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Simulation is a powerful tool that allows producing the best solution for a variety of design and operational issues in manufacturing systems. It provides the ability to assess the impact of various solutions without interfering with the real system. Applying simulation in the decision making process can significantly decrease the cost and risk of implementing a new solution, and at the same time speed up the process of analysing and finding the optimum solution. However, simulation projects usually are complex, and involve a number of people in the model's developing process. The simulation team is usually formed with specific roles for team members to play, such as project leader, model builder, data provider, customer, consultant, etc. However, the globalisation of business operations means that individuals involved in a large multi-site simulation project may be physically dispersed across the organisation and the world. For example, simulation experts may be based in one location and their service may be offered to business units scatted across the globe. This makes more difficult to collocate all project participants in one place at the same time and consumes extra effort, time and cost. Applying a virtual team methodology, supported by the modern Internet-based communication technologies, can overcome the described problems - reduce cost and project time in a large multi-site simulation study. This research investigates the implication of employing the virtual team concept to the simulation team, collaboration process and quality of project output. The analysis introduces the framework for creating the virtual simulation team and two step methodology with short, medium and long recommendations proposed. Then the developed methodology is validated by empirical experiment and simulation experiment. However, in order to carry on the real life experiment a WWW-based application to support the virtual simulation team was developed, and applied in the collaboration process. The experiments positively validated the methodology and provided data to check and optimise the developed application. The study is concluded by discussion of the final research results and future work.

Teams have significant potential. When an organisation gets its teamworking 'right' significant benefits can accrue. Team experts, consultants and academics advance a plethora of tools, theories, techniques and concepts to inform and facilitate successful design, development and implementation of teams. Yet, despite a significant body of thoughtful research on team-based approaches and a variety of potential benefits that can be realised by effectively deploying teams, the literature is populated with examples of teams that fail to produce desired results. Teams are complex systems. Therefore they are characterised by interdependent processes that incorporate an entire spectrum of activities commencing with the initial identification of need and extending through to the realisation of that need and in some cases dissolution of the team. This research has identified a team systems engineering life cycle, which envelop team system activities from 'conception' to 'grave'. The team systems engineering life cycle (DBOM) was observed to include four main groupings of activities which correspond to: 'design', 'build', 'operate' and 'maintain' (DBOM) life phases through which a typical team system progresses.

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Previously, research on multinational teamwork with various nationalities and cultures involved, which looked at the aspect of communication, was largely based on the examination of specific facilitators and barriers to its communication (i.e. Watson, et al., 1993; Hofner Saphiere, 1996). There it was found that multinational teams might have specific communication facilitators dependent upon the cultures involved. This is reflected in the theoretical development in the field of intercultural management, which gives guidance for culturally complex team settings (i.e. Trompenaars, 1993). The complexity managers’ face is increasing further through China’s involvement in the implementation of globalization strategies (Podsiadlowski, 2002). Recently, the relevance of China’s involvement has been increasing for Germany, in particular given Chinese companies’ investments in Germany. Therefore, the study of various nationalities in one research project has been reconsidered and currently there is new demand for studies, which seek to understand the complexity of Sino-German teamwork (Podsiadlowski, 2002). However, besides non-research based literature, research focusing solely on Sino-German teamwork occupies a marginal place (i.e. Podsiadlowski, 2002). Additionally, much of the multinational team research (for example, Watson, et al., 1993) looked at outcomes and disregarded the team members’ experience itself by using quantitative methods. It provided an understanding influenced by positivistic perspectives, saying that certain factors are pre-conditions for successful team communication. This study recognized these positions, but questioned the positivist bias demonstrated there. Throughout this research, associated factors were understood as being non-linear and interrelated, representing the complexity managers are experiencing. As a result this study argued that Chinese and Germans working in teams were marginalised in the intercultural management research field until today and their needs were not addressed by much of the existing research. These led to my conclusion that there is a need to conduct research that for the first time is informed by a postmodern theoretical framework that seeks to privilege multiplicity and diversity and that also attends to the silences surrounding this group. Therefore, a postmodern framework provided the theoretical lens through which this research, and its authorial, methodological, and interpretive characteristics were construed and represented. This perspective emphasised local stories about experiences, attended to ‘difference’, was concerned with the multiple nature of ‘reality’, and recognised the importance of language as a medium for the social construction of what may be considered ‘truth’ (Cheek, 2000). Narrative inquiry represented in this thesis the postmodern epistemological framework to understand subjective experiences by exploring the stories of twelve Chinese and German participants and the meanings derived from these. These stories were themselves experiences structured and recalled inside wider cultural and social contexts (Kirkman, 2002; Webster & Mertova, 2007). The socio-cultural contexts were woven into the language used by the participants to explain their experiences and signified the meanings of these experiences. However, Chinese and Germans not only differed with regards to language and language variety, but also with respect to their patterns of usage and how meaning was generated in interactive situations on the basis of socio-cultural knowledge. Therefore, my narrative inquiry took into account both linguistic and sociocultural aspects and addressed the relations between interactive communication strategies and larger social and cultural phenomena. Within the context presented above, the focus and contribution of this study were the descriptions of the intercultural communication experiences of members of Sino- German teams and the analysis of factors relating to interferences in communication to provide a thicker explanation of communication interferences in intercultural communication, where theoretical attempts so far remained rather fragmented, and to contribute findings from different perspectives on what has traditionally been viewed from a positivistic standpoint. Through sharing the participants’ lived experiences of working and communicating with Chinese and Germans and vice versa, a number of linguistic and socio-cultural factors influencing communication behaviour and causing interferences were uncovered. The factors identified from the study resonate with a number of factors previously established in existing multinational teamwork research and whilst others contributed new information that adds to the understandings of the meanings that may be made from such experience of communication interferences. Comparing the experiences related by Chinese participants with those related by German participants showed a substantial consensus with regards to the communication interferences experienced in Sino-German teams and the factors relating to these interferences, as well as observable differences in communication behaviours. The lack of foreign language proficiency on the side of both Chinese and German individuals was stated as being a major factor for communication interferences that was further enhanced through the strong linguistic barrier between these two languages. Good language proficiency minimises the occurrence of misunderstandings and miscommunications. It allows better personal contact between the team members since it better enables people to establish personal contacts and relationships, as well as to use an interlinked communication structure that allows informal communication and therefore compliance with the Chinese cultural ‘rules of the game’. However, foreign language proficiency alone is not a guarantee for successful intercultural communication in Sino-German teams. This study also analysed, in addition to the practical and theoretical significance of language and language skills, the cultural influences on the communication between Chinese and German team members. Many participants were either unaware (especially on the German side) or only partially aware of the fact that differences in communication behaviour are based on different culture-specific communication conventions and strategies. It was found that intercultural awareness on the part of individuals in a team, meaning the knowledge and awareness of culture-specific conventions and norms, had a positive influence on communication within the team. Knowledge of the meaning of the two key terms mianzi and guanxi plays an important role in Sino-German teams. On the other hand, an ethnocentric perspective on either one or both sides inevitably results in mutual negative attributions. This findings added to the understanding how this communication could be improved and, most importantly, as a prerequisite for actions of any kind to achieve improvements, to draw the attention of German team members to the relevance of communication when working with their Chinese colleagues and vice versa. Furthermore, the study functioned as an act of empowerment, a way to give voice to managers and team members who were methodologically not heard.

A comprehensive programme evaluation can provide rational, credible data to support the decision to implement a new programme, to improve an existing one or to discontinue an ineffective one. The main aim of a formative evaluation is to offer suggestions for programme improvement. A qualitative study was conducted to explore how the introduction of a team effectiveness programme provided a process that individuals in the organisation were exposed to that linked the constructs of self-awareness and interpersonal sensitivity as a way to empower individuals with tools for effective team communication and collaboration. The main findings indicate that individuals who are more self-aware make an effort to understand and adapt their behaviour to accommodate others. By contrast, there are individuals who use this as a defence mechanism or as an excuse for not adapting their behaviour. The polar opposite results in a breakdown of trust, team cohesion and communication that counteracts the effectiveness of the programme. In the absence of effective leadership to drive and continually reinforce desired behaviour, the individual tends to revert back to old behavioural practices. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Business need required a holistic and focussed framework for best practices in the functioning of effective virtual teams, despite the fragmented nature of empirical studies in this field. This study endeavoured to explore the best practices in the functioning of effective virtual teams against four prominent and unique themes linked to purpose, processes, people and technology. The value of this study does not vest in the existence of virtual teams, but in their orderly operation, in terms of best practice and the value proposition of effectiveness. Following an exploratory qualitative strategy, the research was conducted according to the interpretivist branch of the phenomenological tradition, with a transcendental orientation in the social research field. A qualitative multi-case research design for the empirical study was selected, resulting in a non-probability sample within the software sector of the technology industry in South Africa. An original and pre-tested Lime Survey 2.0+ electronic questionnaire instrument was utilised as the instrument to collect information within a cross-sectional time horizon, to work in synchronisation with the collaborative asynchronous electronic architecture of virtual teams. Content analysis was applied to analyse data. The main findings indicated that effective virtual teams purposefully orientate themselves toward excellence through electronic management systems, a specific value system, with a knowledge seeking focus, and a seamless linkage in electronic infrastructure, applications, and platforms which contribute to the functionality of the effective virtual team. The main recommendations were that a pre-existing, functional, collaborative, integrated, electronic management system is regarded as the primary step in founding an effective virtual team. The focus of organisational leadership should be to embrace a holistic value system approach encapsulating specific elements of excellence, such as trust and independence. Human networking practices pursuing and sustaining knowledge are regarded as the key enabler for functioning of effective virtual teams. Lastly, a focussed seamless interface between the various electronic applications, platforms and infrastructures is recommended. / Human Resource Management / D. Com. (Human Resource Management)