The role of attachment styles in team functioning

This research explored the potential influences on team functioning, from the perspective of adult attachment theory. Attachment styles are seen to reflect internal working models of self, others, and relationships, and influence individuals’ motivations, abilities, and perceptions as regards relationships. The research question explored what the role and influence of an individual’s global and team attachment style may have upon an individual’s experience of a work team. It sought to explain engagement with an individual’s work team, what is the subsequent influence of this on performance and how attachment style contributes to this. The key issues of Team Member Exchange and Team Identification were explored as areas of team functioning. These are the variables used to study and understand an individual’s team experiences, their engagement with the team, and the relationship with their performance ratings. The research found that both adult global and team attachment styles were negatively associated with Team Member Exchange (TMX), Team Identification, job satisfaction, performance ratings and Organisational Citizenship Behaviours (OCB). Using mediation analysis, team avoidant attachment was consistently and strongly associated with the study’s dependent variables and emerged as the key explanatory variable in this research. When all the attachment styles were analysed simultaneously to determine the unique effects of each attachment style, team avoidance style was the most useful in understanding both TMX and Team Identification, job satisfaction, OCB and performance measures. Those with avoidant team attachment styles felt that the experience of team was negative with lower TMX and Team Identification reported. The research has added new insights to the team and attachment literature with the important contribution of team avoidance attachment to TMX and Team Identification

Exploring the usefulness of new technology with new students : a case study

In traditional campus-based universities it is recognised that one factor for student success is that students are physically present, and that therefore one way of encouraging student involvement is to attract them to spend more time on campus. At London Metropolitan University, our students could not be expected to prolong their presence on campus physically due to their multitude of commitments and its inner city location. However, it may be possible to get them to engage with university life virtually. This paper explores the thinking behind encouraging students to develop their online skills whilst at University, and supporting the lecturing staff as role models for this approach

Engendering a Sense of Belonging to Support Student Well-Being during COVID-19: A Focus on Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 4

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a plethora of inequalities in South Africa. These inequalities have had a direct impact on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG 3 (good health and well-being) and SDG 4 (quality education) were the focus of this article. This article investigated how students enrolled at a South African residential university perceived the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their well-being, their success in completing their studies and their future career prospects. A quantitative survey research design was followed. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire from 537 students in a South African university. Statistical Package for Social Sciences software version 27 was used to analyze the data. The results indicated direct influences on student well-being from concerns that arose from COVID-19 about future job concerns, degree completion, social support and belonging. The relationship between concerns about degree completion was moderated by a sense of belonging (social identification) but not by social support. The study has significant implications for how higher education institution governors and academics might consider reconceptualizing notions of student support, beyond the narrow, technical and basic curriculum support for degree completion, towards the affective and social as it relates to creating conditions for students to identify with and experience a profound sense of belonging.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

The Perceived Impact of COVID-19 on Student Well-Being and the Mediating Role of the University Support: Evidence From France, Germany, Russia, and the UK

The rapid and unplanned change to teaching and learning in the online format brought by COVID-19 has likely impacted many, if not all, aspects of university students' lives worldwide. To contribute to the investigation of this change, this study focuses on the impact of the pandemic on student well-being, which has been found to be as important to student lifelong success as their academic achievement. Student well-being has been linked to their engagement and performance in curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular activities, intrinsic motivation, satisfaction, meaning making, and mental health. The purpose of this study was to examine how student perceptions of their degree completion and future job prospects during the pandemic impact their well-being and what role university support plays in this relationship. We used the conservation of resources theory to frame our study and to develop five hypotheses that were later tested via structural equation modeling. Data were collected from 2,707 university students in France, Germany, Russia, and UK via an online survey. The results showed that university support provided by instructors and administration plays a mediating role in the relationship between the perceived impact of COVID-19 on degree completion and future job prospects and levels of student well-being. Student well-being is decreased by their concerns for their degree completion but not by their concerns for future job prospects. In turn, concerns for future job prospects affect student well-being over time. These results suggest that in a “new normal,” universities could increase student well-being by making support to student studies a priority, especially for undergraduates. Also, universities should be aware of the students' changing emotional responses to crisis and ensure visibility and accessibility of student support.Peer reviewe

The role of learning styles in integrating and empowering learners

The widespread use of learning styles inventories in the UK has attracted controversy and debate. Much of this has been around the psychometric properties of instruments and the conceptualisations of learning styles. Although these issues are important, this paper reviews approaches to the use of learning style instruments [LSI] from a curriculum viewpoint and from the perspective of actual users of learning styles profiles

Orienting students to higher education : a business example

Business Skills (BX101) is a core module for all undergraduate students studying Business at the North campus of London Metropolitan University. It is seen as a key element in assisting new students to settle into, and prepare for, academic life. One of the learning outcomes is 'to help you [i.e. the student] integrate into University life and assist you to develop a range of academic and discipline-based skills and capacities that will enhance your academic and professional achievement'. The course was re-designed for autumn 2002, with the twin objectives of student integration and retention. A core team of staff who had been involved in a research project on the module the previous year (see www.criticallearning.co.uk) redesigned the course. The aim was to give the students a more explicit focus on engagement with study and being a student, one aspect of which was to include the use of Learning styles Inventories [LSI]. At the same time, the team is continuing and developing our research which has now extended from a limited perspective on the value of learning styles as a vehicle for involving students in discussion about learning, to a consideration of wider issues about engagement and adjustment to being a student in higher education

The role of relationships in perceptions of workplace dehumanization

Dehumanization is increasingly recognized as a key factor in intergroup conflict and discrimination. Researchers have focused on the potential role individual relationships in shaping the way individuals view members of different social groups and the influence on dehumanisation. This study develops this theme and explores the relationship between adult attachment styles, TMX and LMX, and their role in perceptions of workplace dehumanization. TMX refers to the extent to which individuals perceive that members of different social groups share a common humanity, while LMX refers to the quality of the relationship between individuals from different social groups. Data was collected with a qualtrics online survey. Using a regression mediation analysis, the study found a relationship between these variables, with a sample of 88 professionals based in the UK. This study suggests a stronger relationship with adult attachment and LMX than TMX. It suggests that attachment and LMX may play a key role in shaping the way individuals view leader abd members of different social groups, and the extent to which they experience dehumanisation

Student Motivation For Entry to Higher Education: a comparative analysis of students’ views in three different countries

The aim of this research project was to investigate the motivation and attitudes of students on entry into higher education. There is a predominance of literature regarding students’ motivations and goals for entering higher education, but there is little that considers a comparative analysis of these motivations (Crossley and Watson 2003). The comparative analysis presented through this project permits an attempt at cultural contextualisation of the motivational factors at play in the decision-making processes of students prior to going to university. The increasingly globalised educational market (Halpin and Buckley 2004) requires higher education institutions to be informed of cultural differences in motivations that impact on students, in order to develop not only broader recruitment strategies but also retention, achievement and learning strategies. Stead (2004) argues the importance of culture with regard to career psychology and the value of social constructionism for illuminating such cultural issues. Social constructionism is a theoretical approach that aims to account for the ways in which phenomena such as ideas, attitudes and behaviours are socially constructed in a ‘matrix of interweaving relationships’, with knowledge being a cultural process of meaning making (ibid., p. 391). Whilst this paper does not attempt to explore issues of social constructionism in relation to choice of career, the relational aspect of this paradigm offers an insight into the importance of culture with regard to career choice and motivation. Certainly Bourdieu’s (1993) theories highlight the importance of cultural capital in relation to education, which in turn predicates the imperative of comparative higher educational research in contemporary globalised economies (Crossley and Watson, 2004). Against this background of the need for a comparative study of motivation, the research team embarked on this preliminary study with the intention of identifying themes in relation to motivation from a cultural perspective. The paper focuses on two of the strongest themes that emerged from the initial results in terms of comparative differences, namely: preparation for university and attitudes to career choice

Development and validation of the work environment complexity scale for leaders

Purpose – To develop and validate a Work Environment Complexity (WEC) scale for leaders. Design/methodology/approach – Both cross-sectional and longitudinal data, gathered in the course of major organizational restructuring, using samples from employees (n=305) and leaders (n=120) in two health care organizations. Findings – The research developed and validated a scale of WEC for leaders with two factors: (1) Frequent Change and Events, and (2) Uncertain Work Demands. Comparisons between samples suggest diverging employee and leadership representations of WEC. Practical implications – Being the first scale to measure the comprehensive construct of Work Environment Complexity, a foundation is laid to measure the amount of complexity in a leader’s work and the functioning of leaders with regards to WEC. Originality/value – This paper contributes to leadership research and practice by clarifying the construct of Work Environment Complexity for leaders empirically and validating a bidimensional scale of WEC

Developing thoughtful students:Using learning styles in an HE context

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of learning styles in developing learning in a higher education context.Design/methodology/approach The paper employs a case study of a year one introductory module for first-year university students in a post-1992 university.FindingsIt is suggested that learning styles in association with concepts of engagement and identity may be usefully and successfully employed in supporting, guiding and developing student learning. The importance of contextual factors is a factor that will influence learning strategies.Originality/value The paper is critical of other uses of learning styles and makes suggestions to develop and broaden the role of learning styles