Making Student Online Teams Work

Abstract

Online professors typically assign teams based on time zones, performance, or alphabet, but are these the best ways to position student virtual teams for success? Personality and task complexity could provide additional direction. Personality and task complexity were used as independent variables related to the dependent variable of team performance. Four hundred-fifty students starting an MBA in a proprietary online university took the Insights Discovery (ID) personality assessment. Students were randomly assigned to 138 teams. Each team had 3 deliverables, which were ranked using the Bonner Model of Task Complexity (Bonner, 1994). Performance was determined by the grade given by the professor. Teams were designated as Variable when all ID personality types were present and Dominant when 50% or more of the team members had one ID personality type. Using ID, teams were also categorized as extroverted/introverted or thinking/feeling. T tests and ANOVAs were used to determine statistical difference. Extroverted teams outperformed introverted teams and Variable (heterogeneous) teams outperformed Dominant (homogeneous) teams with complex tasks.