scholarly journals Teams That Work: Preparing Student Teams For The Workplace

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-234
Author(s):  
Diane D. Galbraith ◽  
Fred L. Webb
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Work Teams ◽  
Successful Outcome ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Effective Teams ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
High Level ◽  
Workplace Events

Organizations today often require collaboration in the form of work teams. Many tasks completed within organizations, whether in the workplace or in academia, however, can be beyond the capabilities of individuals alone. Productive teamwork and cooperative activities in business are expected and can begin very early in a person's career. The pedagogy for teamwork instruction in the classroom may not simulate real workplace events or parallel organizational behavior in order to attain a successful outcome. In universities, teamwork often breeds frustration and dysfunction, since the teams often do not perform at a high level or reach their full potential. This paper will provide best practices for creating productive teams in the classroom in preparation for the workforce. This insight will include ideas that will bond team members through collective values and goals, resulting in effective teams and a productive environment.

Effective Virtual Teams

2011 ◽  
pp. 1272-1278
Author(s):  
D. Sandy Staples ◽  
Ian K. Wong ◽  
Ann-Frances Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Virtual Work ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Collocated Teams

Virtual teams are now being used by many organizations to enhance the productivity of their employees and to bring together a diversity of skills and resources (Gignac, 2005; Majchrzak, Malhotra, Stamps, & Lipnack, 2004), and it has been suggested that this will become the normal way of working in teams in the near future (Jones, Oyund, & Pace, 2005). Virtual teams are groups of individuals who work together from different locations (i.e., are geographically dispersed), work at interdependent tasks, share responsibilities for outcomes, and rely on technology for much of their communication (Cohen & Gibson, 2003). While the use of virtual teams is more common in today’s organization, working in these teams is more complex and challenging than working in traditional, collocated teams (Dewar, 2006), and success rates in virtual teams are low (Goodbody, 2005). This article suggests best practices that organizations and virtual team members can follow to help their virtual teams reach their full potential. In this article, virtual team best practices are identified from three perspectives: organizational best practices, team leadership best practices, and team member best practices. Ideas for best practices were identified from three sources: six case studies of actual virtual teams (Staples, Wong, & Cameron, 2004); the existing literature on virtual teams; and the existing literature on traditional (i.e., collocated) teams and telecommuting (i.e., research on virtual work at the individual level).

scholarly journals COMPARITIVE STUDY OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF ENGINEERING STUDENT TEAMS AND TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radhika R. Kartha ◽  
Dr Michael W. Fowler ◽  
Dr Roydon A. Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Team Effectiveness ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Engineering Student ◽  
Effective Teams ◽  
Team Culture ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Capstone Projects ◽  
Insight Into

 Abstract – Design-and-build competitions are integral to effective higher engineering education. Yet, there is not much research investigating if the organizational structures of engineering student teams and team effectiveness follow any trends. This paper delves into the possibility of this correlation by measuring parameters that contribute to effective teams. This research provides data that is used to judge best practices for engineering student teams. The findings from this paper can then be used as a basis for action when the students find a need for organization development in the future. Additionally, this analysis provides insight into teamwork in engineering. This could benefit 4th year design (a.k.a capstone) projects as well as innovative companies with similar settings. The core contributors to a team's effectiveness are leadership, direction, planning, knowledge transfer, and meetings for engineering student teams. Although parameters like communication and team culture are important, student teams generally have no problems in these areas. By comparing three organizational structures, it is concluded that in general engineering student teams are best when they follow a holocratic or flatter organizational structure as opposed to a strictly flat organizational structure.  

Collective personality fit and diversity – how effective are they in predicting relationship conflict?

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-219
Author(s):  
Jee Young Seong ◽  
Doo-Seung Hong
Keyword(s):  
Work Teams ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Relationship Conflict ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
High Level ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interactive effect of collective personality fit and its diversity on relationship conflict in a team context. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 1,265 employees and their leaders in 110 work teams in a Korean manufacturing company. Findings The results show that the two-way interaction between collective personality fit and its dispersion affects relationship conflict in teams. The effect of collective fit on relationship conflict was found to be weaker when the dispersion of collective fit is low than when it is high. This study reports that a high level of collective fit dispersion may help resolve relationship conflict in certain conditions, such as when the level of collective fit is high. Practical implications This paper implies that the diverse perception of fit does not always hamper intragroup consonance, and relationship conflict can be reduced as long as the overall level of collective fit is high. The diverse or heterogeneous personalities of team members contribute unique attributes of each member to the success of the team because some members of a heterogeneous team may play the role of filling the gap left by others. Originality/value This study argues that collective fit is a new construct, not a simple aggregation of individual fit traits, and the pattern of relationships at the individual level is not replicated at the group level, either conceptually or empirically.

Undergraduate student perceptions of teamwork and use of teams in the classroom

2007 ◽  
Vol 51 (18) ◽  
pp. 1073-1075
Author(s):  
Jeffrey J. Smith ◽  
Sharolyn A. Lane
Keyword(s):  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Team Building ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Peer Ratings ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Effective Teams ◽  
Human Factors And Ergonomics ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Team Task ◽  
Student Team

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society has recognized that, in order to properly prepare students for teamwork in the workplace, team-building experiences are an indispensable part of education (Stone, Moroney, & Wortham, 2006). Panels held at previous HFES meetings have identified approaches to instructing student teams, developing effective teams, and utilizing peer ratings. One hundred fifty-five students were surveyed concerning methods used to plan and communicate with other team members, best and worst team task experiences, and what was liked best and least about working in teams. Responses indicated that, while many students enjoy the collaborative and social aspects of working in teams, many are displeased with the distribution of workload between team members, procrastination by team members, and the difficulty of scheduling meetings. Implications for instructors and recommendations for tools designed to enhance student team experiences are described.

Organizing and Managing Data Analytics Teams for Procurement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Shao ◽  
Robert D. St. Louis
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Procurement Process ◽  
Using Data ◽  
And Training ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
The Way

Many companies are forming data analytics teams to put data to work. To enhance procurement practices, chief procurement officers (CPOs) must work effectively with data analytics teams, from hiring and training to managing and utilizing team members. This chapter presents the findings of a study on how CPOs use data analytics teams to support the procurement process. Surveys and interviews indicate companies are exhibiting different levels of maturity in using data analytics, but both the goal of CPOs (i.e., improving performance to support the business strategy) and the way to interact with data analytics teams for achieving that goal are common across companies. However, as data become more reliably available and technologies become more intelligently embedded, the best practices of organizing and managing data analytics teams for procurement will need to be constantly updated.

scholarly journals Developing a BIM-Based MUVR Treadmill System for Architectural Design Review and Collaboration

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 6881
Author(s):  
Calvin Chung Wai Keung ◽  
Jung In Kim ◽  
Qiao Min Ong
Keyword(s):  
Architectural Design ◽  
Human Locomotion ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Design Review ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Physical Constraints ◽  
Simulated Environment ◽  
Set Up ◽  
High Level

Virtual reality (VR) is quickly becoming the medium of choice for various architecture, engineering, and construction applications, such as design visualization, construction planning, and safety training. In particular, this technology offers an immersive experience to enhance the way architects review their design with team members. Traditionally, VR has used a desktop PC or workstation setup inside a room, yielding the risk of two users bump into each other while using multiuser VR (MUVR) applications. MUVR offers shared experiences that disrupt the conventional single-user VR setup, where multiple users can communicate and interact in the same virtual space, providing more realistic scenarios for architects in the design stage. However, this shared virtual environment introduces challenges regarding limited human locomotion and interactions, due to physical constraints of normal room spaces. This study thus presented a system framework that integrates MUVR applications into omnidirectional treadmills. The treadmills allow users an immersive walking experience in the simulated environment, without space constraints or hurt potentialities. A prototype was set up and tested in several scenarios by practitioners and students. The validated MUVR treadmill system aims to promote high-level immersion in architectural design review and collaboration.

Constructive Distributed Work: An Integrated Approach to Sustainable Collaboration and Research for Distributed Teams

2021 ◽  
pp. 105065192110214
Author(s):  
Michelle McMullin ◽  
Bradley Dilger
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Team Building ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Interdisciplinary Teams ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
Distributed Teams ◽  
Distributed Work ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Negative Impacts

Academic work increasingly involves creating digital tools with interdisciplinary teams distributed across institutions and roles. The negative impacts of distributed work are described at length in technical communication scholarship, but such impacts have not yet been realized in collaborative practices. By integrating attention to their core ethical principles, best practices, and work patterns, the authors are developing an ethical, sustainable approach to team building that they call constructive distributed work. This article describes their integrated approach, documents the best practices that guide their research team, and models the three-dimensional thinking that helps them develop sustainable digital tools and ensure the consistent professional development of all team members.

Best Practices for Modeling Egocentric Social Network Data and Health Outcomes

2021 ◽  
pp. 193758672110137
Author(s):  
Jacqueline M. Burgette ◽  
Jacquelin Rankine ◽  
Alison J. Culyba ◽  
Kar-Hai Chu ◽  
Kathleen M. Carley
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Network Data ◽  
Egocentric Networks ◽  
Covariate Selection ◽  
Social Network Modeling ◽  
Egocentric Network ◽  
The Impact

Objective/Aim: We describe best practices for modeling egocentric networks and health outcomes using a five-step guide. Background: Social network analysis (SNA) is common in social science fields and has more recently been used to study health-related topics including obesity, violence, substance use, health organizational behavior, and healthcare utilization. SNA, alone or in conjunction with spatial analysis, can be used to uniquely evaluate the impact of the physical or built environment on health. The environment can shape the presence, quality, and function of social relationships with spatial and network processes interacting to affect health outcomes. While there are some common measures frequently used in modeling the impact of social networks on health outcomes, there is no standard approach to social network modeling in health research, which impacts rigor and reproducibility. Methods: We provide an overview of social network concepts and terminology focused on egocentric network data. Egocentric, or personal networks, take the perspective of an individual who identifies their own connections (alters) and also the relationships between alters. Results: We describe best practices for modeling egocentric networks and health outcomes according to the following five-step guide: (1) model selection, (2) social network exposure variable and selection considerations, (3) covariate selection related to sociodemographic and health characteristics, (4) covariate selection related to social network characteristics, and (5) analytic considerations. We also present an example of SNA. Conclusions: SNA provides a powerful repertoire of techniques to examine how relationships impact attitudes, experiences, and behaviors—and subsequently health.

scholarly journals How May Virtual Communication Shape Cooperation in a Work Team?

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Flache
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Work Teams ◽  
Work Team ◽  
Online Interaction ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Virtual Communication ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Interaction Task ◽  
Simulation Results

AbstractThis paper addresses theoretically the question how virtual communication may affect cooperation in work teams. The degree of team virtualization, i.e. the extent to which interaction between team members occurs online, is related to parameters of the exchange. First, it is assumed that in online interaction task uncertainties are higher than in face-to-face contacts. Second, the gratifying value of peer rewards is assumed to be lower in online contacts. Thirdly, it is assumed that teams are different in the extent to which members depend on their peers for positive affections, operationalized by the extent to which team members are interested in social relationships for their own sake, independently from their work interactions. Simulation results suggest both positive and negative effects of team virtualization on work-cooperation.

Echinoderm skeletal crystallography and paleobiological applications

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 191-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. E. Bodenbender
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Structure ◽  
Growth Stages ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Initial Growth ◽  
Developmental Sequence ◽  
Coarse Scale ◽  
Common Pattern ◽  
Plate Morphology ◽  
Oriented Parallel ◽  
High Level

The crystallographic orientations of echinoderm skeletal elements can supplement standard morphological comparisons in the exploration of echinoderm evolution. At a coarse scale, many echinoderms share a crystallographic pattern in whichcaxes radiate away from the axis of pentaradial symmetry. Within this common pattern, however,caxes of different taxa can differ dramatically in their degree of variability, angles of inclination, and relationships to the external morphology of skeletal elements. Crystallographic data reflect a variety of taxon-specific influences and therefore reveal different information in different taxa. In echinoids, orientations ofcaxes in coronal plates correlate well with high-level taxonomic groupings, whilecaxes of apical plates record modes of larval development. In blastoids,caxes of radial plates have a structural interpretation, with thecaxis oriented parallel to the orientation of the surface of the radial plate during its initial growth stages. In crinoids,caxes do not correlate with taxonomic group, plate morphology, or developmental sequence, but instead correlate with relative positions of skeletal elements on the calyx. Although their full potential has yet to be explored, the varied crystallographic patterns in echinoderms have been used to clarify skeletal structure, characterize developmental anomalies, and infer homologies of skeletal plates both within specimens and between groups. A axes are less constrained in their orientations thancaxes and offer less promise of revealing novel paleobiological information.

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