Task and networking balance as key to satisfaction with team performance

As today's market place becomes globally more competitive, industries expect engineering teams to perform innovatively within cost and time constraints. The team depends on effective collaboration to balance technical knowledge for innovation with dynamics for implementing a project. This paper summarizes an engineering approach for analyzing attitude and satisfaction surveys (in & out) and team building observations (internal forces). Students initiate a project with high expectations that the team will balance completing tasks and maintaining good relationships. A team centered and supportive environment emerges from using the task and networking roles that promised some level of satisfaction with the outcome. A balance of task and networking translates into satisfaction with leadership and management, which correlates to satisfaction with performance. The team's ability to get work done with respect to its vision for the project governs its satisfaction with performance.