Subgroup Formation in Teams Working with Robots

Teams are increasingly adopting robots to accomplish their work. Despite this, more research is needed to understand what makes these teams effective. One such topic not fully explored is the formation of subgroups in teams that work with robots. We conducted a pilot study to explore this topic. The study examined 15 teams of 2 people, each team member working with a robot to accomplish a team task. Results of the pilot study showed that subgroups formed between humans and their robots were negatively correlated with various team outcomes. Although our results are preliminary, we believe our findings can initiate future research on the topic of subgroup formation in teams working with robots.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111882/1/Robert and You 2015 WIP.pd

Board diversity and R&D investment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of board diversity on the extent to which firms invest in R&D. Design/methodology/approach – empirical analysis of 175 firm-year observations for Fortune 500 firms in high tech industries and the four different indications of diversity of their boards. Findings – Boards that can tap into a diversity of sources for information can be expected to make better decisions. Diversity in a team and a board can, however, also impede team performance. Measuring the diversity of boards in four different ways, two of which are person-related (age and gender) and two information-based (education and tenure), we analyze which kind of diversity ensures that the firm governed by a board will invest more R&D. We find, unexpectedly, that tenure diversity leads to firms being less innovative, while education diversity and gender diversity make firms more innovative. Gender diversity positively moderates education diversity as well, strengthening the effect found. We discuss the implications of our findings for management and society. Originality/value – This study conceptually differentiates between 2 information-based and 2 person-related indications of board (team) diversity, theoretically elaborate on the effects they have, and provide empirical evidence for their effects

Team Faultline Measures: Rescaling the Weights of Diversity Attributes

Faultline, or subgroup formation based on the alignment of diversity attributes, can cause conflicts and low coordination in diverse teams. While researchers understand the importance of faultlines in team process and negotiations, current computational faultline measures are highly vulnerable to subjective weight assignment of diversity attributes. Therefore, there is limited understanding of which diversity attributes have more impact on faultline formation. In this paper we report 1) a pilot study illustrating the susceptibility of the current faultline measures to subjective evaluations, and 2) an online study illustrating how people’s surface (e.g. age, gender, race) and deep (e.g. personality, cultural norms) level diversity attributes impact their preference and selection of team members, as a proxy of faultline formation. We find while various surface and deep-level attributes predict selection of members, most of these attributes are highly correlated with members’ age, suggesting the importance of this attribute. We discuss future directions for faultline measures with objective rescaling of diversity weights

Team Faultline Measures: The Effect of Rescaling Weights

Faultline, or subgroup formation based on the alignment of diversity attributes, can cause conflicts and low coordination in diverse teams. While researchers understand the importance of faultlines in team process and negotiations, current computational faultline measures are highly vulnerable to subjective weight assignment of diversity attributes. Therefore, there is limited understanding of which diversity attributes have more impact on faultline formation. In this paper we report 1) a pilot study illustrating the susceptibility of the current faultline measures to subjective evaluations, and 2) an online study illustrating how people’s surface (e.g. age, gender, race) and deep (e.g. personality, cultural norms) level diversity attributes impact their preference and selection of team members, as a proxy of faultline formation. We find while various surface and deep-level attributes predict selection of members, most of these attributes are highly correlated with members’ age, suggesting the importance of this attribute. We discuss future directions for faultline measures with objective rescaling of diversity weights

Computer Mediated Communication in Negotiations: The Effect of Intragroup Faultlines on Intergroup Communication and Outcomes

This work examines the effect of faultlines in virtual computer mediated communications of two collocated negotiation teams. We expand upon prior diversity literature by considering the effect of both surface and deep-level faultlines on the intergroup computer mediated communications in virtual negotiations. Faultlines are hypothetical lines that divide teams into multiple subgroups based on diversity attributes. We confirm that the effect of team diversity on intergroup computer mediated communications can be better captured through faultlines. Our results suggest that faultlines mediate the effect of diversity on teams’ computer mediated intergroup communication and that deep-level faultlines significantly lower the frequency and quality of intergroup communication of virtual negotiations

Project Performance in Global Software Development Teams: Do Prior Work Ties and Nationality Diversity Matter?

One of the challenges that global software development teams face is the development of rich and meaningful interactions among members from different countries. Researchers and practitioners in the field are constantly looking for factors that may help organizations understand and mitigate the negative effects that nationality diversity may have on performance in global teams. This paper follows this line of research and proposes prior work ties as a moderator of the relationship between nationality diversity and team performance in global software development teams. In a field study involving 93 global software development teams with members distributed across 5 different countries (e.g., Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, France, and Denmark), nationality diversity was found to have a negative effect on team performance when team members had low prior experience working together. However, nationality diversity did not have a negative effect on performance on teams composed by members with high levels of prior work ties. Moreover, prior work ties exceeded the individual explanatory power of nationality diversity, team dispersion and current experience working together (current project duration) on team performance. This finding suggests that managers should consider how familiar team members are with each other when forming global software development team

The More the Merrier? The Effect of Size of Core Team Subgroups on Success of Open Source Projects

Open source software (OSS) has become an important organizational form of building software. Given the desire to understand drivers of OSS project success and the known importance of social structure for team functioning, we investigate the effects of the relative size of contribution-based subgroups on community size of OSS projects. Drawing on extant research on OSS and faultline-based subgrouping, we investigate the relation with project community size of the relative size of subgroups based on reputation, issue focus, contribution extent and contribution persistence. While in several instances non-significant, results suggest a differential relation in which a large share of core members with high reputation, issue focus and persistent contributions positively relate to community size, whereas a large share of extensively contributing members in the core team is negatively related. Our findings are of value to research and practice by furthering the understanding of work in OSS projects

Subgroups in Agile and Traditional IT Project Teams

This paper analyzes the formation of subgroups within project teams that apply agile methods and teams that apply traditional methods. Subgroups form based on faultlines, which are dividing lines regarding attributes of diversity of the team members. We conduct case studies of two agile projects and two projects with a traditional approach. We find that the formation of subgroups differs between the two methods. Task assignment is the dominant factor that leads to the formation of subgroups in traditional methods, whereas previous ties between team members is the dominant factor in agile projects. In addition, location and language lead to the formation of subgroups in both methods. Our analysis is exploratory and our data is limited to four teams. We contribute to the literature on team formation and groups in IT project teams and show that research should consider subgroups and potential consequences when examining agile and traditional software development methods

Determinants of treatment plan implementation in multidisciplinary team meetings for patients with chronic diseases: a mixed-methods study.

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.OBJECTIVE: Multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings are assumed to produce better decisions and are extensively used to manage chronic disease in the National Health Service (NHS). However, evidence for their effectiveness is mixed. Our objective was to investigate determinants of MDT effectiveness by examining factors influencing the implementation of MDT treatment plans. This is a proxy measure of effectiveness, because it lies on the pathway to improvements in health, and reflects team decision making which has taken account of clinical and non-clinical information. Additionally, this measure can be compared across MDTs for different conditions. METHODS: We undertook a prospective mixed-methods study of 12 MDTs in London and North Thames. Data were collected by observation of 370 MDT meetings, interviews with 53 MDT members, and from 2654 patient medical records. We examined the influence of patient-related factors (disease, age, sex, deprivation, whether their preferences and other clinical/health behaviours were mentioned) and MDT features (as measured using the 'Team Climate Inventory' and skill mix) on the implementation of MDT treatment plans. RESULTS: The adjusted odds (or likelihood) of implementation was reduced by 25% for each additional professional group represented at the MDT meeting. Implementation was more likely in MDTs with clear goals and processes and a good 'Team Climate' (adjusted OR 1.96; 95% CI 1.15 to 3.31 for a unit increase in Team Climate Inventory (TCI) score). Implementation varied by disease category, with the lowest adjusted odds of implementation in mental health teams. Implementation was also lower for patients living in more deprived areas (adjusted odds of implementation for patients in the most compared with least deprived areas was 0.60, 95% CI 0.39 to 0.91). CONCLUSIONS: Greater multidisciplinarity is not necessarily associated with more effective decision making. Explicit goals and procedures are also crucial. Decision implementation should be routinely monitored to ensure the equitable provision of care.This project was funded by the NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research programme (project number 09/2001/ 04) and will be published in full in the Health Services and Delivery Research Journal. Further information available at: (http://www.netscc.ac.uk/hsdr/projdetails.php?ref=09-2001-04). In accordance with NIHR regulations, the findings reported here are to be referred to as initial until the NIHR final report has been published. The sponsors of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, the writing of the report, or the decision to submit the report for publication