An excerpt from Tools for Teams:
"During the last decade of the Twentieth Century, nearly every company in North America caught the team bug. If the hype was to be belived, workplace teams would solve virtually every corporate problem, ratchet up quality, increase productivity and profits, improve organizational culture, and cure the common cold. Teams were good. Teams were in. Hierarchy was bad. Hierarchy was out..."
Since the Unviersity of Phoenix was founded nearly a quarter of a century ago, learning teams have been an essential element of its Teaching/Learning Model. UOP's Founder, Dr. John Sperling, recognized the value of teams in both academia and the workplace long before these benefits became widely known and accepted. Dr. Sperling believed, and subsequent research has confirmed, that learning teams fulfill several essential functions that are especially beneficial to working adult learners. Team effectiveness doesn't just happen; it takes knowledge, skill and action.
Tools for Teams was created as a "toolkit" for University of Phoenix students to gain that knowledge and develope those skills. It is a resource that can be used throughout a student's academic program as well as in the workplace to improve the quality and effectiveness of teams and increase team learning.