Subgroup Formation in Human-Robot Teams

Subgroup formation is vital in understanding teamwork. It was not clear whether subgroup formation takes place in human-robot teams and what the implications of the subgroups might be for the team’s success. Therefore, we conducted an experiment with 44 teams of two people and two robots, where each team member worked with a robot to accomplish a team task. We found that subgroups were formed when team members identified with their robots and were inhibited when they identified with their team as a whole. Robot identification and team identification moderated the negative impacts of subgroup formation on teamwork quality and subsequent team performance

The Influence of Subgroup Dynamics on Knowledge Coordination in Distributed Teams: A Transactive Memory System and Group Faultline Perspective

With the rapid growth of globalization, distributed teams have become increasingly common in organizations. This research investigates the impact of inter-subgroup dynamics on knowledge coordination in distributed teams. To address this research question, we extend and apply theory from two primary sources – Transactive Memory Systems (TMS) theory and the faultline model. The paper uses data collected from 22 distributed MBA student teams to provide several novel insights into how perceived faultlines impact team processes (knowledge coordination) and outcomes (team performance and member satisfaction). First, perceived faultlines reduce knowledge coordination, which is an important antecedent of team performance and member satisfaction. Second, knowledge coordination fully mediates the negative effect of perceived faultines on team performance and member satisfaction. Third, low levels of TMS not only impair performance, but also reduce member satisfaction in distributed teams. Implications for research and practice are discussed together with potential avenues for future research

TEAM DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN SPORTS: the phenomenon of ethnic subgrouping problems and real cases analysis

Globalization is nowadays a pervading phenomenon in our society. Consequently, people from all cultures and places migrate in order to find better living and working opportunities. This causes a cultural mix present in basically every group, neighborhood and city around the world. This diversity, in terms of culture, languages, sex and age, needs to be managed properly in order to give proper and efficient results both for the people and the organisations. The diversity just mentioned is even more present in the sport sector, where results are measured in terms of performance and wins, thus it is an aspect to be looked at carefully. Among groups, subgroups are naturally to be formed, even more if they're driven by cultural or social reasons, namely "cliques". This work aim at investigate and interprete causes and consequences of the formation of ethnic subgroups within the teams through a literature review and some real cases, presented through a qualitative analysis

Traversing the Digital Frontier: Culture\u27s Impact on Faultline Emergence in Virtual Teams

As organizations continue to spread across geographic boundaries, we must understand the complex interplay between an individual\u27s cultural values and the effects of distribution. Despite the fact that almost half of all organizations utilize virtual tools to collaborate across nations, there is a dearth of research on this topic. Without considering cultural differences in this context, issues can emerge ranging from increased social loafing to decreased trust. In this study, I argue that the lack of social cues in virtual teams renders high-/low-context cultural differences imperative and that variations therein can cause the emergence of faultlines, thereby leading to negative team outcomes. This study uses data from 135 global virtual teams engaged in a decision-making task over the course of three weeks to test these ideas. These data show that in the global virtual team context, task conflict does not significantly impact proximal outcomes like faultline emergence, nor distal outcomes such as effectiveness. However, it stresses the importance of avoiding relationship conflict in these teams, as they can both trigger faultline emergence and impact a team\u27s viability. As such, it serves to answer the calls of multiple researchers by merging the interconnected contexts of virtuality and national culture and by moving beyond the Hofstede (1984) cultural dimensions. Additionally, it furthers faultlines research by uncovering antecedents of their emergence in this unique context. Finally, the incorporation of an exploratory machine learning component takes the first step towards showing that faultline emergence can be predicted based on individual differences, with deep-level characteristics mattering more

The Impact of Perceived Subgroup Formation on Transactive Memory Systems and Performance in Distributed Teams

With distributed teams becoming increasingly common in organizations, improving their performance is a critical challenge for both practitioners and researchers. This research examines how group members\u27 perception of subgroup formation affects team performance in fully distributed teams. The authors propose that individual members\u27 perception about the presence of subgroups within the team has a negative effect on team performance, which manifests itself through decreases in a team\u27s transactive memory system (TMS). Using data from 154 members of 41 fully distributed teams (where no group members were colocated), the authors found that members\u27 perceptions of the existence of subgroups impair the team\u27s TMS and its overall performance. They found these effects to be statistically significant. In addition, decreases in a group\u27s TMS partially mediate the effect of perceived subgroup formation on team performance. The authors discuss the implications of their findings for managerial action, as well as for researchers, and they propose directions for future research

Primary health care team faultlines and team performance: the mediating role of knowledge sharing

Family doctor teams, serving as health gatekeepers, are extensively advocated in China. Their composition, comprising a heterogeneous mix of professionals, contributes to a more comprehensive service, but also poses challenges. Consequently, scholarly interest has arisen in comprehending how these compositions, known as faultlines, influence team dynamics and outcomes. However, there is a lack of comprehensive exploration into how faultlines influence team members’ communication processes and knowledge sharing. This study aims to provide insights into the associations between faultlines in primary care teams and team performance, specifically exploring how knowledge sharing may mediate these effects, with the goal of revealing key insights to optimize contracted family doctor services. Survey data from 291 family doctor teams in China was utilized to test hypotheses, revealing a negative association between (social-category and information-based) faultlines and knowledge sharing. Team knowledge sharing acts as a mediator in the relationship between these faultlines and team performance. Our findings advance faultlines theory and emphasize the mediating role of knowledge sharing in elucidating the interplay between faultlines and team performance. These insights are crucial for fostering collaboration, managing faultlines, and enhancing healthcare team performance

Team Learning: A Theoretical Integration and Review

With the increasing emphasis on work teams as the primary architecture of organizational structure, scholars have begun to focus attention on team learning, the processes that support it, and the important outcomes that depend on it. Although the literature addressing learning in teams is broad, it is also messy and fraught with conceptual confusion. This chapter presents a theoretical integration and review. The goal is to organize theory and research on team learning, identify actionable frameworks and findings, and emphasize promising targets for future research. We emphasize three theoretical foci in our examination of team learning, treating it as multilevel (individual and team, not individual or team), dynamic (iterative and progressive; a process not an outcome), and emergent (outcomes of team learning can manifest in different ways over time). The integrative theoretical heuristic distinguishes team learning process theories, supporting emergent states, team knowledge representations, and respective influences on team performance and effectiveness. Promising directions for theory development and research are discussed

Emotional Intelligence and Team Cohesiveness

Emotional Intelligence is generally defined as encompassing the awareness and understanding of emotions. Emotional Intelligence also incorporates the application of this understanding to decision making, regulation, and self-management. Many theorists have shown that Emotional Intelligence has a significant positive impact on various aspects of teamwork. Today, more companies and organizations use teamwork to solve problems and complete tasks, so exploring elements that enhance teamwork would be beneficial. This study was designed to support the notion that Emotional Intelligence is an integral part of teamwork. It was hypothesized that Emotional Intelligence has an impact on teamwork by making the team more cohesive. A Spearman’s rho score was calculated between the individual’s Total Emotional Quotient (EQ) score and his/her team rating. The analysis showed that there was a moderate positive correlation (r=.415) between an individual’s Total EQ score and his/her team cohesion rating. This result indicates that as a person’s Total EQ score increases, so does his/her team’s cohesion rating

Multinational Teams in European and American Companies

Incorporating team context into research and practice concerning team effectiveness in multinational organizations still remains an ongoing challenge. This book aims at drawing the attention of researchers and practitioners towards the importance of various ‘layers’ of context on multinational teams and developing an empirically derived framework for multinational team functioning in business organisations. It shows how companies make use of these teams and how these teams contribute to competitive advantage. The study has been conducted in an Austrian, a German, and an American company. It reveals that if managed appropriately, these teams reduce the complexity of operations by facilitating the creation and transfer of explicit and tacit knowledge and by transferring appropriate dimensions of headquarter corporate culture between geographically dispersed business units

Team creative performance: exploring the relationship between team diversity and conflict affecting the creative productivity of interior design student teams

2016 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.This exploratory case study used mixed methods to examine five main variables and their possible effects on team creative productivity: team learning style diversity, student self-awareness, task conflict, process conflict, and relationship conflict. The case study incorporates 40 interior design students in teams of four, developing a design for a community service learning project. This study is primarily interested in understanding team creative performance through the process and work of interior design students. High levels of deep level diversity are believed to have positive influence on team creative process, promoting a wide variety of ideas from diverse perspectives. For this study team deep-level diversity was measured by Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (3.1). Prior researchers have found high levels of team learning style diversity can improve team productivity, however this study found no significant relationship between Kolb learning style diversity (KLSD) and team productivity or creativity. These results may be due to lack of KLSD among student participants and/or the high number of students with bi-modal learning styles (i.e., exhibiting equal preferences for two learning styles). However, it was found that gender diversity did have a positive relationship to team creativity. No relationship was found between learning style diversity and task, process or relationship conflict. Task conflict was found to have a positive relationship to creative outcomes and low or moderate levels of process conflict were found to have a positive relationship to team productivity. Self-awareness was found to mediate conflict in sometimes unexpected ways. For example, task conflict was positive for team creativity when teams trusted each other enough to debate ideas. Students who expressed high levels of self-awareness often tended to be highly agreeable, and by seeking common ground experienced little to no task conflict. This finding suggests students may need more practice and better tools for engaging in productive task conflict leading to more creative outcomes. Process conflict at low to moderate levels was found to be positive for team productivity, however at high levels it caused relationship conflict negatively affecting team productivity. Although findings did not support a significant relationship between learning style diversity and team creative productivity, this study suggests further research is needed to understand the influence of bi-modal learners on team deep-level diversity and the effects they may have on team processes and creative productivity