SIBS Research Community Seminar – Dr John Pearlstein

Title: Combining Professor- and Student-Directed Methods for Effective Team Formation

Date: 11 September 2024

Time: 14:00 – 15:30

Venue: NUBS.4.25

If you would like to attend, please register using the following link:

Combining Professor- and Student-Directed Methods for Effective Team Formation

Speaker:  Dr John Pearlstein

Dr John Pearlstein, Stockton University, N.J., USA Dr Pearlstein possesses 15 years of experience in teaching strategic management and entrepreneurship at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and Stockton University in New Jersey. He earned his Ph.D. in Management from Temple University and his MBA in Marketing from New York University. Additionally, he has over 2 decades of business experience in Marketing and Manufacturing in the consumer package goods industry, and over a decade of experience as a member of an angel Investment group in the Philadelphia region.

Abstract:

There is a common tension in capstone courses between professors assigning team projects and students’ reluctance to participate. Additionally, students prefer choosing their own teammates, while professors believe they can create better-balanced teams. Student-chosen teams often face issues like homogeneity and unbalanced skills, whereas professor-assigned teams can lead to student resentment. The experiential exercise presented here, conducted over one or two class meetings, allows students to learn about balanced team construction, present themselves, and interview peers. This method avoids the constraints of seat proximity or prior connections. The experiential exercise effectively combines the strengths of both student-directed and professor-directed methods. This presentation also provides comprehensive resources for professors to implement this exercise smoothly in their classrooms and empirical results showing a strong student preference for this method over traditional team formation. In sum, this method results in teams that are more cohesive, perform better, and are preferred by students.