Search results

1 – 10 of over 12000
Book part
Publication date: 4 August 2017

Suzanne T. Bell and Neal Outland

Team composition research considers how configurations (e.g., team-level diversity) of team members’ attributes (e.g., personality, values, demographics) influence important…

Abstract

Purpose

Team composition research considers how configurations (e.g., team-level diversity) of team members’ attributes (e.g., personality, values, demographics) influence important outcomes. Our chapter describes key issues in understanding and effectively managing team composition over time.

Methodology/approach

We discuss how context shapes team composition. We review empirical research that examined relationships between team composition, and team processes and emergent properties over multiple time points. We review research that examined how composition can be effectively managed over the lifecycle of a team.

Findings

Context shapes the nature of team composition itself (e.g., dynamic composition). To the extent that membership change, fluid boundaries, and multiple team membership are present should be accounted for in research and practice. The research we reviewed indicated no, or fleeting effects for surface-level (e.g., demographics) composition on the development of team processes and emergent properties over time, although there were exceptions. Conversely, deep-level composition affected team processes and emergent properties early in a team’s lifespan as well as later. Team composition information can be used in staffing; it can also inform how to best leverage training, leadership, rewards, tasks, and technology to promote team effectiveness.

Social implications

Teams are the building blocks of contemporary organizations. Understanding and effectively managing team composition over time can increase the likelihood of team.

Originality/value

Our chapter provides novel insights into key issues in understanding and effectively managing team composition over time.

Article
Publication date: 14 March 2016

Chitose Furukawa

This paper aims to explore the dynamics of critical problem-solving (CPS) project teams and creativity throughout a project’s duration, in a multiple-project environment with…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the dynamics of critical problem-solving (CPS) project teams and creativity throughout a project’s duration, in a multiple-project environment with consideration of the project’s external factors, such as customer situations. In addition, behavioural elements of the CPS project – multiple team memberships, cross-understanding and the transactive memory system – will be investigated in a multiple-project environment.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper investigates the dynamics of a CPS project team and creativity in a global software support organisation by conducting semi-structured interviews in Japan and Germany. There were 53 interviewees in Japan and 51 in Germany. The results presented in this paper show the outcomes of a qualitative study, specifically focusing on the processes of CPS projects using thematic analysis. In the discussion section, propositions are given based on this research’s findings as well as existing literature to denote future research possibilities.

Findings

The results of this study suggest that creativity to resolve critical problems in a project team occurs by integrating diverse information and knowledge at multi-level organisational units. They suggest that managerial functions are crucial to determining project composition, and appropriate project environments are created by facilitating multiple team memberships at multi-level organisational units.

Originality/value

For the academic domain, the findings have contributed to the fields of project and human resource management, and team management in a multiple-project environment. To practitioners, this study shows the importance of managing multiple projects by considering human behaviour perspectives when solving critical problems.

Details

Team Performance Management, vol. 22 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1352-7592

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 19 September 2012

Jonathan Kush, Courtney Williamson and Linda Argote

Purpose – We explore two characteristics of groups in today's work environments, membership dispersion and geographic dispersion, and the effects that these conditions have on…

Abstract

Purpose – We explore two characteristics of groups in today's work environments, membership dispersion and geographic dispersion, and the effects that these conditions have on group and organizational learning.

Approach – We integrate findings on group membership dispersion and geographic dispersion and develop predictions of dispersion's effects on group learning, incorporating the literature on knowledge transfer, transactive memory, turnover, and communication.

Findings – Members in multiple work groups, while exposed to knowledge from different areas, have weaker group identities and are more adversely affected by time constraints than members who belong to only one group. Group members can be dispersed sequentially through turnover, which creates more knowledge-retention problems than those experienced by stable groups. Members of geographically dispersed groups are in positions to integrate novel knowledge. The necessary use of technology to communicate, however, reduces the ability of geographically dispersed group members to convey ideas as effectively as their collocated counterparts. Geographically distributed group members experience less common ground and more difficulty in transferring knowledge, especially tacit knowledge, than their collocated counterparts.

Originality/value – We discuss how membership and geographic dispersion pose challenges to and provide opportunities for group learning. We suggest how learning within dispersed groups can be supported as well as what the future holds for the role of these groups in the new economy. The chapter concludes that although membership and geographic dispersion pose challenges to learning at the group level, these conditions enable learning at the level of the organization.

Details

Looking Back, Moving Forward: A Review of Group and Team-Based Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-030-7

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 24 September 2014

Sjur Larsen, Espen Nystad and Claire Taylor

To present a case study of coordination mechanisms employed by a multiteam system (MTS) charged in an international oil and gas company.

Abstract

Purpose

To present a case study of coordination mechanisms employed by a multiteam system (MTS) charged in an international oil and gas company.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative method with longitudinal observation and interviewing.

Findings

The MTS, and particularly its coordination mechanism of a regular collaboration meeting, provided multiple benefits, such as access to diverse competences, capabilities for solving problems crossing team boundaries, and opportunities for developing relationships between the different teams involved. There were also observed challenges: a lack of shared understanding between the participants concerning the purpose of the main collaboration session of the MTS, different levels of insight into each other’s areas of competence, information sharing, shifting team membership, multiteam membership, time pressure, and technology-mediated communication.

Originality/value

Providing an illustration of the MTS concept in a real organizational setting and the role of a regular collaboration meeting as a coordination mechanism for the MTS.

Details

Pushing the Boundaries: Multiteam Systems in Research and Practice
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-313-1

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 4 August 2017

Jennifer Feitosa, Lorena Solis and Rebecca Grossman

To summarize and build on research that explores the influence of culture on team dynamics, particularly over time. Specifically, we explore culture and teams from a dynamic…

Abstract

Purpose

To summarize and build on research that explores the influence of culture on team dynamics, particularly over time. Specifically, we explore culture and teams from a dynamic perspective by providing a framework for understanding both how culture influences team dynamics over time, and where interventions should be targeted at different points to maximize the potential benefits of cultural diversity.

Methodology/approach

Drawing from a prominent model of team development (Kozlowski, Gully, Nason, & Smith, 1999), we provide mechanisms through which culture exerts an influence, as well as the practical approaches that will be best suited for mitigating potential negative effects at different points in time.

Findings

We focus on the following phases: team formation, task compilation, role compilation, team compilation, as well as team maintenance. At first, surface-level characteristics and subgroup formation should be closely monitored along with interventions to develop a group identity when teams are being formed. Later on, emergent states (e.g., trust, conflict) can come to the forefront as team members can develop multiple memberships or yet be resistant to performing in an adaptive manner.

Research limitations/implications

We identify key avenues for future research to serve as a foundation for those studying the cultural diversity within teams via temporal lens, including the role of context and going beyond Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.

Originality/value

Albeit research has started to accumulate regarding how culture influences teams through conflict, communication, trust, cohesion, and creativity, this chapter goes beyond current development to address when different cultural elements influence team dynamics.

Details

Team Dynamics Over Time
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-403-7

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 4 August 2017

Abstract

Details

Team Dynamics Over Time
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-403-7

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2020

Jiaying Li, Zhaohua Deng, Richard David Evans, Shan Liu and Hong Wu

In China, healthcare services have historically been expensive and difficult to access, with resources being unfairly distributed, often being centralized in large hospitals in…

Abstract

Purpose

In China, healthcare services have historically been expensive and difficult to access, with resources being unfairly distributed, often being centralized in large hospitals in major cities. In rural regions, hospitals often suffer from limited supplies, including human capital and equipment. E-health technologies have received significant attention from governments and citizens, with online healthcare communities (OHCs) providing easier communication between patients and doctors. Although doctors play a pivotal role in the success of OHCs, they are often unsure how to attract patients, with limited research focusing on this. The purpose of this paper is to explore how doctors can take initiatives in OHCs, from the joint perspectives of individual effort (i.e. intrapersonal factor) and identity in medical teams (MTs) (i.e. interpersonal factor), based on attribution theory.

Design/methodology/approach

Hierarchical linear regression was conducted on data from 3,170 doctors participating in 865 online MTs, to examine the effects of individual effort and identity in MTs on individual performance. Individual effort included central effort (log-in frequency to OHC) and peripheral effort (articles published on doctors' homepages). Identity in MTs was represented as the identity of team leader and multiple team membership (MTM).

Findings

This study found that the main variables – central and peripheral effort, and leader and MTM identity – all had significant and positive impacts on the service quantity (SQ) of both written and telephone consultations. Although positive effects could be experienced in most conditions that were congruent with the logic of identity theory, the interaction terms demonstrated complex influences. Specifically, leader identity did not moderate the effect of article effort in written consultation, while MTM identity could not moderate the relationship between frequency effort and SQ in telephone-consultation services. Further, the leader identity negatively moderated the relationship between article effort and SQ in telephone consultations. Thus, for doctors with the leader identity, the impact of article effort on SQ was weaker. In summary, both aspects were proved to play important roles in individual SQ.

Practical implications

This study provides empirical findings through focusing on the SQ of both written and telephone consultations in OHCs, thereby enabling healthcare providers to take initiatives and ultimately improve the efficiency and provision of delivered healthcare services. It is worth mentioning that doctors possessing the identity of team leader should be cautious that the more articles published by them may not lead to envisaged telephone-consultation performance, according to the negative moderating effect of leader identity on the relationship between article effort and SQ during telephone consultations.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the OHC literature by investigating how doctors' efforts and identity in OHCs affect individual performance, based on attribution theory and identity theory. Further, we provide healthcare practitioners with an improved understanding of these dimensions to improve autonomy regarding service provision in OHCs.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 120 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 16 August 2007

Jennifer M. George and Eden B. King

We propose that group affective tone may be dysfunctional for teams faced with complex, equivocal, and dynamically changing tasks and environments. Group affective tone (and in…

Abstract

We propose that group affective tone may be dysfunctional for teams faced with complex, equivocal, and dynamically changing tasks and environments. Group affective tone (and in particular, a positive affective tone) may exacerbate pre-existing tendencies of teams to develop a single-shared reality that team members confidently believe to be valid and to be prone to group-centrism. Alternatively, heterogeneity in member mood states within teams may lead to the development of multiple-shared realities that reflect the equivocality of the teams’ tasks and circumstances and other functional outcomes (e.g., multiple perspectives and minority dissent), which ultimately may enhance team effectiveness.

Details

Affect and Groups
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1413-3

Book part
Publication date: 12 July 2011

Luis L. Martins and Marieke C. Schilpzand

Global virtual teams (GVTs) – composed of members in two or more countries who work together primarily using information and communication technologies – are increasingly…

Abstract

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.

Details

Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-554-0

Book part
Publication date: 24 September 2014

Sallie J. Weaver, Xin Xuan Che, Peter J. Pronovost, Christine A. Goeschel, Keith C. Kosel and Michael A. Rosen

Early writings about teamwork in healthcare emphasized that healthcare providers needed to evolve from a team of experts into an expert team. This is no longer enough. As…

Abstract

Purpose

Early writings about teamwork in healthcare emphasized that healthcare providers needed to evolve from a team of experts into an expert team. This is no longer enough. As patients, accreditation bodies, and regulators increasingly demand that care is coordinated, safe, of high quality, and efficient, it is clear that healthcare organizations increasingly must function and learn not only as expert teams but also as expert multiteam systems (MTSs).

Approach

In this chapter, we offer a portrait of the robust, and albeit complex, multiteam structures that many healthcare systems are developing in order to adapt to rapid changes in regulatory and financial pressures while simultaneously improving patient safety, quality, and performance.

Findings and value

The notion of continuous improvement rooted in continuous learning has been embraced as a battle cry from the boardroom to the bedside, and the MTS concept offers a meaningful lens through which we can begin to understand, study, and improve these complex organizational systems dedicated to tackling some of the most important goals of our time.

Details

Pushing the Boundaries: Multiteam Systems in Research and Practice
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-313-1

Keywords

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