Teams

Cognition and Segmentation in Collective Free Improvisation

by Clement Canonne

Co-authored with Nicolas B. Garnier.
Proceedings International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition 2012.

Why your TeamSTEPPS program may not be working

by Timothy Clapper

Clapper, T. C., & Ng, G. M. (2012, in press). Why your TeamSTEPPS program may not be working. Clinical Simulation in Nursing. doi:10.1016/j.ecns.2012.03.007

Co-authored with Grace Ng

Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety ® (TeamSTEPPS) is a patient safety tool developed... more Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety ® (TeamSTEPPS) is a patient safety tool developed by the defense industry and based on four competencies: leadership, communication, situational monitoring, and mutual support. Unfortunately, there are barriers that prevent TeamSTEPPS from reaching its full potential, including: (a) lack of administrative support and resources, (b) lack of training focus to address hierarchal differences and incivility at all levels of health care practice and administration, (c) inadequate TeamSTEPPS instruction and simulation practices, and (d) educators’ resistance to change from crew resource management concepts. Suggestions for improvement include providing command and health care agency emphasis for the TeamSTEPPS program, providing adequate material and personnel resources, designing training that is geared to trainer implementation at the departmental level, prioritizing and saturating training, and striving toward a just culture.

Organizational learning, circularity and double-linking

by Georges Romme

Published in: Management Learning, 1997

In recent writings on organizational learning, an interesting debate between proponents of team learning and those... more In recent writings on organizational learning, an interesting debate between proponents of team learning and those defending hierarchy as an essential condition for learning has developed. Here it is argued that teams appear to be the key learning units in organizations, but hierarchies are necessary to store and accumulate important learning results. Thus, in larger organizations teams must be integrated into some kind of hierarchy. Several authors have dealt with the problem of combining the benefits of both hierarchical and team-like structures. Attempts by Likert and Ackoff to combine the benefits of both hierarchical and team structures are based on the ideas of circularity and the (single) linking pin. A further elaboration of these solutions involves the idea of double-linking, as it is used in several Dutch organizations. Double-linking between teams provides the kind of vertical linkages which support and safeguard upward as well as downward information processing. As such, through the principle of double-linking organizations may become reflexive learning organizations.

A note on the hierarchy-team debate

by Georges Romme

Published in: Strategic Management Journal, 1996

In this research note, I explore the debate between proponents of organizational learning who have criticized... more In this research note, I explore the debate between proponents of organizational learning who have criticized hierarchy as an obstacle to learning and those who have defended hierarchy as indispensable for large organizations. By considering hierarchy and team as ideal-typical information systems, it is argued that both teams and hierarchies are essential for organizational learning in large organizations. Teams appear to be the key learning units which are indispensable for producing and understanding novel information, and hierarchies are indispensable for processing and storing important learning results. The trade-off between teams and hierarchy can be solved by emphasizing the idea of circularity, involving the ability to switch between teams and hierarchies as complementary information systems in the context of organizational learning.

Does knowledge sharing and withholding of information in organizational committees affect quality of group decision-making?

by Caroline Kamau

Kamau, C. & Harorimana, D. (2008)

In today’s knowledge economy, there is an emphasis on group performance, such as in organizations’ committees, yet... more In today’s knowledge economy, there is an emphasis on group performance, such as in organizations’ committees, yet this performance is prone to productivity deficits. Like many other groups, organizational committees are prone to irrational decision-making in the form of groupthink and group polarization. We review evidence that groupthink involves avoidance of contradictory information, biased information sharing, self-censorship, reducing information on the outgroup and poor information pooling. For example, committee members’ conformity to the standards and expectations of an organization can lead them to withhold information that contradicts the organization’s “traditional” viewpoint. In other instances of groupthink, committee members may withhold information from their seniors in order to shield them from opposing views. Committee members undergoing groupthink may also display bias in their information search, such that they seek only that information which supports the committee’s prevailing opinion. We also review evidence showing that highly cohesive groups, those isolated from outside influence, and those with forthright leadership, are most at risk of groupthink. Improving the structure of a committee and having a leadership style that is process-directive, rather than outcome-directive, can reduce groupthink. We also review evidence on group polarization, which involves a shift by a group to an extremely risky or an extremely conservative viewpoint as a result of members influencing each other. We also discuss the impact of novel information on group polarization. We provide an analysis of the impact of faulty decision-making on the downfall of the bank Northern Rock. We consider the possible lack of objectivity in elements of the bank’s decision-making. The fact that Northern Rock did not receive a sufficient amount of outside regulation may have exacerbated groupthink. We discuss the likely role of risky shift in the bank’s attitude to risk and also consider the possible impact of forthright leadership on groupthink within Northern Rock. Groupthink and group polarization pose a danger to organizations that are required to continuously create, update and utilise knowledge in their decision-making, and to implement change in order to compete in shifting markets.

Collaborative team networks and implications for strategic HRM

by Lukas Zenk

Hopp, C. & Zenk, L. (2011). Collaborative team networks and implications for strategic HRM. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1-20.

Using longitudinal data from a graduate course (with 97 students grouped into 18 teams) we analyze the emergence of... more Using longitudinal data from a graduate course (with 97 students grouped into 18 teams) we analyze the emergence of collaborative working patterns and the influence of personal traits on team performance and individual team member satisfaction. We find a positive effect of global centrality measures on individual satisfaction, while local centrality measures did not have a significant impact. Moreover, our results indicate that the aggregation of power within working teams is detrimental for team performance. When some individuals are in a position that allows them to exert power over others, the performance of teams suffers. On the contrary, betweenness centralization, which could enable some people to broker information across unconnected actors, could actually be beneficial for teams and increases overall performance. We conclude that combining information on team demographics and social networks might allow inferences into why certain teams perform better than others and into which areas human resource measures should be directed to improve team performance.

Dynamische Team-Netzwerke und Performance. Eine empirische Analyse von Email-Interaktionen (Dissertation)

by Lukas Zenk

Zenk, L. (2012). Dynamische Team-Netzwerke und Performance. Eine empirische Analyse von Email-Interaktionen. (Unpublizierte Dissertation). Universität Wien, Österreich.

Durch die immer schnelleren Veränderungen im Markt stehen Organisationen vor der Aufgabe ihre intra-organisationalen... more Durch die immer schnelleren Veränderungen im Markt stehen Organisationen vor der Aufgabe ihre intra-organisationalen Kommunikationsnetzwerke effizient an die gegebenen Anforderungen anzupassen (Brass et al., 2004). Teams nehmen als kooperative Basiseinheiten eine wesentliche Rolle ein um die gesetzten Ziele der Organisationen zu erreichen und es konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass die Kommunikationsstruktur innerhalb und zwischen Teams deren Performance signifikant beeinflusst (Balkundi & Harrison, 2006). Die meisten dieser Studien analysieren jedoch statische Netzwerke, obwohl sich Teams auf Grundlage der dynamischen Interaktionen zwischen Akteuren über die Zeit entwickeln (Katz et al., 2004). In dieser Arbeit wird daher der Frage nachgegangen, wie sich dynamische Teamnetzwerke über die Zeit entwickeln und wie sich diese Netzwerke auf die Team Performance auswirken (Zenk, Stadtfeld & Windhager, 2010).

Online communication patterns in low complexity project groups. Tasks, channels and functions.

by Fabian Bethge

Co-authored with Ana-Despina Tudor, Yuan Bo and Thomas Jung-Böhmcker

This paper investigated online communication patterns inside of four student project groups. The main goal of this... more This paper investigated online communication patterns inside of four student project groups. The main goal of this study was to get insights to regularities that influence the selection of specific communication patterns out of the overwhelming range of
online communication applications. A communication pattern was defined to consist of a task, a communication function and a channel. Respondents were told to make conceptual diagrams by connecting pre-defined snippets for tasks, channels and
functions in a way that represents their individual communication for the project. Afterwards they have been interviewed about their conceptual diagrams. The results show that those patterns are influence both by individual group processes and by specific technological factors that are not group specific.

The role of mental models in innovative teams

by Deborah Blackman

"The Computer Expert in Mixed-Gendered Collaborative Writing Groups"

by Kara Poe Alexander

Wolfe, Joanna and Alexander, Kara Poe. (2005). The Computer Expert in a Mixed-Gendered Collaborative Writing Group. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 19(2), 135-170.

When mixed-gendered student teams collaborate on technical writing tasks, a single male often emerges as the group... more When mixed-gendered student teams collaborate on technical writing tasks, a single male often emerges as the group computer expert. The effects of this trend on perceptions of workload are unknown. This article reports the results of a study in which 12 mixed-gendered teams answered questionnaires on the division and perceptions of labor in their teams. Detailed case studies of four teams supplement the questionnaires. Findings suggest that computer work was highly visible, highly valued, and dominated by men. By contrast, writing was less visible and selectively recognized. Some men were credited with strong writing skills even though they did not produce writing for the project. Moreover, some students explicitly leveraged their computer expertise to avoid writing; furthermore, these computer experts rarely shared technical expertise with others in the context of the team project.

Corporate Team Building Events

by Nathan Lee

There are many techniques, theory and methods for creating the perfect team building events. In this article I will be... more There are many techniques, theory and methods for creating the perfect team building events. In this article I will be going through some of them, evaluating the effectiveness of each.

Sauber Petronas 2005: Achieving much with comparatively little

by Christian Erk

Diversity in goal orientation, team performance, and internal team environment

by Marcello Russo

Time to Re-Group: A Typology and Nested Phase Model for Action Teams

by Andrew Ishak

Co-authored with Dawna Ballard.

Action teams are unique among group types in that their work is focused on time-constrained performance events that... more Action teams are unique among group types in that their work is focused on time-constrained performance events that cannot be redone later. This aspect of their team temporality gives rise to an emphasis on simulation— a technique used by teams to replicate the taskwork, coordination, and communication of real-life events—and adaptation—in which teams use “time-outs” to give members a chance to regroup and communicate. In the present article, we attempt to offer more precision in research and theorizing across diverse team types through first offering a typology of action teams that considers the work of critical, contending, and perform- ing teams. This typology informs the nested phase model introduced next, which accounts for the unique temporality of teams that place a heavy emphasis on performance and the related issues of cyclicity, finality, and epochality that characterize their work. Testable propositions intended to guide future research are offered.

Japanese Networks for Top-Performing Films: Repeated Teams Preserve Uniqueness

by 仁一郎 山田

Factors for the success or failure of international teams: The special case of international research projects

by Michael Segalla

Leadership as Communicative Practice: The discursive construction of leadership and team identity in a New Zealand rugby team

by Nick Wilson

PhD Thesis, completed 2011

In sports teams, the way in which leaders such as coaches and captains communicate with players is vital to the... more In sports teams, the way in which leaders such as coaches and captains communicate with players is vital to the success of the team. However, despite extensive psychological and sociological research on sport, it has rarely been a site of linguistic research. Like many sports, rugby has many traditions and ideologies that influence the way in which teams form identities. This thesis explores the way in which leadership is enacted and group identity forged through communicative practice in a New Zealand rugby team. Using authentic interactions collected through an ethnographic methodology, an analysis is presented of how discourse strategies are negotiated within the team, thus establishing practices that signify membership of communities of practice (CofPs) and create identities for individuals as leaders. Leadership discourse is itself viewed as a sociolinguistic practice and defines one of the CofPs within the team.
Using the concepts of front and back stage (Goffman 1959; Richards 2006) to describe different conceptual spaces in which interactions occur, this thesis suggests that discourse in the rugby team is a spatialised practice; the performance of a particular style of leadership constructs the space in which it takes place as public or private, with each contributing to an effective  leadership performance. The construction of leadership identity is analysed in terms of stance and indexicality, linking locally constructed identities and discourse strategies to macro identity categories and socio-cultural ideologies. One of the ways in which this is examined is through the role of ritual and formulaic language in the team, showing that while communicative practice is negotiated in the back stage, in the front stage its performance serves to construct team identity while aiming to motivate the players. Furthermore, the structural nature of the game of rugby (i.e.  players’ positional requirements) is examined in relation to the different communicative strategies adopted by positionally segregated groups. It is suggested that these groups, although institutionally defined, create meaning for themselves as CofPs by negotiating a shared way of communicating in enacting their role in the team.
In sum, this research uses CofP theory to examine how leaders emerge through their linguistic practices.  Furthermore, it locates leadership as a spatialised practice and examines how leaders influence the discursive construction of group identity.  Finally, the analysis also makes a valuable contribution to the field of sociolinguistic research on sport, a small yet growing area.

Daskalaki, M. and Helen Blair. (2003) 'Knowing’ as an Activity: Implications for the Film Industry and Semi-Permanent Work Groups, in “Organizations as Knowledge Systems: Knowledge Learning and Capabilities"

by Maria Daskalaki

Chapter in "Organizations as Knowledge Systems: Knowledge Learning and Capabilities" (edited by H. Tsoukas & N.Mylonopoulos).
PALGRAVE 1 4039 1140 1

http://www.innovation-enterprise.com/archives/vol/6/issue/3/review/354/organizations-as-knowledge-systems-knowledge

Category work and knowledgeability within multidisciplinary team meetings

by William Housley

Citation Information. Text - Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse. Volume 20, Issue 1, Pages 83–108, ISSN (Online) 1613-4117, ISSN (Print) 0165-4888, DOI: 10.1515/text.1.2000.20.1.83, //2000

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the display of categories within team members' talk in terms of... more ABSTRACT

This paper examines the display of categories within team members' talk in terms of `know-how', `knowledge' and `expertise'. The paper adopts a methodological approach that draws from both Conversation Analysis and Membership Categorisation Analysis. The theorised relationship between multidisciplinarinity and team practice is respecified through the detailed examination of team members’ talk and category display within the meeting talk of a multidisciplinary team. The notion that different members act as filters for external discourses of distinct knowledge within team interaction is contrasted with analyses that illustrate the situated character of knowledge in team talk. Consequently, the notion of knowledge as a structurally organised phenomenon is contrasted with analyses that document, describe and illustrate the local, methodical and interactive accomplishment of knowledge in situ. Furthermore, this paper shows that knowledge, as an emergent and occasioned product of team interaction, is realised through both category and sequence in team members’ talk.




Key words:- Category, predicate, device, turn taking, adjacency, recipient design, recognisability, category display, knowledgeability.

Observations of the lifecycles and information worlds of collaborative scientific teams at a national science lab

by Adam Worrall

Worrall, A., Marty, P. F., Roberts, J., Burnett, K., Burnett, G., Hinnant, C. C., Kazmer, M. M., Stvilia, B., & Wu, S. (2012). Observations of the lifecycles and information worlds of collaborative scientific teams at a national science lab. In J.-E. Mai (Chair), iConference 2012 proceedings (pp. 423-425), Toronto, Canada, February 7-10, 2012. New York, NY: ACM. doi:10.1145/2132176.2132234

View poster: http://www.adamworrall.org/portfolio/publications/voss_poster_iconference_2012.pdf

Team-based scientific collaborations play a key role in the discovery and distribution of scientific knowledge. In... more Team-based scientific collaborations play a key role in the discovery and distribution of scientific knowledge. In order to determine the social and organizational factors that help support a scientific team’s successful transition from short-term experiments to long-term programs of ongoing scientific research, this study used observations of teams conducting experiments at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory to determine what teams actually do during these experiments. As part of a larger, ongoing research project using mixed methods, our findings describe hybrid teams at work, and demonstrate how multiple, overlapping, and nested lifecycles and information worlds play an important role in promoting successful and continuing scientific collaboration. The boundaries between worlds and efforts to span them are particularly important, requiring greater attention. Our future research will develop a model including these factors and add further practical and theoretical implications to those we have already identified.