Work Teams

Work teams are composed of two or more individuals; who exist to perform organizationally relevant tasks; share one or more common goals; interact socially; exhibit interdependencies in task workflows, goals, and/or outcomes; maintain and manage boundaries; and are embedded in a broader organizational context that sets boundaries, constrains the team, and influences exchanges with other units in the organization. Work team effectiveness is enabled by team processes that combine individual efforts into a collective product

A Typology of Virtual Teams: Implications for Effective Leadership

As the nature of work in today\u27s organizations becomes more complex, dynamic, and global, there has been an increasing emphasis on far-flung, distributed, virtual teams as organizing units of work. Despite their growing prevalence, relatively little is known about this new form of work unit. The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical framework to focus research toward understanding virtual teams and, in particular, to identify implications for effective leadership. Specifically, we focus on delineating the dimensions of a typology to characterize different types of virtual teams. First, we distinguish virtual teams from conventional teams to identify where current knowledge applies and new research needs to be developed. Second, we distinguish among different types of virtual teams, considering the critical role of task complexity in determining the underlying characteristics of virtual teams and leadership challenges the different types entail. Propositions addressing leadership implications for the effective management of virtual teams are proposed and discussed

Team Learning, Development, and Adaptation

[Excerpt] Our purpose is to explore conceptually these themes centered on team learning, development, and adaptation. We note at the onset that this chapter is not a comprehensive review of the literature. Indeed, solid conceptual and empirical work on these themes are sparse relative to the vast amount of work on team effectiveness more generally, and therefore a thematic set of topics that are ripe for conceptual development and integration. We draw on an ongoing stream of theory development and research in these areas to integrate and sculpt a distinct perspective on team learning, development, and adaptation

FACTORS INFLUENCING PROJECT TEAM EFFECTIVENESS AS PERCEIVED BY PROJECT MANAGERS IN MALAYSIA – A PILOT STUDY

As more project teams are formed to help Malaysian organizations in achieving their objectives that individual efforts cannot achieve, there is a compelling reason to understand the critical factors that can influence project team effectiveness, because the effectiveness outcome can yield benefits to organizations. This study developed a research model underpinned on Cohen & Bailey’s (1997) Team Effectiveness Framework to empirically analyze some critical factors that influence project team effectiveness. Results show that project manager’s leadership roles are not directly influencing project team effectiveness, but they are directly influencing both team building & participation, and team shared mental models in which these two factors are directly and positively influencing project team effectivenessProject Team Effectiveness, Leadership Roles, Team Building & Participation, Team Shared Mental Models, Project Manager

The Language of Bias: A Linguistic Approach to Understanding Intergroup Relations

[Excerpt] This chapter explores the role of language in the relationship between diversity and team performance. Specifically, we consider how a linguistic approach to social categorization may be used to study the social psychological mechanisms that underlie diversity effects. Using the results of a study examining the effects of gender, ethnicity and tenure on language abstraction, we consider the potential implications for team processes and effectiveness. In addition, we propose a revised team input-process-output model that highlights the potential effects of language on team processes. We conclude by suggesting directions for future research linking diversity, linguistic categorization and team effectiveness

Analysing teamwork in higher education: an empirical study on the antecedents and consequences of team cohesiveness

Uno de los factores más importantes del trabajo en equipo es la cohesión entre sus miembros. Sin embargo, escasos trabajos analizan sus antecedentes y consecuencias. El presente estudio utiliza el modelo Input-Process-Output para analizar el impacto de factores individuales y de la tarea sobre la cohesión del equipo, así como la influencia de la cohesión del equipo sobre la eficacia del mismo. En base a una encuesta a 160 alumnos que realizaron trabajos en grupo, los resultados muestran que el grado de cooperación y el comportamiento colaborativo tienen una influencia positiva en la cohesión del equipo, mientras que la carga de trabajo y la complejidad de la tarea tienen una influencia negativa en la misma. Además, la cohesión del equipo influye positivamente en el aprendizaje percibido, la satisfacción con el trabajo en equipo y la calidad esperada. Finalmente, tanto el aprendizaje percibido como la calidad esperada predicen la satisfacción con el trabajo en equipo.One of the most important components of effective teamwork is cohesiveness. However, few empirical studies on the antecedents and consequences of group cohesiveness exist. In response to this gap, the current study draws on the Input-Process-Output model of team effectiveness to investigate the impact of individual and task factors on team cohesiveness, as well as the influence of team cohesiveness on students’ perceived learning, satisfaction with teamwork, and expected quality in the outcome. Based on a survey of 160 undergraduate students who worked in groups, the findings show that cooperativeness and collaborative behaviour have a positive influence on team cohesiveness, while workload and task complexity have a negative influence on it. Additionally, team cohesiveness is positively related to perceived learning, satisfaction with teamwork, and expected quality. Finally, both perceived learning and expected quality predict satisfaction with teamwork

The influence of psychosocial adjustment factors on team embeddedness at the workplace

The high prevalence of aggression, anxiety and stress symptoms among team members in the organisation, while acquisition of task is alarming causation of adjustment disorder influences on team embeddedness, is the subject of this study. The ontogenesis of psychosocial adjustment disorder in any employees is not palingenetic, this is exact reproduction of psychosocial factors (PSF) which develops at workplace The most important strategy for productivity improvement is based on the fact that human productivity, both positive and negative, is determined by the attitudes of all those who work in the enterprise and gap surfaced between teamwork and competence development particularly with regard to managing individualism within organisation and specifically individualistic approach, organisational justice, productivity management and psychosocial support. We strongly feel that there is a need to reexamine organisational team credentials and possible strong influences on individual’s psychosocial adjustment disorders. Findings suggest psychosocial adjustment factors are significantly correlated with psychosocial disorders (PSDs)

Birds of a feather: leader-follower similarity and procedural fairness effects on cooperation

The present paper examines to what extent leader-follower similarity moderates the effect of procedural justice on followers’ cooperation. Using subjective operationalizations of similarity in a vignette study, a field study and an experimental lab study, we demonstrated that the enactment of fair procedures elicits the highest levels of cooperation when followers perceive the leader as similar. This was true when similarity was framed in broad, deep-level terms (Study 1 and 2) or in terms of a single, specific characteristic, i.e., the need to belong (Study 3). In the discussion we elaborate on possible explanatory mechanisms and on the broader context of an integrative approach to leadership research

Impacts of team virtuality on performance : a qualitative study.

Recent studies on virtual teams reveal that team virtuality varies in a continuum and may take different levels. Different levels of virtuality have considerable impacts on team processes and management as they imply several characteristics concerning communication dynamics and interaction styles, which change when shifting from one level to another. The purpose of this paper is to assess how the variability of team virtuality influences team performance. A multidimensional approach to evaluate virtuality was elaborated to identify changing performance variables at each level. The performance variables retained with relevance to the context study are: output quality, team members` satisfaction, and team processes. A qualitative study was conducted on 6 virtual teams composed of 4 students involved in on-line master degrees at a French university. The results show that performance measures are differently influenced by virtuality level. Although output quality seems not to be related to team virtuality, effective team processes and members’ satisfaction are associated with low virtuality levels. Ineffective processes were found in high virtuality teams, however positive dynamics and tem spirit characterise low virtuality teams.Télétravail; Virtual team performance; Team processes; performance; Equipes virtuelles; E-management; Telework;