无论是业界还是组织，团队工作是一个关键的商业能力。处于起步阶段的公司基本上都是一些富于激情的人们所组成的小团队，他们往往没有现成的商业经验。对于协调人际关系，以及调整组织以适应新经济条件下出现的不可预测的要求，团队合作既能至关重要。即使是大型的、成熟公司也在围绕课题、生产线、顾客群以及新类型的股东等等进行着团队的重组。新科技和竞争的压力正在打破等级制度；低一级的组织机构承担了更多的责任，活动更为灵活自由。指挥－控制的模式已经让步给网络－谈判模式。

综上所述，史隆管理学院的硕士核心课程包涵重要的团队工作经验。我们从实践经验中获知，只要有像具有实际结果的共同目标这类的事物作用于团队行为，团队就是有意义的。团队专题是组织发展课程（15.311）的一部分，其中，每个与团队事物相关的人、每个影响团队行为的关系，以及每一个冲突都可能是潜在的学习机会。“在现代的组织机构中，我们要象志愿者一样每件事都尽力而为。” 你必须学习与人共事，学习坚持目标与责任，并学习以领导者和组织成员的身份谋求发展。


教学目标

团队专题课程的教学目标是：
（1）提高合作和领导技能
（2）利用组织发展（15.311）及其他核心课程中的概念，从对一个真实公司的变革分析中学习。


课程结构

本课程没有规则的教学时程及每周阅读材料。几乎所有的事情都围绕团队及课题实施定向管理，仅有少数专题有时间限制。你自行设计你的机构，以完成任务，实现个人及团队的目标。每一个团队在一个真实的公司负责分析一件最近的、正在进行的或者即将实施的变革方案，如战略重新定位、机构重组、新技术推介或者工人参与计划。这一方案对于公司而言，必须是重要的，代表一种变革，并具有组织的含意。

你的团队可以在初期调研期间开个会，以就各种核心课程开始开展相关工作。9月工11日组织发展的第二次课上，各组做团队课题介绍。9月26日（周五）团队日，做一个简要的最新的课题报告。尽管团队日主要是为了更好地帮助你理解你的团队，它仍然是开始设立目标和规划团队课题的一个机会。

每个团队配备一名指导教授或顾问，他将是主要的联络人员，并负责评定书面团队报告的成绩等级。Carroll 教授指导约一半的团队，其他的由组织发展课程的讲师或教授指导。我们给团队专题的所有团队一个技术指导（组织发展课的每个环节都有一个独立的技术指导）。要求团队成员至少要与他们的指导教授聚会两次（一次安排在9月底，另一次在11月份，每次约1小时）。每次要求聚会的前一天，队员必须提交一份两页纸的自评报告，汇报专题进展状况以及如何作为一名专题团队成员发挥作用。

学期结束前，团员要在沟通课上以口头汇报的方式展示他们的学习成果（见15.280沟通教学大纲）。展示的对象是公司，而不是组织发展的教授或顾问，在这里公司代表顾客。详见沟通课程安排。12月9日将书面团队报告交给指导教授。这是写给组织发展教授和指导教授看的。


阅读

鉴于本课程与15.311，组织发展课程紧密相关，全部阅读都通过该课程安排。在15.280，经理人沟通课程中也有对团队专题有用的阅读材料。


日程安排

团队专题包括三个阶段：团队进入、数据收集、形成报告。

首先，团队审定，协商进入组织，确定即将展开研究的方案，以及在组织的单元、实作报告方面的专题范围。

团队成员必须围绕团队的专题起草一份描述预期目标的协议书。作业必须在10月9日之前交给课程指导教授。沟通课导师也要有一份，但他们不给成绩。协议书应该包括效果陈述，陈述结果根据在专题结束时公司的联络人员被要求填写的简评表作出，简评表送交指导教授（表格见课程网页）。

在10月9日之前，即9月的最后一周或者是10月第一周，团队要与指导教授开一个通常为30分钟的会议。会前一天，每个组员都必须提交一份两页纸的关于专题进展状况及如何作为一名团队成员发挥作用的自评报告。

10月9日前，每个团队都必须提交一份简要的报告，描述他们所在的组织及正在分析的方案。这份报告也要交给沟通课的教授以供参考，但不给成绩。标准表格见课程网页。

第二，团队从组织中收集数据。典型的包括获取文件，网络和其他公共信息查询，走访组织成员，直接观察会议或组织的其他方面等。

11月要求与指导教授进行第二次团队会议，通常1个小时。这时，团队应该已经收集了大量数据并正在对发现的问题进行思考。这是一个很好的时机与指导教授讨论报告的内容，你还需要的数据以及任何其他问题。会前一天，每个团队要提交一份两页纸的关于专题进展状况及如何作为一个专题团队来发挥作用的自评报告。

第三，团队分析其观察情况，并准备沟通课上的口头报告，以及要交给指导教授的书面报告。

12月2日那周，团队要在沟通课（15.280）上完成口头汇报。这些口头汇报将把公司作为受众，这对将来向公司做实际的口头反馈报告而言，是一次很好的锻炼机会。沟通课教授会评定口头报告的成绩，作为沟通课程的一部分。如有可能，团队专题指导教授也会来听报告，但是由于组织发展课被沟通课分为很多小组，教授不可能到场听取全部的报告。

12月9日之前，团队向指导教授提交一份书面报告。由团队专题课程指导教授评定成绩。

通常须对组织呈交一个实作报告，如书面报告或口头报告。这可以与组织商谈，但是教授和沟通指导教授可以帮助建立一个现实、有用的成果。记住，公司联系人员在专题结束时，要交回给指导教授一份评价表。这份表必须在12月17日返回。如果与公司有进一步的交往，如1月份进行追加报告或汇报，公司联络人员愿意的话，往往就会送一份最新的评价表。

成绩评定

团队专题作为组织发展课程的一部分评定成绩。组织发展课的6个学分及团队专题课的3个学分分别作为9个学分的独立课程，两个成绩“锁”在一起。团队专题的书面报告成绩（仅指内容）占组织发展（15.311）和团队专题 (15.328)总成绩的50%。同一团队成员书面团队专题的成绩相同，而组织发展作业将根据每个人的情况给出不同的个人成绩。


支持

团队专题的安排相对无组织，这对于一些团队是挑战。然而，有许多寻求帮助的途径：

1. 团队专题授课教授
2. 团队专题助教
3. 组织发展课教授或助教
4. 交流课教授或助教
5. 群组课教授
6. 硕士班办公室
7. 生涯规划办（有时可以帮助寻找组织）
8. 已经通过了团队专题课的二年级的学生（Pilots等）
9. 团队专题的课程网页，上面有常见问题集等
10. 团队专题手册
11. 万一团队成员或团队之间发生冲突，找麻省理工学院调解办公室

Teamwork is a critical business competency, regardless of industry or organization. Start-up companies are basically small teams of highly motivated people, often with little prior business experience. Team skills are essential to coordinate individuals and adapt the organization to the unpredictable demands of the new economy. Even huge established companies are restructuring into teams around projects, product lines, customers, new kinds of partnerships, etc. New technologies and competitive pressures are breaking up hierarchies; lower levels of the organization have more responsibility, act more flexibly. Command-and-control has given way to network-and-negotiate.

For all the above reasons and many more, the Sloan Master's Core contains significant team experiences. We know from practical experience that teams are meaningful only if there is something riding on the team performance, such as a common goal with real consequences. In the Team Project, which is part of the Organizational Processes course (15.311), everyone on the team matters, every relationship influences the team performance, and every conflict is a potential learning opportunity. "In the modern organization we manage as if everyone is a volunteer." You have to learn to work together, to maintain purpose and commitment, and to develop as team members and leaders.


Goals

The Team Project has the goals of
(1) developing teamwork and leadership skills and
(2) learning from the analysis of a change initiative in a real-world company using concepts from 15.311 Organizational Processes (OP) and other Core courses.


Structure

The Team Project has no regular class schedule or weekly readings. Almost everything is oriented around your team and your project, with only a few deadlines. You design your own structure for accomplishing the task and meeting your personal and team goals. Each team is responsible for analyzing a recent, ongoing, or anticipated initiative at a real company. Examples might be a strategic reorientation, organizational restructuring, introduction of a new technology, or worker participation program. The initiative should be important to the company, represent a change, and have organizational implications.

Your team will have met during Orientation and begun to work on various Core courses. The Team Project is introduced in the second OP class on September 11. A brief update report is required during Team Day, September 26 (Friday). Although Team Day is primarily about helping you understand your own team better, it is also an opportunity to begin setting goals and planning the Team Project.

Each team has a faculty advisor/coach who will be the main contact person for the teams and responsible for grading the written team reports. Prof. Carroll is the advisor for about one-half of the teams; the OP instructors and other OP faculty act as advisors for the other teams. We have a TA for all the teams regarding the Team Projects (there are separate OP TAs for each section). Teams are required to meet at least twice with their faculty advisor (for approximately one hour in late September/early October and again in November), but they may request additional meetings. One day prior to each of these required meetings, the teams must send to their faculty advisor a 2-page team self-reflection reporting on how the project is going and how the team is functioning as a project team.

Teams will present what they have learned in an oral presentation in their Communication section near the end of the semester (see Communication syllabus in 15.280). These presentations will be aimed at the company as audience, not the OP professor or faculty advisor. See the Communication assignment for further detail. The written team report is due to the advisor on December 9. It is aimed at the OP professor and faculty advisor as audience.


Readings

Since the class is closely related to 15.311, Organizational Processes, all readings are assigned through that course. In 15.280, Communication for Managers, there are readings that may also be of use in the Team Project.


Schedule

The Team Project consists of three phases: entry, data collection, and report.

First, teams identify and negotiate entry to an organization and determine the initiative they will study and the scope of their project in terms of the unit(s) of the organization, deliverables, etc.

Teams must draft a Letter of Agreement to the organization describing the expectations around the Team Project. The assignment is due Oct. 9 and must be sent to the Team Project faculty advisor. The Communication faculty will also receive a copy, but they will not grade it. The Letter of Agreement should include a statement to the effect that the company liaison will be asked to fill out a brief evaluation form at the end of the project to be sent to the Faculty Advisor (the form is on the class server).

The teams must have a meeting (usually 30 minutes) with the Team Project faculty advisor by October 9. This means the last week of September, or first week of October. One day prior to this meeting, each team must submit a 2-page team self-reflection reporting on how the project is going and how the team is functioning as a project team.

Each team must submit a brief statement by October 9 describing the organization they are working with and the initiative they will be analyzing. This statement should also be given to the Communication faculty, for their reference but not for a grade. A standard form for this statement is on the class server.

Second, teams collect data from the organization. This typically involves obtaining documents, searching the internet and other public information, interviewing organization members, directly observing meetings or other aspects of the organization, etc.

There is a required second team meeting (usually one hour) with the Team Project faculty advisor in November. At this point, the teams should have collected much of their data and be thinking about what they have found. It is a good moment to discuss with the advisor what the report should contain, what additional data you may need, and any other questions. One day prior to this meeting, each team must submit a 2-page team self-reflection reporting on how the project is going and how the team is functioning as a project team.

Third, teams analyze their observations and prepare their oral presentation for Communication and their written report for the faculty advisor.

During the week of December 2, the teams present an oral report in the Communication course (15.280). These presentations will be aimed at the company as audience, and will be a good opportunity for the team to practice for an actual oral report-back to the company. The Communication faculty will grade the presentations as part of the Communication course. When possible, the Team Project faculty advisor will also listen to the reports, but because the OP sections are divided into smaller groups for the Communication course, it will not be physically possible for the advisors to hear all reports.

The teams present a written report aimed at the faculty advisor, due December 9. The Team Project faculty advisor grades the report.

There is usually a deliverable to the organization, such as a written report or oral presentation. This is negotiated with the organization, but the advisor and the Communication faculty can help create a practical and useful product. Remember, the company liaison will be asked to return an evaluation form to the Faculty Advisor at the end of the project. This must be returned by December 17. If there is further contact with the company, such as an additional report or presentation in January, the company liaison can always send an updated evaluation form if they wish.

Grading

The Team Project is graded as part of the OP course. The 6 units of OP and 3 units of Team Project are treated as a single 9-unit course, with the two grades "locked" together. The grade on the written team project report (content only) counts as 50% of the grade for both OP (15.311) and Team Project (15.328). Team members receive the same team grade for the written team project report but receive individual grades for the OP assignments.


Support

The Team Project is a relatively unstructured assignment that is challenging for some teams. However, there are many sources of help:

1. The Team Project faculty advisor
2. The Team Project TA
3. The OP faculty and TAs
4. The Communication faculty and TAs
5. The Cohort advisors
6. The Master's office
7. The Career Development Office (which sometimes helps find organizations)
8. Second year students (Pilots, etc.) who have been through the Team Project
9. The Team Project website on the class server (15.328) which has FAQs, etc.
10. The Team Project handbook
11. In case of conflict within teams or outside the team, the MIT Ombuds Office