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There is a general consensus that healthcare for people with intellectual disabilities should be provided by multi-disciplinary teams. Within a forensic setting, recommendations are often made for separate or “parallel” forensic teams, operating independently of generic mental health or intellectual disability teams. An alternative to this model is an “integrated” service, where specialist forensic clinicians work within the general intellectual disability service, to provide support for clients with forensic needs. For clients with intellectual disabilities and forensic needs, there may be advantages to providing access to a wider multi-disciplinary team, through the application of an integrated model. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the working of an integrated forensic service within a learning disability team, to identify positive aspects of this model, and how potential shortcomings may be overcome.

Literature review, description of service outline with case example.

Although some studies have compared parallel and integrated forensic models within mental health services, there are no evaluations that compare models of forensic services for individuals with intellectual disabilities. However, specific advantages of an integrated model may include availability of multi-disciplinary clinicians, development of forensic skills across wider groups of clinicians, reduction in stigma and avoidance of delay in transfer of care between services. In addition, in areas with smaller populations, parallel services may not be feasible due to low case numbers.

There has been no formal evaluation of parallel vs integrated forensic services within an intellectual disability setting. However, the authors describe a fully integrated service and suggest means by which the potential shortcomings of an integrated model may be overcome.

The main goal of the work presented here is the study and comparative analysis of the changes that take place in the structure of organizations when managers decide to establish work teams in the context of quality management. It can be observed that team characteristics change and adapt to evolving management programs.

The authors selected a qualitative research method, in particular the case study methodology. The comparative analysis of organizational changes was analyzed in three different business units that had implanted advanced quality management programs using work teams.

There is a relationship between the quality management approach and the degree of integration of the teams into the organizational structure; when the quality approach is an advanced TQM approach, teams are more integrated into the organizational structure. Results show that a reduction of hierarchical levels in the organizational structures favors the integration of work teams and vice versa. It also facilitates effective development of the teams.

As a result of the findings, supervision should be reduced and a great deal of autonomy and resources should be assigned to teams. In any case, the existence of linkage positions (a leader or facilitator that forms a part of the team) makes the required supervision easier and more flexible.

The paper shows that significant organizational changes requiring different uses of design variables can be obtained with the simultaneous establishment of TQM programs and work teams. The paper is relevant to managers attempting to use teams as an effective asset for obtaining the competitive advantage of their firms.

The purpose of this paper is to review the research on organizational teams. The aim is delimiting the conceptual space of effectiveness and determining team‐level measurement issues.

A range of published works, which analyse the different variables of effectiveness for each type of team, is reviewed (the most used effectiveness criteria are shown in a table). According to the existence of different types of teams – work team, parallel team, project team and management team – the authors assess what variables and measures are more appropriate according to team type, analyse the problems in gathering data and measuring in this level of analysis and, finally, offer a proposal of measurement issues for future research.

The authors conclude that effectiveness is a multidimensional concept with three dimensions: performance, attitudinal outcomes, and behavioural outcomes. Regarding team‐level measurement issues, the authors also conclude that there is a need to use multiple data sources and multimethod analyses incorporating consensus and aggregation methods, as well as observation and key informants.

The results of this work can support future research on teams. Although considerable headway has been made in the team effectiveness studies, there are things that still need to be done. The paper shows that a more complete measure of effectiveness must be developed, according to the three dimensions: performance, attitudinal outcomes, and behavioural outcomes.

The paper is a comprehensive review and provides a basis for researchers in the area of effective teams.

The purpose of this paper is to study the use of a heterogeneous and evolutionary team approach based on different sources of knowledge to address a real-world problem within the telecommunication domain: the frequency assignment problem (FAP). Evolutionary algorithms have been proved as very suitable strategies when they are used to solve NP-hard optimization problems. However, these algorithms can find difficulties when they fall into local minima and the generation of high-quality solutions when tacking real-world instances of the problem is computationally very expensive. In this scenario, the use of a heterogeneous parallel team represents a very interesting approach.

The results have been validated by using two real-world telecommunication instances which contain real information about two GSM networks. Contrary to most of related publications, this paper is focussed on aspects which are relevant for real communication networks. Moreover, due to the stochastic nature of metaheuristics, the results are validated through a formal statistical analysis. This analysis is divided in two stages: first, a complete statistical study, and after that, a full comparative study against results previously published.

Comparative study shows that a heterogeneous evolutionary proposal obtains better results than proposals which are based on a unique source of knowledge. In fact, final results provided in the work surpass the results of other relevant studies previously published in the literature.

The paper provides a complete study of the contribution provided by the different metaheuristics included in the team and the impact of using different sources of evolutionary knowledge when the system is applied to solve a real-world FAP problem. The conclusions obtained in this study represent an original contribution never reached before for FAP.

In the continuing endeavour to work towards ever better management, the engineering manager has a crucial role to play. The history of the engineer is reviewed and his/her possible present role in management is considered. Management objectives are outlined and defined and the specific role of the engineer emphasised. The best managers are leaders, in particular effective leaders of teams, and this is a management task well within the grasp of the engineer. The engineer′s specific training and initial experience give him/her special qualifications in this area. Indeed, there seems to be no reason why the engineer should not climb the management ladder right to the top, especially these days when technology is continually growing in importance. The demands made on the effective chief executive are outlined. It would seem that engineering management has come of age and that with the appropriate management training the engineer should be well capable of filling a senior management role.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how changes in a set of structural design variables (i.e. liaison position, networked design, innovation teams and work teams) affect the creation of new knowledge within organizations. The enablers intention, autonomy, fluctuation and creative chaos, redundancy, variety, and trust and commitment, taken from Nonaka's framework, are used as intermediate variables.

A sample of 167 large Spanish companies was used to empirically test a general relational model.

The analysis yielded two main conclusions. First, the relationship between structural variables and enablers, and, second, the relationship of enablers with knowledge creation emerged as highly relevant for knowledge creation in organizations.

A major limitation of this study was the relatively small number of variables used to define organizational structure. In reality, a large number of variables combine to create organizational structure, yet this study only included four: liaison position, networked design, innovation teams and work teams. A further limitation is the importance of the organizational context itself, which was not addressed in this study.

This research has yielded findings that can help firms to understand and appreciate the changes that may occur in certain organizational design variables that affect knowledge creation. Equally, this research shows that knowledge creation has the potential to act as a catalyst for innovation, and may consequently drive change within the firm.

Despite a long tradition of research into organizations and the ways in which these entities create knowledge, the literature requires enhancing through the publication of articles that provide a deeper knowledge of the context and tools that aid knowledge creation. The novel approach adopted in the current study verified whether certain variables related to organization design (i.e. liaison positions, networked design, innovation teams and work teams) exert a relevant influence on knowledge creation.

The purpose of this paper is to present a virtual process simulation technique for modeling process alternatives.

The paper proposes modeling method and applies it to an illustrative example.

The method is effective in modeling the illustrative example and provides a method for studying team composition and dynamics a priori.

The paper presents an approach to model process alternatives in order to select the best deployment option. The modeling process incorporates measures and metrics relating to global geographic and team issues. Incorporation of these issues affords the process designer the ability to predict more accurately the most successful deployment option.

The research contributes to the study of process modeling by examining the potentially neglected or ignored issues relating to geographic and team diversity.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of leadership and team processes in information technology (IT) projects in business environments. The paper contextualizes the study in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The paper addresses two central questions: what is the level of IT project team effectiveness in the UAE context? What is the maturity level of leadership in IT project management in the UAE? A tailored instrument, based on Cohen and Bailey's team effectiveness evaluation model, was used in this study of 42 project teams in the UAE across various sectors.

The findings demonstrate that IT projects in the UAE demonstrate a maturity level that is transactional, with task‐focused teams and people‐oriented leadership styles.

The implications of the paper can facilitate broader contextualized research on leadership and IT project team effectiveness, with particular emphasis on developing economies. This is important in addressing the issue of high failure rates in IT projects in general.

Understanding the role of leadership and its responsibility in facilitating teams in technical and high failure environments can impact on productivity and success rates in future projects.

This paper is unique in providing collated opinion about constructs within IT project team processes and leadership effectiveness in the context of businesses in developing economies. The use of a maturity structure addressing leadership, trust, teams and cohesion is distinctive.

To investigate relationships between teamwork, trust and teacher team commitment.

Research has confirmed the value‐added effects of organizational commitment in terms of job performance, organizational effectiveness, and employee retention. This study focused on teacher teams as the unit of analysis, and posited associations between teamwork, viewed as team skills, trust and teacher team commitment. Data were derived from responses of elementary school teachers to an instrument including established measures of teamwork component skills, affective‐ and cognition‐based trust, and team commitment.

Teamwork was found to be a significant predictor of teacher team commitment. Respondents showing higher levels of teamwork skills perceived higher levels of team commitment. Results, while not entirely confirmatory, suggested the importance of trust in the commitment equation.

This research was limited by the study sample of elementary schools. Future research should test initially confirmed associations in different school contexts with substantially dissimilar teacher demographics, and include consideration of dispositional antecedents that may impact teacher perceptions.

School leaders concerned with teacher commitment and related implications for teacher retention should consider strategies to strengthen performance‐enhancing teamwork and support satisfying teaming processes.

This study provides an initial understanding of teacher teamwork and affects on commitment in the context of teams viewed as building blocks of organization in locally‐managed schools.