will help you in your academic career, in the business world, and in non-work activities as well. It takes time and effort to learn how to work in a team. Part of the challenge is learning how to adjust your behavior to the needs of the group. Another part is learning how to motivate members of a group. A well-functioning team allows members to combine knowledge and skills, and this reliance on diverse backgrounds and strengths often results in team decisions that are superior to those made by individuals working alone.
Are You a Team Player? As a first step, you should do a self-assessment to evaluate whether you possess characteristics that will help you be a successful team member. You can do this by taking a -Team Player? quiz available at the Quintessential Careers Web site. Go to http://www.quintcareers.com/team_player_quiz.html to link to this quiz. You'll get feedback that helps you identify the characteristics you need to work on if you want to improve your teamwork skills.
Working Together as a Team
The best approach to specifying appropriate behavior for team members is for the team to come up with some ground rules. Get together with three other students selected by your instructor, and establish working guidelines for your team. Prepare a team report in which you identify the following:
1. Five things that team members can do to increase the likelihood of group success.
2. Five things that team members can do to jeopardize group success.