Does It Really Work? An Application of the Group Interaction Framework

Abstract

The use of cooperative learning at the college level is growing, as is the prevalence of teamwork in organizations. This paper presents the results of a quasi-experimental study using the inter-group interaction conceptual framework developed by Howard, et a!. for cooperative learning. Students in strategic management courses were grouped and then paired with groups of Accounting Information Systems students to comprise teams. The cooperative student teams were required to develop a viable business plan for a theoretical small enterprise. To assess the degree of cooperativeness, a pre/post attitudinal survey was administered. The results of the experiment suggest that students attitudes toward teamwork improved, particularly in terms of their enthusiasm. However, an interesting effect was that the experiment seems to have had little impact on the students’ desires to work alone. Other results are also reported.