Trust in engineering teams and groups and virtual facilitation methods

Abstract

This paper presents two related studies the first explores the typical recurring dysfunction engineering student teams face and the second evaluates the effectiveness of a virtual facilitator called the Droid Communication System (DCS) in training such teams to address the dysfunction. Using Patrick Lencioni's Theory of Five Dysfunctions of a Team this study first measured for the following: absence of trust fear of conflict lack of commitment avoidance of accountability and inattention to results. Then a virtual trust-building vignette was developed and loaded onto Droid phones to guide students to potential solutions. The studies' findings indicate that absence of trust seems to be a significant problem for engineering student teams and that 42% of participants indicate that the DCS process increased their confidence in communicating and interacting with their teams. The development of the vignettes and experimental evaluation can provide a model for future research on engineering education and on student team development.