BUS477

Team Charter – TITUS (Team #8)

Subject: Team Charter – TITUS (Team #8)
Course Title:  BUS477
Instructor:  Ean Jackson 
Team Members Robert Wallace (BUS477), Ali Alsamaraie (BUS477),  James King (Bus477), Andra St.Quintin (ENSC201), Kyle Balston (ENSC201), Samantha Grist (ENSC201), Thomas Schultz (ENSC201), Derek Lowes (ENSC201)  

Team Member Skill Inventory

Wallace will contribute his skill as a leader by being our Team Leader, organizing us; keeping us on track, leading meetings, and helping all of us contribute. He will help to do any specific research we may need as a team.. His experience in managing projects contributes to his research skills, organization, and time management, therefore allowing him to supervise the allocated tasks. James King will be in charge of communications, take notes at meetings, and communicate those notes via email. he likes to help and try new ways of doing things. His Internet research skills will come in handy to our team. Ali Alsamaraie will contribute via his writing skills and project design skills he has gained over his years of experience with various team projects. He will contribute via his technical skills and his access to a computer and software to match those required by the school. and can create audio presentations, video, websites, PowerPoint presentations, or whatever other technological skills may be necessary in completing any of our assignments. The engineers will provide the engineering expertise providing the skills that the business students lack. Specifically regarding product development, technical drawings, patent research. The business students will help to educate the engineers on the appropriate wording, structure and content for a business plan so that as a team we can swiftly research and write the plan to the highest standards.

Learning Team Goals

1. Every Team Member in our team receives an A on all of our Team projects/worksheets.
2. To create an excellent business plan for an actual product that would succeed in the real world.
3. Every team member wants to perfect the skill of public speaking and presenting in the best manner.
4. Every Team member will attend our Team meetings. In the event that this is not possible, a team member will give at least 24 hours notice to our team leader, and arrange to receive assignments from the Team offline, online, by email, or by phone.
5. To create a winning team that will win the Ken Spencer prize

What are potential barriers to the achievement of these goals

 Schedule Barriers: Due to the large number of engineering students and business students involved in this project, reaching a meeting time suitable for all members will be a challenge.  Other than classes, all students are involved in other curricular activities that demand a portion of their time, leaving a very limited time slots for meetings.

Communication barriers – due to the nature of our class design and obligations, we do not always all communicate online at the same time. We also experience different communication styles, written or oral, which may inhibit our being able to understand each other clearly, or having our ideas and thoughts expressed at all. The asynchronous nature of our communication may make it difficult to schedule face-to-face meetings as well.

Geographic barriers – All of us live in different areas. But most group members have relatively access to the Burnaby campus. Therefore we agreed to utilize the Burnaby campus as a meeting ground for face-to-face meetings and we will facilitate other communication mediums such as MSN, Facebook and email to arrange these meetings.

Ground Rules

1. We have agreed to meet in Tim Horton`s on Fridays starting at 4:30. For those that cannot be there, we will expect at least a 24 hour notice, and they will be expected to participate in the allocated tasks during that meeting. Meeting time is subject to change under the circumstances of heavy exam periods. We also have agreed to keep in contact with each other throughout the week before a meeting via email and phone calls to make sure that we will be prepared to meet. If needed, we will hold a meeting before the last day of class. If a team member is going to be late or leave early, he or she needs to let the team know.
2. We are a larger team so just make sure that no one is left out and that everyone is involved. We will stay together and will succeed.

1. The team will set internal deadlines specific for every week depending on the tasks we need completed. These deadlines will posted in our weekly Team update and through a group email and will be posted on Mondays.  If a team member is not able to meet his or her deadline, he or she should communicate the problem prior to the deadline in order for the group to complete this task within required time.
2. If a team member is going to be late or leave early, he or she needs to let the team know.  The best way to let the team know is to email our communication manager, James, within a  minimum of 24 hours before the meeting.  Our meetings will follow a specific agenda that will be communicated via email by James before our meeting. 
3. It is the responsibility of our Team leader to make sure that everyone has the chance to speak. It is also his or her responsibility to make sure that everyone stays on track of where the meeting should be going. We will actively listen and comment on each person’s ideas and opinions in order to come to the best results.
4. Due to the large number of people involved in this team, it is important to remind all members that all opinions, although different, will be respected and all ideas will be assessed prior to being used or dismissed.  Our team leader, Robert, will be responsible for this reminder.

Conflict Management

To be realistic, most our conflicts will stem from everyone`s busy schedule and allocation of time towards this project. All of us could use a little more focus and could do better at being punctual. We will manage this by being generous and kind with each other if problems arise. We accommodate each other and it has worked very well so far. The following points will serves as a general template to dealing with all anticipated conflicts:

1. Be accommodating in our approach to collaboration
2. Be open and flexible with other team members, and gently reminding them of what they said they were going to do.
3. We confront the team member privately, having our team leader do the confronting.
4. We ask our instructor to get involved.
5. As a last resort, we ask our Team member to resign from the team or we will forcibly dismiss them from the Team