DESIGN TEAM PERFORMANCE: A COMPARISON BETWEEN SELF-FORMED TEAMS AND TEAMS WITH DIVERSE COGNITIVE MODES

Abstract

The impact of cognitive mode diversity on team performance and student satisfaction was assessed qualitatively and quantitatively in a capstone chemical engineering design course. In the capstone design course, students were permitted to form their own teams and the distribution of cognitive modes was assessed. In a concurrent design course, the same group of students performed projects in instructor-formed teams that optimized the distribution of cognitive modes. The results indicated no significant difference in team satisfaction between teams that had different levels of cognitive diversity. Although trends seemed to indicate higher rank in the course and greater independence and creativity for groups with higher cognitive diversity, these differences were not statistically significant. Generally, students seemed to have similar experiences in student-formed and instructor-formed groups. However, qualitative comments seem to indicate that groups may have worked more professionally and cohesively in the more cognitively-diverse, instructor-formed groups.