Making design teams work

At the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, senior mechanical engineering students participate in a two semester capstone design project. The students work in teams on a problem provided by industry to create a realistic environment for using their engineering skills in an applied setting. This scenario provides not only a real design problem, it also produces the same people problems encountered by industry when technical work is performed in groups. In an effort to improve the group working experience, interventions directly aimed at improving the communication skills of the students and teams were used. Coaches were used to facilitate group performance. The interviews and results of the data provide insights into the team experience of the students. This program has many facets. The topics discussed in this paper are the design of the communications training, coaching strategy and interventions, closing interview comments from the students, and cohesion. Finally, future plans for expanding this research are discussed.