Teamwork functions - the pros and cons - How to maximize teamwork efficiency - final thesis

This research is conducted with the target of figuring out problems and difficulties to which fourth-year Students in Faculty of English Language Teacher Education FELTE at University of

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, the authors would like to express the sincere thanks of gratitude to our research supervisor, Ms Hoang Van Trang who has always offered us enthusiastic support, guidance, comments and compliments as well Without her wholehearted assistance and encouragements in each step of the research procedure, the study would have never been accomplished

Secondly, the completion of the research could not have been achievable without the dedicating contribution of fourth-year students in Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, University of Languages and International Studies Their devoted participation is the greatest motivation for us to accomplish the study We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all of them

Last but not least, the researchers also wish to send the indeed gratitude to our classmates, friends and other people who gave us feedbacks, suggestions and cheers in the completion of the study

ABSTRACT

It is beyond a shadow of doubt that teamwork skills are increasingly appreciated in workplace as well as in casual society It is now widely acknowledged that the ability to work in a team has become an obligatory prerequisite for any professional occupation Perceiving that fourth – year students of Faculty of English Language Teacher Education in University of Languages and International Studies are going

to be the upcoming major labor forces in the marketplace, the research is conducted

to equip the population in specific and students in general necessarily essential skills to outstandingly confront forthcoming job challenges Based on the actual results and other related materials, the researchers would like to expose the common difficulties of working in a team and to propose some viable recommendation afterwards Through this research, it is expected that Vietnamese students will take thoughtful consideration of acquiring teamwork skills to boost the job performance as well as open up more avenues of employment

LIST OF PICTURES, CHARTS AND TABLES

Picture 1: Informal team _ 9 Picture 2: Traditional team _10 Picture 3: Virtual team 11

Chart 1: The ideal number of members in a group 22 Chart 2: Common assignment delegation methods 24 Chart 3: Common problems when working in a team _ 24 Chart 4: Effective Communication Methods 28 Chart 5: Increasing Engagement Methods 30 Chart 6: Effective Tasks Delegation _31 Chart 7: Possibility of confronting same problems in teamwork _32

Table 1: Common problems when working in a team _ 24 Table 2: Evaluation of problems effects 26 Table 3: The important factors to a group success 27 Table 4: Characteristics of ideal leaders 28

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT _i

ABSTRACT ii LIST OF PICTURES, CHARTS AND TABLES iii TABLE OF CONTENTS _ iv

1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Rationales for the study _1 1.2 Aims of the study 2 1.3 Scope of the study 3 1.4 Methods of the study _ 4 1.5 Design of the study _5

2 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7 2.1 Definition of Teamwork 7 2.2 Types of Teamwork _ 8

2.2.1 Informal team 9 2.2.2 Traditional team 9 2.2.3 Self‐directed team 10 2.2.4 Virtual team _10

2.3 The Importance of Teamwork 11 2.4 Benefits of Teamwork _13 2.5 Difficulties arising in Teamwork 14 2.6 Related studies 16

3 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY _ 18 3.1 Participants 18 3.2 Data collection instruments _ 18

3.2.1 Quantitative methods _18

3.2.2 Survey questions _19

3.3 Data collection procedures _20

3.3.1 Writing process 20 3.3.2 Delivery 20

3.3.3 Collection _21

4 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS 22

4.1 Students attitudes towards teamwork 22

4.1.1 The ideal number of members in a group 22 4.1.2 The preferable members to form a group 23 4.1.3 The favorable role in a group _ 23 4.1.4 The relationship between leaders and members _23 4.1.5 Common assignment delegation methods 23

4.2 Common problems when working in a team 24

4.2.1 Common problems when working in a team 24 4.2.2 Negative effect evaluation of the problems _25

4.3 Recommendations for teamwork difficulties 26

4.3.1 Important factors to work thoroughly in a team _26 4.3.2 Characteristics of ideal leaders 27 4.3.3 Effective Communication Methods _28 4.3.4 Responsibility Display Methods _ 29 4.3.5 Increasing Engagement Methods _29 4.3.6 Effective Tasks Delegation _30 4.3.7 Potential problem solvers and the solving process _31 4.3.8 Evaluation after assignments 31

5 CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS _33 5.1 Research Findings 33

5.1.1 Findings about students' attitudes towards teamwork _33

5.1.2 Findings about problems when working in a team _35 5.1.3 Findings about what students often do to solve teamwork problems (solutions suggested by respondents) 37

5.2 Solutions _ 39

5.2.1 Suggestions before working in a team 39 5.2.2 Suggestions during working in a team 40 5.2.3 Suggestions after working in a team _41

5.3 Limitation of the study _ 42 5.4 Recommendations for further stud _ 43 APPENDIX 44 Survey Questionnaire

REFERENCES _50

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

In recent modern society, teamwork skills have become a necessary proficiency as well as essential requirement in workplace and casual society as well Besides a wide range of researches related to the topic, this is still an alluring issue for

further studies

1.1 Rationales for the study

“Small teams outperform solo geniuses” (James, 2015) While Einstein or Newton

does exist, they are exceedingly rare In real life, even brilliant people are just more effective and creative when working with others Teamwork skills hence are becoming indispensable for a person to accomplish life achievements Acquiring efficient teamwork skills, however, is an undoubtedly strenuous process which is obstructed by numerous obstacles This research is conducted with the target of figuring out problems and difficulties to which fourth-year Students in Faculty of English Language Teacher Education (FELTE) at University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) have confronted when working in a team and thenceforth proposing corresponding solutions In great detail, the research is undertaken based on the ground of three main reasons

The first reason is determined to be the fact that the prerequisite for working in a team does increase currently, not only among academic milieu but also in a social environment because teamwork has been recognized to be the great solution to accomplish mutual tasks Teamwork may happen roughly in every single activity, from as simple as cooking to as complicated as doing an intellectual research, all of which highlight the significance of attaining teamwork skills to succeed This leads

to the necessity to find out difficulties in working in a team and corresponding measures to increase the level of proficiency regarding teamwork among the population

Secondly, the research is conducted due to the obligation of working in a team given in undergraduate curriculum It is currently witnessing the popularity of teamwork becoming a compulsory task in relatively any intellectual courses Students are required to work in a group for mutual assignments on an excessively regular basis A substantial number of students are detected to suffer from teamwork failures due to the shortage of teamwork skills such as leadership skills, communication skills, or coordination skills To help ULIS students in specific and undergraduate students in general acquire efficient teamwork competencies to enhance academic performance, this research will locate underlying problems causing disruption and obstacles on teamwork as well as corresponding suggestions

to assist them on utilizing teamwork in many upper-level courses

The final reason why researchers chose this subject matter is that its results can be

in the long term used to optimize one’s teamwork skills in further professional careers Everyone in the workforce works as a team member at some points in their career (Lawler, Mohrman, Cohen, & Ledford, 1998; Nielsen, Sundstrom, & Halfhill, 2005) Teamwork plays an even more important role in workplaces than it does in schools as from small startups to large corporations, teamwork decreases burnout and increases company's overall productivity There observes a high possibility of the fact that a small lack of teamwork skills in professional workplaces can lead to extremely serious consequences Hence, to properly acquire teamwork skills, this research will be carried out to provide sufficient knowledge and solving methods to teamwork problems to prevent unexpected consequences in professional careers

In brief, the increasing demand for teamwork in life, in academic performance and

in professional careers are regarded as three major rationales stimulating the authors to choose the research title; and surmounting difficulties as well as feasible

solutions for FELTE students at ULIS in particular and graduates in general to facilitate teamwork competence in any environment is mandatory

1.2 Aims of the study

Several researches have been carried out on the concept of teamwork This research work is not a right derivation from all other works as it focuses on the fourth-year students in FELTE of ULIS to figure out and examine several specific objectives The research is momentous to identify some background teamwork-related information, which enables the authors to grasp considerable knowledge and even profound understanding of functioning in a team

Secondly, the research will reveal the students’ attitude towards working in a team and reckoning their teamwork efficiency

Last but not least, the impacts of working in team among the last year student at FELTE of ULIS especially on negative aspects will be clarified In other words, the study is to scrutinize underlying problems that FELTE fourth-year students have confronted on a frequent basis and to propose certain excellent suggestions

Due to these prime objectives, hopefully, the researchers would like to provide a more comprehensive view of teamwork, prevailing issues and feasible solutions in particular in order to encourage teamwork efficiently, and increase academic performance as well as practical soft skills for life

1.3 Scope of the study

Due to the lack of time to collect the adequate data and in-depth knowledge of the objects on a large scale, the research is conducted on the range of 100 FELTE

students from ULIS in the academic year 2014 - 2018

This scope is chosen based on the ground that the population is identified as year undergraduates who have four-year experiences in working in groups, hence they possess a deeper understanding about teamwork issues more than the first, second and third-year students The survey results will be captured accurately and reliably for data analysis

last-Moreover, the final-year students are potential members of the upcoming labor forces so enhancing teamwork skills is one of the most critical competencies in their preference to improve and be qualified to the professional career afterward Accordingly, these are the objects that need to be surveyed, interviewed and investigated so that the paper gives an overview of experiences, benefits, challenges and solutions about the most effective teamwork

Due to these two core reasons, the fourth-year FELTE students at ULIS are utterly promising participants for this subject matter

1.4 Methods of the study

The research will be defined and analyzed by the method of quantitative in which the data is gathered using structured research instruments to rapidly reach the research aims

Basically, quantitative research is the systematic empirical investigation of observable phenomena via objective statistical, mathematical or computational techniques It is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories, and hypotheses pertaining to phenomena Quantitative research is used to test hypotheses in experiments because of its ability to measure data using statistics in a fast and precise way Moreover, analyzing the data with the assistance of automatic and precise IT systems will yield unbiased results that can wholly generalize and describe a population which is too large to observe directly

A questionnaire was designed to find out students’ perspectives on teamwork, all their comments and suggestions were noted and assessed The questionnaire was put online and e-mailed to all the current final-year FELTE students in February

2018 Approximately two minutes is calculated to be enough for participants to complete the survey The fact that all students were encouraged to answer the questionnaire online is highly convenient and preferable

Due to the limited time and inadequate facilities, the authors choose the quantitative method to carry out their survey, which makes the results more objective and valid Hopefully, the accurate and comprehensive data will be acquired, which encourages the researchers to in-depth analyze the information, and then encounter as well as surmount grave difficulties faced by all fourth-year FELTE students at ULIS, VNU in particular and all graduates

1.5 Design of the study

This research covers five chapters with the main following content:

Chapter 1: Introduction: The study’s rationale, aims of the study, the scope of the

study, method of the study and design of the study will be covered

Chapter 2: Literature Review: The authors will parade both basic and some

comprehensive knowledge and theories related to teamwork activity such as its definition, how it is categorized, teamwork’s critical significance, its benefits to individuals and groups, especially common difficulties arising in team and teamwork related studies by other authors in numerous aspects

Chapter 3: Methodology: Information of participants, data collection instruments

and data collection procedures will be clarified

Chapter 4: Data analysis: The results of the data analysis are presented

Chapter 5: Findings and Recommendation: Both researchers’ findings related

to students’ difficulties on teamwork as well as resolutions for these issues are about to the highlighted And even recommendations for further studies will be shown so as to suggest more possible researchers in the future

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Acquiring an indeed comprehensive grasp of the significance of teamwork, its benefits and difficulties will create favorable conditions for researchers to contemplate, analyze and recommend some feasible solutions for teamwork associated issues Not least in importance, related studies by other authors are below presented to figure out what have and have not been done successfully as

well as show the vital prerequisite of this subject matter

2.1 Definition of Teamwork

Over the years, abundant attempts have been made to define “teamwork” (Hackman 1987; Katzenbach and Smith 1993; Robbins and Finley, 1995) At different times and in distinct settings, various terms such as “teams”, “groups” and

“work units” have been used to describe this form of work organization (Benders and Van Hootegem, 1999)

A “team” is a formal group of members who interact at a high level and work together intensely to achieve a common group goal Teams are considered to be effective when they draw on the abilities and experiences of their members to accomplish things that could not be achieved by individuals working separately or

by other kinds of working group (Jones et al, 2008) In other words, teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks A team is a place gathering those having either same targets or needs Alternatively, a team normally has members with complementary skills and generates synergy through a coordinated effort which allows each member to maximize his or her strengths and minimize his or her weaknesses

Numerous terminologies and explanations to express the meaning of “teamwork” are available; however, they are in general relatively equivalent According to Business Dictionary, “teamwork” is the process of working collaboratively with a group of people to achieve a mutual goal “Teamwork” is either defined by Scarnati

(2001) “as a cooperative process that allows ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results” Teamwork replies upon individuals working together in a

cooperative environment to achieve common team goals through sharing

knowledge and skills "Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their hard work For if one of them should fall, the other one can raise his partner up But how will it be with just the one who falls when there is not another

to raise him up?" (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, KJV) This implies that teamwork can

accomplish what the individual cannot do on his or her own and members in a team will try to cooperate, using their individual skills and providing constructive feedback, despite any personal conflict between individuals

A lot of researches have been carried out on the concept of teamwork This research is not of any deviation from all other works that have been carried out on the concept In this study, the researchers try to ascertain the difficulties and the solutions of working in a team among the final-year ULIS students in particular and the upcoming graduates in general

2.2 Types of Teamwork

Teamwork development has witnessed a dramatic growth in all types of organizations Successful outcomes and ventures of organizations depend on the cooperative nature of many teams According to Michel (2014), there are four basic types of teamwork including informal teams, traditional teams, self‐directed (self‐managed) teams and virtual teams which are commonly used to complete mutual assignments or acquire achievements

2.2.1 Informal team

Picture 1: Informal team

Source: Group discussion, Reference for business, 2013

Informal teams or groups emerge whenever people come together and interact regularly (Hitesh Basin, 2015) There are also no leaders, no rules in groups that arise to create an avenue for interaction; relationships are what bind and guide them Casual interactions in such an organization can be formed anywhere, anytime and be disbanded without consulting the management One example of an informal team is a group of co-workers who meet informally over breaks to discuss problems about their work environment Though this type of teamwork is formed without a formal structure, it can be extremely effective because team members are dedicated to sharing a common opinion

2.2.2 Traditional team

Picture 2: Traditional team Source: Working conditions in Norway, New York Times, 2009

Traditional teams are formed with a specific goal in mind or work process Traditional work teams, which are highly structured, also known as conventional or collocated teams, consist of individuals working in physical proximity Teamwork can be difficult to establish within a traditional team without the identification of a common purpose to which all members can agree and commit

2.2.3 Self ‐directed team

Geoff Colvil (2012) defined self-directed team or self‐managed team as a team in which there is no manager nor authority figure, so it is up to members to determine rules and expectations, to solve problems when they arise, and to bare shared responsibility for the results These teams are provided with a goal by the organization, and then carry out the project as well as determine how to achieve the goal However, team members have great freedom in determining what the team does, provided that they are obliged meet quality standards

2.2.4 Virtual team

Picture 3: Virtual team

Source: Working as a Virtual team, New York Times, 2014

Powell, Piccoli and Ives (2010) stated the definition of a virtual team “as groups of geographically, organizationally and/or time dispersed workers brought together

by information and telecommunication technologies to accomplish one or more organizational tasks” Generally, the evolution of technology to include software

and multimedia options that encourage organizations to expand over greater geographic distances has also led to a rise in the use of virtual teams Collaborative software and conferencing systems have improved the ability for employees to meet, conduct business, share documents, and make decisions without ever being in the same location Issues regularly arise with this type of teamwork due to the lack

of auditory clues or facial; participants must be taken at their word, even when video-conferencing tools are used

2.3 The Importance of Teamwork

“Coming together is a beginning Keeping together is progress Working together

is a success.” The above proverb by Henry Ford can very well highlight the

importance of working together in teams The ability to work in teams is one of the most vital soft skills that often taught in universities to be applied in the business world as well as required in professional life

Nowadays, teamwork is an essential element of the society and plays an important role in assessing one’s ability in various kinds of career Teamwork is not only reflected in a team's success, but also in individual growth According to Taylorist model, in current times there has been growing emphasis on tertiary education that students should develop professional skills as a part of their education Skills such

as problem-solving, communication, collaboration, interpersonal skills, social skills and time management are actively being targeted by prospective employers as an essential requirement for employability, especially in a team environment Of these, employment authorities consistently mention collaboration and teamwork as being

a critical skill, essential in almost all working environments (Taylorist 2003)

Moreover, teamwork is the concept of people working together cooperatively, as in sales team, sports team etc It has also become so valued that many large corporations have developed specific tests to measure potential employee’s teamwork ability Hence, it has become an important goal in most workplaces, the belief is that teamwork gives employees a sense of ownership and encourages

cooperation (Adeleke, 2008) Gardner and Korth (1998) asserted, “To remain innovative and competitive, businesses are looking for employees who can work and learn effectively in team” (p 1) Thus, understanding the impact of teamwork

on performance is important because teamwork is viewed by some researchers as one of the key driving force for improving a firm’s performance (Jones et al, 2008)

Therefore, Teamwork can be very useful and important to organizations as they can complete critical tasks Teams are also important and can perform at higher levels than typical workgroups (See, e.g., Majchrzak & Wang, 1996; Mulvey, Veiga & Elsass, 1996) This higher performance level is the result of a greater synergy

resulting from collaboration and jointly produced outputs rather than a pooling of individual outputs (Katz, 1997) The more informal environment within which team members work, and which also allows communities of practice to develop resulting in on-going learning and creative applications, enhances the vitality of teams

2.4 Benefits of Teamwork

It is none of the coincidence that teamwork is increasingly becoming a favorable method to accomplish mutual assignments One of the reasons explaining its popularity is that teamwork brings a tremendous number of benefits for achievers Benefits of teamwork are eventually defined by some of the most famous theorists

in this field

Ingram and other theorists manifestly stated overwhelming advantages of working

in a team in their primary research named “A systems model of effective

teamwork” in 1997 including four main constituents: increasing commitment and

motivation, improving quantitative and qualitative communication, enhancing the ability to learn from the others, and raising sense of organizational and personal satisfaction Those constructive characteristics are mentioned as consequence of introducing teamwork method in the workplace (Sven Rosenhauer, 2005) and are exclusively appreciated in the professionally modern world

Besides those above skills, Duncan Ian Brown also declared the benefits of teamwork in the “Team-based reward plans” (1995) that teamwork anticipates positive results on not only the individual performance but also organizational objectives He further gave explanations for the proclamation that teamwork gradually reinforces each member’s soft skills in the route of pursuing after one

ultimate goal of the group and the progress ends up “killing two birds with one stone”

In addition to those famous theories, there are other statements about benefits of teamwork from other theorists which are also essential to be taken into consideration Brian Beal (2003) added an advantage of teamwork regarding

financial and economic concerns: “It helps enhance the productivity of a company and helps them gain more profit” Additionally, teamwork poses encouraging

impacts on social relationship and behavior to help handle members with low trust syndrome (Jin, 1993)

2.5 Difficulties arising in Teamwork

Regardless of considerable benefits to not only individuals but also groups, suffering from a variety of problems inhibiting effective teamwork is inevitable with every team member It is in fact regardless of whoever cooperators are – closer friends or strangers, several common issues are still imminent

First and foremost, poor communication plagues teamwork And without proper communication at workplaces, we tend to get what we least asked for: mistakes, conflicts, poor relationships (Harvard Business Review, 2009) Poor communication within a team can cause misunderstandings that lead to internal conflict A team that spends its time misinterpreting information and creating conflicts is not able to be a productive work unit (Lam, 2016) Also, disputes and arguments about personal or work-related issues can inhibit teamwork and hurt productivity (Harvard Business Review, 2009) Therefore, poor communication is one of the most severe problems that should be deal with urgently and promptly to create a friendly and stimulating environment fostering team member to contribute, develop and consummate the ambitious goals

The second issue emerging on teamwork should be the ineffective leadership (Harvard Business Review, 2009) Leaders serve as the backbone of teams, from their roles in specifying goals and setting up work sessions and meetings to keeping

an eye on goal advancement Many kinds of bad leaders are available They are unable to give a clear goal for the team, or incapable of an inspiring team, motivating them, creating a healthy competitive environment and not a good role model due to unqualified competences And Lipman (2005) suggested that the toxic leaders will also use charismatic tendencies to manipulate, isolate, and ostracize his or her followers This is where teamwork is impacted When a negative or destructive leader is around, followers will either look to move away from that leader or they will jump on the negative leader’s bandwagon (Lam, 2016) When this happens, a division occurs within the team In some cases, the leader intentionally seeks to create turmoil in the team Hence, bad leader is really a grave risk to teamwork

Last but not least, irresponsibility is also one of the main reasons leading to the ineffective teamwork (Harvard Business Review, 2009) Contrary to popular belief, teamwork is not just a group progress, it's a personal responsibility and skill (M.Avery, 2014) Responsibilities are the specific tasks or duties that members are expected to complete as a function of their roles They are specific activities or obligations for which they are held when they assume or are assigned to a role on a project or team However, many team members ignore tasks and miss deadlines But they do not forget that they are working in a team, their irresponsibility will not only pose bad impacts on their career, but also the others’ and the whole team Therefore, irresponsibility should also be taken into more consideration

In brief, defective communication, ineffective leadership and irresponsibility are three most predominant aspects resulting in disappointing performances of teamwork

In the thesis on “The Disadvantages of Teamwork in the Workplace”, Chris Joseph (2014) revealed four disadvantages of working in groups in the workplace are Unequal Participation, Longer Process, Limiting Creativity and Inherent Conflict Chris Joseph mentioned that while teamwork does offer a variety of advantages, there are also potential disadvantages people should be aware of when implementing a team concept in workplaces Besides, Rasel Jack (2015) looked at both benefits and shortcomings of teamwork in her research named “Advantages and Disadvantages of Teamwork” and eventually affirmed the importance of teamwork since teamwork advantages outnumber disadvantages In great detail, advantages attained from working in a team include nine points: productivity, job satisfaction, quality of work, acceptance of change, commitment to goal achievement, low turnover downward, development of motivation, less cost and time and Increases creativity and innovation whereas disadvantages include five points: lack of competence, unwillingness of management, political involvement, less training and not cooperative attitude Moreover, Joseph Chris (2013) revealed

in his research “Seven Pros and Cons of Group Work” that working in teams, after all, is part of a business environment and is an approach that companies’ use to achieve certain goals or complete certain projects He focused on four advantages

of teamwork that people get: result in a common direction, more ideas are shared, increased efficiency, accountability of weak areas However, he also highlighted three difficulties of working in a team: The case of the free-rider, loss of resources, conflicts among team members Another research gives readers deep understanding and knowledge about teamwork is “The secret of teamwork” by Martine Haas & Mark Mortensen (2016) The authors also recognized the limitations and difficulties when working in a group: Indulging in the blame game when things go wrong, unequal involvement and participation of different members, not cooperative attitude and conflict among members in a team

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

After a broad literature review on the difficulties and the solutions of working in a team, this chapter presents a descriptive-survey study conducted in order to corroborate the literature review findings by concentrating on the situation at ULIS (VNU) about this topic

3.1 Participants

The target population of the research is fourth-year students studying Faculty of English Language Teacher Education (FELTE) at University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) In a great detail, researchers will conduct a survey on respondents being students of twenty classes in QH.2014 ranging from class E1 to class E20 To be more precise, it is an unmitigated source of students who are favorably regarded as potential and relevant informants There are two below-listed common characteristics of the population to declare to be a preferably contributive group to the success of the research First of all, the final-year students who have at least 4-year-experience in working in groups, they hence possess a subconscious grasp of teamwork issues rather than the first, second and third-year students In addition, since there covers a wide range of specializations from pedagogy, translation, interpreting to international economics in 20 classes, the scope of the research is both large enough to distribute the survey and diverse enough to receive answers from many aspects in order to certify the rational validity of the research

3.2 Data collection instruments

3.2.1 Quantitative methods

Owing to the limitation in time and facilities, the authors choose the quantitative method to carry out the research, which determined to reach more objective and

valid results Furthermore, researchers are also able to collect original data for wholly describing a population which is too large to observe directly

The survey was all sent to objective respondents via the Internet, which was designed to find out students’ perspectives on teamwork and its issues, all of their comments and suggestions were noted and assessed The questionnaire was put online and e-mailed to all the current final-year FELTE students in February 2018 thanks to QH.2014 FELTE’s monitors and social network groups The fact that the online survey takes only two minutes to be completed is highly convenient and preferable

Moreover, a descriptive survey is considered to be more effective in depicting a portrayal of overall characteristics such as students’ attitudes, their perspectives, abilities, or knowledge of the issue The expense is also a beneficial point for carrying out a questionnaire online which is distinctively more economical than the normal interview methodology

For these justifications, the researchers finalized the quantitative method with a questionnaire survey instrument to acquire accurate information and elicit from the perceptions of the target population

3.2.2 Survey questions

The researchers set out to assess the perception of FELTE fourth-year students at ULIS in teamwork difficulties as well as recommendations Our 17 questions are categorized into three main parts including QH.2014 FELTE students’ attitudes towards teamwork, their common problems in functioning as a team member, and especially suggestions for group work challenges, which is easy-to-follow for both students and researchers

There are no open-ended questions, the respondents are supplied with ready-made answers but still followed by blank lines for any other ideas to fill in There are three subtypes of these close-ended questions The first type is ladder scale in which students have to rank order item to evaluate issues on a severity scale of 5 (one question) The second one is the multiple-choice item with six questions, which can only be chosen one answer And finally, the multiple-choice item which can be checked more than one with the aim of acquiring more objective perspectives and contribution (10 questions)

3.3 Data collection procedures

3.3.2 Delivery

The researchers targeted the fourth-year students from E1 to E20 studying Faculty

of English Language Teacher Education of University of Languages and International Studies as the entire sample of the research Due to the lack of class

attendance since it was at the end of the lunar year, researchers decided to deliver questionnaires via the Internet to each student The researchers did send online links of the questionnaire to friends studying from E1 to E20 via Facebook or mobile messages in a closer case to ask for a sincere contribution Fortunately, with the support of modern technology and Internet development, the respondents’ approach to survey by spreading links online is considerably profound Consequently, the number of links online spread was 110

3.3.3 Collection

In fact, spreading links online is not cogitated to be the most effective way for researchers because the case depends on the attendants’ free time and willingness Researchers cannot control the objectiveness and the truthfulness of the answers as well However, sending links via the Internet bring faster results in

a more economical way Moreover, data analysis will be numerously easier with the aid of automatic and precise IT systems While collecting results of the survey,

it was found that some answer sheets were done more than once by exactly the same participants or some were misunderstood because of their unawareness The final number of responses collected is 103 (92% of 110)

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS

In this chapter, the results of the data analysis are described in general about the tendency as well as the detail of the trend The authors collected the data in process in terms of the problems proposed in chapter 1 of this study In the basement of quantitative methodology, chapter 4 will focus on the survey questionnaire analysis by depicting students’ attitudes towards teamwork, common problems in working in a team and recommendations for teamwork difficulties

4.1 Students attitudes towards teamwork (Question 1-5)

4.1.1 The ideal number of members in a group

Chart 1: The ideal number of members in a group

The pie chart shows student’s opinions about the ideal figure of team members at which they are at the most likely to function well and get the optimal performance More than half of the population admitted that a group of four members would promise a higher percentage of success among the choices The second common

answer is the group with five members which was chosen by 30 percent of the informants, while the choice attracts the least attention is the group with five The result is conceived to be based on the reality that people will minimize socialization and maximize individual contribution within a 4-to-5-member group

4.1.2 The preferable members to form a group

The tendency of forming a group is illustrated through choosing the type of

members Based on the chart, a great number of students (91%) prefer working with familiar members while the proportion of the random members is less than one-tenth

4.1.3 The favorable role in a group

Question number 3 is related to the preferable position of students when working in

a group Overall, it can be clearly seen that four-fifths of the students would like to act a member role in the group On the other hand, the leader position accounted for only 22 percent

4.1.4 The relationship between leaders and members

The question number 4 is designed to access the common relationship between the leader and team members or the tendency of which they frequently possess when working together According to the result of the question 4, the largest proportion

of the final-year students selected the equal relationship (90%) while in contrast, the upper - lower relationships accounted for only 10% of the total

4.1.5 Common assignment delegation methods