1. Teamwork and Problem Solving
ENGR 1181
Class 2 – Part 1

2. Problem: ship wreck needs cleaned up
The cruise ship Costa Concordia struck jagged rocks and sank off the coast of Italy in It is 2X the size of the Titanic. Salvage engineers wanted to remove the ship and recycle the materials. How would you do this?

3. 20 months with teams working around the clock – problem solved!
20 months with teams working around the clock – problem solved!

4. Today's Learning Objectives
After today’s class, students will be able to:
Understand the benefits of teamwork + problem solving.
Identify roles of team members.
Communicate effectively.
Apply problem solving methods.

5. Outline of Class Activities
Lecture: teamwork + problem solving
Introduce Team Working Agreement
Activities

6. Questions to be Answered
Are there really benefits to working in teams? What are the benefits?
Should we assign roles in our team? How do we know who is responsible for each task?
How can we communicate effectively with one another?
Are there engineering tools that might help our team?
Are teams useful when solving problems?
This slide is intended to outline what the content of this presentation will address. This is an alternative way of presenting the goals for the session.

7. Why focus on teamwork + problem solving?
Most industry jobs require you to solve problems and have:
Teamwork skills
Management skills
People Skills
No one works in a solitary bubble. Teamwork is a must (even true with monkeys & NASA engineers (video)!)
In surveys conducted by OSU among its alumni and employers, a frequent need that they cited was more preparation in teamwork, as well as project management, group management, and people skills.
Student supporting students in class is a win-win for students and instructors.
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Apollo 13 engineers had an assortment of random parts to create a life-saving air filter for the astronauts
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8. Teamwork + Problem Solving
Many problems are better solved as teams
Other team members may think of ideas you did not
Broader range of possible solutions can be created
Each team member may bring a unique skill set or expertise, which helps with idea generation
Team members can offer ‘fresh eyes’ to help when you are stuck on a problem

9. Typical Classroom Problems
No Answer
One Answer
Multiple Answers
Enough
Information
Not Enough
Excess Information
Academia (typical classroom problems) focuses primarily on problems in which there is given precisely enough information to solve a problem and a single answer is correct. In reality, a large majority of the engineering problems will come from outside the “typical classroom problems area” shown in this matrix (Matrix in which the “y” axis represents the amount of information given to solve a problem and the “x” axis represents the number of answers to said problem).
(Harper, Freuler, & Demel, 2006)

10. Engineering Problems No Answer One Answer Multiple Answers Enough
Information
Not Enough
Excess Information
Engineering problems can cover any of the sections of the matrix. In particular, the right column is very typical of complex engineering problems. It is the goal of the problem solving methodology to give problem solvers a method of approaching all engineering problems rather than only those in which students are given precisely enough information to solve a problem and a single answer is correct
(Harper, Freuler, & Demel, 2006)

11. Should we organize our team?
Yes, definitely. Organizing your team will:
Help you successfully meet deadlines
Make sure no task is overlooked
Keep meetings productive
Give a framework of how to approach discussions
Reduce wasted time of team members
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12. How to organize our team?
There is no one correct way to organize a team
Many different roles exist - not all have to be used
Try things out and see what works for you!
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13. Organization Suggestion: Team Roles
Facilitator: Leads and controls the meeting, ensures all members have a chance to speak
Recorder: Keeps a written record of meeting discussion and team decisions
Referee: Keeps the discussion on topic and on time
…What do you do if you have a 4th team member?
Discussion points:
These roles are useful for large as well as small groups.
All members need to have a role or a part.
What role can the “additional” team fulfill (e.g., in a four-person team, what does the fourth person do if there are only three assigned roles? Act as an observer? The “creative thinker?”)

14. How to be a better team player
Be prepared to lead some times, follow other times
Take responsibility for your own & team’s work
Distribute effort and responsibility equally
Notes:
In many team projects there are individual effort grades as well as a team grade. Remind students they cannot float by on their teammates’ work. Additionally, they need to be accountable for their own portion of the team work- if they do not complete it, it drags all team members’ grades down.
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15. Be accountable to your teammates: follow through with your work!
Keep a positive attitude about teamwork.
Assume positive intent of your teammates' actions.
Notes:
“Keep a positive attitude about teamwork”- This means that students should avoid immediately assuming that working in a team will be terrible. If they have a negative outlook from the beginning, the teamwork is less likely to go well. Keeping a positive attitude personally will help their team have a positive working environment.
“Assume positive intent of your teammates”- This means that when conflict or misunderstanding happens, they should assume their teammate had positive intent in whatever action/inaction was taken (ie, not immediately assume their teammates are incompetent and/or slacking off). This will help facilitate positive communication and discussion to clear up the misunderstanding- instead of just an argument.
The Golden spike – transcontinental railroad took a tremendous amount of problem solving and teamwork
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16. Don’t let this happen to your team!
Be a team player. If you keep positive communication and use your Team Working Agreement as a guide, collaboration will happen!
This is a humorous chart a student made about their teamwork experience. As you may hear from your students, most of them hate group projects– because of the fear that their teammates won’t do any work. If they use the tips to be a better team player and keep open communication, they will have a positive teamwork experience.
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17. Team Working Agreement
Helps your team achieve success
Sets expectations that the team has for its members
Sets methods of conflict resolution
It is specific to your team
All members have input to the document
All members need to be accountable
It is a contract that you sign with your team

18. Team Working Agreement
A template for the agreement is provided for you online
Meet with your team outside of class to complete it
Schedule office hours with your GTA if you have questions or concerns as you complete it
Let’s look at the template now…
Open the document to familiarize the students with it, but they will not complete it in class. Each team should schedule at least one meeting out of class and complete it then. Suggestion: Have them assign roles at this first team meeting.

19. Addressing Typical Teamwork Issues
Teamwork Scenario 1
A team is encountering problems with one of its members. This team member does not complete his team assignments as he agreed, he misses team meetings, and doesn’t inform other members when he is going to miss a team activity or assignment.
What should the team do?
Let the students offer ideas of how to solve this teamwork problem. For this example the key ideas are for the team to:
Identify the problem as early as possible
Discuss the problem with all team members and try to resolve Refer to the team agreement to help resolve.
If the problem cannot be resolved within the team escalation to the GTA and instructor are the next steps.;
The key issue is to get these problems confronted as early as possible.

20. Addressing Typical Teamwork Issues
Teamwork Scenario 2
A team is having difficulty finding a time to have face- to-face meetings, which is causing their team assignments to suffer.
What should the team do?
Instructor notes:
The main idea to explore is to find alternate ways to communicate effectively without the need for many face-to-face meetings. The key idea is that face-to-face meetings can be minimized by proactive communications among team members.There is always time in class to conduct short face-to-face meetings. These meetings can be used to divide work, brainstorm ideas, and make assignments for future work and meetings. In between these meetings there are many forms of communicating to share ideas such as: , phone, instant messaging, etc.
Other teamwork issues can be:
Team or individual procrastination
One team member much more interested in high-quality work than his team mates
One domineering-style team member

21. Problem Solving Method
5. Evaluate
4. Implement
3. Plan
2. Represent
1. Define
Problem solving is an iterative process. At any point you may need to go back to a previous step (even the beginning!) and re-work the problem.
Reworking the problem will provide a better solution than rushing through the steps. Your first solution may not be your best solution!

22. Problem Solving Flow Chart
Find on website under CLASS and use for homework

23. 1. Define What is the problem? What are the constraints?
Restate the problem so the goal is clearly identified
Document what is known and unknown
Identify and document constraints/limitations (e.g., time, materials, budget, technology, etc.)
Document initial assumptions or estimates for values of parameters needed
You have to determine the scope of the problem.
Identify your constraints. By constraints we mean restrictions or rules you cannot violate, or limits you cannot pass. All projects will have constraints– Projects without constraints do not exist!
You establish the problem boundaries and create the framework to solve the problem.
Assumptions/estimates are sometimes needed in order to make progress on solving problems- often we are not given all of the information we need
REMEMBER:
"Every statement in the represent, plan, and implement phases should be supported by an assumption, estimate, or known."

24. 2. Represent
Display the problem in a visual form so it is easier to understand:
Sketch or Diagram
Graph
Flowchart
Orthographic Drawing

25. 2. Represent Image sources:

26. 3. Plan
Identify underlying principles to help solve the problem (math rules, laws of physics, etc.)
Look for similarities and differences with previously encountered problems
Identify potential tools to be used
If required, make additional assumptions/estimates
Confirm that assumptions are valid (use references!)
Always recognize the underlying principles such as: theories, laws of physics, basic math rules, etc. to have a better understanding of what could be used or not used (tools, materials, equations, etc.) in order to solve the problem.
The next consideration for the “plan step” would be to recognize similarities with problems you have solved in the past or research analogous problems, so you have ideas on how to get to the solution.
Carefully examine if you have all the information you need to solve the problem or if you need to assume certain information or conditions to reach a solution. (Are there valid simplifying assumptions?)
Review previous steps to determine if you are still on the right track!! (early evaluation of process)

27. 4. Implement Implement the plan!
Perform a dimensional analysis: crunch the numbers & keep track of your units!
Keep work organized and well- documented
Display results appropriately in a well- labeled table or graph
In this step you execute your plan expecting to obtain a valid solution.
Always document units and resultant conversions in all calculations.
Display your results, so they can be evaluated. (Next step)

28. 5. Evaluate Always evaluate your work!
Does the solution make sense and answer the original question?
Is the magnitude of the answer reasonable?
Are the units correct and reasonable?

29. 5. Evaluate How can we verify our answer?
Use another approach with the same variables
Research your answer, compare to existing solutions
What are other methods we can use?