Team Projects

Team projects in the workplace can have many different goals or objectives, but to reach these goals people must collaborate effectively.

One type of team project is collaborative writing which is working with other people on a team to produce a single document. As with any project achieving the goal may be stressful but at the end it will be rewarding.
Some reasons for collaborative writing
1. The project requires expertise or specialization in more than one subject area.
2. The project will benefit from merging different perspectives into a unified perspective.
3. The size of the project, time constraints, or the importance of the project to your organization requires a team effort.
Examples of projects may be sales proposals, formal reports, and technical specifications.
For the team to work effectively they must all work together in
-Planning the document
-Researching the subject and writing the draft
-Reviewing the drafts of other team members
-Revising the draft on the basis of comments from all team members
As with any group exercise there will be disagreements, the group must be able to handle conflict well and be able to move on with it to finish the project.
Some examples on how to handle conflict
-Avoid taking a win-or-lose stand, meaning one person will win and someone else will lose.
-Avoid accusations, threats, or disparaging comments, express desire to want to work together in a friendly yet effective manner.
-Use facts to support your ideas or position.
- Use bargaining strategies to comprise.

Other forms of Team Projects which may not consist of collaborative writing have the same general principles on how to accomplish goals but may go about different tasks.
A project team can be a group of people from the same functional organization or from many different organizations. It is recommended to use a cross-functional approach, which consists of people from many different organizations.
The most important tasks that a project team has are
• Understanding the work to be completed

• Planning out the assigned activities in more detail if needed

• Completing assigned work within the budget, timeline and quality expectations

• Informing the project manager of issues, scope changes, risk and quality concerns

• Proactively communicating status and managing expectations

With any type of Team Project there is a project manager, or leader which will produce the final product and make sure that the team is organizing the project well and that it stays on task. The team leader cannot complete the project on his/her own each person within the group must understand his/her job and be able to complete it in an effective time and to the best of his/her ability so that the final result is very good.
Works Cited
Visitask. About Us: Project Management. 2004-2009. 23 March 2009 http://www.visitask.com/project-teamwork.asp.
Walter Oliu, Charles Brusaw, Gerald Alred. Writing That Works. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007.