Team Meeting #4 Notes

Team Name: Brainy Bruins

Case # and Description: #8 Scholarship Awards Committee

Meeting Date and Time: Thursday, March 23, 2017 12:30

Meeting Location and Type: Web-based meeting via Big Blue Button

Team Members in Attendance:

Allison Chappell

Heather Lewis

Lauren Turner

Ryan Giles

Team Members Absent:

Andrew Twisdale

Executive Summary

The following summarizes how our team, The Brainy Bruins conducted the decision-making
process and finalized a solution to the problem What method would be the most effective in
choosing the appropriate candidate for this scholarship? Together, using Deweys Reflective
Thinking Sequence, we were able to collaborate on research and criteria that would most
effectively support our final solution.

Our team met virtually and each team member following the guidelines outlined in the textbook
Communicating at Work: Strategies for Success in Business and the Professions for the Dewey
Reflective Thinking Sequence. To start us off on the right path we looked into all of the
characteristics of the problem. The stakeholders were a central concern to our solution and we
were diligent in keeping their best interests in mind. Research of how scholarships have
developed their methods for choosing which candidate is awarded allowed our team to analyze
our process through the experience of others. It was also important for our team to be aware of
the policies and politics associated with scholarship awards to ensure that no laws were broken.
Lastly, resources were consulted to provide us with the knowledge of how other institutions
have been able to outline what criteria are necessary for determining a final scholarship recipient.
The goal of the criteria was to find a solution that kept our stakeholders requests in mind and
enabled the committee to make an unbiased decision based on the candidate most deserving of
the award. We created a set of 10 criteria which would determine the best possible solution in
picking the appropriate candidate. Solutions to the problem were submitted by each team
member and the top five were chosen. Finally, we analyzed the proposed solutions by scoring
them. Solutions that met our criteria received the highest marks and were vital for the formation
of our final solution.

Our team concluded that the best solution to the problem was to combine our top selections into
a presentation to be given by each scholarship candidate to demonstrate their interest and
commitment. After we weighed possible barriers and consequences to our solution, we were able
to agree that the College campuses will provide access to resources, so all candidates will be able
to complete all of the requirements for the presentation. The committee leader will encourage
committee members to stick to scholarship criteria. This will ensure that no bias will occur when
choosing candidate, policies will be adhered to, and stakeholders requests will not be forgotten.