Work in progress — Studies on selecting successful design teams

The Oregon Institute of Technology [OIT] is the only public institute of technology in the Pacific Northwest. OIT offers degree programs in engineering, management, communications, health technology, and applied science. OIT´s Computer Systems Engineering Technology [CSET] Department uses a sequence of three quarter-length senior project classes to meet ABET-TAC capstone design requirements. Due to a lack of student preparation for this senior project class sequence, an additional set of three quarter-length pre-requisite classes, junior project, was added. Both of these classes feature complex programmable digital logic circuit designs based on current VLSI technology. The junior project class is based on team projects and the success or failure of the students is influenced by both the quality of the faculty proctor´s direction and the excellence of the social dynamics of the students´ teamwork. This paper presents a paradigm for a conflict resolution scheme based on allowing the team members to fire a non-performing colleague in certain circumstances.