Uncovering Hidden Profiles; Managerial Interventions for Discovering Superior Decision Alternatives

A common reason for the use of teams in organizations is the idea that each individual can bring a unique perspective to the decision task; however, research shows that teams often fail to surface and use unique information to evaluate decision alternatives. Under a condition known as the hidden profile, each member uniquely possesses a critical clue needed to uncover the superior solution. Failure to share and adequately evaluate this information will result in poor decision quality. In order to mitigate this team decision-making bias, the present study utilizes experimental research to examine the impact of the devil’s advocacy technique on the decision quality of hidden profile teams. Results show that advocacy groups had higher decision qualities than groups under free discussion; however, advocacy teams also had higher levels of anger and lower levels of individual support for their group’s decision. As a result, while these teams selected the best solution, the presence of a devil’s advocate introduces conditions that may hinder the solution’s implementation. Furthermore, similar experiments with advocacy techniques suggest that the positive effect on decision quality found here is reduced in the presence of stronger hidden profiles

Challenges and critical success factors of digital communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing in project management virtual teams: a review

Technological advancements, globalization, and the COVID-19 pandemic have transformed digital communication into a central tenet of many project management virtual teams (VTs). However, successful VTs are dependent on communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing among team members. Through a systematic literature review, this study investigates the challenges and critical success factors of digital communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing in project management VTs. As a result, eight key common themes were identified - trust, cultural diversity, collaboration tools and technology, communication and knowledge hoarding, leadership, psychological safety, communication guidelines and training, and resource planning. Furthermore, given the geographically dispersed nature of VTs, they face additional challenges than teams that interact face-to-face (in-person). Therefore, mitigating the challenges by focusing on the identified themes could lead to project success

Aim High, Win Big: Optimizing the OR Nurse\u27s Skills to Improve Surgical Outcomes

Abstract Operating room nurses are constantly challenged with new surgical procedures and technology that affect the delivery of safe patient care. A deficiency in skill sets was identified among 50% of OR nurses in this microsystem. A structured scrub training program will improve the performance of novice and advanced beginner nurses to prevent the occurrence of adverse events. This program includes 320 hours of exposure to scrub the top ten procedures of two specialty services after the nurse learns how to circulate. The ability to circulate and scrub is an indication of high performance. It is expected that the OR nurse will independently circulate and scrub 60-80% of surgical procedures. An educational support team will guide the progress of the learners to ensure a successful transition. This evidence-based program will also apply non-technical skills using principles of AORN practice, TEAMSSTEPS, and SPLINTS that are effective in the recognition and prevention of surgical errors. High performance, teamwork, and collaboration must be integrated into the OR culture to sustain excellent work at all levels. Exemplary professional practice through transformational leadership is supported by the Magnet program at this facility to ensure that change is driven from the frontlines and best outcomes are delivered

Challenges and critical success factors of digital communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing in project management virtual teams: a review

Technological advancements, globalization, and the COVID-19 pandemic have transformed digital communication into a central tenet of many project management virtual teams (VTs). However, successful VTs are dependent on communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing among team members. Through a systematic literature review, this study investigates the challenges and critical success factors of digital communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing in project management VTs. As a result, eight key common themes were identified - trust, cultural diversity, collaboration tools and technology, communication and knowledge hoarding, leadership, psychological safety, communication guidelines and training, and resource planning. Furthermore, given the geographically dispersed nature of VTs, they face additional challenges than teams that interact face-to-face (in-person). Therefore, mitigating the challenges by focusing on the identified themes could lead to project success

Perceived discontinuities and continuities in transdisciplinary scientific working groups

We examine the DataONE (Data Observation Network for Earth) project, a transdisciplinary organization tasked with creating a cyberinfrastructure platform to ensure preservation of and access to environmental science and biological science data. Its objective was a difficult one to achieve, requiring innovative solutions. The DataONE project used a working group structure to organize its members. We use organizational discontinuity theory as our lens to understand the factors associated with success in such projects. Based on quantitative and qualitative data collected from DataONE members, we offer recommendations for the use of working groups in transdisciplinary synthesis. Recommendations include welcome diverse opinions and world views, establish shared communication practices, schedule periodic synchronous face-to-face meetings, and ensure the active participation of bridge builders or knowledge brokers such as librarians who know how to ask questions about disciplines not their own

Does Cultivating a Giving Culture Make People More Willing to Share Counter-Normative Ideas?

This study examines and supports the hypothesis that cultivating a giving culture makes people more willing to share counter-normative ideas as compared to those not engaged in such a culture, regardless of their existing giver/taker tendency measured by the Give & Take scale. A giving culture was manipulated using Adam Grant’s Reciprocity Ring, an exercise that employs the pay-it-forward principle. Results showed that participants who underwent the Reciprocity Ring were more likely to share counter-normative ideas with others in their group than those who did not. Implications of the findings are discussed

How to enhance communication among healthcare providers and improve patient safety

In 2010, the Provincial Health Funder (PHF) mandated the reporting of unintentional adverse events that occur in the process of healthcare delivery, which result in disability, death, or prolong treatments. The results of reporting are available to the public on the Health Quality website, providing transparency for the public and accountability for Advanced Healthcare System (AHS)[1], which has made patient safety its organizational strategic priority (AHS, 2018). This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) seeks to improve communication and positive change among healthcare providers by maximizing the use of error prevention tools to improve patient safety. The principles of distributive and transformational leadership are applied to enhance collaboration, build capacity, empower people to speak up for safety, and enhance team decision making. The organizational plan aligns with my leadership philosophy to develop others, as well as abide by the Social Work regulatory body’s ethical standards, which guides my work as a change agent to support the best interest of others. Systems theory guides the plan and Bolman and Deal’s (2013) four frame conceptual framework is used to enhance the understanding of the existing state of the organization, which currently includes challenges in communication, a culture of “blame and shame”, insufficient use of error prevention tools, and patient harm. The Murray and Richardson (2002) framework is utilized to guide the OIP and identify ten “winning conditions” to address the problem from a holistic standpoint, while encompassing speed and momentum. Keywords: patient safety, error prevention tools, culture of blame and shame, capacity building, organization culture [1] Advanced Healthcare System (AHS) is a pseudonym to protect the identity of the facility

Group cohesion and collaborative information behaviour: An exploration of student experiences of university group work

Modern organisations heavily rely on using interdisciplinary teams to accomplish intellectually demanding tasks. The advent of the World Wide Web, the advancements in communication technological tools and easy access to high volumes of information through the Web provide expanded capacity for individuals to work together and fulfil their shared goal but true collaboration is far from straightforward. Teamwork skills are identified as a desirable and distinguishing attribute of the graduates whom employers seek to employ. Accordingly, higher education institutions lay particular emphasis on developing students’ collaborative skills by designing and incorporating group projects into courses. The findings of relevant research demonstrate that employers are still not satisfied with the newly-hired graduates’ performance and students also reflect negative attitudes towards university group work. In this regard, scholars attempt to gain a through and deep understanding of individuals’ collaborative information behaviour when working in group settings and identify the factors that can impact on this process. This research, guided by the primary question of ‘How does group cohesion shape students’ collaborative information behaviour over the duration of group tasks?’ sought to explore the development of cohesion in student groups which has been widely recognised as an influential element in motivating group members to work collectively. Through a series of supporting research questions addressing the role that task cohesion, social cohesion and perceived cohesion play in students’ collaborative information behaviour, the work also aimed to find out how different dimensions of cohesion can have an impact on the way students make sense of the group task components, search for information and use information to accomplish group projects. This study took a qualitative approach and used Straussian grounded theory methodology to collect and analyse the data. Data collection was conducted by taking an in-depth interview approach through 10 semi-structured focus group sessions with student participants recruited from an Australian university who were undertaking project units as part of their degrees across any number of discipline areas over two successive semesters. Data was analysed using open, axial and selective coding following the Strauss and Corbin approach. Constant comparison of similarities and differences in the data enabled the researcher to elaborate on the identified concepts in terms of their properties and dimensions. This study resulted in rich description of how different dimensions of group cohesion emerged and developed in student groups over the duration of completing the group task and its association with students’ collaborative and individual information behaviour practices. Results suggest that task cohesion exerted more meaningful impact on group process and outcomes in comparison with other aspects of cohesion. It was found that students’ collaborative information behaviour activities are shaped by their perceptions of group task cohesion developed through adopting shared leadership style, the level of task complexity and interdependence and group members’ composition in terms of similarity in aspirations and academic capability. With regard to social cohesion, familiarity was identified as a factor which had immediate impact on students’ feelings of attraction and liking towards the group which did not persist over time as it fell under the influence of group members’ commitment and active involvement in group task activities. Task cohesion was then recognised as an antecedent of social cohesion in student groups and participants’ interpretation of social cohesion was based on experiencing comfortable feeling with group members instead of developing collective sense of closeness and friendship. Experiencing such a feeling within the group plays a more influential role in motivating students to communicate easily and sharing their ideas In terms of perceived cohesion, the findings of this study indicated that students in this particular sample did not intend to develop a sense of belonging and attachment to the group. They were of the mindset that once they complete their group task, the group would be disbanded so there is no potential benefit of developing such a feeling in university group context. This study highlighted the role of task design and its features on students’ collaboration as well as their choice of communication method throughout the group’s lifespan. At the early stages of the group project, the level of collaboration for identification of needed information to create a shared focus and define the project’s problem statement was heavily dependent upon the nature of the assessment task and its perceived complexity. Individual information searching was also identified as a common characteristic among all the research participants in this study but the structure of the assessment task determined the level of collaboration among members in regard to sharing information and evaluating the retrieved information in terms of relevancy and credibility. The evaluation and use of information sources to fulfil group task requirements was seen to be a collaborative activity in similar research studies but the findings from this study showed that groups assigned a highly structured task did not feel a need to have regular communication because their sub-tasks were not so much related to each other. This finding suggests that the outcomes of collaboration are not what most academics expect them to be as too little emphasis placed on the role of the task and more on the scale of the work to be delivered. The key finding of this research is that the group ‘task’ drives the behaviours of students, as individuals and as a group member, and that assigning students a project to do as a group that is too large to be done individually will not drive genuine collaboration. This research suggests an addition to the Input, Mediator, Output, Input (IMOI) model that includes a Task Calibration step by academic staff, to define the primary outcome of any given assessment task as either ‘collaboration’ or ‘product’, rather than the hope that collaboration takes place in order to deliver a big product. This shows that true collaboration would not take place by assigning students a large-scale group project; instead the tasks should be designed and structured in a way to drive and reward collaboratio