Enhancing Team Dynamics in an Online Learning Environment

The corporate world considers the ability of employees to work well within a team environment as a critical factor in success and expects potential employees to gain experience of team work during their university education. Although team projects have been well-incorporated into the traditional curriculum in higher education, the advent of online learning has created challenges in ensuring effective team dynamics. This research presents a case study implementing an online team learning approach designed to create a positive learning environment at St. Petersburg College. In the original online environment, both staff and students encountered a variety of concerns and ineffective team dynamics. These issues were addressed by the course team using a variety of formalized rocedures, best practices and team documents. This led to improved student interactions, better quality of assignments, as well as lecturers spending less time on team management issues

Cohesion, team mental models, and collective efficacy: Towards an integrated framework of team dynamics in sport

A nomological network on team dynamics in sports consisting of a multi-framework perspective is introduced and tested. The aim was to explore the interrelationship among cohesion, team mental models (TMM), collective-efficacy (CE), and perceived performance potential (PPP). Three hundred and forty college-aged soccer players representing 17 different teams (8 female and 9 male) participated in the study. They responded to surveys on team cohesion, TMM, CE and PPP. Results are congruent with the theoretical conceptualization of a parsimonious view of team dynamics in sports. Specifically, cohesion was found to be an exogenous variable predicting both TMM and CE beliefs. TMM and CE were correlated and predicted PPP, which in turn accounted for 59% of the variance of objective performance scores as measured by teams’ season record. From a theoretical standpoint, findings resulted in a parsimonious view of team dynamics, which may represent an initial step towards clarifying the epistemological roots and nomological network of various team-level properties. From an applied standpoint, results suggest that team expertise starts with the establishment of team cohesion. Following the establishment of cohesiveness, teammates are able to advance team-related schemas and a collective sense of confidence. Limitations and key directions for future research are outlined

Diversity and ethics in trauma and acute care surgery teams : results from an international survey

Background Investigating the context of trauma and acute care surgery, the article aims at understanding the factors that can enhance some ethical aspects, namely the importance of patient consent, the perceptiveness of the ethical role of the trauma leader, and the perceived importance of ethics as an educational subject. Methods The article employs an international questionnaire promoted by the World Society of Emergency Surgery. Results Through the analysis of 402 fully filled questionnaires by surgeons from 72 different countries, the three main ethical topics are investigated through the lens of gender, membership of an academic or non-academic institution, an official trauma team, and a diverse group. In general terms, results highlight greater attention paid by surgeons belonging to academic institutions, official trauma teams, and diverse groups. Conclusions Our results underline that some organizational factors (e.g., the fact that the team belongs to a university context or is more diverse) might lead to the development of a higher sensibility on ethical matters. Embracing cultural diversity forces trauma teams to deal with different mindsets. Organizations should, therefore, consider those elements in defining their organizational procedures.Peer reviewe

Sustainable travel and team dynamics among mobile health professionals

© 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This study explores the potential for more sustainable patterns of travel by mobile health professionals. It also explores the relationships between their travel for work and their modal choices in commuting and private travel. It uses as a case study a health trust in the UK that introduced a pioneering scheme involving the use of electric bikes and pool cars designed to reduce the use of employees' own vehicles for work travel. Using self-categorization theory, it explores the role of work group social norms in explaining the differential take-up of the scheme. The study used an online survey completed by 306 staff, telephone interviews, a focus group, and analysis of carbon emissions. The main alternative to private car use was cycling, used by 15% of staff. Several operational constraints were identified, but the differences in participation were also strongly related to work group cultures. Local managers embodying prototypical norms exerted a significant influence on the work groups that had embraced the scheme. A focus group with a team using electric bikes found evidence of increased staff motivation, and benefits to client groups, due to strengthened in-group social identity. The findings suggest considerable potential for modal shift in the travel of mobile health professionals in urban areas

Enhancing Virtual Team Dynamics

With the activation of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center in 2012, the United States Air Force initiated an effort to centralize installation and mission support management throughout the Air Force, while decentralizing the execution at the base level. The measurement of success for such a decision extends beyond the reduction of overhead costs. The goal was to build a responsive, mission-focused organization. This research evaluated specific factors associated with the characteristics of virtual team dynamics to improve the perceived responsiveness of a centralized organization. Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory is a relationship-based approach to leadership that focuses on the quality of the exchanges between two members. Previous research regarding LMX theory has focused on explaining how people relate to each other. However, this research developed a model to predict how to actually improve the quality of these exchanges. Base Civil Engineers participated in a survey to measure the current dynamic between AFCEC and Civil Engineer squadrons. This research revealed that trust and depth of communication were significant predictors of LMX. These results affirmed the importance of establishing a personal relationship between team members and demonstrated that LMX increases when the leader seems trustworthy or more like a friend to others

Role conflict in project team dynamics

Project team dynamics may be affected by mismatches between formal and informal sources of expectations. Conflicting or unclear expectations have not yet been studied closely in construction projects. Using role theory, the effect of such phenomena on project team dynamics was studied in construction projects. Most research into role theory relies on survey data; however, this study takes a qualitative approach. For a public project, contracts were studied, project meetings were observed, and semi-structured interviews with the major members of the design team were carried out to identify formal and informal sources of role expectations. Analysis focused on the misalignment of these sources. A model was developed to help explain project team dynamics and the interaction of formal and informal sources of role expectations. Findings reveal that underspecified roles and responsibilities within contracts and plans of works effected role interactions and ultimately team dynamics

Service-Learning in Undergraduate Global Health Education: The Effect of Team Dynamics on Civic Attitudes and Skills

Social justice is most effectively taught through experiential learning, including practicums, internships, and service-learning (SL). Service-learning provides solid conceptualizations, with the potential for improving civic attitudes (i.e., social responsibility and participation). Graduate public health programs have traditionally required SL internships designed to enhance civic attitudes and skills, which has led to the recent incorporation of SL courses into undergraduate curricula. The authors assessed the benefits of SL in undergraduate public health education using the Civic Attitudes and Skills Questionnaire administered to enrollees (n = 43) in a global health SL course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  Variability among student groups by major, gender, academic year, partner type, honors college status, team dynamics, and previous SL experience was determined. Overall, students reported increases in their civic attitudes and skills. However, team dynamics emerged as the most important associated factor. Individuals reporting poor team dynamics consistently reported lower levels of improvement than those reporting great team dynamics

The development of a simulation engineering game to teach problem solving skills and team dynamics

Simulation technologies have become the corner stone of many training programs, from simple game–playing scenarios to totally immersive virtual reality simulators. However, many of these simple teaching aides merely tend to develop the manual dexterity of the learner. The game described in this paper develops the learner’s problem-solving skills and teamwork. The game under development is based on a simulated production line, constructing structures with Lego blocks. The game has three discrete phases; each with a briefing session, a production “run” and a debriefing session. It encourages observation and discussion of possible improvements required to increase productivity. This is achieved by the learning of good team interaction and the application of different problem-solving techniques. Initial feedback from students reveals that the simulated game provides a better method of observing the importance of team dynamics and the honing of problem solving skills