Bridging Temporal Divides: Temporal Brokerage in Global Teams and Its Impact on Individual Performance

Members of global teams are often dispersed across time zones. This paper introduces the construct of temporal brokerage, which we define as being in a position within a team’s temporal structure that bridges subgroups that have little or no temporal overlap with each other. Although temporal brokerage is not a formal role, we argue that occupying such a position makes an individual more likely to take on more coordination work than other members on the team. We suggest that, while engaging in such coordination work has advantages in the form of enhanced integrative complexity, it also comes with costs in the form of a greater workload relative to other members. We further argue that the increased integrative complexity and workload that result from occupying a position of temporal brokerage have implications that go beyond the boundaries of the focal team, spilling over into other projects the individual is engaged in. Specifically, we predict that being in positions of temporal brokerage on global teams decreases the quantity but increases the quality of an individual’s total productive output. We find support for these predictions across two studies comprising 4,553 individuals participating in global student project teams and 123,586 individuals participating in global academic research teams, respectively. The framework and findings presented in this paper contribute to theories of global teamwork, pivotal roles and leadership emergence in global teams, and social network theory.

Teamwork Distribution: Local vs. Global Software Engineering Project Development Teamwork

Deliverable and course project become the preferred mean to measure learner competency and attainment of intended learning outcomes in IT-fields. Proper setup and evaluation for teamwork projects remains a key challenge for e-learning systems. This study investigates the possibility to improve the early prediction of academic software engineering project failure by treating teamwork differently according to the distribution of teamwork participants. Two configurations of teamwork distribution are considered. In the first configuration, a teamwork may include international participants, but all team participants are affiliated to the same institution, namely local teamwork. In the second configuration, a teamwork may include participants from different institutions, namely global teamwork. Software engineering projects are approached from two distinct perspectives. First, obeying the best practices during the system development life cycle (SDLC), namely, process perspective. Second, characteristics of the final deliverable deployed at each milestone of the SDLC, namely product perspective. A publicly released dataset collected by a designated e-learning environment is leveraged to validate the proposed approach. Results indicate a noticeable variance among local and global distributions. These results puts evidence that the reasons behind software engineering teamwork project failures may vary depending on the distribution of the teamwork, local vs. global. Consequently, it advise to customize e-learning systems differently according to the teamwork distribution.

Differences between surgical team members in terms of teamwork, workload and stress

Background Within Operating Rooms (OR), teams consisting of professionals with different training and backgrounds are expected to function optimally in a high-risk environment that is scattered with stressors, that often appear simultaneously and are usually related to the ever-present time pressure which is often paired with ineffective teamwork and an ever-increasing workload and stress. This study aimed to investigate whether there are significant differences in teamwork; workload; and stress levels between surgeons, anesthesiologists, and scrub nurses. Methods This was an observational cross-sectional study, conducted over 3 months in 2018, in Sahloul University Hospital; in 4 ORs with different specialties. We used a validated observation sheet to asses teamwork (Observational teamwork assessment for surgery tool) during the intraoperative phase. At the end of each operation, stress and workload of the surgical team members were measured. All ethical considerations were taken into account. Results Overall, 160 participants from the concerned ORs participated in the study and 50 operations were observed. Most of the participants were nurses (45.6%). Concerning teamwork, in fact, surgeons received significantly higher scores on all of the dimensions. The mean global teamwork score for surgeons was 4.87 (SD = 0.75, p < 0.01) on a scale of 0 to 6. Moreover, ANOVA test showed that surgeons experienced higher workload with a mean of 66.88 (SD = 25.98, p < 0.01). However, nurses were significantly more stressed than both anesthesiologists and surgeons. Conclusions This study offered a practical method to evaluate, simultaneously, teamwork, workload and stress in the OR and revealed differences across team members as surgery unfolds. Given the importance of care delivery in the ORs, the findings of this study can be used to lead targeted interventions to enhance the surgical team performance. Key messages There were significant differences between surgical team members in terms of teamwork, workload and stress. Surgeons had higher teamwork and workload; however, nurses had the highest stress.

Evaluation of the impact of intra-operative distractions on teamwork, stress and workload

Background Within the OR, distractions occur on a regular basis, which affects surgical workflow and results in discontinuation of urgent tasks. In addition, engaging into distractions in the OR may not only increase stress and workload, but also impair teamwork performance. This study aimed to observe the occurrence of intra-operative distractions in ORs and to evaluate associations between distractions, teamwork, workload and stress. Methods This observational cross-sectional study was conducted in Sahloul University Hospital; more specifically in four different surgical units: orthopedic, urology, emergency and digestive surgery and over a period of 3 months in 2018. Using validated observation sheets, distractions and teamwork were recorded and rated in real-time during the intraoperative phase of every case. Besides, stress and workload of OR team members were measured at the end of each operation. All ethical considerations were taken into account. Results Fifty cases were observed and 160 participants were included in this study. In total, we recorded 933 distractions that occurred once every 3 minutes, on average. The mean global teamwork score was 3.85 (SD = ±0,67) on a scale of 0 to 6, the mean workload score was 58.60 (±24,27) and the mean stress score was 15.29 (SD = ±4,00). The highest rate of distraction was significantly related to external staff entering or exiting the OR during non-teaching cases (M = 9.43, SD = 3.56; p = 0.006). Surgeons also experienced significantly higher workload with a mean of 66.88 (SD = 25.98,p<0.01). Conclusions This study highlighted a serious problem which is, often, ignored or underestimated. Taking into consideration the results, we recommend the implementation of systemic interventions on a daily basis to reduce the number of distractions in the OR. Key messages Distractions happened in all of the included operations. Stress and workload among nurses got higher as work environment distractions increased.

Integrating Green Building Approaches to Interior Architecture Education: A Cross-Cultural Study

The success of the efforts for green building depends largely on integrating such approaches with building design education. However, most of the existing studies on green building have focused on the technical issues, while its socio-cultural and educational aspects have been less examined. In order to alleviate the problem, this paper presents an international workshop that explores how green building design can be taught in a global teamwork project using a green building assessment system, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) checklist as a framework and examples of vernacular architecture as precedents. The results of an empirical survey reveals a gap between students' general learning about green building in a developing and a developed country and suggests that a collaborative project experience may facilitate bridging the gap and exchanging technical and cultural information related to sustainability.