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In many university courses students work in teams on class activities, papers and projects. Instructors often choose the team method as students will be expected to work in teams in many of their jobs. Team-based activities facilitate cooperative learning which occurs when individuals work together to accomplish a common goal. Collaboration amongst team members can occur in both face-to-face settings and in online environments. Teaching students the skills needed to collaborate in both environments helps prepare students for future jobs in which they may need to coordinate work efforts across different time and/or geographical settings. When students are part of a group, we often find that some students choose not to do their fair share of the work. Social loafing occurs when students are in a group and exert less effort than they would if they were working independently. In order to combat social loafing team charters and team evaluations were used in a marketing course. The instructor provided students with example team charters that have the workload equitably distributed for teams of three to four students. Students then create their own charter that discusses team norms (rules of behavior), assigns responsibilities to different sections of a project, and outlines sanctions for not meeting guidelines in the team charter. Team evaluations are also used in the class so that students can discuss throughout the semester how they perceive the performance level of team members. This paper will discuss the use of team charters and evaluations to level the impact of social loafing.

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