An Anticipatory Case for Managing Teams and Team Projects

Abstract

Accounting faculty can address problems associated with team development and group activities by using an anticipatory case exercise at the beginning of the course. The anticipatory case is a four-part case that engages students in a discussion of the potential problems of managing teams and team projects. The case describes the personal characteristics and behaviors of a fictitious team of students at three stages of a team project; the teacher then presents students with a set of discussion questions at the conclusion of each case part. This case is one way to discourage negative team development behaviors at the outset of the course. Importantly, the anticipatory case facilitates team development by (1) identifying potential project management or team process problems, (2) alerting students to expectations in terms of team behaviors and project grading, and (3) allowing student teams to get to know each other better and to set formal rules of engagement for their own team process.