A comparison of staff and administrator team members' satisfaction evaluations towards the team building experience among Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services Regional Offices

Since the mid 1970s, team building has become an integral method to establish and maintain organizational change and to focus organizational members towards the pursuit of a common purpose. Comparison of 137 staff and administrator team members' satisfaction evaluations of a team building experience at Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services (DCS) were investigated.;The study is formulated on the descriptive research methodology. Data were collected by a questionnaire designed by Carl E. Larson and Frank M. J. LaFasto. The research procedure of descriptive and nonexperimental design was determined by eight research questions. The Kolmogrov-Smirnov two-sample test indicated small absolute differences between DCS staff and administrator evaluations. The majority of DCS staff and administrators indicated team expectations that did not project a successful nor a satisfactory team experience. Staff and administrators indicated dissatisfaction with the DCS team experience.;Findings from this study recommended a more in-depth team building planning structure by DCS top administrators as a measure to prepare team members toward the development of greater expectations of the team-building experience as a means to generate: high quality decision making, problem solving, creativity and satisfaction from the overall team-building experience. Much research has yet to be made on team members' perceptions and evaluations of the team-building experience.