Word From the Web
George M. Jacobs

One fairly new website on cooperative learning is that of the Hong Kong Cooperative Learning Center at Lingnan University. Professor Dean Tjosvold serves as principal investigator at the center, as well as teaching courses on management at the university. The center describes itself as follows:

Our mission is to empower university faculty members throughout Hong Kong
to develop effective cooperative learning teams. We also want to support educators
in Hong Kong public schools and academics in the Chinese Mainland.

Hong Kong political, social and business leaders have argued that graduates do not have the theoretical and interpersonal skills necessary to perform well in today's demanding team organizations. Reforms are being instituted to move education away from traditional didactic methods so that students are able to develop successful careers in the dynamic, global economy of Hong Kong.

Many Hong Kong faculty members emphasize team problem-centered education that develops the whole person and increases communication skills. However, they are frustrated with helping students work together synergistically.

The website contains, among other items, the latest issue of the center’s newsletter, links to other sites of cooperative learning (including the IASCE site), and an impressive list of publications by people associated with the center. Here is just a small part of that list:

Social face and open-mindedness: Constructive conflict in Asia. C. M. Lau, K. S. Law,
     D. K. Tse, and C. S. Wong (Eds.)
In Asian Management Matters: Regional Relevance and Global Impact. London:
     Imperial College Press. in press. (With Chun Hui and Haifa Sun)
Social face in conflict among Chinese: Effects of affronts to person and position.
     Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice. in press. (With Haifa Sun)
Cooperative teamwork for service quality in East Asia. Managing Service Quality.
     in press. (With Shigeru Sasaki and Jane Moy)
Cooperative and competitive conflict for quality supply partnerships between China
     and Hong Kong. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics
     Management, 29, 7-21, 1999. (With A. Wong, W. Wong, and C. K. Liu)
Relationships for quality improvement in the Hong Kong-China supply chain:
     A study on the theory of cooperation and competition. International Journal
     of Quality & Reliability Management, 16, 24-41, 1999. (With A. Wong, W. Wong,
     and C. K. Liu)
Conflict management in the Asia Pacific Rim: Assumptions and approaches in diverse
    cultures. K. Leung and D. Tjosvold (eds.) Singapore: John Wiley, 1998.
Conflict management training in China: The value of cooperative conflict theory. Journal of
     Training in International Business. in press. (With Daniel Ding)