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Summary of the Article.

The article by Tarricone and Luca (2002) titled as Successful teamwork: A case study is a
study utilized a case study design to investigate two teams of final year multimedia students
who enrolled in the Interactive Multimedia course at Edith Cowan University. These teams
were compared on how well they performed in developing a quality product and their
teamwork.
The studys objective is driven by the question that why are some teams successful and
other unsuccessful? The authors reviewed that contemporary teaching and learning
incorporated collaboration in the learning design which they viewed that there was a need to
identify essential attributes necessary for successful teamwork. They went on describing the
importance of effective teamwork for successful teaching and learning outcomes as well as
other outcomes. By reviewing literature, the paper identified several attributes considered
essential for successful teamwork which then were used to compare the two different teams
in order to confirm the attributes validity.
These attributes include (1) commitment to team success and shared goals, (2)
interdependence, (3) interpersonal skills, (4) open communication and positive feedback, (5)
appropriate team composition, and (6) commitment to team processes, leadership and
accountability.
There were 82 students taken the unit which were divided to 20 teams. The project of the unit
aimed to give students experience on project management issues that they may face in their
future undertakings. The project greatly focused on teamwork and problem solving. Given
the proper setting of the study, two teams were selected for investigation in which one team is
very successful in producing a quality product and collaborated successfully. Meanwhile
another team faced severe team problems that caused it to be inefficient and had to be split.
The data from these two groups were collected through interviews, focus groups sessions and
questionnaires which were recorded and transcribed for the purpose of data analysis. The
analysed data of both groups were then compared against the six identified key attributes
necessary for successful teamwork. Through this, they found that team one (successful team)
possessed, committed and have shown the quality of teamwork which consistent with all the

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six key attributes. On the other hand, the second team was evident that it was not congruent
with the criteria (key attributes) for successful teamwork. It was then concluded that the
results evident that the identified attributes played and significant role in determining the
success of the two teams.
Besides, the studys results showed a convincing relationship between the six attributes and
successful team. That is, how successful are the team in collaborating and developing a
quality product in relation to how they embrace the six attributes. The authors went on
suggesting that the findings of the study indicated the need for carefully considered these key
attributes by both students and students when such teamwork activities are involved. In
addition, the authors suggested for further research studying the best way to implement the
strategies in methodological fashion so that both students and tutors can acknowledge and
understand the significance of how such attributes can be implemented.

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SWOT Analysis
The acronym of SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats in which
by doing SWOT analysis, these four components will be identified. This analysis is a
strategic planning tool used in evaluating the four components which is useful in
understanding the organizations strengths and weaknesses as well as to identify the
opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis is defined by Harrison (2010) as an examination
of an organizations internal strengths and weaknesses, its opportunities for growth and
improvement, and the threats the external environment presents to its survival. (p. 92)
SWOT analysis was initially intended for the use of business applications, however it was
widely applied in other areas as well, for instance, HR (Hung, 2006), personal context,
education (Valkanos, Anastasiou & Androutsou, 2009; Balamuralikrishna & Dugger, 1995),
healthcare (Harrison, 2010) and many others. In the reviewed article, it focused highly on
successful teamwork, therefore this SWOT analysis emphasizes mainly on the teamwork
issue in the article.
Valkanos, et al. (2009) stated that programming is considered as the first stage in the process
of administration in which effective administration is needed for educational organisations to
achieve further advances of development. In addition, strategic programming needs to
address the long-term planning that emphases on the organizations general orientation and
the designation of long-term goals that take account the environmental and conditions of
organization. With respect to this, SWOT analysis is regarded as one of the most important
stages regarding this type of planning.
Hung (2006) added that strategic planning is essential in many areas of management such as
in business environment and education, especially higher education, as it becomes the
practical approach to organizational management of most organizations these days. Thus,
SWOT analysis is one of the tools that can be utilized for environmental scanning in the
process of an organizations strategic planning. To this, Harrison (2010) agreed that the key
goal of strategic planning is to provide the organization a balance with external environment
and also maintaining that balance over time. Organization intended to maximize its
performance by accomplishing this balance through evaluating new services and programs,

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that said, SWOT analysis can be applied as a decision-making tool that sets the phase for this
work.
According to Harrison (2010), there are four steps involved in SWOT analysis namely; (1)
collection and evaluation of key data, (2) The organizational data are collected sorted into the
SWOT categories which are: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, (3)
development of a SWOT matrix, and (4) incorporating the SWOT analysis into the decisionmaking process. Strengths are viewed as current factors that have prompted outstanding
organizational performance (p. 93), weaknesses are organizational factors that increase costs
or reduce quality, opportunities viewed as significant new business initiatives available to the
organization, and Threats are the factors that may negatively affect organizational
performance (Harrison, 2010).
Based on these, this paper carry out SWOT analysis for identifying the four components
based on the article by Tarricone and Luca (2002). The SWOT analysis is utilized to analyse
the aspects of HR in the reviewed article. One of the biggest strengths is that the University
or the Faculty take the initiatives in providing its students with the skills and expertise
development through a team project as partial fulfilment of the course. Through this, can
utilise their specialist skills in real context where they meet real client and end user. Besides
through this kind of project, they can be prepared for future career undertakings. This kind of
project provided by the Faculty also encourages teamwork and problem solving skills. Other
than that, the strengths also lies on the platform built for the students to work collaboratively
and building communication skills among team members that seen necessary for working
world.
There are involvement of tutors to facilitate teams with internal issues. This is one of the
strengths as scaffolding is still provided where necessary. Moreover, the six key attributes
necessary for successful teamwork are also highlights and can be used as guidelines for any
teamwork activity. Besides, one of the team characteristics is of small team size between four
to five students per team which is favourable as each member can be appointed to certain
specialist task and small size team can be more easily managed as compared to big size team.
The final strengths is that constructivism and team management are promoted through this
team activity where students construct their knowledge and skills as well as learn to be
managed as a team.
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The weaknesses detected based on the article is that there is a lack of assistance in managing
team conflict. Although there is tutors involvement in facilitating teams issues, but it was not
enough as the article highlighted that tutors involvement to no avail. Besides, lack of
feedbacks or responses on students problems, issues and conflicts may even heightened the
level of conflicts and problems they face. Furthermore, it was observed that there is no
requirement for the students to reflect on their project and problems they faced along the
project phases. This step is essential so that students may reflect upon themselves and as a
team to realize mistakes, lacking, and so on. Other than that, in prior, students are left to
identify their own team member which can be either good or bad. One team can comprise of
all good members while other may comprise of few bad members. For this, advantage for
team one is there initially.
There are several opportunities and one of them is this kind of activity provides students with
the ability to shine in the project and potential on impressing client who might be their future
employers. Besides, it also gives students the opportunity to develop many skills such as team
management skills, communication skills, problem solving skills, interpersonal skills,
leadership and several others. These skills are necessary for their future application in the real
working world. It also creates opportunity for technological advances as students not only
developing multimedia product but also immersed in technology use for self- and teamreporting as they go along the process. This type of constructivist activity may also increase
interest in multimedia among the people involves. Additionally, this gives students the
opportunity to increase productivity and chances of future employment as they possessed the
skills in managing the design and development of client web sites in this course. Clients who
can see students potential may even end up offering jobs for them. Apart from that, this leave
research space for future studies on how the key attributes can be implemented in a
methodological way so that students and tutors understand and acknowledge the significance
of how to implement each attribute so that future constructivist learning designs can be highly
improved.
Besides opportunities, threats were also identified which includes the high cost and budget
required for implementing such project. The HR will not only required to identify potential
clients but also working on to get their agreement and involvement to such academic
activities which may involve some allocation of budgets. Also, the features used for this
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project can be costly for their development and maintenance as well. Apart from that, this
kind of project required long-term students commitment where there will be meetings and
such and some of the team members may demand for scheduling which can contribute to the
delay of project. Moreover, the features provided for students to express their dissatisfaction
towards other member also create negative perceptions on peers and thus negative
relationships among team members.
These SWOT components are summarized as follows:
Strengths

Initiatives in providing students with skills and expertise development.

Encourages teamwork and problem solving skills.
Students ability to work collaboratively and to build an effective communication

skills.
Involvement of tutors in the project for facilitating the teams in internal issues.
Highlights the key attributes needed for successful teamwork.
Team characteristic composed of small team size (4-5 students per team)
Promote constructivism and team management

Weaknesses

Lack of assistance in managing team conflict.

Lack of feedbacks or responses on student issues and conflicts.
No requirement for students reflection on the project and their problems faced along

the project phases.

Students are left to identify their own team members.

Opportunities

Students ability to shine in the project and potential of impressing client who might

be their future employers.

Skills development such as team management skills, communication skills, problem

solving skills, interpersonal skills, leadership and several others.

Technological advances.
Increase interest in multimedia
Increase productivity and future employment.
Leave research space for best implementation of the strategies.
Improvement on constructivist learning designs.

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Threats

Costly
Long-term commitment of students and their scheduling demands.
Negative perception on peers.
Negative relationships among team members.

Discussion and Conclusion

Based on the article, there are six key attributes identified for successful teamwork namely
(1) commitment to team success and shared goals, (2) interdependence, (3) interpersonal
skills, (4) open communication and positive feedback, (5) appropriate team composition, and
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(6) commitment to team processes, leadership and accountability. The case study involving
two distinct teams were compared using the six attributes which gives rise to the conclusion
that such attributes are indeed needed for team accomplishment.
The case study selected two teams based on the Interactive Multimedia course at Edith
Cowan University in which one team is a successful team and another one is unsuccessful
team. Both team were compared against the six key attributes which resulted in the successful
team addressing all the six key attributes while unsuccessful team does not congruent with
the six attributes. As previously mentioned, strategic planning is essential in many areas of
management and SWOT analysis is one of the tool that can aid in strategic planning. The
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats based on the article, are identified. It was
identified that the constructivist activity can enhance students skills in many areas, from
problem solving skills to team management skills.
The weaknesses identified in this paper are ones that can be improved and addressed in the
future. For example, the lack in asking students to reflect upon themselves can be included in
the future so that students may know their weaknesses, mistakes, wrongdoing and several
others so that they can make self-improvement for their future working life. This type of
project activity also provides students with many opportunities including increase in future
employment which is very important for their next step after graduation. However, some
threats were also identified that required further attention from the parties involved. Although
several weaknesses were identified, but the strengths outweigh these weaknesses.
Same thing for the opportunities outweigh the threats. Such identification can lead to further
enhancement and improvement of course design especially one related to constructivist
learning designs that incorporate teamwork activities. In conclusion, the six key attributes
identified in the article are essential for successful teamwork and research should be done to
identify the best way to implement such attributes especially to constructivist learning
designs incorporating teamwork so that both students and tutors understand and acknowledge
its importance. They are indeed necessary for accomplishment both for the team management
as well as arriving at the quality end product. Other than that, the SWOT analysis provided
identification of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. These not only help the
Faculty to analyze its Course but also aid in enhancement and improvement of learning
designs pertaining teamwork.
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Reference
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Harrison, J. P. (2010). Essentials of strategic planning in healthcare. Chicago: Health

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Hung, L. (2006). Using SWOT analysis to understand the institutional environments: A guide
for Can Tho Univesirty. Essays in Education, 18(1), 1-11.
Tarricone, P. & Luca, J. (2002). Successful Teamwork: A Case Study. Quality Conversations
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Valkanos, E., Anastasiou, A. & Androutsou, D. (2009). The importance of SWOT Analysis
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educational units that belong to the field of Vocational Education and Training: The
case of the State Institut (IEK) of Epanomi in Thessaloniki Greece. Decowe
Conference: Ljubljana, Slovenia, 24-25 September 2009.

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