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1 – 10 of 286Elizabeth Mannix and Karen A Jehn
Early efforts in the study of groups had an inherently temporal dimension, notably work on group dynamics and the related study of phases in group problem solving. Not…
Abstract
Early efforts in the study of groups had an inherently temporal dimension, notably work on group dynamics and the related study of phases in group problem solving. Not surprisingly, the majority of work linking time to groups has focused on team development. By contrast, work on team performance has tended to take the form Input-Process-Output, in which the passage of time is implied. There is rarely a discussion of how processes might be affected by timing. We suggest ways in which the two literatures might be brought together. We review models of group development and group performance, propose ways in which temporal issues can be integrated into performance models, and conclude by raising questions for future theory and empirical investigation.
Abraham Assefa Tsehayae and Aminah Robinson Fayek
Despite long-term, sustained research and industry practice, predicting construction labour productivity (CLP) using existing factor and activity modelling approaches remains a…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite long-term, sustained research and industry practice, predicting construction labour productivity (CLP) using existing factor and activity modelling approaches remains a challenge. The purpose of this paper is to first demonstrate the limited usefulness of activity models and then to propose a system model approach that integrates factor and activity models for better prediction of CLP.
Design/methodology/approach
The system model parameters – comprising factors and practices – and work sampling proportions (WSPs) were identified from literature. Field data were collected from 11 projects over a span of 29 months. Activity models based on the relationship between CLP and WSPs were created, and their validity was tested using regression analysis for eight activities in the concreting, electrical and shutdown categories. The proposed system model was developed for concreting activity using the key influencing parameters in conjunction with WSPs.
Findings
The results of the regression analysis indicate that WSPs, like direct work, are not significantly correlated to CLP and fail to explain its variance. Evaluation of the system model approach for the concreting activity showed improved CLP prediction as compared to existing approaches.
Research limitations/implications
The system model was tested for concreting activity using data collected from six projects; however, further investigation into the model’s accuracy and efficacy using data collected from other labour-intensive activities is suggested.
Originality/value
This research establishes the role of WSPs in CLP modelling, and develops a system modelling approach to assist researchers and practitioners in the analysis of productivity-influencing parameters together with WSPs.
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Celso Alves Pais and Cristina Parente
The purpose of this article is to show how work-teams are represented and work in non-profit organizations. From a theoretical point of view, the concepts of macro-team and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to show how work-teams are represented and work in non-profit organizations. From a theoretical point of view, the concepts of macro-team and micro-team, as well as their dynamics rooted in the entrepreneurial world have been discussed.
Design/methodology/approach
Seven socially enterprising organizations have been studied through semi-structured individual and collective interviews with managers, technicians with and without supervisory functions and workers. Data discussed here underwent an inductive analysis based on the procedures of grounded theory.
Findings
Data analysis supported the outlining of the interviewees’ representations of their belonging to the macro-team and of the working of micro-teams. There seem to be no significant differences between the way teams work in these organizations and in profit-making organizations. However, in the organizations we have analyzed, autonomous planning of activities as a mechanism of work organization and assertiveness as a fundamental communication tool between members stand out.
Research limitations/implications
This research did not include the systematic observation of work teams in the field. As such, reliability may be somehow compromised due to the use of the individual and group interview as the single data collection technique.
Practical implications
The outline of representations that we have designed points to a set of dimensions that shows, with some reliability, how to build a sense of belonging to the macro-team among the workers of this type of organization. It also clarifies the difference between behaviors that foster effective and ineffective micro-teams. This allows action over the latter to potentiate the first and eventually eliminate the second.
Originality/value
Considering the scarce research about team-work in non-profit organizations, this study offers a groundbreaking reflection. Further ahead, one may establish a set of differences and similarities between effective macro and micro-teams in different economic sectors. This way, this study may contribute to more encompassing organizational theories focused on the representations about and the functioning of macro and micro-teams.
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Antonino Callea, Flavio Urbini, Paula Benevene, Michela Cortini, Lisa Di Lemma and Michael West
The aim of this paper is to present the Italian version of the Aston Team Performance Inventory (the ATPI), to assess its psychometric properties and whether its factor structure…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to present the Italian version of the Aston Team Performance Inventory (the ATPI), to assess its psychometric properties and whether its factor structure reflects the input-process-output (I-P-O) model.
Design/methodology/approach
The ATPI was administered to 702 Italian employees working in teams, recruited from the National Health Service (50.3 percent) and from public and private organizations (49.7 percent). To assess the psychometric properties of the ATPI's items, evaluation of discriminating power was performed. In addition to the reliability analyses, a confirmatory factor analysis of the full I-P-O model was also conducted.
Findings
Significant results of the Italian version of the ATPI arise from the psychometric properties, dimensions and factor structure. Results align with the English version of the inventory.
Research limitations/implications
The sample was limited and was not selected randomly. Future research should, therefore, expand the sample size and involve several types of Italian organizations. Considering these significant results, future research should validate the Italian version of the ATPI.
Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, the Italian literature is missing instruments for the assessment of team performance in organizations. Consequently, the present study provides evidence of the value of the Italian version of the ATPI.
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While literature discussed value cocreation, most still has its focus from customer perspective, this study fills up this gap by focusing on supplier perspective. Second, prior…
Abstract
Purpose
While literature discussed value cocreation, most still has its focus from customer perspective, this study fills up this gap by focusing on supplier perspective. Second, prior works discussed the outcomes of cocreation; however, the process mechanisms are still under-explored, this study thus aims to explore these process mechanisms that drive value co-creation in the agro-food industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Case study is used as the method; specifically, six in-depth interviews on an agro-food company and its suppliers (i.e. farmers) are conducted, and data are analyzed using the grounded theory approach.
Findings
(1). Agro-food company and its rice suppliers invest different resource types and resource density, and the agro-food company is a main actor, i.e. resource investor and integrator; (2). While motivations of the agro-food company and farmers are different, they are mutually fit in the sustainability value; (3). Both parties share similar process mechanisms, i.e. co-production, senses of identification and trust, mutual interaction and information sharing and (4). Both parties thus have similar consequences, i.e. sustainability, codevelopment.
Originality/value
This study (1) proposes an innovative model of what and how values are cocreated, particularly in the agro-food industry; (2). uses three theories, i.e. input–process–output (I–P–O) model (McGrath and Kelly, 1986), service-dominant logic (SD-L) (Vargo and Lusch, 2004), cocreation design framework (Frow et al., 2015), to understand this phenomenon and thus demonstrates and enriches these three theories, particularly applied in the agro-food contexts; (3).offfers practical suggestions to agro-food firms and social enterprises, particularly those having food safety and environment issues.
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Shuang Ren, Zhining Wang and Ngan Thuy Collins
This study focuses on an emerging deviant behavior at the team level and investigates when and why the team level processes reduce team expedient behavior. Anchored on the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study focuses on an emerging deviant behavior at the team level and investigates when and why the team level processes reduce team expedient behavior. Anchored on the input–process–outcome (I–P–O) theoretical framework for studying team effectiveness, it conceptualizes and tests a research model where servant leadership and team-based human resource management (HRM practices) serve as a team-level input that interacts to influence the process of team reflexivity and ultimately reduces team expedient behavior as the outcome.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are from 109 teams involving a total of 584 employees and analyzed at the team level.
Findings
The findings provide empirical support that team-based HRM practices positively moderate the relationship between servant leadership and team reflexivity and that team reflexivity transforms the influence of servant leadership into reduced team expedient behavior. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Research limitations/implications
The participants in this study were drawn from diverse backgrounds (n = 584), and they were nested within 109 teams. Therefore, the authors were cautious of making claims that the findings would apply to every team in the context of China. The authors acknowledge that the research design of this study is not the strongest to test for causal relationship.
Practical implications
The findings show the synergistic role of servant leadership and team-based HRM practices and suggest organizations have both in place to mitigate deviant behaviors by teams. The study also suggests organizations develop and promote an environment where team members are motivated and encouraged to share their ideas, openly discuss experiences and set up forward plans.
Social implications
Organizations should focus on training their leaders of the behaviors such as supporting followers, enhancing subordinates' commitment to the collective goal and emphasizing the equality between themselves and subordinates. Organizations need to increase their awareness that the teams are more likely to perform their tasks by the means prescribed by the organizational rules if they communicate, discuss and get modeling or feedback from other teams.
Originality/value
This study enriches research on team-based HRM practices, which so far have received limited attention, and deserves further investigation. It sharpens the underlying mechanism that translates team-level input of leadership and HRM to the desired outcomes of reduced expedient behavior by introducing the role of team reflexivity. The study adds to the growing research on workplace deviance by addressing team-level expedient behavior.
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Daniele Binci, Gabriele Palozzi and Francesco Scafarto
Digital transformation (DT) is a priority for the healthcare sector. In many countries, it is still considered in the early stages with an underestimation of its benefits and…
Abstract
Purpose
Digital transformation (DT) is a priority for the healthcare sector. In many countries, it is still considered in the early stages with an underestimation of its benefits and potentiality. Especially in Italy, little is known about the impact of digitalization – particularly of the Internet of Things (IoT) – on the healthcare sector, for example, in terms of clinician's jobs and patient's experience. Drawing from such premises, the paper aims to focus on an overlooked healthcare area related to the chronic heart diseases field and its relationship with DT. The authors aim at exploring and framing the main variables of remote Monitoring (RM) adoption as a specific archetype of healthcare digitalization, both on patients and medical staff level, by shedding some lights on its overall implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors empirically inquiry the RM adoption within the context of the Cardiology Department of the Casilino General Hospital of Rome. To answer our research question, the authors reconstruct the salient information by using induction-type reasoning, direct observation and interviewees with 12 key informants, as well as secondary sources analysis related to the hospital (internal documentation, presentations and technical reports).
Findings
According to a socio-technical framework, the authors build a model composed of five main variables related to medical staff and patients. The authors classify such variables into an input-process-output (I-P-O) model. RM adoption driver represents the input; cultural digital divide, structure flexibility and reaction to change serve the process and finally, RM outcome stands for the output. All these factors, interacting together, contribute to understanding the RM adoption process for chronic disease management.
Research limitations/implications
The authors' research presents two main limitations. The first one is related to using a qualitative method, which is less reliable in terms of replication and the interpretive role of researchers. The second limitation, connected to the first one, is related to the study's scale level, which focuses on a mono-centric consistent level of analysis.
Practical implications
The paper offers a clear understanding of the RM attributes and a comprehensive view for improving the overall quality management of chronic diseases by suggesting that clinicians carefully evaluate both hard and soft variables when undertaking RM adoption decisions.
Social implications
RM technologies could impact on society both in ordinary situations, by preventing patient mobility issues and transport costs, and in extraordinary times (such as a pandemic), where telemedicine contributes to supporting hospitals in swapping in-person visits with remote controls, in order to minimize the risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) contagion or the spread of the virus.
Originality/value
The study enriches the knowledge and understanding of RM adoption within the healthcare sector. From a theoretical perspective, the authors contribute to the healthcare DT adoption debate by focusing on the main variables contributing to the DT process by considering both medical staff and patient's role. From a managerial perspective, the authors highlight the main issues for RM of chronic disease management to enable the transition toward its adoption. Such issues range from the need for awareness of the medical staff about RM advantages to the need for adapting the organizational structure and the training and education process of the patients.
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This chapter examines the role of team processes in predicting overall effectiveness for multidisciplinary teams charged with commercializing new technologies. Theory suggests…
Abstract
This chapter examines the role of team processes in predicting overall effectiveness for multidisciplinary teams charged with commercializing new technologies. Theory suggests that both social- and task-related processes are essential in order for diverse teams to achieve their full potential. Furthermore, these team processes evolve over time, creating even more complexity related to technology commercialization. A panel of teams is surveyed over time to capture this dynamism and the role of key social and task processes. Results suggest that social team processes, such as cohesion and identification, predict affective performance (i.e., team satisfaction and commitment). Objective team performance is primarily a function of task cohesion and trust. Furthermore, affective performance serves as a mediator between social team processes and objective performance for these high-tech teams. Post-hoc analyses examine the differences in the development of both task and social processes for high- and low-performing teams. High-performing teams have higher levels of task-focused interaction, functional conflict and task cohesion early on in the commercialization process as compared with low-performing teams. Effective teams establish key social processes early on, which provides the foundation for team success.
Justin M. Jones, Dorothy R. Carter and Noshir S. Contractor
Research on organizational teamwork is increasingly highlighting the patterned nature of the relational processes (e.g., communication, backup behavior) and psychological states…
Abstract
Research on organizational teamwork is increasingly highlighting the patterned nature of the relational processes (e.g., communication, backup behavior) and psychological states (e.g., trust, shared cognition) that underlie team effectiveness. However, studies of teams often rely on methodologies that do not explicitly assess the underlying patterns of relational processes and states. Social network approaches offer an appealing alternative to the typical methodologies used in team research given that network approaches provide both the theory and methodology necessary to conceptualize and investigate patterns of interactions among group members. Despite the advantages of social network approaches, many team researchers are unfamiliar with the network paradigm and its associated methodologies. The purpose of this chapter is to clarify how networks can be leveraged to answer key research questions related to the study of team functioning and effectiveness. We begin by discussing the evolution and eventual convergence of team research and network approaches. Then, we examine the current state of the literature at the intersection of teams and networks in order to identify key takeaways and remaining questions. We conclude by highlighting opportunities for the future of team network science.
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Serdar S. Durmusoglu and Roger J. Calantone
The purpose of this study is to conduct a meta-analytic review based on a theoretical framework developed for investigating new product development (NPD) teams in the first two…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to conduct a meta-analytic review based on a theoretical framework developed for investigating new product development (NPD) teams in the first two decades of the research stream.
Design/methodology/approach
This study contributes to literature by investigating the presence of publication bias and synthesizing correlation effect sizes of 27 factors influencing three NPD team performance dimensions: overall, market-based (e.g. sales, profitability), process-based (e.g. budget adherence, schedule adherence) outcomes. Further, this study presents a path analytical model that uses the aggregate study effects to identify significant drivers of NPD team performance.
Findings
First, examination of extant literature shows no publication bias. Next, analyses show that three internal team dynamic variables have the most significant positive effect on overall NPD team performance: team member job satisfaction, cross-functional integration and superordinate identity. For market-based performance, three goal-related contextual factors exert the most positive influence, namely, goal stability, goal clarity and goal support, in respective order. Further, for process-based performance, cross-functional integration’s strong positive effect is followed by team and goal stability. Moreover, physical distance, interpersonal and task conflict have significant negative effects on NPD team performance. Finally, both market- and process-based NPD team performance are significantly influenced by NPD team’s cohesion, which acts a mediator between two contextual factors: physical distance and team tenure.
Research limitations/implications
This meta-analysis contributes to literature by providing a comprehensive model of NPD team performance predictors, their definitions, along with their corresponding effects in predicting performance. While team cohesion is found to be a strong predictor of both market- and process-based performance, future research can examine if too much cohesion has a detrimental effect, especially on market-based performance.
Practical implications
The results assist managers in shifting their priorities to ensure optimal support of NPD teams. For example, team leadership competence externally has a larger effect on overall performance compared to team leadership for internal team dynamics. Hence, team leaders should make sure that they manage the team’s relationships with external parties (e.g. other functional units) with more caution.
Originality/value
This study provides a guiding framework for analyzing NPD team performance as well as identifies and then addresses many knowledge gaps on NPD team performance.
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