Our project is about effective teamwork. We are a group of three: Turki Alshammari, Bander Alqahtani, and Yazed. Turki: is the team leader; he is the organizer for team’s activates. He is the one who arrange the time and place to meet and work. He keeps track of the deadline for submission and he make sure that the team we follow the instructions correctly. He helped our group in brainstorming and develop our team theoretical model. Bander: has a great contribution to our project and he has many ideas. He is a critical thinker and has creative way to do things. He likes to learn new things and he is very good with technology which help us when creating the website. He knows how to solve problems especially technical problems which was a great contribution to the group. Yazed:  has a great vision and he was very motivated to complete the project. He has a great spirit, which kept our group motivated to finish the task. He contributed to the team project and was willing to review and give feedback to others. THE THEORETICAL MODEL WE ARE PROPOSING FOR WHAT MAKE EFFECTIVE TEAM IS CONSTITUTES OF FIVE MAIN STEMS, WHICH ARE PLANNING, COMMUNICATION, HARMONY, DIVERSITY, AND INVOLVEMENT. WE AS A TEAM AGREED THAT THESE FIVE STEMS ARE THE KEYS FOR TEAMS TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE AND ACCOMPLISH TASKS AND ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS. PLANNING AND ORGANIZING IS THE FIRST KEY FOR ANY TEAMWORK TO BE EFFECTIVE. WITHOUT CLEAR PLANNING ANY TEAM COULD FAIL. IN FACT, WITHOUT CLEAR AND EARLIER PLANNING, ALL OTHER STRATEGIES AND COMPONENTS OF EFFECTIVE TEAM CAN FAIL. PLANNING SHOULD BE THE FIRST STEP IN ANY TEAM WORK AS IT SET THE MAP AND THE FRAMEWORK FOR OTHER EFFECTIVE TEAM COMPONENTS. PLANNING PROVIDE A GOOD STRATEGY TO MANAGE TIME AND PEOPLE EFFORTS. IT CAN BE MORE EFFECTIVE TO HAVE WRITTEN PLAN WITH TIMELINE AND ASSIGNED ROLE AND TASK. WRITTEN AND CLEAR PLAN CAN HELP EVERY TEAM MEMBER TO GO BACK TO THE PRE-PREPARED PLAN; THIS PLAN CAN STAY AS A DOCUMENT FOR EVERY MEMBER IN THE TEAM. PLANNING INVOLVE ASSIGN ROLES TO EVERY MEMBER IN THE TEAM SO EACH ONE KNOWS HIS OR HER ROLE. ROLE ASSIGNMENT PREVENTS CONFUSION AMONG TEAM MEMBERS. ALSO, PLANNING INVOLVE CREATING TIMELINE FOR DUE DATES FOR EACH TASK. CREATING TIMELINE HELP MEMBERS OF THE TEAM TO TRACK THE TIME AND ACHIEVE THEIR GOAL IN TIMELY MANNER. GOAL NOT VERY IMPORTANT TO BE VERY CONCERT SUCH AS SUBMIT THE WORK ON TIME OR MAKE THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY AT THAT TIME. INSTEAD TEAM MAY WANT TO MAKE THE GOAL BROAD AND ACHIEVABLE AT THE SAME TIME. IT WAS MENTIONED IN THE “HOW GREAT COMPANIES THINK DIFFERENTLY” WRITTEN BY  ROSABETH MOSS KANTER (2011) THAT ARTICULATING A PURPOSE BROADER THAN A SPECIFIC PURPOSE SUCH AS MAKING MONEY CAN OPEN NEW SOURCES FOR INNOVATION AND MAKE MEMBERS OF THE TEAM WORK IN VERY CREATIVE WAYS. FOR EXAMPLE THE GOAL SHOULD NOT BE COMPLETE THE WORK. INSTEAD, IT SHOULD BE ENJOYING THE WORK WITH THE HIGH SPIRIT TEAM TO PROVIDE HIGH QUALITY OUTCOME. TASKS IS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENTS WHEN START P.

1. Our project is about effective teamwork. We are a group of
three: Turki Alshammari, Bander Alqahtani, and Yazed.
Turki: is the team leader; he is the organizer for team’s
activates. He is the one who arrange the time and place to meet
and work. He keeps track of the deadline for submission and he
make sure that the team we follow the instructions correctly. He
helped our group in brainstorming and develop our team
theoretical model.
Bander: has a great contribution to our project and he has many
ideas. He is a critical thinker and has creative way to do things.
He likes to learn new things and he is very good with
technology which help us when creating the website. He knows
how to solve problems especially technical problems which was
a great contribution to the group.
Yazed: has a great vision and he was very motivated to
complete the project. He has a great spirit, which kept our group
motivated to finish the task. He contributed to the team project
and was willing to review and give feedback to others.

2. THE THEORETICAL MODEL WE ARE PROPOSING FOR
WHAT MAKE EFFECTIVE TEAM IS CONSTITUTES OF FIVE
MAIN STEMS, WHICH ARE PLANNING,
COMMUNICATION, HARMONY, DIVERSITY, AND
INVOLVEMENT. WE AS A TEAM AGREED THAT THESE
FIVE STEMS ARE THE KEYS FOR TEAMS TO BE MORE
EFFECTIVE AND ACCOMPLISH TASKS AND ACHIEVE
THEIR GOALS. PLANNING AND ORGANIZING IS THE
FIRST KEY FOR ANY TEAMWORK TO BE EFFECTIVE.
WITHOUT CLEAR PLANNING ANY TEAM COULD FAIL. IN
FACT, WITHOUT CLEAR AND EARLIER PLANNING, ALL
OTHER STRATEGIES AND COMPONENTS OF EFFECTIVE
TEAM CAN FAIL. PLANNING SHOULD BE THE FIRST STEP
IN ANY TEAM WORK AS IT SET THE MAP AND THE
FRAMEWORK FOR OTHER EFFECTIVE TEAM
COMPONENTS. PLANNING PROVIDE A GOOD STRATEGY
TO MANAGE TIME AND PEOPLE EFFORTS. IT CAN BE
MORE EFFECTIVE TO HAVE WRITTEN PLAN WITH
TIMELINE AND ASSIGNED ROLE AND TASK. WRITTEN
AND CLEAR PLAN CAN HELP EVERY TEAM MEMBER TO
GO BACK TO THE PRE-PREPARED PLAN; THIS PLAN CAN
STAY AS A DOCUMENT FOR EVERY MEMBER IN THE
TEAM. PLANNING INVOLVE ASSIGN ROLES TO EVERY
MEMBER IN THE TEAM SO EACH ONE KNOWS HIS OR
HER ROLE. ROLE ASSIGNMENT PREVENTS CONFUSION
AMONG TEAM MEMBERS. ALSO, PLANNING INVOLVE
CREATING TIMELINE FOR DUE DATES FOR EACH TASK.
CREATING TIMELINE HELP MEMBERS OF THE TEAM TO
TRACK THE TIME AND ACHIEVE THEIR GOAL IN TIMELY
MANNER. GOAL NOT VERY IMPORTANT TO BE VERY
CONCERT SUCH AS SUBMIT THE WORK ON TIME OR
MAKE THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY AT THAT TIME.
INSTEAD TEAM MAY WANT TO MAKE THE GOAL BROAD

3. AND ACHIEVABLE AT THE SAME TIME. IT WAS
MENTIONED IN THE “HOW GREAT COMPANIES THINK
DIFFERENTLY” WRITTEN BY ROSABETH MOSS KANTER
(2011) THAT ARTICULATING A PURPOSE BROADER THAN
A SPECIFIC PURPOSE SUCH AS MAKING MONEY CAN
OPEN NEW SOURCES FOR INNOVATION AND MAKE
MEMBERS OF THE TEAM WORK IN VERY CREATIVE
WAYS. FOR EXAMPLE THE GOAL SHOULD NOT BE
COMPLETE THE WORK. INSTEAD, IT SHOULD BE
ENJOYING THE WORK WITH THE HIGH SPIRIT TEAM TO
PROVIDE HIGH QUALITY OUTCOME. TASKS IS AN
IMPORTANT ELEMENTS WHEN START PLANNING IN ANY
TEAM TO MAKE THE TEAMWORK MORE EFFECTIVE.
ASSIGNED TASKS AND PART OF THE WORK TO EACH
MEMBER CAN PREVENT WASTING TIME AND ENERGY
ON DOING REPEATED WORK THAT WAS ALREADY DONE
BY OTHER TEAM MEMBERS. FURTHERMORE, ASSIGNED
TASK TO TEAM MEMBERS CAN HELP IN MAKING SURE
THAT EVERYONE PARTICIPATES IN THE WORK AND HAS
CONTRIBUTION. TEAM MEMBERS NEED TO WORK
TOGETHER IN TRYING TO CONTRIBUTE EQUALLY TO
THE ASSIGNED WORK. ALTHOUGH ALL GROUP
MEMBERS CAN PARTICIPATE IN THE PLANNING PHASE
BUT SOMETIME IT CAN BE DONE BY THE TEAM LEADER
ESPECIALLY IF THE TEAM INCLUDE A TASK ORIENTED
LEADER. ACCORDING TO THE ARTICLE WRITTEN BY
LYNDA GRATTON, ANDREAS VOIGT AND TAMARA
ERICKSON (2007) “BRIDGING FAULTLINES IN DIVERSE
TEAMS” THE LEADER WHO IS TASK ORIENTED PAYS
MORE ATTENTION TO THE TASK AND HOW IT WILL BE
ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY. THE ASSIGNED
LEADER OR GROUP MEMBERS NEED TO START THEIR
PROJECT BY CREATING A DETAILED PROJECT PLAN,
BUILDING TIMETABLE FOR THE WORK AND
HIGHLIGHTING GOALS. AS MENTIONED ON THE
ARTICLE “MANAGING COLLABORATION: IMPROVING

4. TEAM EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH A NETWORK
PERSPECTIVE” WRITTEN BY ROB CROSS, KATE
EHRLICH, ROSS DAWSON, AND JOHN HELFERICH IN 2008
THAT “PERFORMANCE RESULTS WHEN THE RIGHT
EXPERTISE IS ON A TEAM WITH STRONG LEADERSHIP
AND WELL-DEFINED PROCESS AND CONTENT ROLES”
(P. 76). THEREFORE PLANNING AND ASSIGNED ROLES
AND TASKS TO MEMBERS IN THE TEAM IS A KEY
ELEMENT TO MAKE THE TEAM MORE EFFECTIVE AND
SUFFICIENT. AS MENTIONED IN CHAPTER 12 IN OUR
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR TEXT BOOK THAT
PLANNING AND GOAL SETTING IS VERY HELPFUL IN
ESTABLISHING THE MOST CHALLENGING AND
DIFFICULT GOALS FOR THE TEAM. THE NEXT STEAM
ELEMENT THAT MAKES TEAMS EFFECTIVE IS CLEAR
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE MEMBERS. IT IS
IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANY TEAM THAT INVOLVE DIFFERENT
PEOPLE TO COMPLETE THEIR PROJECT WITHOUT
COMMUNICATING WITH EACH OTHER.
COMMUNICATION IN ANY FORMS IS A MUST ELEMENT
IN ANY TEAM WORK. ACCORDING TO ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOR TEXT BOOK (CHAPTER 12, P. 413)
COMMUNICATION IS A PROCESS THROUGH WHICH
MOST OF THE WORK IN A TEAM IS ACCOMPLISHED.
ACCORDING TO THE ARTICLE “THE NEW SCIENCE OF
BUILDING NEW TEAM” COMMUNICATION COMES IN
MANY FORMS AND THE MOST VALUABLE FORM OF
COMMUNICATION IS FACE-TO-FACE AND THE NEXT
MOST VALUABLE IS BY PHONE OR VIDEO CONFERENCE.
THEREFORE, TEAM MEMBERS NEED TO COMMUNICATE
WITH EACH OTHER TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERYTHING
IS CLEAR. FACE TO FACE COMMUNICATION COULD
OCCUR IN MEETINGS AND OPEN DISCUSSION. ALSO,
PROVIDING FEEDBACK IS VERY IMPORTANT AND
CONSIDERED AS WAY OF COMMUNICATION. GIVING
FEEDBACK SHOULD BE IN PRODUCTIVE MANNER AND

5. SHOULD PROVIDE ENCOURAGEMENT AND
EMPOWERMENT FOR OTHER TO HELP THEM WORK
HARDER AND WORK BEYOND THEIR POTENTIALS.
ACCORDING TO THE ARTICLE “HOW GREAT COMPANIES
THINK DIFFERENTLY” WRITTEN BY AUTHORROSABETH
MOSS KANTER IN 2011 THAT CEOS NEED TO EXPAND
THEIR INVESTMENTS IN OTHERS TO FOCUS MORE ON
MEMBERS OR FOLLOERS’ EMPOWERMENT, EMOTIONAL
ENGAGEMENT, VALUES BASED MANAGEMENT AND
FEEDBACK. RECEIVING FEEDBACK IS AN IMPORTANT
ELEMENT OF COMMUNICATION. AS IT WAS MENTIONED
IN CHAPTER 12 IN OUR ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
TEXT BOOK THAT PEOPLE NEED TO MASTER THE SKILL
OF USING ACTIVE LISTENING TECHNIQUE AND LISTEN
O OTHERS WITHOUT PREMATURE EVALUATION (P. 411).
OVER COMMUNICATION IS VERY IMPORTANT ELEMENT
IN ANY TEAM TO MAKE IT EFFECTIVE. BOTH VIEW
ABOUT COMMUNICATION: TRADITIONAL AND
NETWORK VIEWS CONSIDERED COMMUNICATION AS A
KEY ELEMENTS. ACCORDING TO THE “MANAGING
COLLABORATION: IMPROVING TEAM EFFECTIVENESS
THROUGH A NETWORK PERSPECTIVE” ARTICLE
WRITTEN BY ROB CROSS, KATE EHRLICH, ROSS
DAWSON, AND JOHN HELFERICH (2008) THAT
COMMUNICATION ON TRADITIONAL VIEW FOCUS ON
JOINT COMMITMENT TO GOALS, BENEVOLENCE BASED
TRUST AND GROUP PROCESS AND HARMONY, WHILE
THE COMMUNICATION ON NETWORK VIEW IS
INFORMATION FOCUS ON AWARENESS OF EXPERTISE,
TIMELY ACCESSIBILITY, COMPETENCE-BASED TRUST,
AND EXECUTION OF COMMITMENTS MADE TO
TEAMMATES.DIVERSITY IS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT
TO MAKE TEAMS MORE EFFECTIVE. DIVERSITY IS NOT
ONLY IN NATIONALITIES AND ETHNIC GROUPS, BUT
ALSO IN BACKGROUNDS. AS MENTIONED ON THE
ARTICLE WRITTEN BY LISA J. DANIEL AND CHARLES R.

6. DAVIS “ WHAT MAKES HIGH-PERFORMANCE TEAMS
EXCEL?” THAT EACH MEMBER OF A HIGH
PERFORMANCE TEAM OWN HIS OR HER UNIQUE
KNOWLEDGE THAT CONTRIBUTES. TEAMS MEMBERS
WITH DIVERSE SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
CAN CONTRIBUTE GREATER THAN MEMBERS WITH THE
SAME SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, AND EXPERIENCE. AS THE
EXAMPLE MENTIONED IN THE ARTICLE “WHAT MAKES
HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAMS EXCEL” THE DIVERSE
PEOPLE CHARACTERIZED THAT HPRDTS WITH HIGHLY
TRAINED TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC EXPERTS FROM
DIVERSE SOURCES TO WORK COLLECTIVELY AND
SIMULTANEOUSLY. THAT IS A KEY FACTOR IN ANY
TEAM SUCCESS. HARMONY SHOULD BE PRESENT IN
ANY TEAM IN ORDER TO BE EFFECTIVE. TEAM
MEMBERS SHOULD FIGHT TOGETHER NOT FIGHTS
AGAINST EACH OTHER. TENSION, CONFLICTS, AND
PRESSURE BETWEEN TEAM MEMBERS CREATE
UNHEALTHY ATMOSPHERE WHERE NOT ONE CAN BE
PRODUCTIVE AND CREATIVE. ADDITIONALLY, THIS
CONFLICT AND UNHEALTHY WORK ENVIRONMENT
COULD HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE OUTCOME
OF THE TEAM WORK AND ABSOLUTELY THAT WILL
MAKE THE TEAM INEFFECTIVE. WE AS A GROUP
AGREED THAT HARMONY IN ANY GROUP IS THE
ABILITY TO WORK TOGETHER AND HAVE THE
ACCEPTANCE, RESPECT, AND TRUST FOR EACH
MEMBER IN THE TEAM. WITHOUT THESE ELEMENTS IT
WILL BE VERY HARD FOR THE TEAM TO WORK
TOGETHER AND TO BE PRODUCTIVE AND EFFECTIVE.
EACH MEMBER DESERVES TO BE ACCEPTED AS HE / SHE
IS, WITH HIS OR HER DIFFERENCES. ALSO, EACH
MEMBER NEED TO TRUSTED THAT HE OR SHE WILL DO
THE WORK AND HIS ABILITY TO COMPLETE THE WORK
IS VALUED. RESPECT IS AN ESSENTIAL PELEMENT THAT
OVERLAPS WITH EACH STEMS ELEMENTS IN OUR

7. THEORETICAL MODEL. FOR EXAMPLE, RESPECT
SHOULD BE APPEARING ON OUR COMMUNICATION AND
IT SHOULD APPEAR TOWARD DIVERSITY, IN GIVING
FEEDBACK, AND IN RECEIVING FEEDBACK FROM
OTHER TEAM MEMBERS. ACCORDING TO THE
“BRIDGING FAULTLINES IN DIVERSE TEAMS” ARTICLE
IT IS IMPORTANT TO PAY ATTENTION TO
RELATIONSHIPS AMONG TEAM MEMBERS. THERE IS A
TYPE OF LEADERS WHO ARE RELATIONSHIP
ORIENTATED. THIS TYPE OF LEADER PLACES A GREAT
EMPHASIS ON THE CULTURE OF THE TEAM AND ON THE
EXTENT AND DEPTH OF RELATIONSHIPS AMONG TEAM
MEMBERS. THEY USUALLY TREAT TEAM MEMBERS
WITH KINDNESS AND RESPECT. THEY BY DOING THAT
CREATE AN ATMOSPHERE OF TRUST AND
COOPERATION AND PROVIDING ENGORGEMENT. THIS
STATEMENT IS STRONGLY SUPPORTED BY THE ARTICLE
“HOW GREAT COMPANIES THINK DIFFERENTLY”
WRITTEN BY ROSABETH MOSS KANTER (2011) THAT
“TRUSTING PEOPLE TO MAKE CHOICES ABOUT WHERE,
WHEN, AND WITH WHOM THEY SHOULD WORK MAKES
JOBS MORE ENGAGING”. LACK OF HARMONY IN TEAMS
COULD LEAD TO CONFLICT. THIS CONFLICT WAS
CALLED RELATIONSHIP CONFLICT IN CHAPTER 12 IN
OUR ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR TEXT BOOK. WE AS
A GROUP AGREED THAT CONFLICT COULD HAPPENED
EVEN THOUGH THERE IS AN ESTABLISHED HARMONY
AMONG TEAM MEMBERS REGARDING ANY STEP OF THE
PROJECT AND AS A RESULT OF GROUP DIVERSITY.
HOWEVER, WE THINK THAT CONFLICT IS NOT ALWAYS
A NEGATIVE THING BETWEEN TEAM MEMBERS.
CONFLICT AND DISAGREEMENT CAN BE TURNED INTO
CREATIVE BRAINSTORMING AND CREATIVE WAYS OF
DOING THINGS IN A WAY THAT EVERY MEMBER IN THE
TEAM IS SATISFIED. ACCORDING TO CHAPTER 12 IN
OUR ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR TEXT BOOK THAT

8. “FOR TASK CONFLICT TO BE PRODUCTIVE, TEAM
MEMBERS MUST FEEL FREE TO EXPRESS THEIR OPINION
AND KNOW HOW MANAGE CONFLICT EFFECTIVELY
(P.400). THE LAST STEM ELEMENT IN OUR THEORETICAL
MODEL OF EFFECTIVE TEAM IS THE INVOLVEMENT
ELEMENT, WHICH IS VERY ESSENTIAL, AND THE BASIC
OF A WORK TEAM. WITHOUT INVOLVEMENT AND
PARTICIPATION IT WOULD NOT BE TEAMWORK, IT WILL
BE AN INDIVIDUAL WORK. EACH TEAM MEMBER
SHOULD BE ACTIVE AND ADD CONTRIBUTION TO THE
GROUP WORK. IT IS UNETHICAL AND NOT APPROPRIATE
TO BE A MEMBER IN A TEAM AND DO NOT CONTRIBUTE
AND HAVE INPUT; IT IS AGAINST THE PURPOSE OF THE
TEAM. ALTHOUGH THERE SHOULD BE A WRITTEN PLAN
BUT THE INVOLVEMENT AND BEING ACTIVE AND
ENTHUSIASTIC SHOULD COME FROM TEAM MEMBERS.
EXCITEMENT AND ENTHUSIASM CANNOT BE IN PLAN
BUT IT IS VERY ESSENTIAL IN SUCCESS OF ANY TEAM
WORK. WE AS A GROUP BELIEVES THAT TEAM
MEMBERS’ ENTHUSIASM ABOUT THEIR PROJECT CAN
MAKE A GREAT DIFFERENT AND CAN MAKE PEOPLE
WORK MORE AND HARDER. IN FACT, TEAM MEMBERS’
ENTHUSIASM CAN MAKE THEM WORK BEYOND THEIR
POTENTIALS WHICH CAN INCREASE THE QUALITY OF
THE TEAM WORK FINAL RESULT OR OUTCOME.
OVERALL, OUR THEORETICAL MODEL WE ARE
PROPOSING FOR WHAT MAKE EFFECTIVE TEAM IS
CONSTITUTES OF FIVE MAIN STEMS THAT WE THINK
ARE VERY IMPORTANT IN MAKING AN Y TEAM
EFFECTIVE. THESE FIVE MAIN COMPONENTS ARE
PLANNING, COMMUNICATION, HARMONY, DIVERSITY,
AND INVOLVEMENT. REFERENCESKANTER, R. (2011).
HOW GREAT COMPANIES THINK DIFFERENTLY.
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW.LYNDA G, ANDREAS, AND
TAMARA E. (2007).BRIDGING FAULTINESS IN DIVERSE
TEAMS. MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW. 48(4).

9. LISA,J., AND CHARLES R. (2009). WHAT MAKES HIGH-
PERFORMANCE TEAMS EXCEL?. RESEARCH
TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT. ROB, C., KATE, E., ROSS,
D., AND JOHN, H.(2008).MANAGING COLLABORATION:
IMPROVING TEAM EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH A
NETWORK PERSPECTIVE. CALIFORNIA MANAGEMENT
REVIEW, 50(4).
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Application Case 1
Hi, this is Majed and I am going to share my own personal
application of using “effective teamwork” theoretical model. In
this way, I can discuss how to use the “Effective Teamwork”
theoretical model in real situation. “Effective Teamwork”
theoretical model is about working and cooperating with
different types of people. Sometimes, we will be assigned to
group automatically by our leader or teachers without any
control of the types of groupmates we are going to have. In that
situation, how can I cooperate with my team members
effectively? It is normal that people do not fully trust each other
at the beginning once a new group is fored. How can I make
myself trustworthy? And, team members have different skills
and abilities. How can I work smoothly and effectively with my
team member? These three questions are the top questions when
the new group is build up. In this case, I will discuss what I
would do in order to react to the above situations.
I have participated in several Summer Camps in China. In the
Summer Camp in China, I was assigned to different groups with
different people to play games against another group. I have
been in a lot of situations of team building. In my experience,
people in the group would not trust each other at first. They will
protect themselves by not sharing their information or ideas.

10. However, this will eventually change once the group members
get to know each other and start to build trust. Trust is the
beginning of everything. To build up trust is the difficult part
and important part for a group. You have to make the
foundation for your group. Trust is a good foundation. Now, we
all know trust is important, but how do we build up trust in a
new team? There are three elements that effect trust:
communication, commitment and ability. When the group
members communicate with each other, the relationship is
strengthened between each member. When that happens, each
member will start to trust one another by knowing each one
better. Also, if one member commits to do a work and fulfils it,
the trust is also develop towards that member. Aside from that,
knowing the ability of that person also builds trust since the
team knows what that member is capable of doing.
In my experience in that summer camp, when our team was
formed, it was hard to give trust at first because we were not
sure if whom to trust and if we really should trust each other.
There I learned that trust will not come in an instant but it
should be built. To solve our problem having a lack of trust
with each other, we had several meetings where we shared
stories and information about each other. During those
meetings, we were able to communicate. That communication
really helped a lot in gaining and building trusts with each
other. Since I have known my team members better than the day
we were first formed as a team and they have known me better
as well, we became more comfortable in working with each
other and helping each other achieve our goals. When we saw
that everyone was willing to participate and do their part in
being a member of the team, our group became more solid and
the trust was more strengthened.
However, building trust for the first time was easy. But building
it for the second time after a team member did something to
lose our trust to him was way different. It was hard to regain a

11. trust that was lost. However, we knew that we should work as a
team and we should be unified. Although out trust with that
member diminished, we worked things out and we still gave him
another chance. When we saw from our activities that he had
changed and that he was willing to do his part better than
before, eventually our trust was built again. The team became
one again and we enjoyed each other’s company better than
before since we knew that we had been in a tough situation
where trust was an issue, but afterwards, we managed to start
again and build a strong team again.
Application Case 2
Hi, this is Abdulah and I am going to share my own personal
application of using “effective teamwork” theoretical model
with a group in one of my communication classes at UWM. The
professor assigned us to different groups with one group having
four to six members. After everyone was assigned to different
groups, each group had to choose a team leader. But before
choosing our team leader, we had to introduce ourselves to each
other first. Somebody volunteered to be the group leader so we
just agreed since she was willing to be the leader. We mostly
just talked through email and discussion board but we had no
problem with it during the introduction phase. After we start
communicating and share personal information, we then shared
our ideas about the proposal we are going to make. We all
looked at the guidelines and divided the parts in each member.
For some parts with many pages, two or three members divided
the task. Since each of us picked our parts, we felt that all
members were committed and will participate actively to show
their involvement in the group project.
However, as days went by, there were two members who would
only talk and leave a message in the group discussion board but
not really contribute something to the group project. One of

12. them is the leader herself. She volunteered to pass the progress
report that week but 20 minutes before the deadline, it was not
yet uploaded in the DropBox. The rest of the group was worried
so I just initiated in doing the progress report quickly that time
and passed it before the deadline. Later on, the leader
apologized because she became unexpectedly busy. We just
forgave her knowing that conflict in the group will not help us
finish our proposal fast. However, after that incident, we raised
our concerns about the contribution of other members. We want
everyone to share equal work and we want everyone to be
involved. We became eager to make sure that each team member
would have involvement in the team. To do that, we knew that
we had to make all members active in participating and giving
their input and ideas about the activities we do as a team. It was
a big challenge to make everyone active especially when they
were busy or perhaps not interested in doing a lot of work.
However, we knew we had something so we had a meeting
about it.
In our meeting, we had an open forum where everyone voiced
out all their concerns about team members not participating and
the possible reasons why they do not want to actively
participate. At first, most members do not want to voice out
their concerns, but when another team member started to make
them realize the reason why we were there and the reason why
we were in a team, and after sharing her thoughts about the
issues we are having as a team and how we wanted to make the
team effective as much as possible, other team members began
to share their own feelings as well. There, we found out that our
team member who was not actively participating was actually
working 12 hours a day and that she was working her way to
earning her college degree at UWM. We realized that we just
had to understand the situation since we were not in the same
situation she was in.
From that experience, we learned the importance of involvement

13. in tasks to have an effective team. But to arrive in that
situation, we had to understand each other and know the needs
of one another. Whoever needs help should be helped and if
ever someone is going behind, the team should help in order to
raise that person so we will all be on the same ground. This just
means that if one member does not want to actively participate,
this means that he or she might need some help or having some
problems that the group members are not aware about. In this
case, like what we have in our team, it is important to have an
open forum and have an open communication with each other
wherein each team member will be able to voice out her
concerns and the team will know what that member is going
through and do things to possible help that member actively
participate in the group.
Application Case 3
Hi, this is Waleed and I am going to share my own personal
application of using “effective teamwork” theoretical model is
an experience I had in my home country where I, along with my
other friends, had the chance to form a group of high school
students who want to learn about studying in the U.S. for a
college education. During that time, we shared a lot of things
and one of those things we shared is the importance of
communication especially among the Arab students to have a
support group while studying abroad. In that way, the stress and
hardship in studying in the U.S. will be tolerable. In that
gathering, we also had games and we divided ourselves into 10
groups. The college students were mixed with high schools
students so the game will be fair with everyone. There were
three tasks that all the groups did. All tasks need a good team
cooperation to win and get the task done. In my team, I was the
leader. I encouraged my team members that we have to

14. cooperate so that we can finish the task in the soonest time
possible. When we are able to do that, we will get rewards for
our speed. This is because the first team who finished the work
at the earliest time is the same team whose members all
cooperated well to finish their task.
I set up the same goal for all team members. With people’s
commitment on the team, my team members all felt that it is
their honor to contribute to the team. We discuss every step we
have to take and let everyone talk about how to win this task
and what is the risk in the process. We analyze the tasks and
this involves the analysis of the team’s task, the challenges that
the team faces, and the resources available for completing the
team’s work. My team members always like to share their
creative ideas than other teams, because we always have a rule
that if someone contributed a good idea for our team to win the
task, he/she can be the one to represent our team to take the
reward from the event organizer on the stage. Since this reward
is a good motivation for them because they want to take the
reward on stage for all the people to see, they would normally
do their best to contribute their ideas so that the team will finish
the task in the soonest time possible.
However, when one team member does not contribute a lot, it
was hard for us to finish a task early and we end up losing the
game. Since the number of all teams are equal, even one
member not contributing will be a big difference and will result
to the loss of the team in the game. When I noticed that one of
our team members were not cooperating and would just watch
others do the task and he would just sit beside them, I talked to
him without the knowledge of other team members. I did that
and I found out that he was not motivated by going to the stage
to get the reward and he does not really want to that. Because
he did not want to go on stage, he did not contribute thinking
that if the group would win, he might be the one going to stage.
Since he had a strong public apprehension, he did not want to
do it. Knowing that, we had another meeting. There, I found out
that not everyone’s motivation was the same. With all the

15. different motivations they had, I decided to change the reward
based on what motivates each one.
From that experience, I learned that in order for all the team
members to cooperate in the group, the team should know what
motivates each one so that the group can use that motivation to
help each individual do better in the task.
In conclusion, every group needs a good process to build up an
effective team. Our theory place emphasis on communication
with each other first. With the use of effective communication,
each team member will be able to share what motivates him or
her and that motivation can be used to make that member
cooperate more in team activities