Outdoor experiential training in the classroom setting

Abstract

Outdoor experiential training is an effective way to improve team work. Often times people are forced to work in a group with predetermined goals. There can be many problems when this happens. One problem may be conflict amongst team members. Mangers must first know the difference between groups and teams. A group is a collection of people who generally have a common objective – which is not one they have had a role in shaping or directing. On the other hand a team is an energetic group of people who are committed to achieving common objectives; who work well together, and enjoy doing so; and produce high quality work. In order for a group to become an effective team, the group needs to go through five stages of group development. As groups go through these stages of development, they become a team rather than a group thus leading to work that is more productive. The groups were surveyed before and after the outdoor experiential learning session. The participants were asked eight questions on how the group was performing. The questions needed to rate group versus team behavior on a scale from one to five. One indicating behavior of a group, while a five would be behavior of a team environment. The mean score before the training was 4.16, with a standard deviation of .72. Standard deviations of less than one indicate the participants were in agreement with one another in their responses. After the training session, the mean score was 4.52 with a standard deviation of .59. The increase in the rating indicates that group’s function more as a team after the outdoor training session. The decrease in standard deviation indicates team members’ ratings had less variation, therefore more individuals providing higher ratings. The combination of the increase in ratings and decrease in standard deviation shows that groups behaved more like teams after the training session.