Comm285

Ensuring fair and even contributions and collaboration

A fundamental that University of Phoenix teaches their students is the ability to work in a learning team. Learning teams provide the ability to test the student’s skills and ensuring that he or she can work effectively in a group, which is a skillset most businesses look for. Assignments in the learning team can often seem more difficult than the individual assignments and will require all members to divide the work evenly. The learning team already has a charter in place to aid them with their assignments. Ensuring fair and even contribution and collaboration within the team is very important, and can make the assignment go more smoothly for all members. In the charter format, questions are raised about how a learning team will handle certain situations. “How will the team ensure that all team members are contributing and collaborating appropriately? Describe the communication strategy you will use if a team member is not contributing and collaborating effectively. How will the team manage conflicts between team members, and what to do if a team member cannot be reached or is not participating to the satisfaction of the team?” (University of Phoenix, 2004)

In Learning Team C, the members had five areas of concern to include in the charter in regard to ensuring fair and even contribution and collaboration. Tardiness and absenteeism can greatly affect a learning team, and if the members do not come to class or are always late this can greatly affect the learning team. Initially the learning team will discuss with the offending member or members his or her tardiness or absence from class. After talking with the team member, if no improvement is shown the team will need to consult with the instructor to ensure the team can receive fair treatment for their work and inputs into team assignments. Illegal actions, such as plagiarism can result in the entire learning team...