Search results

1 – 10 of over 55000
Article
Publication date: 22 August 2008

Alan D. Smith and O. Felix Offodile

The purpose of this paper is to provide practitioners of management with a sense of how collaborative team integration processes were required in order to be reasonably successful…

2112

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide practitioners of management with a sense of how collaborative team integration processes were required in order to be reasonably successful in attaining the required manufacturability goals. It aims to accomplish this by investigating: the role of team collaborative efforts in high‐technology projects associated with comparing aggressiveness towards and actual achievement on meeting time targets and manufacturing costs; the moderating effects of project‐team autonomy and control issues; and management involvement and top management support activities.

Design/methodology/approach

A review of the applied literature on collaborative team integration processes of manufacturers and direct suppliers of the smart card and automatic identification and data capture (AIDC)‐related industry in the USA was conducted. Only project managers and/or their designees were asked to complete the survey. The results of two mailings netted a total of 180 usable questionnaires out of an original sampling frame of 311 (response rate of appropriately 58 percent, with some missing data on a number of variables).

Findings

The paper finds that especially the variables of product acceleration, technological uncertainty, complexity, and product newness are traditionally outside the immediate control of the firm's project managers. The team integration variables, as measured by the factor scores of top management. manufacturing involvement, collaborative working environment, and supplier influence, offered the most explained variance in the present study.

Practical implications

By understanding the variety of team performance and integration constructs in high technology‐intensive and manufacturing environments, management may be able to take the steps to become more sensitive to the roles of not isolating team members and being able to relinquish control at the appropriate times in order to enhance manufacturability.

Originality/value

The rapid pace of internet products and web‐enabled services, especially in the high‐technology manufacturing industries, presents new strategic management issues to be addressed in project management. Understanding the many issues associated with project team management and integration within new‐product development/new‐product manufacturability processes may ultimately decrease the cost and promote timely introduction of beneficial commercial developments, if properly managed.

Details

Team Performance Management: An International Journal, vol. 14 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1352-7592

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 October 2013

John Fiset and Isabelle Dostaler

This paper seeks to examine how aerospace design and integration teams in a highly partnered supply chain are able to leverage extant capabilities and develop new ones when faced…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to examine how aerospace design and integration teams in a highly partnered supply chain are able to leverage extant capabilities and develop new ones when faced with the necessity to adapt to organizational change.

Design/methodology/approach

Building on the concept of contextual ambidexterity (Gibson and Birkinshaw), this research uses a combination of qualitative material and objective performance data to investigate the working context of five aerospace design and integration teams, their solutions to crisis-triggering events, and their subsequent schedule adherence.

Findings

Team members enacted ambidextrous roles similar to those identified by Birkinshaw and Gibson. These behaviors allowed teams to create ambidextrous solutions when faced with crisis. Teams working in a supportive context were found to produce a greater diversity of ambidextrous solutions, which was found to relate to both overall ambidexterity and schedule adherence performance.

Research limitations/implications

Although the results should be interpreted with care, the research answers Raisch and Birkinshaw's call for a more precise definition of organizational ambidexterity as the paper focuses on specific roles played by team members. The findings also point to a potential link between the diversity of ambidextrous behavioral roles and their ability to craft ambidextrous solutions.

Practical implications

Teams that can quickly adapt to challenge through ambidextrous solutions are particularly useful in the context of highly partnered supply chains. Managers should therefore actively promote ambidextrous behaviors to ensure that the search for ambidextrous solutions becomes a conscious and deliberate process.

Originality/value

This paper substantiates the ambidexterity concept by providing concrete examples drawn from highly partnered aerospace supply chains.

Article
Publication date: 2 May 2018

Martin Morgan Tuuli

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of project settings on empowerment experiences of individuals and teams by examining the effects of specific project…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of project settings on empowerment experiences of individuals and teams by examining the effects of specific project characteristics on facets of the empowerment concept (i.e. the structural and psychological perspectives).

Design/methodology/approach

A parallel questionnaire survey of client, consultant and contractor organisations was conducted in Hong Kong to test hypotheses relating three facets of the empowerment concept and five project-level antecedents. Hierarchical linear modelling and ordinary least square regression were employed to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The analyses show that dynamic project environments, high project team integration and high interdependence of project tasks lead to high individual psychological empowerment, while public-client projects (compared with private-client projects), a hostile project environment and high client integration lead to a low individual psychological empowerment. Uncertainty in project technology also leads to high team psychological empowerment, while hostile project environments lead to low team psychological empowerment. Further, dynamic project environments lead to more empowering work climate, while hostile project environments lead to less empowering work climate. However, project team integration, project complexity, project lifecycle and quasi-public-client projects (compared with private-client projects) have no significant association with the empowerment of individuals and teams.

Originality/value

This study examined task-related factors (i.e. project in this case) which traditionally have not been the focus of studies examining the antecedents of empowerment. Further, project-level antecedents and their link to an integrated perspective of empowerment comprising a sociostructural perspective, a psychological perspective and a team-based perspective are examined, which is a significant departure from the unitary perspective of empowerment taken in most previous studies.

Details

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, vol. 11 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8378

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 June 2016

Aviv Kidron, Shay S. Tzafrir and Ilan Meshoulam

This study aims to reveal the necessary human resource management (HRM) teamwork processes for achieving HRM integration.

1686

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to reveal the necessary human resource management (HRM) teamwork processes for achieving HRM integration.

Design/methodology/approach

A research survey was carried out among 233 HRM professionals from 29 HRM teams.

Findings

The findings revealed significant correlation between formal HRM aspects of HRM teams (HRM goals and strategy, formal communication and formalization) and informal HRM aspects (perceived proximity and trust). Another significant correlation was found between trust and HRM integration. Also, trust fully mediated the relationship between informal communication and centralization, on the one hand, and HRM integration, on the other.

Originality/value

The study contributed to the understanding of formal and informal aspects of HRM team (HRMT) processes.

Details

Team Performance Management, vol. 22 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1352-7592

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 June 2011

Alan D. Smith

The purpose of this paper is to provide practitioners of management with a sense of how collaborative team integration processes and new product development (NPD) processes were…

3680

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide practitioners of management with a sense of how collaborative team integration processes and new product development (NPD) processes were required in order to be reasonably successful in the current economic recession.

Design/methodology/approach

The four relatively large Pittsburgh‐based general service and/or manufacturing‐oriented companies, most with global operations and reach capabilities, were selected and reviewed for the principles of the strategic, financial, informational, and operational viewpoints.

Findings

Even conservative companies found that more radical approaches to NPD, such as product newness and uncertainty in new product innovation/production, may remove, not increase, barriers to incremental and/or radical manufacturability. This is especially true in firms that make proper use of the managerial connectivity provided by proper use of limited resources, which are enhanced by the timeliness of good strategies.

Practical implications

The roles of uncertainty, supplier influences, team integration processes, as well as technology, may act as change agents, especially under the current economic recession. These factors may result in leveling the playing field for incremental and radical innovators as they integrate processes associated with NPD.

Originality/value

The executive teams involved recognized the need for more radical product offerings by turning their focus to meeting customer needs instead of making risky investments. Through successful product implementation, the companies studied found stability in a very turbulent financial and service‐oriented marketplace.

Details

Team Performance Management: An International Journal, vol. 17 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1352-7592

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 14 October 2013

Christos Braziotis

866

Abstract

Details

Team Performance Management, vol. 19 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1352-7592

Article
Publication date: 3 June 2014

Ana Shetach

This paper aims to draw on know-how from the study of Team and Project Management, to seek insights into enhancing the effectiveness of supply chain management (SCM) ventures…

3035

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to draw on know-how from the study of Team and Project Management, to seek insights into enhancing the effectiveness of supply chain management (SCM) ventures, with the aim of contributing to their effective and efficient decision-making and operation processes.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on an analysis of the obstacles that may stand in the way of the efficient implementation of SCM processes, six specific conditions for such mega-projects’ success are proposed. A couple of practical tools for their attainment are presented.

Findings

The article suggests that the construction of the teams involved, as well as the working procedures that may render their work effective, should be flexible and made adaptable to the specific assignment or case, which is handled by each team, at the time; and that the optimal set of procedures to adopt, throughout the working sessions of the teams, which are involved in the process, are those which will gear the team with the means to contribute to the eventual materializing and finalization of a quality and practical set of decisions for the benefit of the overall SCM process.

Practical implications

The article offers a practical step-by-step set of six guidelines to lead executives and managers of SCM processes toward a relatively high level of control in the establishment of effective and efficient team-decision-making and implementation processes within SCM inter-and intra-organizational teams.

Originality/value

Limited attention has been given in the literature to the studying of practical and applicable managerial techniques for successful decision-implementation processes in SCM teams. This article focuses on this neglected domain, proposing a solution, in the form of an integrative micro-level SCM operational strategy.

Book part
Publication date: 8 April 2005

Fredrik von Corswant

This paper deals with the organizing of interactive product development. Developing products in interaction between firms may provide benefits in terms of specialization…

Abstract

This paper deals with the organizing of interactive product development. Developing products in interaction between firms may provide benefits in terms of specialization, increased innovation, and possibilities to perform development activities in parallel. However, the differentiation of product development among a number of firms also implies that various dependencies need to be dealt with across firm boundaries. How dependencies may be dealt with across firms is related to how product development is organized. The purpose of the paper is to explore dependencies and how interactive product development may be organized with regard to these dependencies.

The analytical framework is based on the industrial network approach, and deals with the development of products in terms of adaptation and combination of heterogeneous resources. There are dependencies between resources, that is, they are embedded, implying that no resource can be developed in isolation. The characteristics of and dependencies related to four main categories of resources (products, production facilities, business units and business relationships) provide a basis for analyzing the organizing of interactive product development.

Three in-depth case studies are used to explore the organizing of interactive product development with regard to dependencies. The first two cases are based on the development of the electrical system and the seats for Volvo’s large car platform (P2), performed in interaction with Delphi and Lear respectively. The third case is based on the interaction between Scania and Dayco/DFC Tech for the development of various pipes and hoses for a new truck model.

The analysis is focused on what different dependencies the firms considered and dealt with, and how product development was organized with regard to these dependencies. It is concluded that there is a complex and dynamic pattern of dependencies that reaches far beyond the developed product as well as beyond individual business units. To deal with these dependencies, development may be organized in teams where several business units are represented. This enables interaction between different business units’ resource collections, which is important for resource adaptation as well as for innovation. The delimiting and relating functions of the team boundary are elaborated upon and it is argued that also teams may be regarded as actors. It is also concluded that a modular product structure may entail a modular organization with regard to the teams, though, interaction between business units and teams is needed. A strong connection between the technical structure and the organizational structure is identified and it is concluded that policies regarding the technical structure (e.g. concerning “carry-over”) cannot be separated from the management of the organizational structure (e.g. the supplier structure). The organizing of product development is in itself a complex and dynamic task that needs to be subject to interaction between business units.

Details

Managing Product Innovation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-311-2

Article
Publication date: 7 April 2015

Che Khairil Izam Che Ibrahim, Seosamh B. Costello and Suzanne Wilkinson

The purpose of this paper is to validate a list of key indicators (KIs) of team integration identified from construction management literature, identify the most significant KIs…

2330

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to validate a list of key indicators (KIs) of team integration identified from construction management literature, identify the most significant KIs and provide suggestions on how to influence team integration, based on the opinion of an established construction peer group in New Zealand.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature review was conducted to identify and consolidate a set of KIs of team integration. Subsequently, a set of questions was designed to gain insight and opinion in terms of the significance and ranking of the identified indicators, as well as suggestions on how to influence the integration practice.

Findings

Analysis of the survey results showed that all relevant indicators have a strong influence towards determining the success of team integration in construction projects. The top-ranked indicators that contribute towards successful team integration are all relationship orientated as follows; single team focus on goals and objectives, trust and respect, commitment from top management, free flow communication and no blame culture. A framework for influencing these indicators of team integration is proposed which includes four elements: first, team formation; second, contractual model; third, teamwork principle; and fourth, operational monitoring.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are limited to practitioners’ perceptions who are registered with an established construction peer group in New Zealand.

Practical implications

The results of the study are expected to provide insight for construction practitioners to help them embrace team integration practice and, hence, provide both the opportunity and a platform to enhance and measure their team performance.

Originality/value

The paper recognises that while the process of integration is a result of a combination of many indicators, it further extends the team integration literature by providing insights into what are the dominant relationship indicators of team integration, and how to influence these indicators based on a proposed framework.

Details

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8378

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 10 December 2018

Riitta Katila, Raymond E. Levitt and Dana Sheffer

The authors provide new quantitative evidence of the relationship between technologies and organizational design in the context of complex one-off products. The systems that…

Abstract

The authors provide new quantitative evidence of the relationship between technologies and organizational design in the context of complex one-off products. The systems that produce complex, one-off products in mature, fragmented industries such as construction lack many of the typical organizational features that researchers have deemed critical to product development success (e.g., team familiarity, frequent communication, and strong leadership). In contrast, the complexity of these products requires a diverse knowledge base that is rarely found within a single firm. The one-off nature of construction’s products further requires improvization and development by a distributed network of highly specialized teams. And because the product is complex, significant innovations in the end product require systemic shifts in the product architecture. Riitta Katila, Raymond E. Levitt and Dana Sheffer use an original, hand-collected dataset of the design and construction of 112 energy-efficient “green” buildings in the United States, combined with in-depth fieldwork, to study these questions. A key conclusion is that the mature US construction industry, with its particularly fragmented supply chain, is not well suited to implementing “systemic innovations” that require coordination across trades or stages of the project. However, project integration across specialists with the highest levels of interdependence (i.e., craft, contract integration) mitigates the knowledge and coordination problems. There are implications for research on how technology shapes organizations (and particularly how organizations shape technology), and on the supply chain configuration strategies of firms in the construction industry as well as building owners who are seeking to build the best buildings possible within their budgets.

1 – 10 of over 55000