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1 – 10 of over 59000Xiaosong Jason Wu, Randi Jiang, Jacob Chia-An Tsai and Gary Klein
An enterprise system (ES) implementation proceeds as a multi-team system (MTS), with multiple project teams spanning time and business functions to meet organization-wide goals…
Abstract
Purpose
An enterprise system (ES) implementation proceeds as a multi-team system (MTS), with multiple project teams spanning time and business functions to meet organization-wide goals. Thus, the focus shifts from the output of a single project team to the outcomes of all ES project teams as part of the larger MTS. This study extends concepts of shared mental models (SMMs) in aspects of goals and plans in both MTS level and project team level and further examines SMMs' interactive impact on the MTS-based project performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study tests the model with survey data from 140 MTS-based ES implementations in China. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS SEM) served to test the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
SMMs of project team-level goals and plans contribute to the cooperation and coordination in the ES implementation and thereby improve final implementation efficiency either directly or in combination. However, SMMs of MTS-level goal and plans contribute integration only when considered with achievements at the project level.
Originality/value
Prior literature suggests a critical role of integration among ES project teams but finds challenges in achieving such integration. By leveraging shared mental model theory, the authors' results show that both common goal and plan understandings in the integration team critically influence integration in ES implementation and, thus, the final ES implementation efficiency, though not in a strictly linear relationship.
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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…
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.
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Ronald Archie Charles Huggins and Caren Brenda Scheepers
The purpose of this study is to explore how integration teams can build trusting relationships in component teams to enhance their leadership capability within multiteam systems…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore how integration teams can build trusting relationships in component teams to enhance their leadership capability within multiteam systems to achieve common superordinate goals. The study investigates how an integration team diagnoses contextual dynamics to enhance understanding of goals in component teams and spans boundaries to create trusting relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed model was tested by surveying 396 respondents nested within component teams working within five South African manufacturing companies. Structural Equation Modeling was used to analyse the data.
Findings
The study reveals that by diagnosing the contextual dynamics within a multiteam system and through boundary spanning, an integration team builds trusting relationships, which will, ultimately, enable teams to achieve common superordinate goals.
Practical implications
This study offers organisations insights into how multiple component teams of different functional disciplines can work effectively towards achieving an overall or common superordinate goal. It offers insights on how to mitigate misalignment challenges by implementing an integration team within the multiteam system context.
Originality/value
Research participants were employees within a manufacturing context, which sets this study apart from many previous ones conducted in a simulated environment within a military context. The study investigates building trusting relationships among multiple component teams within a multiteam system through the implementation of an integration team, which has not been specifically addressed in previous studies.
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Che Khairil Izam Che Ibrahim, Seosamh B. Costello and S. Wilkinson
Team integration is a concept that has been widely fostered in alliances as a way of improving collaborative relationships between diverse organisations. However, deeper insights…
Abstract
Purpose
Team integration is a concept that has been widely fostered in alliances as a way of improving collaborative relationships between diverse organisations. However, deeper insights into the practice of high levels of team integration remain elusive. The purpose of this paper is to develop a deeper understanding of team integration through the “lived experience” of practitioners in an alliance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a qualitative research methodology. Using a phenomenological examination, via the lived experiences of 24 alliance practitioners, the practice of alliance team integration has been investigated based on the key indicators that foster alliance team integration: team leadership, trust and respect, single team focus on project objectives and key results areas, collective understanding, commitment from project alliance board, single and co-located alliance team, and free flow communication.
Findings
The findings highlight that alliancing gives the project teams’ flexibility to change and adapt, to advance the collaborative environment and that successful integration of multi-disciplinary project teams requires commitment to the identified indicators. These findings have led to the development of a framework of leadership for successful alliance integrated practices. It is proposed that to influence the leadership for the purpose of achieving successful integration practice, a team-centric approach is required which includes four elements: task and relationship-oriented behaviours; collaborative learning environments; cultivating cross-boundary networks; and collaborative governance.
Practical implications
As team integration is the central tenet of alliance projects, greater understanding regarding the leadership of integration practice is of value in leveraging the benefits of outstanding performance. Also, the results of the study are expected to be informative and provide insight for alliance teams to help them proactively recognise how the context of integrated teams is influenced by specific indicators, impacting on the extent of integration practice.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the current body of knowledge concerning the insights from the “lived experience” of alliance teams towards achieving a greater understanding of what contributes to the leadership of successful integration practices.
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Aki Aapaoja, Maila Herrala, Aki Pekuri and Harri Haapasalo
Defective stakeholder management has frequently resulted in conflicts and partial failures. Integrated project delivery (IPD) and team integration provides opportunities for…
Abstract
Purpose
Defective stakeholder management has frequently resulted in conflicts and partial failures. Integrated project delivery (IPD) and team integration provides opportunities for organizations to achieve more than they could on their own. The purpose of this study is to analyze the level and challenges of team integration. In addition, study tries to recognize the cornerstones for creating integrated teams in construction projects.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper discusses the characteristics and level of team integration in a construction project, but the main purpose is to derive the cornerstones for creating integrated teams. Results are derived from the analysis of current literature and an empirical case study.
Findings
This paper describes the 12 characteristics of an integrated project team. In addition, the cornerstones for creating integrated teams were recognized as the early involvement and assessment of stakeholders, continuous communication and interaction, cultural change, and making the IPD process well known.
Practical implications
The construction industry is aware of the need to improve control over its delivery processes. In addition, the customers are aware of waste and have started to demand more value. Because IPD and team integration supports the controlling over delivery processes and enables the more efficient value creation, these are extensive issues in developing construction industry.
Originality/value
Team integration is an important part of value creation. Limited research attention has been directed at what the level of integration is compared with the characteristics of integration. This paper also advances team integration research by identifying the cornerstones for integration.
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Jan Kratzer, Roger Th.A.J. Leenders and Jo M.L. Van Engelen
Multifunctional teams have become commonplace in new product development (NPD) endeavors. Knowledge on the functioning of such teams, however, remains little. In this article two…
Abstract
Multifunctional teams have become commonplace in new product development (NPD) endeavors. Knowledge on the functioning of such teams, however, remains little. In this article two major principles about how these teams function are investigated, team cooperation and team integration. A theoretical discussion indicates that there is not a clear‐cut way to manage team cooperation and team integration in order to achieve high performance. The management of these principles in NPD teams is rather a delicate managerial challenge. These theoretical considerations are statistically examined then. The results show that both team cooperation and team integration are inversely U‐shaped related to NPD team performance. In managerial terms the results imply that creating the right level of team cooperation and team integration managers have to balance their actions between two extremes. The article finishes by presenting opportunities how to do so.
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Xueyan Zhang, Xiaohong Wang and Wei Zhao
Effective knowledge integration is vital for decision making in interdisciplinary research (IDR) teams. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the antecedents of knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
Effective knowledge integration is vital for decision making in interdisciplinary research (IDR) teams. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the antecedents of knowledge integration. This study aims to examine how social capital at different levels and their interaction influences knowledge integration in IDR teams. Specifically, this study explores the moderating role of team social capital in the relationship between individual social capital and knowledge integration.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey on 346 individuals from 46 IDR teams in a research university in China is conducted. A multilevel analysis of the hierarchical linear model is used to process the sociometric data.
Findings
Results reveal that team social capital interacts with individual social capital by influencing knowledge integration. At the individual level, tie strength and structural equivalence have a positive influence on knowledge integration. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between betweenness centrality and knowledge integration. Furthermore, team cohesion negatively moderates the positive effect of tie strength and structural equivalence on knowledge integration. No support is found for the moderating role of team cohesion on the effect of betweenness centrality.
Originality/value
First, different from previous research on social capital at single levels, this study links the individual-level and the team-level views to explore the effects of social capital on knowledge integration. Second, this study enriches research on inducing factors of knowledge integration. Third, this study extends social capital research and knowledge integration research to the IDR team context.
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Pascal Dussart, Lise A. van Oortmerssen and Bé Albronda
The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into cross-functional team (CFT) members’ points of view on knowledge integration.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into cross-functional team (CFT) members’ points of view on knowledge integration.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted using Q methodology. The 22 respondents were members of CFTs in information systems development within 7 agencies of the Flemish Government administration.
Findings
The study resulted in three distinct perspectives. To the CFT player, the benefits and added value of information and knowledge diversity of CFTs outweigh the challenges of knowledge integration. By contrast, the CFT sceptic is doubtful that knowledge integration in CFTs can ever work at all. Finally, the organization critic highlights the lack of support from the organization for efficient and effective knowledge integration in CFTs.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study suggest that CFT configurations have important implications for the development of shared team mental models and for teams’ cognitive performance.
Practical implications
Making CFT members aware of their peers’ mental models, ways of working and priorities could help strengthen knowledge integration. To improve knowledge integration in teams, managers should reduce knowledge boundaries that are the result of organizational structuring and power play between departments.
Originality/value
By focusing on daily experiences with knowledge integration, this study reveals that members of CFTs in information systems development hold contrasting perspectives on, and diverging attitudes towards, knowledge integration.
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Yuzhen Duan, Xiaobao Peng, Qiong Gui, Haibin Zhou, Xuehe Zhang and Wei Song
This paper aims to investigate the effect of transformational leadership (TL), behavioral integration of top management team (TMT) and team conflict on manager ambidexterity…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the effect of transformational leadership (TL), behavioral integration of top management team (TMT) and team conflict on manager ambidexterity behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Hierarchical linear modeling has been applied to test the degree of influence of TL and behavioral integration of TMT on manager ambidexterity using data collected from 60 chief executive officers (CEOs) and 322 TMT members of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the Chinese electronic commerce industry.
Findings
The results suggest the following: transformational leadership is positively associated with the behavioral integration of TMT and a high level of TMT behavioral integration strengthens the positive relationship between transformational leadership and manager ambidexterity. Also, team conflict moderates the mediating role of TMT behavioral integration in the relationship of transformational leadership to manager ambidexterity.
Research limitations/implications
First, this study does not directly test whether transformational leadership encourages a focus on manager ambidexterity, although the results on behavioral integration draw attention to the usefulness of such leadership. Second, in focusing on manager ambidexterity, this paper omits key variables, especially skills and abilities.
Practical implications
Given that several aspects of leadership can be learned and adjusted, the findings suggest that organizations can improve their individual ambidexterity by helping the CEOs develop and display transformational leadership through training and mentoring. TMTs were found to rely mostly on the behavioral integration approach (collaborative behavior, quality of information exchange and joint decision-making) and team conflict management. Such reliance, in turn, predicts effective team behavioral coordination and subsequent manager ambidexterity.
Originality/value
First, this study goes beyond the current research that focuses primarily on ambidexterity at the inter-organizational alliance, firm and business unit levels. This earlier research lacks a conceptually and empirically validated understanding of ambidexterity at the level of the manager. In contrast, by investigating and examining the antecedents of manager ambidexterity behavior, the study develops an individual perspective to elucidate the ambidextrous mechanisms. Second, the study also contributes by explaining how transformational leadership relates to manager ambidexterity. To date, only limited research has disentangled how transformational leaders enhance managers’ teamwork (e.g. behavioral integration) and how such leaders affect the ambidextrous orientation of managers.
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Chi-Ying Cheng, Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks and Fiona Lee
In this chapter, we posit that identity integration, an individual difference variable measuring the degree to which multiple and disparate social identities are perceived as…
Abstract
In this chapter, we posit that identity integration, an individual difference variable measuring the degree to which multiple and disparate social identities are perceived as compatible, moderates the relationship between team diversity and innovation. Prior research shows that individuals with higher levels of identity integration exhibit higher levels of innovation on tasks that draw from identity-related knowledge systems. In this chapter, we extend this research to examine how innovation can be increased in cross-functional teams. We propose that reinforcing the compatibility between functional identities within a team facilitates access to functionally unique knowledge systems, which in turn increases team innovation.