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Constructing a Code of Cooperation
- What is a Code of Cooperation?
- Why is a Code of Cooperation important?
- How might you help your teams create a Code of
Cooperation?
- Under what conditions will the group internalize
the norms?
1) What is a Code of Cooperation?
A code of cooperation for a team is a set of norms, e.g., standards,
rules, that is developed by that team. The norms describe expected
behavior for individual members of the team and for the team as
a whole. A code of cooperation may include expected penalties for
failure to adhere to the norms. When a team is experiencing problems,
the team (or the team and a facilitator) may refer to the code of
cooperation for guidance in resolving problems.
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2) Why is a Code of Cooperation
important?
In a traditional lecture class where students listen to lectures
in class and work individually on homework assignments outside of
class, there are known/accepted/standard rules for expected behavior.
In a class where significant amounts of work will be done in teams,
each team may lack a set of norms for expected behavior. Each member
of the team may have expectations for behavior. Unless these individual
expectations are communicated and the team develops a code of cooperation,
problems may develop because one member may unknowingly fail to
fulfill expectations of other members. For example, several members
of a team may expect everyone to show up for meetings on time and
prepare. However, one or more members may not realize these expectations,
may unwittingly fail to fulfill these expectations, and may cause
conflict within the team. Therefore, it is important that the expectations
of each member are made explicit and the team work through the exercise
of building a code of cooperation from these individual expectations.
Also, when team conflicts escalate to the point where they require
the instructor to serve as a facilitator, it is very helpful if
the instructor can refer to the team's code of cooperation when
working with the team.
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3) How might you help your
teams create a Code of Cooperation?
The ability of a team to develop a code of cooperation that will
help them to resolve conflicts at a later point in time depends
on the maturity of the students, the amount of prior team experience,
and the mechanisms that instructors have established for assigning
grades to team assignments. So suggestions to instructors depend
on these factors.
The first suggestion is that instructors don't provide examples
of codes of cooperation prior to the exercise where teams develop
a code of cooperation. The experience of several instructors is
that students return the examples to the instructor in a relatively
unmodified form without going through the hard work of developing
a code of cooperation for their team and their situation.
It is suggested that teams develop their code as a design exercise,
i.e., creating an object that solves a problem. Ask each team to
develop a consensus list of a small number, e.g., five, behaviors
or practices by their teammates that have been or potentially could
be problems or interfere with the team effort. Requiring them to
pick a small number encourages dialog and helps them determine the
most important potential problems for each group.
Next, ask them to turn these into positive statements, e.g., "Coming
late or missing meeting." becomes "Attend all meetings
and be on time." At this point, the instructor may talk about
codes of cooperation, possibly providing one or two examples of
individual norms, and suggest that the positive statements they
have developed could become the basis for a code of cooperation.
Ask the teams to consider other potentially troublesome behaviors,
generate additional positive statements, and finally agree to adopt
their code as a guide for their team activities.
One challenge is the degree to which students take the task of
establishing a code of cooperation seriously. If the students have
had previous classes that relied extensively on teams, then it is
likely that they will take the task of establishing a useful code
of cooperation seriously. Instructors of first-year students have
often noted that the first iteration of a code of cooperation contains
a number of motherhood-and-apple-pie statements. They sound nice,
but the students don't really expect problems to arise. In situations
like these instructors can help the students by asking them to construct
version 2.0 of the code of cooperation after they have been working
together for a few weeks or as expectations move out of the honeymoon
and into reality. Instructors tend to notice that version 2.0 contains
explicit penalties for failure to meet expectations. For example,
a revised element of the code of cooperation may state that a person's
name will be omitted from the team assignment if the person did
not show up for the meeting and contribute to the assignment. The
instructor must consider maturity and prior team experience in guiding
teams in developing a code of cooperation.
Another factor is the degree to which students take a code of cooperation
seriously is the mechanisms that the instructor has established
to monitor team progress and grade team assignments. If the instructor
awards each member of the team the same grade, then the problem
of "slackers", i.e., where one or team members contribute
little or nothing and attempt to ride on the coattails of the other
members, will be exacerbated. If team members know that instructors
will award different grades to individuals, then their motivation
to develop a useful code of cooperation, e.g., a code in which the
failure of a member to contribute is explicitly addressed, is increased.
One approach to awarding individually differentiated grades for
team assignments is to employ peer assessment. Also, instructors
need to provide explicit permission for teams to attend to recalcitrant
members. For examples, instructors can establish a process through
which a team can "fire" a member or an individual can
"resign" if the situation warrants. Individually differentiated
grades and "firing" policies provide external support
for teams that are concerned about members who fail to contribute.
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4) Under what conditions
will the group internalize the norms?
Following a process similar to the answer for question three appears
to establish the conditions that Johnson and Johnson [1,
p. 266] have identified for internalizing group norms.
- Feel a sense of ownership for the norms. Ownership
is usually established through involvement in establishing the
norms.
- Recognize that the norms exist, see the other
members accepting and following the norms, and feel some commitment
to the norms.
- See the norms as helping accomplish the goals
to which member are committed. It is helpful, therefore, for a
group to clarify how conformity to a norm will help goal accomplishments.
- Enforce the norms on each other immediately after
a violation. Consistent enforcement enhances both understanding
of the norms and commitment to them.
- See appropriate models and examples of conforming
to the norms and have a chance to practice the desired behaviors.
- Perceive that the norms are flexible so that
at any time more appropriate norms can be substituted to increase
group effectiveness.
- Import cultural norms that promote goal accomplishment
and group maintenance and growth into the group.
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