Group Work Module

Sharing and Organizing Work Online

Two kinds of work must be shared: to make the team function and the task to be performed.

Making the team function

An effective team requires the following roles to work efficiently. It is useful to explicitly allocate these functions.

Facilitator or leader (depending on context)
for making sure the aims of the meeting are clarified and for summarizing discussions and decisions; to ensure the meeting keeps on track and ground rules are followed.

Notetaker
to keep a record of ideas that are discussed and decisions that are made and who is doing what.

Timekeeper
to make sure that you discuss everything you need to in the time available for the meeting.

Progress chaser
to chase people up and make sure that the jobs get done by the time agreed and sort out problems if they are not.

Process watcher
someone who has an eye on process rather than content and can bring problems to the attention of the team. It is important to be positive in this role and not judgmental.

Editor
to compile contributions, identify gaps or overlaps, and ensure consistency in the final submission.

Sharing tasks

Tasks need to be broken down into smaller parts and scheduled. Sometimes one part cannot be started until another part is finished so it may be worth drawing a simple timeline.

• Consider the resources that you have and those that you will need to find.
• Define the outcome required.
• Consider how will you know when you have done it well enough?
• Divide the tasks among the team and
• Set the deadlines for the sub-tasks and times for future meetings.