Feedback as intervention for team learning in virtual teams: the role of team cohesion and personality

Scholars and practitioners agree that virtual teams (VTs) have become commonplace in today's digital workplace. Relevant literature argues that learning constitutes a significant contributor to team member satisfaction and performance, and that, at least in face-to-face teams, team cohesion fosters team learning. Given the additional challenges VTs face, e.g. geographical dispersion, which are likely have a negative influence on cohesion, in this paper we shed light on the relationship between team cohesion and team learning. We adopted a quantitative approach and studied 54 VTs in our quest to understand the role of feedback in mediating this relationship and, more specifically, the role of personality traits in moderating the indirect effect of team feedback and guided reflection intervention on TL through team cohesion within the VT context. Our findings highlight the importance of considering aspects related to the team composition when devising intervention strategies for VTs, and provide empirical support for an interactionist model between personality and emergent states such as cohesion. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed

A META-ANALYSIS OF TEAMWORK PROCESSES: TESTS OF A MULTIDIMENSIONAL MODEL AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH TEAM EFFECTIVENESS CRITERIA

Drawing from Marks, Mathieu, and Zaccaro (2001), we proposed that narrowly focused teamwork processes load onto 3 higher-order team-work process dimensions, which in turn load onto a general teamwork process factor. Results of model testing using meta-analyses of rela-tionships among narrow teamwork processes provided support for the structure of this multidimensional theory of teamwork process. Meta-analytic results also indicated that teamwork processes have positive relationships with team performance and member satisfaction, and that the relationships are similar across the teamwork dimensions and lev-els of process specificity. Supplemental analyses revealed that the 3 intermediate-level teamwork processes are positively and strongly re-lated to cohesion and potency. Results of moderator analyses suggested that relationships among teamwork processes and team performance are somewhat dependent on task interdependence and team size. Scholars have conducted a great deal of research aimed at understand-ing factors that explain how and why teams achieve desired outcomes (Turner, 2001). The popularity of this type of research is consistent with the reliance on team-based work structures in organizations (Devine, Clayton, Findings reported in this study were presented in a symposium at the 20th Annua

How experienced individuals contribute to an improvement in collective performance in ants

Certain groups of organisms are capable of improving their collective performance with experience. In a recent study, we demonstrated that, over successive emigrations, colonies of the ant Temnothorax albipennis are able to improve their collective performance by reducing the time taken to complete an emigration (Langridge et al., Behav Ecol Sociobiol 56:523-529, 2004). In this paper, by recording the performance of individually marked workers during repeated emigrations, we were able to analyse some of the ways in which time gains are achieved. We found that: (1) those transporters that also transported in the preceding emigration began to transport earlier in the current emigration and, in the majority of emigrations, transported more items than those transporters that had not transported in the preceding emigration; (2) the time that elapsed before the first item was transported into the new nest reduced over successive emigrations, and this first item was, in the majority of emigrations, carried by a transporter that had also transported in the preceding emigration; (3) the number of adults that were transported reduced over successive emigrations. Our results strongly suggest that the behaviour of transporters that also transported in a preceding emigration may be modified as a result of their experience and that, consequently, their efforts in the next emigration make a major contribution to the improved performance of the colony as a whole. © 2007 Springer-Verlag

Team Learning Behaviours and Team Affective Reactions: an Empirical Study on Interdisciplinary Work Teams

This study examined interdisciplinary vocational educator teams to identify differences in their team learning behaviours and examined whether their team affective reactions could explain these differences. We used a mixed-methods approach comprising a survey of 117 interdisciplinary work teams with 604 members and a qualitative analysis of our observations of the meetings of six of these teams. The team-level cluster analysis to identify differences in team learning behaviours revealed three clusters that differed significantly (p=.00) regarding nearly all team learning behaviours. We named these clusters according to their patterns in team learning behaviours: very active all-round teams', active all-round teams' and active teams with high knowledge sharing'. These differences in team learning behaviours could be explained by significant differences in team affective reactions (p<.05). Each cluster was represented by two teams whose team meetings (five per team) were audio- and videotaped. The overall findings of this study indicate that team affective reactions are related to team learning behaviours. The results of the qualitative analysis of the observation data provide additional information that not only positive but also negative team affective reactions can stimulate the engagement in team learning behaviours

Sensitising effects of genetically modified enzymes used in flavour, fragrance, detergence and pharmaceutical production: cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES The use of genetically engineered enzymes in the synthesis of flavourings, fragrances and other applications has increased tremendously. There is, however, a paucity of data on sensitisation and/or allergy to the finished products. We aimed to review the use of genetically modified enzymes and the enormous challenges in human biomonitoring studies with suitable assays of specific IgE to a variety of modified enzyme proteins in occupational settings and measure specific IgE to modified enzymes in exposed workers. METHODS Specific IgE antibodies against workplace-specific individual enzymes were measured by the specific fluorescence enzyme-labelled immunoassay in 813 exposed workers seen in cross-sectional surveys. RESULTS Twenty-three per cent of all exposed workers showed type I sensitisation with IgE antibodies directed against respective workplace-specific enzymes. The highest sensitisation frequencies observed were for workers exposed enzymes derived from α-amylase (44%), followed by stainzyme (41%), pancreatinin (35%), savinase (31%), papain (31%), ovozyme (28%), phytase (16%), trypsin (15%) and lipase (4%). The highest individual antibody levels (up to 110 kU/L) were detected in workers exposed to phytase, xylanase and glucanase. In a subgroup comprising 134 workers, detailed clinical diagnostics confirmed work-related symptoms. There was a strong correlation (r=0.75, p<0.0001) between the symptoms and antibody levels. Workers with work-related respiratory symptoms showed a higher prevalence for the presence of specific IgE antibodies against workplace-specific enzymes than asymptomatic exposed workers (likelihood ratio 2.32, sensitivity 0.92, specificity 0.6). CONCLUSIONS Our data confirm the previous findings showing that genetically engineered enzymes are potent allergens eliciting immediate-type sensitisation. Owing to lack of commercial diagnostic tests, few of those exposed receive regular surveillance including biomonitoring with relevant specific IgE assays