Prof. W. Backer

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Commerce (M Com) at the University of the Witwatersrand, February 2017 / Information systems development (ISD) project teams are involved in requirements elicitation, analysis, development, testing and deployment of various information technology solutions. These teams often compete with each other for limited resources in an attempt to fulfil their organisational mandate. As a result, project teams can exert power over each other and employ various influence tactics in attempt to gain and maintain positions of power which allow them to control key resources and influence decision making processes. This study examined the strategic environmental and structural conditions of fulfilment which influence the power of ISD project teams, and the extent to which influence tactics can impact on team power level. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire instrument. A sample of 106 teams from five companies was obtained. The companies operate in the financial services and government sectors. A single key informant responded on behalf of their team. Correlation and regression analysis was used to test the hypothesized links between power and the structural conditions of fulfilment namely centrality and substitutability, as well as, the environmental condition of coping with uncertainty. The moderating effects of influence tactics on these relationships was tested via hierarchical moderated regression. Results indicated that the strategic condition of coping with uncertainty significantly and positively affects perceived team power, whilst substitutability significantly and negatively affects perceived team power. Support for the structural condition of centrality was not found to be significant. Additionally, the influence tactic of rational persuasion was found to moderate the relationship between power and coping with uncertainty such that rational persuasion interacts with coping with uncertainty to affect power. Results also indicated that the influence tactic of collaboration was not a moderator but rather has significant direct effects on perceived team power. The study concluded that ISD project teams who cope with project uncertainties and whose tasks and functionalities are difficult to replace, as well as, those who effectively collaborate with other teams will have greater power within project settings. Moreover, ISD project teams can combine rational persuasion tactics with coping with uncertainty to exert even stronger effects on power. The outcomes of this study help to bring an understanding of the impact of the strategic conditions factors on perceived team power within ISD project settings, as well as the role of specific influence tactics in the formation of power. / GR2018

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Virtual collaboration-the act of working together across boundaries of space, time, and organization, aided by technology-has become increasingly commonplace in recent years. Doing so, however, presents a number of challenges to those involved. One of these is that because of a lack of experience in collaborating through computer-based collaboration systems, there is little knowledge on how to carry out collaboration virtually. Another is that it is not easy for those not directly involved in the collaboration to know what is, and has been, 'going on' during virtual collaboration. This thesis suggests that both of these challenges can be addressed with the same approach, namely by referring to observations of virtual collaboration. The problem then is how such observations of virtual collaboration can be obtained without requiring those involved in it to document their own actions. To address this problem is the objective of this thesis. The approach proposed here involves three elements: firstly, the collection of data about virtual collaboration; secondly, the modeling of this data; and thirdly, the derivation of increasingly abstract, larger-scale representations of virtual collaboration from this data. These representations are termed patterns of virtual collaboration, which are abstract descriptions of activities of virtual collaboration. A multi-layered conceptual model of information, the Information Pyramid of Virtual Collaboration, is proposed, providing different views of information related to virtual collaboration, at different levels of abstraction. The thesis then suggests how from a given body of data, patterns of virtual collaboration at a corresponding level of the Information Pyramid can be extracted, and how from collections of such patterns more abstract patterns of larger-scale activity can be derived, providing the observations of virtual collaboration sought. In considering how the extraction of patterns of virtual collaboration fits into the larger context of the conception, design, and use of collaboration systems, a Framework for Pattern Extraction and Feedback is proposed. This framework introduces the notion of collaboration memory, a type of organizational memory that contains records of collaborative activity. Moreover, the framework suggests how extracted patterns of virtual collaboration feed back into both ongoing development and use of collaboration systems. Finally, the modeling and extraction of patterns of virtual collaboration is illustrated in a case study involving the LIVENET collaboration system.

Snooker scores from two complete rounds of graded teams competition are analysed to detect differences in scores which can be attributed to various external factors, in order to quantify the factors relevant to a player's score in a game of snooker. Such factors are assessed subjectively at present. While each factor examined is found to be significant in one or more of the various grades, it is only in the highest grade that a clear pattern to matches can be identified.

The researcher explored interpersonal trust (a construct from the fields of psychology and sociometry) in the context of engineering work groups. The study explored the potential antecedents of trust and the relationships among trust, creativity, communication, emotional empathy and positive affect. The study attempts to argue that 1) trust is deeply involved in the neurological development of humans from a very early age, 2) the level of trust is an important factor in the development of a person's emotional experience, 3) an individual's level of trust can improve with experience, 4) higher levels of trust can streamline task team performance, especially when creativity and communication are important, and 5) in industries that use task teams and that require innovation, high levels of interpersonal trust can be a source of competitive advantage. Analysis of the literature of social and industrial psychology leads to the hypothesis that trust is positively and significantly correlated with creativity, communication, emotional empathy and positive affect. Sociometric survey research of engineers (n=43) employed at a medical device manufacturing company fails to show support for this hypothesis. / Graduation date: 1998

Although teams are a common method of structuring work activities, there is still much concern over their effectiveness. The primary purpose of this study was to describe the current state of teamwork training in Oregon and to identify critical training design activities, situational barriers and demographic variables related to the perceived success of workplace teamwork training programs. A self-administered questionnaire, based on the literature and a Delphi panel, was mailed to over 500 members of two professional training associations (The American Society for Training and Development and The National Society for Performance and Instruction) representing workplace trainers in Oregon. Of the 319 questionnaires returned, 134 indicated they provided teamwork training in the workplace. Data analysis included computing descriptive statistics on the frequency with which respondents actually performed 61 design and delivery/facilitation activities, the importance they placed on these activities, and the barriers they faced. Factor analysis was used to reduce the items, and correlational methods, including regression and ANOVA, were used to determine the relationships between derived factors and success and the relationship between demographic variables and success. Descriptive analyses indicated that these respondents place highest priority on activities related to a systemic, yet traditional view of teams within an organization. They pay close attention to the potential impact of organizational variables, primarily management support and goal alignment; lesser attention to rewards. They place lower priority on items relating to the task and technology used by the team. Respondents employ participative, problem-solving approaches, encouraging total, voluntary participation, and focus on clarifying individual responsibilities, team goals, and decision-making. Aspects of a systems approach to training (performance objectives, task and person analysis, and continuous evaluation) are among the less frequently performed activities. According to this study, successful teamwork training programs are performance-based, utilize constructive feedback and address individual attributes. Dysfunctional management practices are negatively correlated with success. Management must define clearly what teamwork means and then model desired behaviors. Implications and recommendations for further research are also included. / Graduation date: 1995

Today a majority of business organizations utilize work team designs in an effort to gain a competitive edge. A multitude of factors exert varying levels of influence on work teams, however, few are as potentially pernicious as conflict. Although conflict in work teams has received much attention within the literature, there is notable absence of investigations that have considered the influence of interpersonal factors on conflict within team settings. The present longitudinal, field investigation sought to address this deficit by examining the influence of interpersonal flexibility on work team conflict and conflict-related consequences in 20 naturally occurring M.B.A. project teams. The following research questions were addressed: (1) What is the relationship of interpersonal flexibility to team conflict? (2) What is the relationship of interpersonal flexibility to team outcome? (3) To what extent does interpersonal flexibility predict team conflict occurrence? (4) To what extent does interpersonal flexibility predict team outcome? (5) What is the trajectory of team conflict and outcomes over time based on member interpersonal flexibility? In addressing the questions, a series of Pearson correlations, one-way ANOVA, and GLM repeated measure analyses were conducted. Results suggest a connection between interpersonal flexibility and the experience of work team conflict. Interpersonal flexibility was negatively associated with conflict occurrence and positively associated with satisfaction, commitment, and effectiveness at some points in time. More importantly, interpersonal flexibility seems to explain a small to moderate amount of variance in the conflict and team outcome variables. Individuals and teams with a higher degree of interpersonal flexibility tended to report lower levels of conflict within their work teams and more satisfaction with their team membership. A consistent relationship between interpersonal flexibility level and member commitment or team effectiveness was not established. In addition, team interpersonal flexibility was not demonstrated to be predictive of team performance. The present investigation suggests that interpersonal flexibility exerts an important influence in work teams. However, additional research is essential toward fully understanding how and to what degree work team functioning can be explained by interpersonal flexibility.

In this research project composed of multiple case studies, I focused on how bona fide virtual groups appropriated multiple media to facilitate group boundary construction and boundary management, which are preconditions of group identity formation. Specific topics explored in the study included how virtual groups socially constructed their group boundaries through recurring patterns of media use as well as other communication practices, how the group boundaries were preserved and blurred in both internal and external communication, and how bona fide groups managed dialectal tensions in interacting with external groups. To explore those research questions, I conducted four in-depth case studies of real life groups operating in natural contexts. Multiple qualitative methods of data collection were employed in the study and a modified grounded theory method was used in analyzing the collected data. As a result, the study found that the groups studied constructed group boundaries through communication practices such as making sense of common goals, negotiation of task jurisdiction with other interlocking groups, distinguishing patterns of ingroup interaction from those of outgroup interactions, and through developing group specific patterns and norms of media combination and media use. Group boundaries were preserved when the influence of outgroup members were constrained through media use, such as excluding them from team conference calls, filtering messages from external groups or members, and using boundary spanners to interact with external members. Group boundaries were blurred when intergroup communication impacted internal dynamics and when norms and practices were transferred from other contexts into a given group context. The study suggested that technology adaptation and boundary management occurred simultaneously. In addition, the groups experienced dialectical tensions in face of the permeability of group boundaries and developed communication tactics to deal with those tensions. Theoretical implications of the study were also discussed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 229-242). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.