Two "Must's":

•    Attribution:
  
  •    Give credit in your work to those whose ideas and words you use - and use them well. No one is expected to know everything. Indeed, we need to avoid "re-inventing the wheel". So look around and build on the ideas and words of others. Just take care to give them full credit.
  •    Use footnotes or endnotes where needed and construct a proper "Works Cited" or "Bibliography" page to accompany your work.
  •    Plagiarized papers, reports, projects, or exams will receive a grade of 0 (zero) whether copied in whole or in part. This includes "accidental" plagiarism. See the UMUC European Division Catalog policy on academic integrity.
  •    This includes prior works presented or published by you for other purposes or in prior or other classes.


•    Good grammar, punctuation, usage and style:
  
  •    Effective writing is critical to the intellectual life of university students and graduates within the workplace. Effective managers are usually effective communicators. Your work in this course must demonstrate your ability to master and effectively communicate course content.
  •    We must be able to share our ideas with others properly. That means we need to pay constant attention to the way in which we present those ideas. Written and oral work which contains significant errors in English or presentation typically impairs the quality of the message you are trying to communicate.
  •    Use your eyes and brain to check your work -- a mechanical computer can hurt as well as help. Proofread and check your work PRIOR to submission.
  •    Poor English or presentation will reduce my evaluation of your work by one or more letter grades regardless of the brilliance of the ideas therein.

Additional Guidelines for Assignments:

Effective writing

•    Meets the needs of the reader;
•    Covers the subject in a clear, concise, complete, accurate and timely manner;
•    Uses expected conventions of format and organization;
•    Demonstrates use of credible reasoning and evidence;
•    Satisfies standards of style and grammatical correctness; and
•    Requires 100% compliance with UMUC's zero-tolerance policy regarding plagiarism.

Use diagrams, charts, and other graphics to enrich your presentations.

Word Processor: If your response will be more than 150-200 words, create a document in Microsoft Word^®. For the present, this word processing package is still the 'industry standard.' Hence, it will serve you well to learn more about using it to fulfill a formal, written requirement. If you do not have access to Microsoft Word, use "Save As" in your usual word processor and select the MS Word document option.

•    Use Page Setup in the Printer to configure it.
•    Set page size to A-4.
•    Use 1" margins top, bottom, left and right sides.
•    Use Times New Roman, size 12.
•    Use double spacing.
•    Use appropriate headings and subheadings. Headings and subheadings should be placed at the left margin.
•    The first word of each new paragraph should be indented 1" from the left margin of the paragraph.
•    Create a template with these settings and use it as the basis of your written assignments in this course.
•    Use a header on each page (except the title page) for your name, course ID and date.
•    Number each page (except the title page) in the bottom right corner using a footer.

I reserve the right to make minor changes in assignments and schedules. Changes will only be made if there are unforeseeable circumstances. I will not make major changes without first consulting with the class.

Supplemental Information: See my web site for further guidance on

• Class Policy:    http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/crs_guid_gen/class_policy.html
  
  
• Working in Groups:
        http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/crs_guid_gen/smlgrp_process.html
        http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/dist_ed/de_sml_groups.html       http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/crs_guid_gen/grp_dynam.html
        http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/dist_ed/recorder_duties.html       http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/crs_guid_gen/peer_eval.html
        http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/crs_guid_gen/team_rules.html
  
  
• Case Analysis :    http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/crs_guid_gen/case_analysis.html
  
• Oral presentations in class:    http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/crs_guid_gen/speaking_improv.html
  
  
• Using email in this course (when needed): The first element of the subject line of every email in this course will begin "MGST198D 08t5" followed by a brief topic indicating of the content of the email. All electronic mail will be acknowledged so that you will know I have received your message. See also:
        http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/crs_guid_gen/email_hints.html
        http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/crs_guid_gen/email_attach.html
  

You will analyze three real world cases in teams of 5-9 students. Team analysis of team-working cases is a vital part of this course and your best efforts at managing the process of team interaction and the substance of applying theory to practice are important. In particular we need to reflect on the successes and failure of others in implementing 'team-working' while we struggle with implementing the best team-working practices we can in our virtual classroom. You will

•    apply the models and principles from the text to the case. You will also use the best of these models to control your own interaction with the student group;
•    research the company and situation on the Internet to obtain more background and improve your understanding of the team-working situation; and
•    evaluate team effectiveness in two ways. (1) the effectiveness of the team in the case study and (2) the effectiveness of your team of students analyzing the assigned case.

The written report on the case is to be 6-8 typed, double-spaced pages of text using the APA style guide for reference citations, bibliography, and so on. (See the 'Other Information' heading above for guidance on page layout.) Appendix material may be used, and is encouraged, to support the narrative; appendices, diagrams, graphs, tables, figures, spreadsheets, etc. are not included in the required page count. A title page is required (see below). It is recommended that you use an outline to help you develop the paper. Write and present your assignments professionally, with clear syntax, correct grammar and spelling, and correct citations.

One team member will be assigned the duty of "Observer" as noted in the 'Other Information' heading above. The Observer will document and evaluate the process used by the study group (team) to respond to the assignment and prepare a 6-8 page report following similar formatting and documentation requirements. An appendix to the Observer's Report will include the results of a multi-rater evaluation from each member of the observed team.

A minimum of one letter grade will be deducted from your project grade for significant problems related to organization, grammar, verb tenses, pronoun use, spelling, punctuation, writing competency and other requirements including following directions. This is in addition to any penalty for late submission.

Additional Guidelines:

1. WRITING QUALITY

Grammar, Verb Tenses, Pronoun Use, Spelling, Punctuation, and Writing Competency. Remember:

•    Spell-check, then proof read your work. Better yet, have a friend or colleague read it before submitting it. Read it out loud to yourself.
•    "There" is not "Their", "your" is not "you're", "its" is not "it's", "too" is not "to" or "two", "site" is not "cite", and "who' should be used after an individual, not "that". For example, "the person WHO made the speech" not "the person THAT made the speech."
•    In a professional paper one does not use contractions (doesn't, don't, etc.) and one does not use the personal "you" or "your". Use the impersonal as I have in the previous sentence. It is more professional than saying, "Also in a professional paper you don't use contractions."

3. COVER (TITLE) PAGE

Use a cover page for each submission. Double spaced, centered horizontally & vertically on the page, put the following in the order shown (replace the brackets and bracketed instructions with your report's specific information):

•    [ Your Name ]
•    BMGT 484
•    [ Title of Case or Report ]
•    Team [ Name or Number ]
•    Term 5, 2007-2008
•    UMUC Europe Distance Education
•    [ date ]
•    Instructor: Phil Richardson

1.    Texts:    BTP = Kayser's book Building Team Power;    MTT = Thompson's book Making the Team.


2.    Individual Assignments: I have rebalanced your study assignments in the weeks following the mid-term. Please see the revised schedule below. Taskings based on these assignments are due as follows:
   
   1.    Individual students prepare and post their responses to the assignments not later than (NLT) noon of the day prior to the last day of the assignment period (typically noon on Sunday); and
   2.    All students then comment on the contributions of their classmates NLT the end of the assignment period (typically midnight, Monday).


3.    Team Case Assignments are due as follows:
   1.    Teams form during the first week of each three-week period (weeks 2-4, 5-7, 8-10), organize, allocate workload and load balance, commence research, analysis and discussions;
   2.    Individual team members prepare and post individual contributions to group assignments NLT one week prior to the end of the assignment period (Weeks 3, 6 and 9) in the team's study group area (start even earlier);
   3.    Recorders prepare and post their summary of the group consensus in the Class Conference Area under the appropriate topic NLT three days prior to the end of the assignment period;
   4.    Observers prepare their report and submit it to the Class Conference Area under the 'Observer's Reflections & Comments' Topic NLT 36 hours prior to the end of the assignment period; and
   5.    Individual students comment on the contributions of the other teams and observers NLT the end of the assignment period.


4.    See also the Class Work Schedule, an Excel spreadsheet outlining course requirements and timings which you can modify to suit your individual needs.

1.    Complete WT orientation and explore the WT Help facility.


2.    ** Week One DE Assignments **:
   1. Review the Class Work Schedule which lays out the course activities in checklist fashion.
   2. Visit the following web site and complete the activities requested: http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/dist_ed/wk1_assign.html.


3.    Confirm that you will be available to take the on-line Midterm Exam during the scheduled weekend. (You will require Internet access to research responses for this exam.)


4.    Confirm that your testing activity for your proctored Final Exam will be available during final exam "week" (see schedule below).


5.    Confirm that you will be available to take the proctored Final Exam du ring the scheduled exam week at the designated testing activity (unless you specify differently, this is the place you indicated when you registered for this course). Any changes to this location or time must be approved by me, your instructor.