Satisfaction in virtual teams in organizations

Teams in organizations are no longer pure virtual or pure face-to-face teams, but fall into the large hybrid category of those who use technology according to the needs of their task and team structure. Considering the assumption that the level of a team's virtuality may influence members' satisfaction, we explored the effects of team virtuality on member satisfaction in a sample of virtual team members in organizations (N = 159) using an online questionnaire. We defined two dimensions of virtuality: the proportion of e-mail vs. face-to-face communication and the proportion of co-located team members. By assessing satisfaction with different measures we were able to describe distinctive relationships between level of virtuality and member satisfaction. We found that virtual team members reported rather low job satisfaction. Results showed negative relationships between team virtuality and job satisfaction and satisfaction with working relationships in the team, respectively. We found no effects of team virtuality on resigned attitude towards one's job, satisfaction with team task performance, and satisfaction with computer-mediated communication. However, context variables other than level of virtuality had stronger effects on job satisfaction. Especially trust in other team members and adequate management information policies improved member satisfaction

‘Oh motherland I pledge to thee…’ : a study into nationalism, gender and the representation of an imagined family within national anthems

In this paper we aim to join feminist critiques of nationalism, arguing that beyond understanding nations as imagined communities (Anderson 1983: 6), the symbolic construction of gender must also be considered in the formation of those communities. We argue that the metaphor of an ‘imagined family’ or ‘filial community’ is a more useful concept towards understanding the links between gender and nationhood in four ways as family relations: 1) provide a clear, hierarchical structure, 2) prescribe social roles and responsibilities, 3) are linked to positive affective connotations and 4) reify social phenomena as biologically determined. In order to empirically substantiate our claim, we will explore the prevalence and use of family metaphors in a key symbol of nationhood discourses of nationhood. Through a qualitative analysis of national anthems as ‘mnemonics of national identity’, we demonstrate the widespread presence of family metaphors, discussing how they reproduce ideas of family and gender. Finally, we discuss how the ‘imagined family’ as present in anthems and other forms of national representation could inform future studies of nationalism and national politics.PostprintPeer reviewe

How to enrich team research in healthcare by considering five theoretical perspectives.

The aim of this paper is to inspire team research to apply diverse and unconventional perspectives to study team dynamics and performance in healthcare settings. To illustrate that using multiple perspectives can yield valuable insights, we examine a segment of a team interaction during a heart-surgery, using five distinct interdisciplinary perspectives known from small group research: the psychodynamic, functional, conflict-power-status, temporal, and social identity perspectives. We briefly describe each theoretical perspective, discuss its application to study healthcare teams, and present possible research questions for the segment at hand using the respective perspective. We also highlight the benefits and challenges associated with employing these diverse approaches and explore how they can be integrated to analyze team processes in health care. Finally, we offer our own insights and opinions on the integration of these approaches, as well as the types of data required to conduct such analyses. We also point to further research avenues and highlight the benefits associated with employing these diverse approaches. Finally, we offer our own insights and opinions on the integration of these approaches, as well as the types of data required to conduct such analyses

Climate policy support as a tool to control others’ (but not own) environmental behavior?

Drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are necessary to successfully mitigate climate change. Individual environmental behavior is central to this change. Given that environmental behavior necessitates 1) effortful individual self-control and 2) cooperation by others, public policy may constitute an attractive instrument for regulating one’s own as well as others’ environmental behavior. Framing climate change mitigation as a cooperative self-control problem, we explore the incremental predictive power of self-control and beliefs surrounding others’ cooperation beyond established predictors of policy support in study 1 using machine-learning (N = 610). In study 2, we systematically test and confirm the effects of self-control and beliefs surrounding others’ cooperation (N = 270). Both studies showed that personal importance of climate change mitigation and perceived insufficiency of others’ environmental behavior predict policy support, while there was no strong evidence for a negative association between own-self control success and policy support. These results emerge beyond the effects of established predictors, such as environmental attitudes and beliefs, risk perception (study 1), and social norms (study 2). Results are discussed in terms of leveraging policy as a behavioral enactment constraint to control others’ but not own environmental behavior

In no uncertain terms: Group cohesion did not affect exploration and group decision making under low uncertainty

Group decision making under uncertainty often requires groups to balance exploration of their environment with exploitation of the seemingly best option. In order to succeed at this collective induction, groups need to merge the knowledge of all group members and combine goal-oriented and social motivations (i.e., group cohesion). This paper presents three studies that investigate whether more cohesive groups perform worse at collective induction tasks as they spend less time exploring possible options. Study 1 simulates group decision making with the ε-greedy algorithm in order to identify suitable manipulations of group cohesion and investigate how differing exploration lengths can affect outcomes of group decisions. Study 2 (N = 108, 18 groups á 6 participants) used an experimental manipulation of group cohesion in a simple card choice task to investigate how group cohesion might affect group decision making when only limited social information is available. Study 3 (N = 96, 16 groups á 6 participants) experimentally manipulated group cohesion and used the HoneyComb paradigm, a movement-based group experiment platform, to investigate which group processes would emerge during decision making and how these processes would affect the relationships between group cohesion, exploration length, and group decision making. Study 1 found that multiplicative cohesion rewards have detrimental effects on group decision making, while additive group rewards could ameliorate negative effects of the cohesion reward, especially when reported separately from task rewards. Additionally, exploration length was found to profoundly affect decision quality. Studies 2 and 3 showed that groups could identify the best reward option successfully, regardless of group cohesion manipulation. This effect is interpreted as a ceiling effect as the decision task was likely too easy to solve. Study 3 identified that spatial group cohesion on the playing field correlated with self-reported entitativity and leader-/followership emerged spontaneously in most groups and correlated with self-reported perceptions of leader-/followership in the game. We discuss advantages of simulation studies, possible adaptations to the ε-greedy algorithm, and methodological aspects of measuring behavioral group cohesion and leadership to inform empirical studies investigating group decision making under uncertainty

How to enrich team research in healthcare by considering five theoretical perspectives

The aim of this paper is to inspire team research to apply diverse and unconventional perspectives to study team dynamics and performance in healthcare settings. To illustrate that using multiple perspectives can yield valuable insights, we examine a segment of a team interaction during a heart-surgery, using five distinct interdisciplinary perspectives known from small group research: the psychodynamic, functional, conflict-power-status, temporal, and social identity perspectives. We briefly describe each theoretical perspective, discuss its application to study healthcare teams, and present possible research questions for the segment at hand using the respective perspective. We also highlight the benefits and challenges associated with employing these diverse approaches and explore how they can be integrated to analyze team processes in health care. Finally, we offer our own insights and opinions on the integration of these approaches, as well as the types of data required to conduct such analyses. We also point to further research avenues and highlight the benefits associated with employing these diverse approaches. Finally, we offer our own insights and opinions on the integration of these approaches, as well as the types of data required to conduct such analyses

Facilitating Group Decision-Making: Facilitator's Subjective Theories on Group Coordination

Moderatorinnen und Moderatoren sollten die Mitglieder einer Arbeitsgruppe nicht nur für die gemeinsame Arbeit motivieren, sondern auch deren Aktivitäten und den Gruppenprozess koordinieren. Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit Gruppenkoordination, die eine Voraussetzung für Gruppeneffektivität ist, insbesondere bei komplexen Aufgaben. Die Entscheidungsfindung in Gruppen stellt eine komplexe Aufgabe dar und erfordert eher explizite als implizite Koordination. Ausgehend von der Annahme, dass es sich bei expliziter Koordination um Verhalten handelt, das sich nicht einfach im Gruppenprozess ergibt, sondern aktiv von Personen mit der Intention zur Koordination eingesetzt wird, untersuchen wir individuelle Koordinationsabsichten und planvoll eingesetzte Koordinationsmechanismen. Im handlungstheoretischen Sinne handelt es sich dabei um handlungsleitende Kognitionen, die auch als subjektive Theorien bezeichnet werden. Die subjektive Perspektive spielte in der bisherigen Forschung zur Gruppenkoordination keine bedeutsame Rolle. Dies ist nachvollziehbar, da subjektive Aspekte der Gruppenunterstützung generell schwierig zu definieren und zu messen sind. Wir führten daher fokussierte Interviews mit acht Expertinnen und Experten durch, die entweder als Managerinnen und Manager oder als erfahrene Gruppenmoderatorinnen und Gruppenmoderatoren arbeiten. Die von den Befragten berichteten individuellen Ansätze und Methoden der Gruppenkoordination wurden inhaltsanalytisch ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Moderationsexpertinnen und -experten differenzierte mentale Repräsentationen ihres Koordinationsverhaltens besitzen. Diese subjektiven Koordinationstheorien können als Koordinationsschemata organisiert werden, in welchen die Wahrnehmung eines spezifischen Koordinationsanlasses zur intentionalen Anwendung eines Koordinationsmechanismus führt, der wiederum die Wahrnehmung spezifischer Konsequenzen nach sich zieht. Wir diskutieren die Bedeutung dieser subjektiven Koordinationstheorien im Hinblick auf die effektive Unterstützung der Entscheidungsfindung in Gruppen und die Minimierung von Prozessverlusten der Gruppenarbeit.A key feature of group facilitation is motivating and coordinating people to perform their joint work. This paper focuses on group coordination which is a prerequisite to group effectiveness, especially in complex tasks. Decision-making in groups is a complex task that consequently needs to be coordinated by explicit rather than implicit coordination mechanisms. Based on the embedded definition that explicit coordination does not just happen but is purposely executed by individuals, we argue that individual coordination intentions and mechanisms should be taken into account. Thus far, the subjective perspective of coordination has been neglected in coordination theory, which is understandable given the difficulties in defining and measuring subjective aspects of group facilitation. We therefore conducted focused interviews with eight experts who either worked as senior managers or as experienced group facilitators and analysed their approaches to group coordination using methods of content analysis. Results show that these experts possess sophisticated mental representations of their coordination behaviour. These subjective coordination theories can be organised in terms of coordination schemes in which coordination-releasing situations are facilitated by special coordination mechanisms that, in turn, lead to the perception of specific consequences. We discuss the importance of these subjective coordination theories for effectively facilitating group decision-making and minimising process losses.Una característica clave de la facilitación de grupo es motivar y coordinar a las personas para realizar actividad conjunta. Este artículo se enfoca en la coordinación grupal, que es un prerrequisito de la efectividad de grupo, especialmente en tareas complejas. La toma de decisiones en grupo es una tarea compleja que necesita ser coordinada mediante mecanismos explícitos y no implícitos. Basándonos en la definición asumida de que la coordinación explícita no solamente sucede sino que es intencionalmente realizada por los individuos, argumentamos que han de tomarse en cuenta los mecanismos e intentos individuales de coordinación. Hasta el momento, la perspectiva subjetiva de la coordinación se ha descuidado en la teoría de la coordinación, lo cual es comprensible dada las dificultades para definir y medir los aspectos subjetivos de la facilitación del grupo. Además, realizamos entrevistas con ocho expertos que han trabajado como gerentes o como facilitadores de grupo con experiencia y analizamos sus enfoques sobre la coordinación de grupo utilizando métodos de análisis de contenido. Los resultados muestran que esos expertos poseen representaciones mentales sofisticadas de su comportamiento de coordinación. Estas teorías de coordinación subjetivas pueden organizarse en términos de esquemas de coordinación en los que las situaciones de liberación-coordinación son facilitadas mediante mecanismos de coordinación que, a su vez, orientan la percepción de las consecuencias específicas. Discutimos la importancia de estas teorías de coordinación subjetivas para efectivamente facilitar la toma grupal de decisiones y minimizar la pérdida de procesos

Laborious but elaborate: the benefits of really studying team dynamics

In this manuscript we discuss the consequences of methodological choices when studying team processes “in the wild.” We chose teams in healthcare as the application because teamwork cannot only save lives but the processes constituting effective teamwork in healthcare are prototypical for teamwork as they range from decision-making (e.g., in multidisciplinary decision-making boards in cancer care) to leadership and coordination (e.g., in fast-paced, acute-care settings in trauma, surgery and anesthesia) to reflection and learning (e.g., in post-event clinical debriefings). We draw upon recently emphasized critique that much empirical team research has focused on describing team states rather than investigating how team processes dynamically unfurl over time and how these dynamics predict team outcomes. This focus on statics instead of dynamics limits the gain of applicable knowledge on team functioning in organizations. We first describe three examples from healthcare that reflect the importance, scope, and challenges of teamwork: multidisciplinary decision-making boards, fast-paced, acute care settings, and post-event clinical team debriefings. Second, we put the methodological approaches of how teamwork in these representative examples has mostly been studied centerstage (i.e., using mainly surveys, database reviews, and rating tools) and highlight how the resulting findings provide only limited insights into the actual team processes and the quality thereof, leaving little room for identifying and targeting success factors. Third, we discuss how methodical approaches that take dynamics into account (i.e., event- and time-based behavior observation and micro-level coding, social sensor-based measurement) would contribute to the science of teams by providing actionable knowledge about interaction processes of successful teamwork.ISSN:1664-107

Facilitating Group Decision-Making: Facilitator's Subjective Theories on Group Coordination

A key feature of group facilitation is motivating and coordinating people to perform their joint work. This paper focuses on group coordination which is a prerequisite to group effectiveness, especially in complex tasks. Decision-making in groups is a complex task that consequently needs to be coordinated by explicit rather than implicit coordination mechanisms. Based on the embedded definition that explicit coordination does not just happen but is purposely executed by individuals, we argue that individual coordination intentions and mechanisms should be taken into account. Thus far, the subjective perspective of coordination has been neglected in coordination theory, which is understandable given the difficulties in defining and measuring subjective aspects of group facilitation. We therefore conducted focused interviews with eight experts who either worked as senior managers or as experienced group facilitators and analysed their approaches to group coordination using methods of content analysis. Results show that these experts possess sophisticated mental representations of their coordination behaviour. These subjective coordination theories can be organised in terms of coordination schemes in which coordination-releasing situations are facilitated by special coordination mechanisms that, in turn, lead to the perception of specific consequences. We discuss the importance of these subjective coordination theories for effectively facilitating group decision-making and minimising process losses