Diversity-coaching for student teams

In the context of increasing internationalisation of students at ETH Zurich and the broad deployment of group work in teaching, we present a concept which makes it possible for students to profit from the diversity of their teams. Our experiences in D-MTEC programmes and research conducted on diversity in teams have shown that diversity can be both a curse and a blessing. This dilemma is one which will be faced by most ETH students, now and in their later careers in internationally active organisations.
The project’s main goal is the development, deployment, evaluation and adaptation of a diversity coaching model for student groupwork. The coaching model involves intervention at three points in time which are significant for teams: motivational intervention when teamwork begins; strategic intervention when it is halfway through; and educational intervention when teamwork concludes. The target group is students in the courses Human Resource Management A (AS 2009 and 2010) and B (SS 2010), and Empirical Methods for Organizational Analysis (AS 2009 and 2010) (D-MTEC, Prof. Grote). An analysis of the need for diversity coaching in other ETH departments will also be made: based on its findings and an evaluation of coaching already conducted, further need-oriented support measures will be developed.

• Continuous iterative process of developing applying evaluating and improving the measures
• Cooperation with ETH LET

We have developed measures that support student work groups when they are particularly «ready» for external support: the Team Plan for the beginning of teamwork, the Team Check! for midpoint reflection, followed by standardized questions aiming at reflection at the end of the teamwork. The Team Up! Podcast and the Team Consultation Hour can be made available throughout the course.

We recommend more explicit discussion among teaching assistants about how to use the measures and more explicit support to allow the student teams an optimal start.

Students› opinions of the project varied. Some found it very helpful, whereas others didn’t. Some students mentioned that they didn’t like the measures at first but found them to be quite useful later on–this result is in line with findings from team research showing that team members do not like to talk about their teamwork but benefit from doing so.

• More information, monitoring, and consistent support of the measures
• Mandatory use of all measures
• Develop electronic versions of some of the measures