MBA 670: Team Agreement

Team Chester

A. Team contact information

Member names Telephone numbers E-mail contacts Guidelines for contact
(underline preferred) (including preferred days,
emergency information, etc.)

Marilyn Kennedy (301) 275-5440 (c) [email protected] M-F 10 am-10 pm EST

Sa-Sun 11 am-11 pm EST
1-301-519-1925

Garfield Mignott (954) 329-5151 [email protected] Anytime after 6 CST or

Weekends anytime.

Donnell Morina (443) 561-8819 [email protected] Anytime after 6 EST or

Weekends anytime.

Michael Ocallaghan (231) 233-1461 [email protected]

Brianna Parker (914) 484-6355 [email protected] Available after 4pm EST on

weekdays. Available after
10amEST on weekends.
Text/WhatsApp and email

Nicole Torralva (254) 493-4369 [email protected] Anytime, on CST - prefer txt or

email

B. Mission statement
This should be a statement of the team's purpose.

Team Chester will work together to provide a timely project that meets or exceeds the outlined
project requirements while learning new skills and achieving an MBA.

C. Vision statement
This should be an inspirational statement that captures the team's aspirations.

To learn from each other while learning how to become better leaders and strategic decision-makers.

D. Shared values
E.g., honesty, mutual respect, etc. Please offer rationale and a working definition for each team value.

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Our values include being timely, communicating honestly, and working effectively as a team to maintain
efficiency and be successful as individuals and as a group.

Honesty: It is important that group members are always candid about their evaluations of project
progress, open in their critiques of assignment workmanship, and forthright in their ability to meet set
deadlines. If any group member is unable to meet their obligations to the group for whatever reason, it
should be plainly stated to group members so a solution can be found.

Mutual understanding: Respecting the individual capabilities, understanding the shortcomings, and
recognizing the different perspectives of group members is the basis of establishing mutual
understanding. Mutual understanding directly contributes to group cohesiveness and long-term
collaborative efficacy.

Timeliness: Group members are expected to meet set deadlines. Timeliness is more than just
punctuality; however, it also encompasses group members' availability in times of need.

Communication: Effective communication drives effective collaboration. Group members must keep
lines of communication open throughout the development of the project. The sharing of ideals,
distribution of responsibilities, review of progress, and the setting of short- and long-term goals and
objectives are all critical components which rely on communication between group members.

E. Desirable team behaviors and consequences for noncompliance

E.g., punctuality, effective listening, no harmful groupthink, systematic documentation of important
team communications and decisions, etc. Please explain what you mean by each desired behavior and
why you believe it to be important for effective teamwork.

Below is a list of desirable team behaviors:

- Timely communication: if unable to attend a scheduled meeting, adhere to project management

deadlines.
- Ask for help from the team if assistance is needed with research and/or writing.
- During the writing and revision process, provide suggestions and feedback in the comment
section of the shared documents. Do not change a team member assigned section without
informing them.
- Provide research in the Group Locker-Files section so all team members can use findings.
- The team member tasked with submitting assignments will email the submission receipt to the
team.
- Assess responsibilities as needed during team meetings, so sections can be added or revised as
needed.
- Communicate any issues with understanding (if any) so that every team member can stay on the
same page.

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 - Plan meetings ahead enough time to accommodate all team members.
- Take notes during each meeting to stay updated on which part of the project the team is
currently working on.

Our team aspires to demonstrate effective teamwork and establish a cohesive positive work
environment that best leverages our individual strengths in pursuit of delivering a superlative
project.

Treat each other with dignity and respect. By treating each other with courtesy and respect, we
will promote an environment of positive team morale and trust where opinions, ideas, and
criticisms can be safely shared. This requires open and accurate communication between team
members to keep each other informed, motivated, and apprised on our progress. This is
especially important since we are all located remotely.

Assume positive intent. By being open to other opinions within the team, we can recognize the
value that each of our diverse background and experiences bring to the table. Even though
conflict will occur, the trust, respect, and honesty will focus any discussion towards resolving
this conflict productively.

Accountability and commitment. By having team members proactively take responsibility for
their commitments, individuals within the team can develop a sense of trust that tasks will be
completed as agreed upon. Team decisions will be documented both for reference purposes as
well as to develop a shared understanding of the goals, directions, and objectives.

F. Summary of individual member strengths and weaknesses (self-assessed)

Note: Honest self-assessment is important. You will want to use this information to help you distribute
the work in a way that leverages your individual and team advantages.

Members Individual areas of strength (e.g., Growth areas for teamwork (e.g.,
good writer, editor, researcher, limited team experience, tend to take
organizer, communicator, charge and want to be in control,
technology-adept, etc.) writing weakness, inexperienced editor,
etc.)

Marilyn Kennedy Good writer, editor, researcher Some areas of IT technology

Garfield Mignott Communicator, Researcher, Editing and writing

Organizer

Donnell Morina Editor, Researcher, Writer, Excel Project set up and design, formatting
templates for projects.

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Michael Ocallaghan Writing, quantitative analysis Communications and editing

Brianna Parker Researcher, Writing Organization

Nicole Torralva Writing, editing Communications, group technology set

ups and solutions

G. Team conflict management plan

Explain what you will do when conflicts arise (as they inevitably do), especially during the storming stage
of team development. Include the circumstances that would lead you to ask for faculty intervention and
the method to be employed should this be necessary. Note that intervention by a third party, either in
the form of mediation or arbitration, poses potential risks for team bonding. If an intervention becomes
necessary, faculty will rely only on materials posted in the team's discussion area. Faculty reserve the
right to assign individual grades if there is evidence of inadequate performance on the part of one or
more members.

Possible Conflicts
The only potential conflict for the team would be that some of us are in different time zones and our
availability to participate due to work schedules. We are planning weekend meetings to alleviate work
schedules and time zone conflicts. We will email during the week to collaborate.

Escalation Policy
- We plan weekend meetings to alleviate work schedules and time zone conflicts.
- We will email during the week to collaborate.
- Due to our agreed understanding, we anticipate that the team will complete the team project
without any issues.
- Any issues that cannot be addressed as a team will be escalated to the professor.

Should a conflict arise, we will enact a 3-step plan to resolve it.

1. The first step is recognizing what the conflict is. Putting it in writing will help identify and clarify
the specific issue. Stating it in our agreed-upon method of communication is a good start. Being
respectful, clear, and concise is essential.
2. The next step is to input one or more appropriately effective suggestions for resolving issues.
This is where the solution should be accepted or revised. If no solution can be agreed upon, step
3 should be considered.
3. The last step is intervention. The group will decide If the conflict is irreconcilable and move to
request assistance from faculty.

H. Statement of team decision protocol

Outline how your team will go about making decisions, both on a regular basis and in emergency
situations.

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Team Decision
- Standard
- This will be based on task assignments and due dates
- Emergency
- Timelines exceeded with assignments not completed
- No communication from a group member

Regarding large decisions, the member will state their stance in our group chat or email and the rest of
the members will agree or disagree on the choice.

Small decisions, the member will enact on it as their intention as they prefer unless until another group
member fully disagrees.

In an emergency, the member will inform the group of the situation, if no members of the group
respond in a timely manner, they can enact on a decision as they demine to have the best outcome, and
then inform the rest of the group as necessary, to plan any following steps.

I. Encouragement of teamwork
Explain the strategy your team will use to encourage full participation and with it, prevent the common
problem of "free ridership." This classic team problem can adversely affect the quality of the work you
produce and can lead to poor working relationships. Your strategy should include how the team will deal
with poor or weak commitment.

Please note, faculty may occasionally have to act when there is evidence that a member is not
contributing a fair share to the work of the team. This includes submitting work to the team that is
clearly not aligned with the team's stated and expected standards.

Team collaboration will be critical, and Team Chester will use these methods to provide collaboration.

Communication Platforms:
- Google Email/UMGC - To discuss new news and schedule meetings
- Zoom - To conduct meetings
- Classroom Group Files- To upload and share all research materials
- Google Docs/UMGC SharePoint - Collaborate on group word documents
- Google Sheets/UMGC SharePoint - Collaborate on group excel documents
- Google Slides/UMGC SharePoint - Collaborate on creating a PowerPoint presentation

J. Team self-assessment approach and methodology

An important factor in individual, team, and organizational success is the ability to self-assess, reflect,
learn, and continuously improve. How will your team assess its performance against established goals
and mileposts and make any adjustments needed to achieve optimal performance?

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Self-Assessment will be critical by using knowledge gained from all previous MBA courses and the Clifton
Strengths analysis to provide insights into the strengths of each team member of Team Chester, aligning
project tasks to effectively manager team resources. During the project, Team Chester will continue to
self-reflect as a team and individually to self-assess, reflect, learn, and continuously improve weekly.

Acknowledgment of Agreement:
We actively participated in the development of this agreement and agreed to abide by it.

Name Signature Date

Marilyn Kennedy MK 01/17/2023
Garfield Mignott GSM 01/14/223
Donnell Morina DAM 01/14/2023
Michael Ocallaghan Digitally signed 01/17/2023
Brianna Parker BFP 01/17/2023
Nicole Torralva NMT 01/15/2023