Building High-Performance Teams

In school and later as business professionals, learners will be asked to join teams. These may be permanent, high-powered, self-managed work teams or special-purpose groups that meet only long enough to tackle a specific problem. No matter what the team situation, this text helps readers build the vital skills to maximize individual contribution, understand team roles, overcome conflict, negotiate solutions, evaluate outcomes, and think creatively. This guided process is a productive team experience that yields high-performance results - results that can be replicated in team settings in the workplace.

Dr. DuFrene is a professor of business communication and information technology in the Department of General Business at Stephen F. Austin State University, an AACSB-accredited school. She has more than 18 years of experience teaching business communication, including 13 years at Stephen F. Austin. Dr. DuFrene earned a bachelor's and master's degrees in business education from Nicholls State University, and the Ed.D. from the University of Houston. Dr. DuFrene presently teaches business communication--a core requirement for all business majors--and information technology courses, including web design. She also frequently teaches a graduate-level business ethics course, and has completed post-doctoral course work in that field. Classroom instruction is supplemented with web-accessible materials that enrich and enliven the learning experience for students. She has served as a business communication consultant to various organizations from the business, industry, and education sectors including Texas Eastman, Temple-Inland, and Citgo Petroleum Corporation. Training seminars offered have focused on organizational communication, written communication, and time management topics.