Abstract:
The acquisition of effective teamwork skills is crucial in all disciplines. Using an interpretive approach, this study
investigates collaboration and co-operation in teams of software engineering students. Teams whose members were
both homogeneous and heterogeneous in terms of their members’ academic abilities, skills and goals were identified
and compared. We describe the occurrence of “social loafing”, a well-reported phenomenon, in these teams. We also
observed a phenomenon which we termed “diligent isolation.” Our assumption was that both of these can cause
team dysfunction. Additional causes which became apparent during the research are mentioned. The article includes
suggestions for improving team functionality.
