Effective Team Building: Guidance for Accounting Educators

Accounting educators are charged by a multitude of professional bodies with instilling the skill of team building in their accounting students. However, accounting educators often do not have the background in the myriad disciplines required to effectively impart team-building techniques. This paper reviews the sociology, industrial psychology, and organizational behavior literature and applies that literature to accounting to help accounting educators identify effective team-building techniques. We review the major models and theories of team building and draw on these theories and selected prior research outside accounting to provide guidelines for educators who wish to promote team-building competencies within group projects.