Abstract:

Teamwork is essential to modern organizational practices, and working effectively in a team is a highly valued skill. Therefore, students must develop teamwork skills and gain experience in collaborative work during their academic years. Team projects are a common feature of many educational programs, and they allow students to develop teamwork skills and learn how to work collaboratively towards a common goal. The purpose of the conducted research is to investigate the effect of teamwork skills among first-year students from the Faculty of Organization and Informatics (FOI), through a team project and differences between females and males comparison. We conducted the research through a survey questionnaire in the first semester of the 2022–2023 academic year, and a total of 332 students enrolled in the course Organization, representing the sample. The questionnaire comprises 33 elements, where items are divided into five categories/factors: contributing to the team’s work (eight items); interacting with teammates (ten items); keeping the team on track (seven items); expecting quality (four items); and having relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities (four items). Also, we conducted research twice, at the beginning (pre) and end (post) of the group project. A total of 242 students completed the pre-questionnaire, and 226 completed both questionnaires. We found that the mean post scores were better in all five behavior categories than the pre-mean scores. Furthermore, female students performed better in all five behavior categories than male students. These results are consistent with previous research and are a valuable contribution to understanding the importance of teamwork skills for students as future employees.

Keywords:

Teamwork, Team effectiveness, Student’s team project.