Influencing Performance Development in Student Design Groups through Relational Development

In this paper, a review of a workshop directed by the author, as part of the 2012 Capstone Design Conference held at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, May 30-June 1, is presented. In the workshop, a theoretical approach that interprets how students form relationships, and how relational environments form student thinking, was presented that gives insight toward how to create high-performance teams in a very short time. The theory and reflection that were shared with workshop participants are based on the author's own experience with his clinic program, and the methods are based on the value-memetic theory known as Spiral Dynamics, originated by Clare Graves in the 1950s, and further developed by his student, Don Beck. During the workshop, the format of a capstone design clinic, measurably successful from an industrial recruitment and a project completion perspective, was presented, and the differences between the fundamental relational structure of this type of clinic, where independent, trust-based relationships are emphasized, vs. one with more traditional grading and policies, and instructor-assigned groups were contrasted. Following this, theory of relational development that all students were subjected to was discussed, and case studies from the workshop director's own program were distributed, highlighted and discussed.