Building basics

Odessa College management students recently studied the basic principles of building and sustaining teams within an organization in their eight-week High Performance Work Teams course taught by OC management professors Connie Nichols and Sue Jones.

In the course, students learn what it means to be a team, how that differs from being simply a group and how to develop strategies for creating a team environment in the workplace.

One of the activities used in the course requires the students to design and construct a shelter large enough to cover the entire team.

The students were given 20 minutes to plan and 20 minutes to construct.

During the construction phase, no talking is allowed. Through the exercise the students realized the importance of spending time planning and assigning specific tasks and making sure that each team member was confident in their own ability to complete their assignment.

Students said the inability to communicate verbally during the construction phase required them to stay focused and on task.