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Article
Publication date: 15 August 2008

Petru L. Curşeu, René Schalk and Inge Wessel

The purpose of this paper is to inform readers on what is known on information processing in virtual teams and to discuss the consequences of these findings for the management of…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to inform readers on what is known on information processing in virtual teams and to discuss the consequences of these findings for the management of virtual teams.

Design/methodology approach

Systematic review of the literature on information processing in virtual teams based on a general information processing model for teams.

Findings

An overview of the most relevant factors that influence the effectiveness of virtual teams is provided.

Research limitations/implications

The review is based on existing literature on virtual teams and it discusses future research directions opened by the conceptualization of virtual teams as information processing systems.

Practical implications

The paper identifies the factors that can improve the effectiveness of information processing in virtual teams.

Originality/value

The general information‐processing model for teams enables a systematic integration of the fragmented literature on virtual teams.

Details

Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 23 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-3946

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 July 2022

Chenggang Duan, Xinmei Liu, Xiaomei Yang and Cheng Deng

Drawing on job demands and resources theory and the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this study aims to investigate the effect of team knowledge complexity on team

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on job demands and resources theory and the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this study aims to investigate the effect of team knowledge complexity on team information sharing and information searching and examine whether team learning goal orientation mediates these effects.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted two studies. Study 1 used a field survey study conducted among 374 employees positioned in 68 new product teams. Study 2 used a three-wave online survey study conducted among 208 leaders to investigate the teams they managed.

Findings

The findings of the two studies reveal that team knowledge complexity has a positive direct effect on team information sharing and information searching. Furthermore, team learning goal orientation mediates these two relationships.

Practical implications

The findings indicate that team knowledge complexity is generally beneficial for the team information process. Therefore, instead of fearing an increase in the knowledge complexity of the projects, organizations should dare to present challenge demands to team members to enhance their engagement in information processing. Organizations could also pay attention to team member selection during team composition processes. For example, selecting team members with a high level of learning goal orientation is helpful in facilitating team information processing.

Originality/value

Although previous studies have found that knowledge complexity is beneficial for team output, less is known about how knowledge complexity influences team processes. This study clarifies the relationships between team knowledge complexity, information sharing and information searching and examines team learning goal orientation as a vital mediator.

Article
Publication date: 5 March 2021

Adriana Andrea Amaya, Wann-Yih Wu and Ying-Kai Liao

Although previous studies noted the importance for organizations in establishing an innovation strategy, few have examined innovation orientation as a multidimensional knowledge…

Abstract

Purpose

Although previous studies noted the importance for organizations in establishing an innovation strategy, few have examined innovation orientation as a multidimensional knowledge configuration. Therefore, this study draws on the valuable theoretical underpinnings of the resource-based view and information processing theory to examine the mechanism through which an organization's innovation orientation (IO) and team unlearning (TU) can impact new product development (NPD) success.

Design/methodology/approach

A causal model was developed in order to analyze the role of innovation orientation and team unlearning on NPD success. This proposed model and several hypotheses were gauged using data from 255 NPD team members from Taiwanese high-tech and traditional companies.

Findings

The results indicate that both IO and TU relate to outcomes. Specifically, this study demonstrates that it is insufficient that firms simply establish the configurations needed to enhance their IO and TU, firms also need to find out the correct mechanism to enhance NPD success. The relationships between IO, TU and NPD success were fully mediated by team information processing.

Originality/value

This report sheds light on the importance of innovation orientation and team unlearning in today's NPD process and uncovers the underlying mechanism through which IO and TU contribute to NPD success. It also offers precise advice for the assessment of management of team information-processing to boost the performance of new products.

Details

European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 25 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-1060

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 17 July 2007

Sara A. McComb

Mental model convergence occurs as team members interact. By collecting information and observing behaviors through their interactions, team members’ individual mental models…

Abstract

Mental model convergence occurs as team members interact. By collecting information and observing behaviors through their interactions, team members’ individual mental models evolve into shared mental models. This process requires a cognitive shift in an individual's focal level. Specifically, the individual assigned to the team must shift his or her focus from thinking about the team domain using an individual perspective to thinking about it from a team perspective. Thus, mental model convergence may be the key to understanding how individuals are transformed into team members. This chapter presents a framework describing the mental model convergence process that draws on the extant research on group development and information processing. It also examines temporal aspects of mental model convergence, the role of mental model contents on the convergence process, and the relationship between converged mental models and team functioning. Preliminary evidence supporting the framework and the important role that converged mental models play in high-performing teams is provided. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of this mental model convergence framework for research and practice.

Details

Multi-Level Issues in Organizations and Time
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1434-8

Article
Publication date: 31 July 2009

Marianne van Woerkom and Marcel Croon

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different team learning activities relate to different types of team performance as rated by team members and managers.

6825

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different team learning activities relate to different types of team performance as rated by team members and managers.

Design/methodology/approach

The 624 respondents, working in 88 teams in seven different organizations indicate their perceptions of team learning and their performance ratings of the team. Moreover, managers in the organization are asked to evaluate the team performance.

Findings

Team member ratings of effectiveness are positively related to the boundedness and stability of the team and information processing and negatively related to information acquisition. Manager ratings of effectiveness are positively related to boundedness and stability, information processing and information storage and retrieval. Team member ratings of efficiency are positively related to information processing and negatively related to information acquisition. Manager ratings of efficiency are positively related to boundedness and stability and information storage and retrieval. Team member ratings of innovativeness are positively related to information processing, while no predictors are found for manager ratings of innovativeness.

Research limitations/implications

Since the data are cross‐sectional, the authors cannot draw conclusion about the causality between the variables. Longitudinal designs that study the sequence of team learning and team performance are called for. Furthermore, future studies might include more objective performance measures.

Practical implications

As team learning proved to have predictive value for diverse team performance indicators, rated by team members and managers, team should carefully organise their learning process in order to enhance their performance.

Originality/value

Although some studies have proven the significance of team learning for team performance, none have investigated which team learning activities are related to which types of performance ratings.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 38 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 January 2012

Wyoma vanDuinkerken

The purpose of this study is to report on the challenges and lessons learnt by the Texas A&M University Libraries' processing team when trying to implement a “resource in common”…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to report on the challenges and lessons learnt by the Texas A&M University Libraries' processing team when trying to implement a “resource in common” high‐density storage unit model between Texas A&M University Library and The University of Texas‐Austin Libraries.

Design/methodology/approach

The case study draws on the experience of the Texas A&M University Libraries' processing team when the university funded the creation of a jointly owned remote storage unit, which foundation would rest on a “resource in common” model. The creation of a new library building allowed Texas A&M University Libraries to free up stack space in order to create new learning spaces to meet the needs of the library users. However, as the processing began, initial theories of what a “resource in common” was, how to implement a “resource in common” and resources needed to implement the “resource in common” model began to be questioned. This study examines the lessons learnt when trying to implement a “resource in common” model.

Findings

Based on the experiences of the Texas A&M University Libraries' processing team, increased communication and early participation in the decision‐making stages is key when trying to implement a “resource in common” model. This processing team was responsible for updating the MARC records for all the items that were identified to go to the joint storage unit. They recognized that any collaborative venture of this magnitude required an excellent workflow and workload understanding by all parties, including those members of the TAMU Library initial project planning team who were active members on the initial library storage facility oversight committees. This understanding would allow everyone at TAMU involved in the massive project to have a clearer knowledge of the strains caused by the increased workload and could communicate to the full team the obstacles the library would be facing.

Originality/value

This paper introduces the idea of “resource in common” and will be of interest to all libraries facing both space and funding shortages who might be considering building a storage unit. These libraries might consider implementing a “resource in common” model as a way to solve these problems.

Article
Publication date: 8 February 2021

Nattaya Chamtitigul and Weining Li

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of team learning processes (information acquisition, information processing and information storage and retrieval) on team

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of team learning processes (information acquisition, information processing and information storage and retrieval) on team performance in software development projects and to assess the effect of ethical leadership and its influence on these processes.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors examined 354 software development project teams in Thailand. A quantitative study was conducted through a Web-based survey, with structural equation modelling used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The results of this study revealed that ethical leadership is positively correlated with the team learning processes of information acquisition, information processing and information storage and retrieval. However, only information processing and information storage and retrieval are positively related to team performance. The results indicate that ethical leadership has a positive direct effect on team performance. The results also show that the positive relationship between ethical leadership and team performance is partially mediated by team learning processes, namely, information processing and information storage and retrieval.

Research limitations/implications

This study highlights the importance of ethical leadership and guides managers towards considering the characteristics of both ethical leadership and team learning processes for enhancing team performance in software development projects.

Originality/value

This is the first study to the best of authors’ knowledge to examine the role of team learning processes in mediating the relationship between ethical leadership and team performance, particularly concerning software development projects. The present research contributes to the literature on team performance management, emphasising the manner in which ethical leadership can result in team learning and team performance. The findings of this study can be used to encourage organisations to develop ethical leadership behaviours and team learning processes in software development projects.

Details

Team Performance Management: An International Journal, vol. 27 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1352-7592

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 10 December 2001

Anita D. Bhappu, Mary Zellmer-Bruhn and Vikas Anand

Work teams have gained increasing importance as businesses shift to knowledge-based organizational structures. At the same time, advances in information technology have…

Abstract

Work teams have gained increasing importance as businesses shift to knowledge-based organizational structures. At the same time, advances in information technology have facilitated this change by enabling virtual work environments. To add to this complexity, the increasing demographic diversity of workers is coinciding with the rise in virtual and knowledge-based work environments. Therefore, it is critical that we understand the impact of these changes as they coincide in organizations today.

One of the extolled virtues of work teams is their potential to combine the unique knowledge held by individual workers, integrating these knowledge resources to bear on productive tasks. To effectively utilize their distributed knowledge, work teams have to perform three basic knowledge-processing activities: (a) knowledge acquisition; (b) knowledge integration; and (c) knowledge creation. However, work teams often have difficulty processing their distributed knowledge. The ability of team members, or lack thereof, to work effectively with each other is usually the problem.

The increasing demographic diversity of workers presents similar challenges for organizations. Demographically diverse workers have more unique knowledge, leading to increased knowledge differentiation in work teams. A work team that has high knowledge differentiation is one whose members possess different expertise. The unique knowledge held by individual team members effectively enlarges a work team's pool of knowledge resources. However, the increasing demographic diversity of workers often results in work teams having more difficulty processing their distributed knowledge because team members are not able to work effectively with different others. That being the case, the potential for demographically diverse work teams to more effectively perform productive tasks is lost.

We realize that demographically diverse work teams are a special (and important) case of teams in that they are both high on differentiated knowledge and high on the potential for conflict and other process losses. However, with an increasingly global marketplace, this special case is quickly becoming commonplace. Therefore, it is critical that we find ways to help demographically diverse work teams limit their process losses and realize their full potential.

Virtual work environments only heighten the need for demographically diverse work teams to minimize their process losses. Team members are often separated by both geographic space and time, which makes it even more challenging for them to work effectively with each other. In such environments, team members are often isolated from one another and find it difficult to feel a part of their team. Interestingly, computer-mediated communication has been shown to enhance team performance by helping team members communicate more effectively with each other. In fact, empirical work by Bhappu, Griffith, and Northcraft (1997) suggests that computer-mediated communication can actually help demographically diverse work teams process their distributed knowledge more effectively.

In this chapter, we will discuss the effects of demographic diversity and virtual work environments on knowledge processing in teams. More specifically, we will describe when computer-mediated communication is likely to enhance knowledge processing in demographically diverse work teams and when it is not. In doing so, we hope to provide both workers and managers with a set of guidelines on how to best navigate these organizational changes.

Details

Virtual teams
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76230-843-9

Article
Publication date: 15 December 2017

Thomas A. O’Neill, Matthew J.W. McLarnon, Genevieve Hoffart, Denis Onen and William Rosehart

This paper aims to offer an integrative conceptual theory of conflict and reports on the nomological net of team conflict profiles. Specifically, it integrates social…

1006

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to offer an integrative conceptual theory of conflict and reports on the nomological net of team conflict profiles. Specifically, it integrates social self-preservation theory with information-processing theory to better understand the occurrence of team profiles involving task conflict, relationship conflict and process conflict.

Design/methodology/approach

The study collected data from 178 teams performing and engineering design tasks. The multilevel nomological net that was examined consisted of constructive controversy, psychological safety and team-task performance (team level), as well as perceptions of learning, burnout and peer ratings of performance (individual level).

Findings

Findings indicated mixed support for the associations between conflict profiles and the hypothesized nomological net.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should consider teams’ profiles of team conflict types rather than examining task, relationship and process conflict in isolation.

Practical implications

Teams can be classified into profiles of team conflict types with implications for team functioning and effectiveness. As a result, assessment and team launch should consider team conflict profiles.

Originality/value

The complexity perspective advanced here will allow research on conflict types to move forward beyond the extensive research examining conflict types in isolation rather than their interplay.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 29 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 September 2018

Glen Croy and Nathan Eva

The purpose of this paper is to design and test an online team intervention for university students, focusing on communication, leadership and team processes, to influence team

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to design and test an online team intervention for university students, focusing on communication, leadership and team processes, to influence team cohesion and subsequently team assignment performance. It was administered twice as a formative feedback measure and once as a summative evaluation measure across a semester.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were collected from 154 university students across four management modules in a large Australian university. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses and open-ended questions were used to understand why the team intervention was effective.

Findings

The results showed that the implementation of an effective team intervention leads to higher levels of team cohesion and subsequently team performance. Open-ended responses revealed that the team intervention caused students to develop team-based sills and increase regular contributions.

Practical implications

In order to develop positive team behaviours amongst students in group assignments and increase the effectiveness of team-based learning activities, educators should implement a regular and process focused team contribution intervention, like the one proposed in this study.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the team intervention literature by drawing on the social information processing perspective, to demonstrate how an intervention that is based on the students’ social processing, task focused, regular implementation and formative feedback has a salient effect over team cohesion.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 60 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Keywords

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