Pedagogy - an approach to the issue

The skill of working with and as part of a team is vital to success in a workplace. Total quality management requires teamwork in all facets of production. However, we cannot learn collaboration and teamwork through reading, listening, and memorization. Trainees must be involved in collaborative activities to gain through real experiences the intricacies of personal interactions, group dynamics and respect for the views of the others. This activity involves trainees in the active construction of knowledge by having them work collaboratively with others to investigate a problem, negotiate solutions, and justify their recommendations.

 

Training Strategy

Knowing how to work with others and to build upon the knowledge and experiences of diverse groups of people requires two skills crucial to the development of trainees- critical thinking and problem solving. This activity is designed to

help trainees establish patterns for critical thinking that they can draw upon to solve problems in their active lives.
It involves trainees in a shared responsibility for investigating a problem hypothesis. Working in teams, trainees pursue various approaches to thinking about a problem and share with each other their different perspectives of way to approach it.

The value of incorporating different ways of thinking in devising problem solutions is highlighted.

 

Activity Scenario - a real world example

The context The employees of a local hair salon want their owners to adopt an open floor layout at their salon. (Currently operators have partitions separating their work stations.) The salon owners have asked the employees to present an argument in support of the proposed change in 12 working days. Your role is to involve trainees as “employees” of the company to investigate the open layout design and prepare a presentation to support it, applying different cognitive styles of thinking to the investigation process. Among the interactions required as employees collaborate to come up with a rationale are those of negotiation and conflict resolution. Evaluation Criteria Criteria developed collaboratively by trainees and trainer will be used for peer assessment of successful task performance. A questionnaire will be used to obtain feedback on each group’s portion of the presentation.

Operational Steps

STEP 1

Identify the goal of the investigation and state trainees' roles as follows, dividing the class into four groups of company employees:

Group One:
Prepare an argument to support the proposed open layout by using analytical thinking. For example, this group of employees could conduct research to determine the benefits of open architecture and ways to overcome its drawbacks. They could also analyze the cost implications of converting to an open layout floor design.

Group Two:
Prepare an action-oriented argument that examines implementation issues. For example, this group of employees could find and present information about how long the office conversion will take, new furniture that might be needed, acoustical issues, and so forth.

Group Three:
Prepare a 'people-oriented' or emotional argument to support the proposal. For example, this group could discuss how an open layout might affect interpersonal relationships among operators and clients, how the setup might affect worker morale, and how the concerns of operators who prefer to work in isolated booths could be addressed in an open layout scheme.

Group Four:
Prepare an argument from a future-oriented perspective. For example, this argument could include graphics or blueprints of the proposed layout.

Give trainees a chance to ask questions to clarify their assignments and responsibilities.

 

STEP 2

Involve trainees in a brainstorming session to explore techniques they might use for their investigations. For example, techniques could include interviewing trainees, parents, and/or community members who frequent salons to learn their opinions about open store layout; reading research data, technical publications, or periodicals on salon layouts to learn the latest trends and the rationale for adopting them; and communicating over the Internet to obtain additional information and resources.

Model using the World Wide Web to locate resources. Show trainees how to locate associations from which they could obtain information and how to link with appropriate listservs. Give trainees an opportunity to practice Web use while you watch and guide their practices. Then, release the learning responsibility to them.

 

STEP 3

Establish with trainees the criteria by which they can assess their arguments for open floor layout.

Give trainees leadership in brainstorming meaningful criteria, but also provide resources such as established math, drafting, and communication standards that trainees can draw upon in establishing the performance criteria by which their reports will be assessed.

 

STEP 4

Engage the employee teams in their respective forms of investigation. Underscore the importance of respecting underlying differences of group members and provide guidelines for intragroup interactions, e.g. everyone has a chance to agree with or object to a point of view, reasons for each perspective must be given.

Keep the goal-preparation of an argument in support of open layout-at the forefront of students' minds. Be available as a reference person, guiding trainees and asking them questions to help them clarify their thoughts so that they can present them verbally.

 

STEP 5

Bring together the four groups and have each group select one spokesperson to present its argument. Allow enough time for divergent (brainstorming) discussion to uncover imaginative alternatives and convergent (action planning) discussion to arrive at the best points to highlight in the client presentation.

Facilitate the execution of good group dynamics. Do not allow one approach to dominate the discussion time so that the entire class may arrive as the best rather than the first viable option.

 

STEP 6

Engage the groups in final collaboration to highlight the points to be included in the client presentation. Remind them that the owners of the salon, as well as the salon's customers, reflect the same variety in thinking style as those demonstrated by the salon employees.

Depersonalize conflict as a means of collaboration and solution building. Intellectual disagreements can cause a great deal of tension in any group, yet successful outcomes require the cross-fertilization of different ideas. Most business projects require collaboration between people who think and perceive information in different ways. Therefore, the presentation will be most effective when it satisfies whole brain thinking.

 

STEP 7

Have trainees brainstorm the questions they would like to place on a questionnaire for the salon staff to answer in assessing their presentation. Questions such as "What did you especially like about the presentation? and "How could the presentation be improved?" will give feedback that trainees can draw upon for future persuasive arguments.

Support rather than lead trainees.

 

STEP 8

Have trainees make their final presentation before another class. This class should be told their role as "salon staff".

 

Reflective Practices

Engage trainees in a discussion of critical thinking by asking them to identify the qualities of a good thinker. Write the qualities on the chalkboard as they are presented. Ask trainees to volunteer words that describe what good collaboration looks like and sounds like to them. Fill-in the words on a T-Chart as they are given. (See the following example).

Looks Like Sounds Like Smiling faces "That's good!" Eye contact "I like that" Nodding head "I was thinking…" Questioning looks "How about……." Handshakes "How can we…."

Discuss how collaboration is demonstrated. For example, does one group talk while the other groups listen? Does collaboration mean that each group does a segment of the work and then put the parts together to form a report or recommendation? Why? Why not?

Ask trainees to describe ways in which looking at a problem from various frames of reference might help them to arrive at better problem solutions.

 

Evaluation

Have students review the evaluation forms completed by the salon staff audience and prepare lists of the best qualities of their presentation and the qualities they need to improve upon. Also have them assess their ability to complete their tasks successfully by using the criteria they established at the onset of the activity. Each of these items may be placed in their portfolios of work samples, if desired.

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