Abstract
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.