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As healthcare often is studied in relation to operational rather than socio-technical aspects of Lean such as teamwork, the purpose of this paper is to explore how a Swedish hospital Lean intervention was related to changes in teamwork over time.

Teamwork was measured with the Group Development Questionnaire (GDQ) employee survey during Lean implementation at three units, in 2010 (n=133) and 2011 (n=130). Qualitative data including interviews, observations and document analysis were used to characterize the Lean implementation and context. The expected teamwork change patterns were compared with GDQ data through linear regression analysis.

At Ward-I, Lean implementation was successful and teamwork improved. At Ward-II, Lean was partially implemented and teamwork improved slightly, while both Lean and teamwork deteriorated at the emergency department (ED). The regression analysis was significant at ED (p=0.02) and the Ward-II (p=0.04), but not at Ward-I (p=0.11).

Expected changes in teamwork informed by theory and qualitative data may make it possible to detect the results of a complex change.

Overall, Lean may have some impact on teamwork, if properly implemented. However, this impact may be more prominent in relation to structural and productivity issues of teamwork than group members’ relational issues. Practitioners should note that, with groups struggling with initial stages of group functioning, Lean may be very challenging.

This study focussed specifically on implications of Lean for nurse teamwork in a hospital setting using both qualitative and quantitative data. Importantly, the group functioning at the time when Lean is initiated may affect the implementation of Lean.

This paper aims to present a two-decade effort to improve team functioning and patient outcomes in inpatient stroke rehabilitation settings.

The principal improvement effort was conducted over a nine-year period in 50 Veterans Administration Hospitals in the USA. A comprehensive team-based model was developed and tested in a series of empirical studies. A leadership development intervention was used to improve team functioning, and a follow-up cluster-randomized trial documented patient outcome improvements associated with the leadership training.

Iterative team and leadership improvements are presented in summary form, and a set of practice-proven development observations are derived from the results. Details are also provided on the leadership training intervention that improved teamwork processes and resulted in improvements in patient outcomes that could be linked to the intervention itself.

The practice-proven development observations are connected to leadership development theory and applied in the form of suggestions to improve leadership development and teamwork in a broad array of medical treatment settings.

This paper includes suggestions for leadership improvement in medical treatment settings using interdisciplinary teams to meet the customized needs of the patient populations they serve.

The success of the team effectiveness model and the team-functioning domains provides a framework and best practice for other health care organizations seeking to improve teamwork effectiveness.

Global virtual teams (GVTs) – composed of members in two or more countries who work together primarily using information and communication technologies – are increasingly prevalent in organizations today. There has been a burgeoning of research on this relatively new organizational unit, spanning various academic disciplines. In this chapter, we review and discuss the major developments in this area of research. Based on our review, we identify areas in need of future research, suggest research directions that have the potential to enhance theory development, and provide practical guidelines on managing and working in GVTs.

This chapter develops a conceptual framework to explain variance in the functioning of multinational work teams. We draw upon existing theories of multinational teams (MNTs) looking at the core internal dynamics that provide critical building blocks for understanding team functioning. These dynamics are then examined in terms of the cultural intelligence of team members and how it interacts with the core features of an MNT. We discuss the ramifications of these results for structuring and running global teams in the field.

Although existing research on cohesion provides a robust understanding of the emergent phenomenon in small groups and teams, our comprehension of cohesion at the multisystem (MTS) level is quite limited. The simultaneous within- and between-team functioning inherent in MTSs produces more intricate dynamics than those observed at the team level. This added layer of complexity requires that many familiar team constructs, including cohesion, be systematically re-conceptualized and empirically examined through the lens of MTS theory (DeChurch & Zaccaro, 2010; Hackman, 2003). The present research addresses this gap by extending the conceptualization of team cohesion to the interteam level, and empirically investigating how cohesion functions across levels in a collective network of teams. Results from preliminary research suggest that intrateam and interteam cohesion share a curvilinear relationship with one another, while simultaneously interacting to affect overall system-level outcomes. This research not only illuminates the complexities associated with emergent phenomena in MTSs, but also serves as a starting point for continued, systematic research of the multilevel cohesive bonds that characterize MTS functioning.

At a time when secondary vocational education is implementing competence‐based education (CBE) on a large scale, to adapt to the needs of students and of the labour market in a modern society, many vocational schools have recognised that interdisciplinary teacher teams are an important condition for this implementation. In order to provide students with the right competences for the labour market, different subject teachers should work and learn together and, by doing so, should be able to develop changes and improvements to ensure the effective implementation of CBE. In spite of the appeal of forming teacher teams in vocational education, studies on this subject show that teams in educational settings are not easily implemented. This paper aims to address this issue.

In this study, 28 managers from a Vocational Education and Training (VET) college in The Netherlands were interviewed in order to find factors that are related to effective team functioning. The authors choose to rely on a qualitative approach, because there has hardly been any empirical validation of factors that are related to effective team functioning in a vocational education context. In order to determine what factors influence team effectiveness, the results from the interviews have been related to what is known about team effectiveness from the literature.

By relating the results from the interviews to what is known about team effectiveness from the literature, a framework for future research on team effectiveness in schools is provided. In line with the organisational and psychological literature on team effectiveness, the managers distinguished several aspects in their definition of team effectiveness. Moreover, the findings of the study highlight the importance of the development of task interdependence, transformational leadership, and group efficacy for producing effective teams in education.

Although teams and team functioning have been the focus of researchers from different disciplines and have been studied from different perspectives, studies on the conditions that support or limit the successful implementation of teacher teams in vocational education are still scarce. The results of this study are expected to provide a deeper understanding of the mechanism that underlies the ability of teacher teams in vocational education to function effectively.

Self‐ and peer assessment has proved effective in promoting the development of teamwork and other professional skills in undergraduate students. However, in previous research approximately 30 percent of students reported that its use produced no perceived improvement in their teamwork experience. It was hypothesised that a significant number of these students were probably members of a team that would have functioned well without self‐ and peer assessment and hence the process did not improve their teamwork experience. This paper aims to report the testing of this hypothesis.

The paper reviews some of the literature on self‐ and peer assessment, outlines the online self‐ and peer assessment tool SPARK^PLUS, and analyses the results of a post‐subject survey of students in a large multi‐disciplinary engineering design subject.

It was found that students who were neutral as to whether self‐ and peer assessment improved their teamwork experience cannot be assumed to be members of well‐functioning teams.

To increase the benefits for all students it is recommended that self‐ and peer assessment focuses on collaborative peer learning, not just assessment of team contributions. Furthermore, it is recommended that feedback sessions be focused on learning not just assessment outcomes and graduate attribute development should be recorded and tracked by linking development to categories required for professional accreditation.

The paper seeks to highlight the key value changes in the current economy, which is shifting towards intangible assets such as innovativeness, cognitive intelligence, emotional intelligence, social capital, and also a shift from individual to team working.

The paper takes the form of an examination of the relevant literature and divergent thinking.

On the basis of a critical analysis of the literature it is found that the outcome of all factors (internal as well as external) influencing the functioning of a team/group would lead to a “general ability” which can be conceived as composed of three different and interrelated abilities, termed the “cognitive intelligence”, “emotional intelligence” and “social capital” of the team/group. These three abilities could explain a wide range of group behaviors. A conceptual model is developed to explain the innovativeness of work teams in terms of these three group abilities.

The general and inclusive nature of the variables proposed in the model hold promise for proving more stable explanations, and thus a robust model, of highly complex phenomena of work team innovativeness. By associating with innovativeness this model brings the emerging concepts of group intelligence to the attention of management researchers. The underlining and classification of the fundamental abilities of groups into three basic categories (i.e. cognitive, emotional and social), provides a direction for future research in the under‐studied “cognitive” and “affective” dimensions of groups/teams. The model presented here is a conceptual model and needs to be validated empirically.

For intervention and practical purposes, the variables proposed in the model would provide a more comprehensive framework for the assessment of group functioning, and work as a guide for building effective teams and changing the function of the team in desired directions.

Although the relevant literature consists of many partial and indirect hints and indications in the direction as conceived by the model, the full model as such is original. The authors' primary contribution is in perceiving the holistic picture of the phenomena (i.e. basic abilities of groups) and relating them to innovativeness.

This article presents a nucleus of organizational levels which attempts to articulate an OD framework which acknowledges how large system change is a systemic interlevel process. This framework describes four levels in terms of a task at each level—bonding at the individual level, creating working, functioning team at the team level, coordination at the interdepartmental group level and adaptation at the organizational level—and attempts to articulate the dynamic interrelationship between the individual's bonding to the organization, the team's functioning, the interdepartmental group's coordination and the organization's adaptation, particularly in a change situation. This focus on interlevel dynamics is not common in the OD literature, yet is at the heart of many consulting experiences. The article describes this framework, positions it in relation to other OD levels approaches, and argues for the notion of organizational levels to be understood in dynamic systemic terms and that interlevel dynamics be constructed into OD theory and practice.