Knowledge-Oriented Leadership, Team Cohesion, and Project Success: A Conditional Mechanism

We examined the impact of knowledge-oriented leadership on project success via team cohesion and the moderating role of valuing people and project complexity on this relationship. We collected data from 121 project employees in Pakistan in a two-wave field survey at an interval of 15 days. The results showed a positive association between knowledge-oriented leadership and project success, and team cohesion partially mediated this relationship. Valuing people positively moderated the relationship between knowledge-oriented leadership and team cohesion. Project complexity had a negative but insignificant moderating effect on project success. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Evolution of Homosexuality in the Human Males: Improved Mixed-Team Performance Hypothesis

Male homosexual preference (MHP) is present in many human societies, making up a small but significant cohort. Because homosexual mate preferences are associated with lower fecundity, many evolutionary explanations have been advanced to account for the persistence of this trait. After reviewing a number of these hypotheses and finding room for additional explanations, we propose a new hypothesis that depends on the observed greater empathy and reduced hostility of men who express MHP. This gives them a central role in the performance of groups or teams (all male and mixed) where cooperation and intra-team coherence are at a premium. In this view, teams that contain men with MHP will outcompete teams without such men, other variables being similar. The links between personality traits and team performance do not require homosexual activity within the group. The hypothesis is supported by observations of the personality traits associated with MHP, such as increased agreeableness, which is linked to the literature on team cohesion and performance in sports and other kinds of teams and groups. This novel hypothesis could be examined through direct study of team performance. The proposed hypothesis may also have relevance to better performance among the diverse teams whose efficient performance is so important in modern society.

A Conceptual Framework for Analysing Partnership and Synergy in a Global Health Alliance: Case of the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST)

ABSTRACT Partnerships have become increasingly important in addressing complex global health challenges, a reality exemplified by the COVID-19 pandemic and previous infectious disease epidemics. Partnerships offer opportunities to create synergistic outcomes by capitalising on complimentary skills, knowledge and resources. Despite the importance of understanding partnership functioning, research on collaboration is sparse and fragmented, with few conceptual frameworks applied to evaluate real-life partnerships in global health. In this study, we aimed to adapt and apply the Bergan Model of Collaborative Functioning (BMCF) to analyse partnership functioning in the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST), a government-academic partnership, dedicated to outbreak response and research in low- and middle-income countries. We conducted a literature review identifying important elements to adapt the framework, followed by a qualitative case study to characterise how each element, and the dynamics between them, influenced functioning in the UK-PHRST, exploring emerging themes to further refine the framework. Elements of the BMCF that our study reinforced as important included the partnership’s mission, partner resources (skills, expertise, networks), leadership, the external environment, management systems, and communication. Additional elements identified in the literature and critical to partnership functioning of the UK-PHRST included governance and financial structures adopted, trust and power balance, organisational culture, strategy, and evaluation and knowledge management. Because of the way the UK-PHRST was structured, fostering team cohesion was an important indicator of synergy, alongside collaborative advantage. Dividing the funding and governance equally between organisations was considered crucial for maintaining institutional balance, however, diverse organisational cultures, weak communication practices and perceived power imbalances compromised team cohesion. Our analysis allowed us to make recommendations to improve partnership functioning at a critical time in the evolution of the UK-PHRST. The analysis approach and framework presented here can be used to evaluate and strengthen the management of global health partnerships to realise synergy.

Self - Organizing Teams in Software Development – Myth or Reality

In an agile business environment, teamwork quality is underlining key element of successful projects and overall team performance. In the Scrum framework, self-managing team is a central element of success. Self-managing teams introduced a new concept of teams and emphasized the importance of individual member effort and the way it affects team performance. The focus of this paper is on teamwork quality in self-managing teams and the way it affects the overall team performance. Teamwork quality is defined by six subconstructs: communication, coordination, balance of member contributions, mutual support, effort, and cohesion, while team performance is defined with effectiveness and efficiency. A survey of 260 respondents from the IT sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina was conducted and in both tested models, our results have confirmed that the highest effect on team effectiveness comes from mutual support, with slightly different – but still significant, impact of team cohesion and effort.

Values, motivational orientation and team cohesion amongst youth soccer players

There is a close link between moral education and sports activities. A well-organized sport can be an excellent means of transferring positive values to children and adolescents, which can influence motivation and group processes. This study aimed to analyse (a) the relationships between social, personal and individualistic values, motivational orientation and team cohesion amongst young soccer players and (b) compare differences in these variables between players competing in different age categories. Our participant sample comprised 401 male soccer players of Spanish teams (mean age = 14.64 years) competing in official competitive leagues, of five age categories, Under-10 years to Under-19. All participants responded to three instruments: the Values Scale for Positive Adolescent Development, the Perception of Success Questionnaire and the Group Environment Questionnaire. Correlation and regression, and analysis of differences between categories were performed. The results confirm that personal values are mainly related to task orientation, and individualistic values to ego orientation. The values of responsibility, integrity and honesty were the best predictors of task orientation, and social recognition and hedonism predict ego orientation. Honesty and responsibility were the main predictors of both task and social cohesion. Younger players showed a higher level of social values, task orientation and social cohesion, while older players show higher individualistic values and ego orientation. Implications for research or practice are discussed.

Professional Personnel Adaptation: Essence and Features

The article analyzes the issues related to the identification of the essence and peculiarities of professional adaptation of personnel, problems of attitude to unification into groups, the degree of satisfaction: labor activity, working conditions, position in the team, the nature of interactions and relationships in the organization, in the team, themselves and the results of their work, assessment of collectivism. The study used the questionnaire "Assessment of socio-psychological professional adaptation" by M.A. Dmitrireva and "Methodology for determining integral satisfaction with labor" by A.V. Batarshev, the sample was 208 people. As a result of the study, factors were identified that negatively affect the system of adaptation of recruiting agency specialists: a low level of collectivism, as a result of low team cohesion; low level of self-satisfaction of specialists at work; low level of satisfaction of specialists with achievements in the work. Among the main directions of improving the personnel adaptation system, the following areas are proposed: increasing the level of collectivism by introducing communication games on team cohesion, as well as organizing intellectual timbuilding for specialists; formation of Total Rewards intangible motivation. This motivation system will allow employees to maintain a balance between work and life and feel their own value; Development of a quarterly performance compensation system. This method will allow for regular assessment of staff achievements.

The influence of emotional intelligence on team cohesion and the mediating effects of self-efficacy and trust: time-lagged approach

Purpose Using the input-mediator-output-input (IMOI) model, this paper aims to use longitudinal data to test team level self-efficacy and trust as mediators in the relationship between team emotional intelligence (EI) and team cohesion (TC) and examine the relationship between TC and team performance. Design/methodology/approach In an experimental design, 347 senior business students (84 teams) played a simulation game for 12 weeks. The authors collected data at three different time points to avoid reverse causal effects in the mediation relationship. Findings As hypothesized, trust and self-efficacy mediate the relationship between EI and TC. Moreover, TC is a strong and significant predictor of team performance. Research limitations/implications The authors measured most variables using a self-reported survey, which can cause common method bias, and the authors used a business simulation game for the team task with student participants, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other team contexts or populations. Practical implications When forming work teams, managers should consider levels of EI and self-efficacy because they facilitate the development of trust and TC, which, in turn, lead to improved performance. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on EI and TC by revealing the mediating effects of trust and self-efficacy and contributes to the team literature by leveraging the IMOI model to explicate the mediation effects. This study’s longitudinal study design clarifies the causal relationship among EI, trust and self-efficacy and TC, thereby eliminating reverse causation concerns.

Enactment of compassionate leadership by nursing and midwifery managers: results from an international online survey

AimTo explore the views of an international sample of nursing and midwifery managers concerning attributes that they associate with compassionate management.MethodA cross-sectional online survey. Using a snowballing sampling method, 1217 responses were collected from nursing and midwifery managers in 17 countries. A total of complete 933 responses to a question related to which actions and behaviours indicated that a manager was exercising compassionate leadership were analysed for this paper. First, content analysis of the responses was conducted, and second, a relative distribution of the identified themes for the overall sample and for each participating country was calculated.ResultsSix main themes were identified describing the attributes of a compassionate leader: (1) Virtuous support, (2) Communication, (3) Personal virtues of the manager, (4) Participatory communication, (5) Growth/flourishing/ nurturing and (6) Team cohesion. The first three themes mentioned above collectively accounted for 63% of the responses, and can therefore be considered to be the most important characteristics of compassionate management behaviour.ConclusionThe key indicators of compassionate management in nursing and midwifery which were identified emphasise approachability, active and sensitive listening, sympathetic responses to staff members’ difficulties (especially concerning child and other caring responsibilities), active support of and advocacy for the staff team and active problem solving and conflict resolution. While there were differences between the countries’ views on compassionate healthcare management, some themes were widely represented among different countries’ responses, which suggest key indicators of compassionate management that apply across cultures.

The team cohesion-performance relationship: A meta-analysis exploring measurement approaches and the changing team landscape

Team cohesion is an important antecedent of team performance, but our understanding of this relationship is mired by inconsistencies in how cohesion has been conceptualized and measured. The nature of teams is also changing, and the effect of this change is unclear. By meta-analyzing the cohesion-performance relationship ( k = 195, n = 12,023), examining measurement moderators, and distinguishing modern and traditional team characteristics, we uncovered various insights. First, the cohesion-performance relationship varies based on degree of proximity. More proximal measures –task cohesion, referent-shift, and behaviorally-focused– show stronger relationships compared to social cohesion, direct consensus, and attitudinally-focused, which are more distal. Differences are more pronounced when performance metrics are also distal. Second, group pride is more predictive than expected. Third, the cohesion-performance relationship and predictive capacity of different measures are changing in modern contexts, but findings pertaining to optimal measurement approaches largely generalized. Lastly, important nuances across modern characteristics warrant attention in research and practice. Plain Language Summary Team cohesion is an important antecedent of team performance, but our understanding of this relationship is mired by inconsistencies in how cohesion has been conceptualized and measured. The nature of teams has also changed over time, and the effect of this change is unclear. By meta-analyzing the cohesion-performance relationship ( k = 195, n = 12,023), examining measurement moderators, and distinguishing between modern and traditional team characteristics, we uncovered various insights for both research and practice. First, the cohesion-performance relationship varies based on degree of proximity. Measures that are more proximal to what a team does – those assessing task cohesion, utilizing referent shift items, and capturing behavioral manifestations of cohesion – show stronger relationships with performance compared to those assessing social cohesion, utilizing direct consensus items, and capturing attitudinal manifestations of cohesion, which are more distal. These differences are more pronounced when performance metrics are also more distal. Second, despite being understudied, the group pride-performance relationship was stronger than expected. Third, modern team characteristics are changing both the overall cohesion-performance relationship and the predictive capacity of different measurement approaches, but findings pertaining to the most optimal measurement approaches largely generalized in that these approaches were less susceptible to the influence of modern characteristics. However, in some contexts, distal cohesion metrics are just as predictive as their more proximal counterparts. Lastly, there are important nuances across different characteristics of modern teams that warrant additional research attention and should be considered in practice. Overall, findings greatly advance science and practice pertaining to the team cohesion-performance relationship.