This 5-chapter book describes the benefits of teamwork, explains the roles of leaders and followers, defines team, provides guidance on how to market teamwork experiences to employers, includes user testimonials, and offers additional resources.
The emphasis on fundamentals about teams, one's role on a team, and ways to promote your teamwork experience is suitable for learners at the high school and early post-secondary levels.
The resource features key concepts, statistical information, and visual material in figures and infographic layouts.
Teamwork video and audio testimonials by industry professionals provide real-world insight about the benefits of strong teamwork skills.
Note: There is a separate instructor's guide that was not included in this review.
Type of Material:
Open (Access) Textbook
Recommended Uses:
Authors state the modular format of the resources enables multiple uses in whole or only for specific sections.
In class – group collaboration, self-reflection, paired exchange activities
Seminar or Tutorial - designated and scheduled course component schedule with approx. 20 students and a teaching assistant)
Homework – such as assigned (online) self-directed course component – utilize online course site tools for discussion posts
Technical Requirements:
Used Firefox (including incognito), Edge, and checked Chrome – each is compatible
In terms of technical features for accessibility,
The authors state in the book that:
Accessibility features align with screen-reader technology
I tried the Adobe PDF Accessibility checker - found only two issues relating to tables.
I tried the WAVE (web accessibility evaluation tool) – tested a few sites from different chapters; results noted some issues with contrast, heading levels, table layouts, and redundant links but these looked minimal compared to error-free parts of the report where alt-text received a positive rating.
Identify Major Learning Goals:
The student will:
Recognize what effective teamwork looks like.
Understand how to practice effective teamwork.
Value effective teamwork.
Learn how to take your teamwork experiences in the classroom and in life and use them to your advantage to further your career.
Understand your strengths and how they can impact a team.
Gain some ideas on tools to help make teamwork more effective.
Articulate what you’ve learned and reflect on what it means to be part of a team.
Target Student Population:
The book could be used in
an introductory college business course,
a leadership course, or
human resource organizational development courses.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
none
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
The book's contents is concisely organized into charts.
The section on how to be a good follower or team member supplements the leadership focus of other texts.
There is a section on virtual teams, which is timely in this post-pandemic society. References are included to support the text.
The content is relevant in relation to broad teamwork concepts.
The emphasis on fundamental material enables the transferability of the resource across several contexts.
These include learners from a variety of programs and applications to a range of workplaces.
Concerns:
The most current source in the references is dated 2018. The OER is 2020. Hence, the material was somewhat dated at the time it was created. The versioning history does not indicate any further additions, and as a result, now, five years later (2025), the resource is at risk of being perceived as outdated by adopters and learners.
The general nature of sources does not offer specifics or niche commentary. The testimonials in the last section highlight interesting audio accounts from professionals.
Is there specific ideas these experts address that could become a focus in previous chapter subsections?
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
The general orientation of the content provides the basics related to teamwork.
Learning objectives (LOs) are listed in the Introduction but not within each chapter.
The LOs are framed using verbs. In this way, they can be connected to various forms of assessment and evaluation to measure how students meet the LOs.
The book defines a team, the members of the team, and discusses different types of teams before discussing how to apply the book's concepts in different contexts.
The book is short and can be used in a variety of ways as a reading prompt for another assignment, as background reading before a lecture, or as a variety of discussion board topics.
Concerns:
The fundamental scope of content, while easy as a starting point for new learners, also limits how much one can learn. For example, the process for forming a successful team could include the stages of group performance proposed by Bruce Tuckman (1965), and extend into some challenges faced within each stage to have learners consider situations they experienced where these stages, and challenges occurred. Here is one example that breaks down the stages and characteristics across the stages that could serve as prompts (https://www.wcupa.edu/coral/tuckmanStagesGroupDelvelopment.aspx). The source referred to above is: Tuckman, B.W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 65, no. 6: 384–99.
Utilization of Bloom's taxonomy when generating the LOs could enhance the measurability of student progress.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The technical scope of the material has merit as shown in the table of context chapters' foci.
The OER begins with the benefits of teamwork, moves to one’s role on a team and ways one contributes to a team, and closes by emphasizing how a learner can relay their teamwork experiences when seeking employment opportunities. This final aspect is a valuable perspective as it is the most challenging for students to consider and effectively communicate.
The site has an ADA 508 compliance report to accompany the book. The book is comprised of a series of colorful charts, which adds to its visual appeal.
Concerns:
Useability also entails an appeal to engage and participate with the content and the OER itself.
Given the static nature of the OER design, the use of the content is left to the adopter and the learner.
Given the trends of media engagement among the target audience, such as high school and early-year post-secondary students, the visual appeal and engaging format could be enhanced.
Creative Commons:
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