Building Effective Teams for Resource Use Efficiency
Will Allen & Margaret Kilvington
[Reference as: Allen, W. and Kilvington, M. (2001) Building Effective Teams for Resource Use Efficiency. Landcare Research Contract Report: LC0001/60, Lincoln, New Zealand. 1 ]
Contents
1. Summary
1.1 Project and Client
A model for a team-based approach to organisational change was described by Landcare Research, Lincoln, in the context of the Christchurch City Council's group approach to achieving resource use efficiency and reduction in waste within organisations. This report was prepared for the Target Zero Programme (www.ccc.govt.nz/targetzero) Council's Waste Management Unit in February, 2001.
1.2 Objective
To outline the steps involved in supporting and implementing a team-based approach to organisational change.
1.3 Sources of Information
A comprehensive review of the literature on group processes.
Our experience in managing group dynamics within the context of resource mangement.
1.4 Checklist for Team Initiatives
Different elements are important at different stages of the team's operation:
Phase 1 - Getting started
Management considerations: Management can support the change process by: identifying and agreeing the need for change; aligning the right people to the change management team; recognising "the team" will be just one part of the organisation's strategy for change.
Participation in the team: ensure the right balance of skills by :
- Identifying people and selecting those who are willing to participate rather than calling for general volunteers.
- Selecting representatives of the areas of operation and subgroups in the organisation.
- Selecting those with good networking skills to feed information from the group to the rest of the organisation and vice versa.
- Considering management representation (if this is not present then provide some alternative avenue to the decision-making structure of the organisation).
- Limiting the size of the team to 5-12 people unless the team is highly structured and has clearly identified individual functions.
- Considering how the team will evolve, particularly in terms of adapting to new tasks that arise and recruiting new members as required.
- Ensuring the team has the skills it needs to be effective (see Table 2).
- Providing the team with resources it needs in terms of: time/facilities for meetings, administration support, professional facilitation, costs for research and information gathering, access to decision-making in the organisation.
Phase II - Team work: Points the team will need to work on:
- Developing a clear, shared vision and measurable, achievable goals as steps towards this vision.
- Developing roles, particularly of facilitator, chair, administrator and resource provider and determining a method for rotating these if necessary.
- Becoming informed undertaking a review of the literature around their essential purpose
- Understanding group processes and be able to move through the stages of forming, storming, norming/performing and dorming (see Table 3).
Phase III - Evaluation and adjustment
- It is important to set up at the start, ongoing processes to monitor the success of a team which enables teams and organisations to learn and improve rather than simply evaluate the worth of the work at the end of the project cycle
- Effective teams evaluate both the task they are doing (are we achieving waste reduction goals?) and the process they are using (how well are we working as a group?).
- Acknowledging small successes in both task and process is important for motivation.
- An important way of encouraging a team's maturity and independence is through the development of networks and links, external to the team and both internal and external to the organisation.
2. Overview
Increasingly organisations are paying more attention to the issue of waste reduction. This is driven by both an interest in cost saving within businesses and a recognition that there is now a societal desire to more carefully manage our planet's finite resources. The use of learning and team approaches within organisations as an integral component of achieving resource use efficiency is now well accepted, and forms a central part of the approach that is being supported by the Christchurch City Council for helping local businesses in this regard.
This report looks more closely at the role of teams within this approach, particularly drawing on documented experience of the social and organisational issues involved with supporting a team-based approach to help waste reduction. The change process itself is viewed as a three-stage model of getting started, teamwork, and evaluation and review. This first stage outlines where teams fit within the overall organisational direction, and how teams might be set up within this. The second stage addresses how teams work, providing information on tasks, process and support. The use of ongoing evaluation to keep teams well focussed and motivated forms stage three. Finally, some wider considerations of the value of networking between teams and organisations are highlighted as a way of improving learning opportunities and achieving goals in waste minimisation.
3. Role of Groups as a Catalyst for Change
How to best manage and foster change is a much considered topic in organisations today. One major aspect is the role of groups or teams within organisations as a catalyst for change. Many factors are driving this shift. A predominant one is that many tasks (such as minimising waste reduction across an organisation) are just too complex for individuals to handle alone. Another is the demonstrated fact that teams are more effective in solving problems and learn more rapidly than individuals. Moreover, there is ample evidence that harnessing the potential power of a group can have a dramatic effect on an organisation's ability to simultaneously meet goals and improve job satisfaction.
When a group is functioning well (whether it be a work team, a sports team, a friendship group, a chorus or orchestra, a religious group, a voluntary group, etc.) the group dynamics and sense of belonging and acceptance can bring out the "best" in people. Groups can enhance problem solving and creativity, generate understanding, acceptance, support, and commitment. In addition groups can enhance morale, provide an outlet for affiliation, enhance self esteem, help create consensus and security. We have all had at least a few experiences where participation in an effective group or team has helped us to "achieve" at levels we never thought possible (Wertheim 2000).
However, while teams may be a necessary part of successful organisational change, their presence certainly doesn't guarantee success. As most of us can testify, groups can also be inefficient, confused and frustrated. Moreover, few managers have extensive training or knowledge of managing group dynamics (Wertheim 2000). Most of us are more comfortable managing individuals than groups, and more comfortable working on our own than in a group.
For team initiatives to be successful, there must be a unified effort by company executives, adequate direction and support for the team initiative itself, and ongoing measurement and adjustment of progress towards the desired change. The model below (Table 1) provides a three-phase outline of the steps involved in supporting and implementing a team-based approach to organisational change. Note that these phases are not necessarily linear. That is, Phase two does not start at the completion of Phase one. Each phase is a continual work in progress, with overlap into the next phase.
| Table 1- A model for a team-based approach to organisational change | ||
PHASE 1: Getting started
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PHASE 2: Teamwork
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PHASE 3: Evaluation and adjustment
|
Successful organisational change is a difficult and complex process, and results should be measured in terms of years, rather than months. There are, however, a number of stages in the process that indicate progress is being made. An understanding of the organisational change model outlined in Table 1 are helpful, both in identifying these stages, and establishing the optimal conditions for change.
Back to contents 4. Getting Started
4.1 Management considerations
Before organisational change is initiated, a few issues must be examined at a management level. These include identifying and agreeing to the need for change, aligning the new cultural values with the organisational structure, and aligning the right people to the change management team (Oehler 1997). The role of the team needs to be clearly identified as one component within a wider organisational approach to support the change process (i.e., in itself it is not the process).
In terms of resource efficiency teams can play an important role in:
- championing the idea among different levels of the workplace
- and helping management identify potential for more efficient practices.
However, the work done by teams should be complemented by other efforts such as encouraging staff to avoid wastage, and turning off lights and computer equipment.
The commitment of management to the change process is a crucial factor for success, and will hinge upon the recognised need and value of the change effort, the perceived quality of the strategy, and the decision-making process. Pettigrew & Whipp (1991) identify a number of key factors required for successful implementation efforts:
- exercise of leadership to put the "change project" on the agenda and keep it there
- active recognition that people are the asset through which change is created
- awareness in the organisation of the business imperative for change
- expression of the strategy in operational and actionable terms
- coherence of action among all members of management.
For an organisation setting up a team to work through change there are two preliminary aspects to consider:
- determining who should participate
- meeting resource needs
4.2 Who should participate?
Selecting team members by calling for volunteers has the advantage of identifying keen and (at least superficially) motivated people. However, this may not be adequate for ensuring representation or for ensuring that the team has the right balance of skills. Identifying people as possible team members and selecting those who are willing to participate (particularly if the time set aside for the team will be paid for by the company), gives an indication of the seriousness of the intent of the team. Points to consider include:
- When there is a need to reach different areas of operation and subgroups within an organisation, these subgroups need to be represented within the team. In addition, team members should be people with a good networking ability who can act as a conduit for relevant information. If necessary some process to ensure that team members are feeding back to the group they represent should be established (see roles and tasks).
- Should management be represented on the team? Management commitment as discussed above can be expressed in a number of ways. Presence of a management staff member may provide an avenue through to decision-making processes and in the absence of a management participant in the team this must be secured in some other way. Alternatively, the presence of management may also inhibit creativity and honest critique of current systems.
- Size of the group is another factor to consider. In many groups, the
larger the size, the less well the group works. Individual members put
in less effort because of:
- a feeling that they are an insignificant part of the crowd
- motivational loss due to sharing of rewards, and
- co-ordination loss as more people perform the task (does anyone know what's going on?).
A commonly suggested size for ideal group interaction is five to twelve. Larger numbers in teams are more sustainable if there is a high degree of structure to the team and individual functions are well identified and articulated.
- It is also important to consider whether the team will have a short life span or whether it will be a permanent structure, adapting to new tasks and recruiting new members as required.
| Table 2- Skills for effective groups | |
| All members (whether they are "leaders" or not)
must take responsibility for the overall group effectiveness and for
dealing with the problems that are inevitable. (Surviving the
group project: A note on working in teams, accessible via
this link) The following skills are useful to groups whether they are held by one or many members of the team. |
|
| Facilitation | Dealing with conflict, managing constructive debates, moving discussion through to conclusion, reminding the team of the vision and goals, enabling all team members to have an opportunity to participate. |
| Managing meetings | Setting and agreeing agendas, managing time and arrangements, ensuring progression through the tasks of the meeting. |
| Documenting progress | Enabling the team to refer back to earlier decisions and track progress, either through minute taking or some other form. |
| Innovation | Introducing creative ideas, thinking laterally. |
| Data and information gathering | Sourcing and interpreting relevant information. |
| Presentation | Summarising findings, presenting material and eliciting feedback. |
| Motivation | Bringing "enjoyment" into the group process and offering encouragement. |
| Task performing | Reliably undertaking tasks necessary to achieve the team's goals. |
| Networking | Bringing relevant comment, feedback and information to the team and back out to the wider organisational environment. |
4.3 Resources
Providing a team with adequate resources to achieve their goals is essential and this should be considered alongside the question of participation. Resources can include:
- time/facilities for meetings
- administrative support
- professional facilitation
- costs covered for research/information gathering
- access to decision-makers/organisational decision-making process
Once a team has identified its vision and goals (see below), they may need to assess whether the resources available are adequate to achieve them and, if necessary, determine how more resources may be acquired. Resource needs change over time and the team may need to revisit this question several times during its process.
Back to contents 5. Teamwork
It is essential to convert the group of assembled participants into a genuine team with a common vision, well-established norms of behaviour, and a viable level of interpersonal trust; so some form of self-led or externally-facilitated team-building can be useful at the start. It is also useful to establish two principles:
- time to review the process and learning towards the end of every meeting, and
- that sensitivity to the group's process and the project's process should be maintained by all on an ongoing basis.
There are several practical aspects to the process of "getting the job done":
- identifying the vision and goals for the team
- agreeing roles and tasks
- undertaking basic research to become informed
- teams should understand the kind of process in which they are involved and be able to look for ways to move through the stages of group development.
5.1 Vision and goals
The distinction between vision and goals is more than academic. Goals may and should be achieved by teams during their time of working together. In such situations new goals must be discussed and addressed. The vision, however, remains constant and is a reminder of the team purpose and direction. The greater the acceptance and meaning of the vision to the team, the greater the commitment to the goals and steps necessary to achieve this. Acceptance of the vision will be largely dependent on the process of generating it -- the greater the input by team members, the greater the degree of ownership.
In planning the activities the team will undertake it is also important to consider:
- how they will measure success (how will they know when they have got there?)
- what kind of reporting processes they will be using
- when they will report
- to whom they will report (management?, other parts of the organisation?, external reviewers?), and
- what will they report on?
5.2 Roles and tasks
The common "leadership" roles in teams include chairing, facilitating and accessing resources. A further role is to provide administrative support to the group. It may, or may not, be appropriate to rotate these roles according the needs of different teams.
Chairing meetings
This is a common leadership role within groups. The chair generally has responsibility for:
- laying out the rules and procedures of the meeting (which, incidentally, should have been developed at the outset in discussion with all the members)
- ensuring that people speak in turn
- keeping order during the meetings
- striking subcommittees and ensuring that administrative duties are attended to, and
- may hold a deciding vote.
A good chair pays close attention to detail, and ensures that the agenda is realistic and meaningful to the group as a whole (Donaldson & Kilvington 1996).
Facilitation
This is an important aspect of leadership, which may be performed by a professional outside the group or a group member. Facilitation is more than simply ensuring that meetings or workshops run smoothly, the agenda is adhered to, time lines are respected, individuals get equal opportunity to speak, and a good summary of the proceedings is produced. Important roles for a facilitator include:
- ensuring that everyone participates to the best of their ability
- being aware of, and being willing to rectify potential conflict areas, personality issues, or process breakdown
- understanding group processes and being able to move the group through difficult stages
- seeking consensus and recognising closure when it is reached.
This type of leadership role requires excellent people skills, an intuitive feel for potential conflict whether personality or issue driven, sensitivity to the concerns of others and the ability to help with these without appearing biased and judgmental (Donaldson & Kilvington 1996).
Resource leader
Groups dealing with issues with a technical or expert component require information that may be provided by a resource leader, internal or external to the group( such as government scientists or private sector consultants). This person(s) will generally provide advice and information when asked and clarification on specific questions relevant to the work at that time. When technical advice is not readily available within the group, another component of leadership is networking with external experts and advisors to bring in needed skills and information. This is part of the administration component of leadership, which may also include contacting group members, co-ordinating newsletters, and organising events.
Distinguishing roles
It is often tempting to combine the above roles in a single person, but this should not be done without some consideration of the potential for conflict and the complexity of the mix of skills required. For instance it is not always possible for a group member to be sufficiently withdrawn from the core of the group to act as an effective facilitator, particularly in stages of conflict or uncertainty over group direction. Similarly, the time demands of a resource person, or the differing skill requirements of that person (such as the necessity for them to bring expert technical knowledge to the group), may preclude them having the energy or ability to act well as a chair or facilitator.
Division of labour
Teams need to determine how tasks are to be allotted -- voluntarily or by discussion. The team must also be alert to whether critical tasks (including team or process maintenance tasks) are being fulfilled.
5.3 Becoming informed
Action research literature says that a useful way of achieving buy-in and empowerment in a team is if one or more members of the team initiate their own literature review . This also helps bring in knowledge that enables the group to look at the situation from a broader perspective than their habitual frame of reference. Because we live in a world created by our own perceptions, we are generally not aware of what we do not know and it is easy to look at problem situations with the same set of assumptions, values and theories that caused the problem to arise in the first place. This also means that the group is not entirely ignorant of what others have been thinking and doing in this area before they design their particular activities.
5.4 Understanding group processe
Despite an obvious difference between many groups (a consequence of the variation in participants and the dynamics between them) there are several stages of group development that appear to be common to all. These stages are consistently described by a number of writers in this field, albeit using a variety of terminology (e.g., Hunter et al. 1992; Donaldson & Kilvington 1996). They are the developmental stages of "getting started" and "getting to work" through to "maturity" and "ending", where the group has reached a point of fulfilment and completion of its objectives. This development process is often referred to as forming, storming, norming/performing and dorming.
Active facilitation is often necessary throughout these developmental stages. This is to draw a clear purpose from the group, to support the group in identifying actionable first steps, and to maintain motivation in continued effort. Without effective facilitation and support it is not uncommon for groups to flounder midway, losing the initial enthusiasm that prompted the group to form. Complacency or loss of purpose can then prevent members from getting on with tasks at hand or assessing the effectiveness of what has already been undertaken. Table 3 illustrates the main ways of identifying groups in each of these stages and the corresponding facilitation needs.
| Table 3- Different stages of group development | |
Forming stage
|
Facilitating forming
|
| Note: if this stage is not done thoroughly it is likely to have to be revisited as the group loses sense of direction. | |
Storming stage
|
Facilitating storming
|
| Note - this stage is a common sticking point for many groups. | |
Norming/performing stage
|
Facilitating norming/performing Maintaining momentum by:
|
| The group can then go in one of two directions: | |
A. Dorming or ending stage
|
Facilitating ending
|
B. Independence-interdependence
|
Facilitating indendence & interdependence
|
Back to contents 6. Evaluation and Adjustment
Monitoring and evaluation are vital if organisations are to judge whether change efforts have succeeded or failed. Conventionally, it involves measuring performance against pre-set indicators -- often with the help of outside experts. Often too, this is done at the end of the project cycle. However, monitoring and evaluating in this way does not help improve ongoing projects, nor can participants learn from 'surprises'. Both are required in the learning-based approaches being adopted by organisations in regard to resource use efficiency initiatives (Vickers & Cordey-Hayes 1999). Moreover, seen in a 'pass or fail' way, monitoring is often feared rather than embraced by project members.
Alternative approaches to monitoring and evaluation have emerged because of a growing recognition of the limitations of this approach. These are usually more participatory and focus also on the process of reaching the final results, rather than just assessing whether the group reached defined objectives. This approach encourages monitoring of intermediate indicators of progress, and therefore can serve to guide and motivate the team as it proceeds. It also facilitates an understanding of the link between team process and results. Evaluating the process enables determination of issues such as:
- how well the team are able to adapt the approach and goals to their particular context
- whether others in the company participate and have a role in shaping the process and design of the programme
- whether there has been a positive move towards desired outcomes.
The participatory nature of these evaluations encourages the use of evaluation as a learning tool and allows the perspectives of different team members to be articulated. It also provides information to feed into programme design, enabling the programme managers, in partnership with team members, to rethink, and adapt goals and methods during the programme according to emerging issues.
Often the role of the evaluator in this regard is best undertaken by a third-party intervener whose specialty is helping the different parties frame realistic goals, measure progress towards operationalising them, recognise when a change of strategy may be required, and extract insights from their hard labours. "The evaluator does not have the answers, but raises the important questions" (Ashton 1998).
6.1 Ways of assessing progress -- task and process
- Identifying small, immediate, actionable first steps is an important way of initiating team motivation. Acknowledging and celebrating small successes is also a way of tracking team progress and maintaining interest.
- Effective groups pay attention to both the task (i.e. what the group has to do) and the process (i.e., how the group functions and maintains relationships). Groups often neglect their process issues, commonly in order to concentrate on their task. However, both task and process will suffer if they are split from each other. Because task and process are linked, it is important to measure progress of both. It is also important to notice the changes that have occurred and reinforce them. Groups can become frustrated if they are only comparing their current achievements to an ultimate goal rather than recognising them as important steps along the way.
- Too many groups depend upon the good work, energy, and commitment of one or more individuals. If the individual(s) are transferred or stop contributing, the process may be blocked or simply fail. The process should be institutionalised as much as possible, making it as independent of individuals and outside inputs.
Back to contents 7. Moving Beyond Teams and Organisations
Rehder et al. (1991) emphasise the importance of alliances; the ability of individuals, groups, organisations, sectors, and nations to build strategic alliances is growing as a critical success factor for survival. Partnerships and joint ventures between corporate arch-rivals are already common, and simultaneous co-operation and competition between groups are growing.
7.1 The benefits of networking
Alliances are networks that exist at an inter-organisational level. But in addition, an action learning organisation recognises the social dimension of learning and the value of collaborative interdependence. These values are reflected in active encouragement of external networks to support individuals and teams within the organisation, encouraging people to participate in the exchange of ideas, information and resources. There is recognition within the organisation that enrichment of individuals through network activity is enrichment of the organisation. Networking activity exposes the organisation to alternative perceptions, decision processes and actions. In sum, external networks bring to the individuals and units within the organisation the same kind of benefits reaped by broader organisational alliances (Limerick et al. 1994).
Thus in addition to the other measures of team performance outlined in earlier sections of this report, we can look to measures of how teams are growing in terms of their relationships with external networks and groups. These linkages are key to the long-term survival of groups. Some will become highly effective, growing and diversifying their activities to better support the organisational aims, while others will struggle on in name only. The following model (Figure 1) illustrates one way of
measuring group maturity. Teams at later stages (towards the right of the diagram) are taken to be more resilient and more adaptive, that is, capable of contributing to the innovations desired for organisational growth. All stages relate measures of group maturity or individual status to performance or outcomes.
As Pretty & Frank (2000) explain, this model of group stages is essentially progressive, indicating that one stage can lead to another. Progression, though, is not taken as inevitable, with outcomes at any point leading to the group moving on, going back to a previous stage, or staying in one place. These authors go on to define each group in terms of a number of identifying characteristics.
The dependent stage can often be seen when individuals agree to form a group, often in response to a crisis or prompting (from management). They can see benefits in working as a group, but are likely to spend much of their time looking back at what has happened, rather than forward. Individuals are still likely to be looking for external solutions (albeit new ones) so dependency remains high, particularly on external consultants and resources.
The second phase sees growing independence, combined with a realisation of new emerging capabilities. Members are increasingly willing to invest their time in the group itself as trust grows. At this stage groups are likely to develop links with internal and outside groups. This is a stronger and more resilient group stage, but is still likely to break down once members feel they have achieved their original aims.
 |
| Figure 1 Stages in group maturity (Adapted from Pretty & Frank 2000) |
The final stage illustrates a turning point for groups or teams, where they are much more aware of the value of the group itself and its capabilities to problem solve. Individually, members will be characterised by the development of capacities, that allow them to expect change, be more dynamic,and be capable of developing responses to help shape a desired future. Groups in this stage will be capable of promoting the spread of appropriate technologies and ideas to other groups, and of initiating new groups themselves. They will be increasingly linked to a range of external alliances.
Back to contents 8. Do You Have What it Takes for an Effective Team?
 |
|
Figure 2 What happens when key ingredients
in group success are missing |
| Table 4 Keys to creating effective teams (Wertheim 2000) |
Create clear goals - members need to understand
the goals, believe they are important, expect to accomplish these
and be able to identify when they have done so. |
Back to contents
9. References
Ashton, C. 1998: Strategic considerations in facilitative evaluation approaches. [Internet] The Action Evaluation Project. Available from www.aepro.org/inprint/conference/ashton.html [23 April 2000].
Chamala, S.; Mortiss, P. 1990: Working together for land care: Group management skills and strategies. Brisbane, Australian Academic Press.
Donaldson, C.; Kilvington, M. 1996: Working with communities. Unpublished handbook. Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand.
Kilvington, M.; Allen. W.; Kravchenko, C. 1999: Improving farmer motivation within Tb vector control. Landcare Research Contract Report: LC9899/110. Prepared for Animal Health Board NZ.
Hamel, G.; Doz, W.L.; Prahalad, C.K. 1991: Collaborate with your competitors and win. Harvard Business Review 67(1): 133-139
Hunter, D.; Bailey, A.; Taylor, B. 1992: The Zen of groups: A handbook for people meeting with a purpose. Auckland , New Zealand, Tandem Press
Limerick, D.; Passfield, R.; Cunnington, B. 1994: Towards an action learning organisation. The Learning Organisation, Vol. 1 No. 2, 1994, pp. 29-40. Available from www.mcb.co.uk/services/articles/liblink/tlo/limerick.htm [20 April 2000] No longer available
Oehler, K.R. 1997: A model for organisational culture change: Phases one and two. The Surcon Report. http://www.surcon.com/Enhanced/TheSurconReport/Report0697.html [20 April 2000]. No longer available.
Pettigrew, A.; Whipp R. 1991: Managing change for competitive success. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Pretty, J.; Frank, B.R. 2000: Participation and social capital formation in natural resource management: Achievements and lessons. In Proceedings: International Landcare 2000. 2-5 March, Melbourne, Australia, pp.178-187.
Rehder, R.R.l; Porter, J.L.; Muller, H.J.,1991: Challenging the management education monster: The learning alliance MBA. European Business Journal 3(1), 1991, pp. 49-56.
Vickers, I. & Cordey-Hayes, M. 1999: Cleaner production and organisational learning. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management 11(1): 75-94
Wertheim, E.G. 2000: Surviving the group project: A note on working in teams [Internet] http://www.cba.neu.edu/~ewertheim/teams/ovrvw2.htm [20 April 2000]
9.1 Additional reading
Hunter, D.; Bailey, A.; Taylor, B. 1994: The art of facilitation. Auckland, New Zealand, Tandem Press. Focuses on the role and skills of a facilitator. Looks at the beliefs and values underlying facilitation and the art of intervention and provides a toolkit of facilitative processes including a facilitation training programme. Also included are interviews with four experienced facilitators.
Moote, A. 1995: Partnership handbook: A resource and guide for local,
community-based groups addressing natural resource, land use, or environmental
issues. University of Arizona, Tucson AZ. http://ag.arizona.edu/partners/.
No longer available.
Addresses natural resource or land use issues, but is of value to
other community-based partnerships. Outlines guidelines for starting partnerships
and processes for overcoming common stumbling blocks.
Wilcox, D. 1994: The guide to effective participation. Brighton, UK,
Partnership. (Available on the World Wide Web at www.partnerships.org.uk/guide/index.htm)
Comprehensive framework for involvement, empowerment and partnership.
The A to Z of key issues and practical techniques for effective participation
are particularly useful. Answers common questions and problems from practitioners
with relevant techniques from operational research, management education
and development, and conflictresolution.
1 The formatting in this document has been amended to fit that of this website. Some sections have been omitted to minimise duplication, and the appendices have also been omitted. Thanks to the Christchurch City Council's Target Zero Programme for permission to reproduce this report here.
Page last updated: Friday, September 14, 2001