It All Starts with a Good Idea: A New Coding System for Analyzing Idea Finding Interactions (AIFI)

In today’s fast-changing world, teams need to develop a sound capacity for finding new ideas. However, we know little about the behavioral micro-dynamics that are at the core of creativity in teams. To overcome these shortcomings, we present a new behavioral coding system for analyzing idea finding interactions (AIFI). The AIFI system aims to help researchers study fine-grained creative team processes. In terms of practical application, the AIFI system can serve to visualize the patterns of Idea finding over time. The codes of the AIFI system were derived both inductively (analyzing videos of innovation teams) and deductively (consulting existing coding systems). A first application of the AIFI system showed moderate agreement among coders, speaking to its interrater reliability. Further, we examined distinct relationships between the codes of the AIFI system and (1) ratings of idea quality provided by external raters and (2) team members’ perceived effectiveness

Group affective tone and team performance: A week level study in project teams

Group affective tone is an emergent state that can be shared by group members during interdependent tasks. Groups can experience positive group affective tone (PGAT), a shared feeling of, e.g., excitement, enthusiasm, or activation, as well as negative group affective tone (NGAT), a shared feeling of, e.g., distress, anxiety, and hostility. So far, previous cross-sectional research suggests that PGAT and NGAT are related to team performance outcomes. However, little is known about how the dynamic and fluctuating group affective states are related to team performance over an extended period of time. Therefore, the current study investigated the relation between PGAT, NGAT, and performance over the course of 34 software engineering projects. We hypothesized that PGAT is positively related to team performance, whereas NGAT is negatively related to team performance. Based on the punctuated equilibrium model and the feeling-as-information theory, we expected that these associations become stronger in the second half of the project. Using week-level design with 165 participants in 34 software engineering teams, we repeatedly assessed PGAT, NGAT, and team performance over 14 weeks. Data were analyzed using multilevel structural equation modeling. As expected, PGAT was positively related to team performance, whereas NGAT was negatively related to team performance – between teams over the course of the projects as well as within teams over time. More importantly, the weekly relationships were stronger in the second half of the project. Our study indicates that weekly variations in group affective tone are more relevant after projects reach a temporal midpoint. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for project teams

A Sequential Analysis of Procedural Communication in Organizational Meetings: How Teams Facilitate Their Meetings

How do teams facilitate their own meetings? Unmanaged (or free) social interaction often leads to poor decision-making, unnecessary conformity, social loafing, and ineffective communication processes, practices, and products. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential benefits of procedural communication in team meetings. The role of procedural communication, defined as verbal behaviors that structure group discussion to facilitate goal accomplishment, was examined in 59 team meetings from 19 organizations. Meeting behaviors were videotaped and coded. Lag sequential analysis revealed that procedural meeting behaviors are sustained by supporting statements within the team interaction process. They promote proactive communication (e.g., who will do what and when) and significantly inhibit dysfunctional meeting behaviors (e.g., losing the train of thought, criticizing others, and complaining). These patterns were found both at lag1 and lag2. Furthermore, the more evenly distributed procedural meeting behaviors were across team members, the more team members were satisfied with their discussion processes and outcomes. For practice, these findings suggest that managers should encourage procedural communication to enhance meeting effectiveness, and team members should share the responsibility of procedurally facilitating their meetings

To leave or not to leave? Critical factors for university dropout among first-generation students

Soll ich bleiben oder gehen? Eine Analyse von Abbruchgründen des Studiums bei der First-Generation Studienabbrüche werden durch personale und organisationale Faktoren erklärt. Die Frage ist, ob für Studierende der First-Generation (FG) dieselben Zusammenhänge wie für andere Studierende (non-FGs) gelten. Den Online-Fragebogen füllten 250 FGs und 286 non-FGs von deutschen Universitäten aus. Bei beiden Gruppen besteht ein direkter Zusammenhang zwischen der Qualität der Informationen vor Studienbeginn und der Abbruchwahrscheinlichkeit. Für FGs erhöht die Qualität der Informationen während des ersten Semesters die Selbstwirksamkeit und senkt dadurch die Abbruchwahrscheinlichkeit. Bei der non-FG senken die Selbstwirksamkeit und die Qualität der Informationen im ersten Semester die wahrgenommenen Barrieren und dadurch die Abbruchwahrscheinlichkeit. Handlungsempfehlungen für Universitäten werden diskutiert. 16.12.2015 | Stephanie Aymans & Simone Kauffeld (Braunschweig

Die Ko-Konstruktion von Führung in veränderungsbezogenen Interaktionen zwischen Führungskräften und Mitarbeitenden

Dieser Beitrag in der Zeitschrift Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Organsationspsychologie (GIO) befasst sich damit, wie Führung in Veränderungsprozessen als dynamischer, wechselseitiger Einflussprozess zwischen Führungskräften und Mitarbeitenden verstanden werden kann und welches Potenzial diese Perspektive für die Effektivität von Führung bietet. Die Hauptaufgabe von Führungskräften wird häufig in der Leitung und Beeinflussung ihrer Mitarbeitenden gesehen. Diese Aufgabe stellt insbesondere im Kontext organisationaler Veränderungen eine Herausforderung dar, wenn es darum geht, Mitarbeitende für eine Verhaltensänderung zu motivieren. Vor dem Hintergrund kontinuierlich stattfindender Veränderungen in der heutigen Zeit gilt es daher, ein Verständnis für die Entwicklung positiver und negativer Interaktionsdynamiken in Gesprächen zwischen Führungskräften und Mitarbeitenden zu entwickeln. In der Führungsforschung bestehen dazu unterschiedliche theoretische Perspektiven, die verschiedene Betrachtungsweisen zu Entstehung und Verlauf von Führung und den Einflussprozessen zwischen Führungskräften und Mitarbeitenden bieten. Der vorliegende Artikel beleuchtet die unterschiedlichen Führungsperspektiven vor dem Hintergrund der Herausforderungen organisationaler Veränderungen und leitet praktische Implikationen ab. Sowohl auf der Ebene von Mitarbeitenden, Führungskräften als auch auf der organisationalen Ebene werden Wege aufgezeigt, wie mit Hilfe des Verständnisses von Führung als dynamischer, wechselseitiger Prozess positive Führungs- und Veränderungsprozesse gestaltet werden können. = This article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Organsationspsychologie (GIO) aims at presenting how leadership at times of change can be understood as a dynamic, mutual influence process between leaders and followers and shows the potential this perspective holds for the effectiveness of leadership. The main task of leaders is often seen in managing and influencing their followers. This task is challenging, especially in the context of organizational change, when it comes to motivating employees to change their behavior. Against the background of continuous change nowadays, it is therefore important to develop an understanding of the emergence of positive and negative interaction dynamics in conversations between leaders and followers. Leadership research offers different theoretical perspectives on the emergence and development of leadership and the influence processes taking place between leaders and followers. The present article examines the different leadership perspectives against the background of the challenges of organizational change and derives practical implications. This article shows how the understanding of leadership as a dynamic, mutual process can be used to design positive leadership processes at the level of followers, leaders, and the organization

Quid pro quo?: The benefit of reciprocity, multiplexity, and multireciprocity in early career peer support

In the early career phase of higher education, the social relationships with peers are a critical source of developmental support. Peer support relationships tend to be reciprocal and multiplex, such that the actors of the relationships both give and receive multiple facets of developmental support from one another. However, reciprocity and multiplexity alone cannot cover ties that are anti-aligned across the layers of the multiplex network (i.e., one type of support received, and another type of support given in exchange). Therefore, the goal of this study is to integrate reciprocity and multiplexity in order to give consideration to such real-world multilayer relationships. We transferred the approach on multireciprocity introduced by Gemmetto et al. (Phys Rev E 94: 042316, 2016) to weighted network data of 61 university students and explored the possible beneficial effect of reciprocity, multiplexity, and multireciprocity in terms of career outcomes (i.e., objective performance, subjective performance, satisfaction with life). Results revealed no general benefit of mutuality and balance in support relationships. Rather, positive effects emerged for specific constellations of mutuality and support types. Career support in combination with socioemotional support showed to be particularly relevant for early career factors

Intelligent Learning Management by Means of Multi-sensory Feedback

AbstractAlong with new manufacturing paradigms such as Industry 4.0, based on cyber-physical systems or ubiquitous manufacturing and the rapid development of underlying technologies, the importance of lifelong learning as an integrated part of the overall activities within manufacturing companies increases. Herewith, a holistic learning culture and modern learning environments are required. To allow the learner to independently acquire knowledge and skills in a learning factory an intelligent learning management system and extensive feedback information to the learner are needed. A central approach is to pursue the new interactive knowledge transfer through the multi-sensory approach combined with innovative feedback processes, enabling a learning process with all human senses

Bildung ohne Grenzen: eine vergleichende Interviewstudie zu Kompetenzen und zur Gestaltung der Lehre mit Fakultätsmitarbeitenden im Kontext der deutsch-indischen Mobilität

The number of Asian students studying in a foreign country, i.e. transmobility, has tripled in the last 15 years, and is likely to continue to increase over the next decades. India, as the world’s third biggest nation and a newly industrialized country with well-established know-how in STEM-disciplines, is of particular interest for the study of transmobility. Interviews of faculty members working in higher education in Germany and India were analyzed to highlight similarities and differences between the study conditions in both educational systems. The results were that both sides identified the same competences as determinates for success at university. However, the understanding of what was meant by some of the individual competences differed between both countries. Hands-on teaching methods and teaching formats (e.g. excursions) as well as supportive measures (e.g. project courses) for students were also recognized to be less established at the Indian university. Moreover, a greater focus on performance was identifiable in German participants; Indian interviewees were found to ascribe greater value to social considerations.In den letzten 15 Jahren hat sich die Transmobilität von Studierenden aus dem asiatischen Raum mehr als verdreifacht und wird in den nächsten Jahren weiter steigen. Indien als drittgrößte Nation der Welt und aufstrebendes Schwellenland mit fundiertem Know-how im MINT-Bereich kommt daher eine besondere Bedeutung zu. Im Rahmen von Interviews mit Fakultätsmitarbeitenden an deutschen und indischen Hochschuleinrichtungen wurden Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede der Studiensituation in beiden Ländern identifiziert. Ein Ergebnis war, dass jeweils die gleichen Kompetenzen für ein erfolgreiches Studium identifiziert worden, die Bedeutung der einzelnen Kompetenzen zwischen den Ländern jedoch variierte. Außerdem sind an der indischen Hochschule praktische Lehrmethoden und -formate (z.B. Exkursionen) sowie verschiedene Fördermaßnahmen im Studium (z.B. Projektkurse) für Studierende weniger verbreitet. Kulturell bedingt fiel die Leistungsorientierung an den deutschen und die soziale Orientierung an der indischen Hochschule auf