Thesis (MComm (Industrial Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Researchers have labelled call centres as the modern equivalent of the ‘factory sweatshops’ of the industrial era, and refer to them as the ‘satanic mills of the 21st century’. A review of the literature revealed the lack of employee engagement amongst call centre representatives (CCRs) to be a central concern in this fast-emerging global industry. Consequently, the current study was undertaken to identify and investigate various antecedents of employee engagement. The objective of the study was, firstly, to gauge the level of employee engagement amongst a sample of CCRs in South Africa and, secondly, to track the paths through which salient antecedents affect this engagement. More specifically, the relationships between sense of coherence (SOC), leadership effectiveness (LE), team effectiveness (TE) and employee engagement (E) were investigated. A quantitative research approach was followed whereby a positive psychology paradigm underpinned the examination of specific personal and job resources that could enhance engagement within the call centre environment. A cross-sectional survey design was used and a non-probability convenient sample of 215 CCRs was selected. The measuring instruments comprised the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale of Schaufeli and Bakker (2003) to measure engagement, the Team Diagnostic Survey of Wageman, Hackman and Lehman (2005) to measure team effectiveness, the Leadership Practices Inventory of Kouzes and Posner (2001) to gauge leadership effectiveness, and the Orientation to Life Questionnaire of Antonovsky (1987) to measure sense of coherence. A series of structural equation modelling analyses were performed. Contrary to the ‘electronic sweatshop’ image and its attendant symptoms of depression, emotional exhaustion, anxiety, demotivation and dissatisfaction attached to call centre jobs (depicted in the literature), the results show a high level of employee engagement for the CCRs in the sample. Also, personal resources, such as SOC, and job resources, such as TE, related significantly to E. A non-significant relationship was found to exist between LE and E. The implications of the results for the practice of human resource management in call centres are elaborated upon. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Oproepsentrums is al deur navorsers bestempel as die moderne ekwivalent van die ‘hongerfabrieke’ van die industriële tydvak, en as die ‘sataniese meule van die 21ste eeu’. ‘n Oorsig van die literatuur toon dat die gebrek aan werknemerverbintenis onder oproepsentrumverteenwoordigers (call centre representatives (CCRs)) ‘n sentrale kommer is in hierdie vinnig ontluikende globale bedryf. Gevolglik is hierdie studie onderneem om die verskillende antesedente van werknemerverbintenis te ondersoek. Die doelwit van hierdie studie was eerstens om die vlak van werknemerverbintenis in ‘n steekproef van oproepsentrumverteenwoordigers in Suid-Afrika te meet, en tweedens om die weë waardeur die pertinente antesedente hierdie verbintenis beïnvloed, op te spoor. Meer spesifiek is die verhoudings tussen samehangsin (sense of coherence (SOC)), leierskapdoeltreffendheid (leadership effectiveness (LE)), spandoeltreffendheid (team effectiveness (TE)) en die werknemer se verbintenis (engagement (E)) ondersoek. ‘n Kwantitatiewe navorsingsbenadering is gebruik in terme waarvan ‘n positiewe sielkundige paradigma die ondersoek van spesifieke persoonlike en werkhulpbronne onderstut het wat verbintenis in die oproepsentrum-omgewing kon verhoog. ‘n Deursnee- opname-ontwerp is gebruik en ‘n nie-waarskynlikheidsgerieflikheidsteekproef van 215 oproepsentrumverteenwoordigers is geselekteer. Die meetinstrumente het die volgende behels: die Utrecht Work Engagement Scale van Schaufeli en Bakker (2003) om verbintenis te meet; die Team Diagnostic Survey van Wageman, Hackman en Lehman (2005) om spandoeltreffendheid te meet; die Leadership Practices Inventory van Kouzes en Posner (2001) om leierskapdoeltreffendheid te meet; en die Orientation to Life Questionnaire van Antonovsky (1987) om samehangsin te meet. ‘n Reeks ontledings van struktuurvergelykingsmodellering is uitgevoer. In teenstelling met die beeld van ‘n ‘elektroniese hongerfabriek’ en die gepaardgaande simptome van neerslagtigheid, emosionele uitputting, angstigheid, demotivering en ontevredenheid wat met werk in oproepsentrums gepaard gaan (soos in die literatuur uitgebeeld), toon die resultate ‘n hoë vlak van werknemerverbintenis vir die oproepsentrumverteenwoordigers in hierdie steekproef. Persoonlike hulpbronne soos samehangsin, en werkhulpbronne soos spandoeltreffendheid, het ‘n noemenswaardige verband met verbintenis getoon. ‘n Nie-betekenisvolle verhouding is gevind tussen leierskapdoeltreffendheid en verbintenis. Die implikasies van die uitslae vir die menslike hulpbronnepraktyk in oproepsentrums word ook bespreek.

Informal leaders can have similar effects on firm performance as formal leaders. Although informal leadership can play a critical role in organizational functioning, empirical research concerning this issue is scarce. I conceptualized informal leadership as a continuous variable, and tested the relationship between informal leadership and the following variables. First, this study examined how informal leaders can influence over other members, even though they do not possess formal power. Five indicators, i.e., performance, turnover intention, career satisfaction, work engagement, and optimism were selected to assess the qualities of informal leaders as role models. Second, this study advanced our understanding of how demographic factors (i.e., age, educational background, and work experience) contribute to shaping informal leadership. In addition, T-test was chosen to test whether informal leadership is more noteworthy in women than men. Lastly, this study compared the effects of informal and formal leaders on team effectiveness.

Diploma thesis strives to identify the effectiveness of sociomapping in relation to selected charakteristics of work groups and teams. Literature review section defines the theoretical background of group and teamwork, which is being followed by the topics of team states and processes, team communication, mental models, team climate and teamwork effectivity. The final part focuses on team interventions, ways of evaluating their effectiveness and introduces specific aspects of sociomapping. The empirical part uses quantitative research approach, which analyzes the relationship between the method of sociomapping and its effect on the frequency of team communication, shared mental models in the form of the difference between the optimal and current frequency of communication and team climate. The sociomapping intervention is expected to have an effect on team performance in the form of higher hotel rating and team performance assessment. Both values were measured before and after the intervention. It is expected, that the frequency of team communication, the difference between optimal and current frequency of communication and team climate will behave as mediators. The results showed that sociomapping intervention is positively related to hotel rating (p = 0.014), but not to team performance...

Human capital assessment is an integral part of the in-depth evaluation conducted by Venture Capitalists (VCs) before an investment decision. Furthermore, an effective collaboration between external investors and the founding team can be vital for the success of a startup venture. This thesis aims to improve this assessment and collaboration by providing an empirical account of historically successful Swedish tech startups and their founding teams (FT). We employ semi-structured interviews with 13 entrepreneurs who in total have founded over 50 ventures in order to deduce patterns to the characteristics, compositions and views of successful founding management teams. We compile and discuss their views concerning aspects such as organizational culture, team performance and their relationships with external financiers. The focus of this thesis was in part guided by our commissioner, Almi Invest. Based on our interviews and literature review, we present several findings which may be of interest to both investors and entrepreneurs. Some of our key findings are that successful Swedish tech startups are generally composed of diverse teams where the founders share some previous association and complement each other with regards to both competencies and personalities. They view culture and vision as important aspects, with values acting as the uniting factor that drives cohesion and performance. We also find that their views are largely influenced by previous experiences. Finally, we highlight some perceived inefficiencies in the collaboration between investors and entrepreneurs, mainly with regards to post-investment activities and the process of raising capital. Our findings suggest a lack of transparency between entrepreneurs and financiers regarding the investor activity levels, where entrepreneurs generally feel that VCs fall short on their promises. We suggest some areas of improvement where VCs might tune their practices to better suit the needs of their portfolio companies and improve overall performance.

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The purpose of the current research was to determine whether goal-setting as motivational work theory influences productivity and the productivity measurement and enhancement system (ProMES) as a human resource intervention that provides feedback improves productivity in an Angolan female handball team after the implementation. Motivation and productivity are important to the success of a sports organisation. Goal-setting theory was formulated on the premise that conscious goals affect action. The ProMES approach offers a method for measuring action results, in other words team productivity, which takes this feature of typical team settings into account. Each participant completed a questionnaire toolkit and the results showed that when athletes are task oriented and collectivist they believe in goal-setting and productivity improves. The ProMES process itself, with its participative aspects and process of role clarifying and expectations can successfully be used within the sports industry. This research also reaffirms the relationship between motivation and productivity. / Business Management / M. Admin. (Business Management)

Human Systems Integration Capstone / Approved for public release;distribution is unlimited. / In the United States Air Force (USAF), a system is generally thought of in terms of technology; but there are other types of systems supporting our warfighters. A system is “a group of related parts that move or work together” (Merriam-Webster, 2014), suggesting that systems can also be a compilation of human activities and interactions. One such system is the Air Force Medical Service (AFMS). The AFMS has been charged with the delivery of healthcare for the USAF. It is an organization within which there are many workplaces, and these are prototypical of workplaces in the USAF. The USAF currently has no framework for developing organizations. This capstone project took an inside look into the organizational structure of the Keesler Air Force Base’s Base Operational Medicine Cell (BOMC). By conducting a macroergonomic analysis, I was able to make recommendations for an effective and fully harmonized organizational design. Human systems integration (HSI) played a pivotal role in the evaluation of the Keesler BOMC, as Manpower, Personnel, and Training (MPT) are key drivers in the development of organizations. The results of this analysis lead to the development of BOMC requirements and subsequently HSI requirements for organizations, or an HSI Framework for Organizations.

Teamarbete (eng. teamwork) är förenat med positiva organisatoriska och individuella effekter, vilket kan förklara varför organisationer i allt större utsträckning vill genomföra teambuildingsinsater för att förbättra teameffektivitet och teamprestation. Det övergripande syftet med examensarbetet var att undersöka vilka effekter en specifik teambuildingsinsats kunde medföra för team i termer av reflexivitet, reella teambeteenden, teammedlemsskattad teameffektivitet samt ledarskattad teamprestation. Författarna ämnade också undersöka vilken effekt insatsen kunde få för enskilda teammedlemmar i termer av förändrad arbetstillfredsställelse och intention att sluta sitt arbete. Den teambuildingsinsats som genomfördes i föreliggande examensarbete syftade till att kartlägga och förbättra beteendeprocesser. Nio team från olika verksamhetsområden med totalt 57 teammedlemmar fick ta del av teambuildingsinsatsen. Två enkäter delades ut innan insatsen, en teamledarenkät och en teammedlemsenkät, samt en enkät från ett digitalt verktyg för teambuildingsinsatsen, för att undersöka effekterna av intresse. En eftermätning gjordes fyra till sex veckor efter teambuildingsinsatsen. Pearsons korrelationskoefficient, t-test, Wilcoxons teckenrangstest samt hierarkiska multipla regressionsanalyser användes för bearbetning av data. Resultatet visade på en signifikant ökning av skattning av reella teambeteenden samt ökning av teameffektivitet. Dessutom visade resultatet att förekomsten av reella teambeteenden kan predicera teams effektivitet över tid. Detta resultat legitimerar att organisationer i allt större utsträckning vill genomföra teambuildingsinsater som bygger på samma grund som den aktuella teambuildingsinsatsen. / Teamwork is associated with positive organizational and individual effects, explaining the increase in organizations’ implementation of team building interventions, in order to improve team effectiveness and team performance. The overall aim of the study was to investigate the effects of a specific team building intervention on teams in terms of team reflexivity, real team behavior, team rated team effectiveness, and leader rated team performance. The authors also aimed to investigate the impact of the team building intervention on individual team members regarding job satisfaction and intention to leave. The purpose of the team building intervention utilized for data collection was to map and improve behavioral processes. Nine teams from different industries with a total of 57 team members participated in the team building intervention. Prior to the intervention two surveys were distributed, one for team leaders and one for team members, as well as a survey from a digital team building tool, for evaluation of potential effects of the intervention. An additional measurement was made four to six weeks after the team building intervention. Pearson correlation coefficient analysis, t-test, Wilcoxon signed ranks test, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to analyze data. The result showed a significant increase in estimation of real team behavior and increase in team effectiveness. In addition, the result demonstrated that presence of real team behaviors may predict team effectiveness over time. This result justifies organizations’ increase in implementation of team building interventions similar to the intervention investigated in the present study.

The complexity in the world is continuously increasing. Teams are faced with imperfect information in uncertain, dynamic, and time critical environments as they strive to make the right decisions, not just as individuals, but as a team. In this joint activity the members choreograph their actions and synchronize their behavior through the use of communication. Communication is the predominant form of interaction within teams – it is not only a window into team cognition – it is an externalized cognitive process at a team level (Letsky, Warner, Fiore & Smith, 2008). In an earlier study, non-professional participants were trained in teams of three to become high-performing within the C3Fire microworld (Baroutsi, Berggren, Nählinder and Johansson, 2013). In this microworld the team members are faced with the dynamic decision problem of fighting a forest fire. They have interdependent roles, requiring them to coordinate and strategize on a team level, making C3Fire a suitable platform for investigating dynamic decision making in teams. These six trained teams were compared to six untrained teams in a final experiment through a variety of measures, showing that the trained teams differed significantly in terms of both performance and in other important team aspects (Baroutsi, Berggren, Johansson, Nählinder, Granlund, Turcotte, & Tremblay, 2014; Berggren, Baroutsi, Johansson, Turcotte, & Tremblay, 2014; Berggren, Johansson, Baroutsi, & Dahlbäck, 2014; Berggren, Johansson, Svensson, Baroutsi, & Dahlbäck, 2014; Baroutsi, Berggren, Johansson, manuscript). These differences were thought to have an impact on the communication shared among the team members. Hence, the purpose of the present report was to investigate how the communication pattern was affected by these differences. The communication was analyzed using a coding scheme that categorized the content of the teams’ utterances. No difference was found in terms of communication frequency between the two types of teams. However, the trained and untrained teams did differ in communication content. The trained teams communicated more frequently about the context and the situation, while the untrained teams communicated more about the activities of the team. This can be interpreted as a deficiency in common ground, directability, and interpredictability (Klein, Feltovich & Bradshaw, 2005) among the untrained teams. Also, the communication content explained 88.3 % of the variance in performance. / I en värld av ständigt ökande komplexitet, som karaktäriseras av ofullständig information och dynamiska, tidskritiska miljöer, strävar människor efter att fatta rätt beslut – inte som individer – utan även som ett team. I denna gemensamma aktivitet behöver medlemmarna synkronisera sina handlingar, vilket utförs med hjälp av kommunikation. Kommunikationen är den dominerande formen av interaktion inom ett team, och är även en externalisering av teamets kognitiva processer (Letsky, Warner, Fiore & Smith, 2008). I en tidigare studie har oerfarna deltagare tränats i team om tre, för att bli högpresterande inom mikrovärlden C3Fire (Baroutsi, Berggren, Nählinder och Johansson, 2013). I denna mikrovärld står teammedlemmarna inför ett dynamiskt beslutsproblem - att bekämpa en skogsbrand. Rollerna i teamet är ömsesidigt beroende av varandra, vilket kräver att de samordnar och lägger upp strategier på en teamnivå för att på ett framgångsrikt sätt kunna lösa uppgiften. Dessa sex tränade team jämfördes sedan med sex otränade team i ett experiment. Flera mått användes för att bedöma teamen (CARS, DATMA, Shared Priorities, m.fl.), vilket visade att de tränade teamen skilde sig både avseende prestation, men även inom andra viktiga teamaspekter (Baroutsi, Berggren, Johansson, Nählinder, Granlund, Turcotte, & Tremblay, 2014; Berggren, Baroutsi, Johansson, Turcotte, & Tremblay, 2014; Berggren, Johansson, Baroutsi, & Dahlbäck, 2014; Berggren, Johansson, Svensson, Baroutsi, & Dahlbäck, 2014; Baroutsi, Berggren, Johansson, manuskript). Syftet med denna rapport är att undersöka hur kommunikationsmönstret påverkas av dessa skillnader. Kommunikationen analyserades med hjälp av ett kodningsschema där innehållet i teamens uttalanden kategoriseras. De två olika typerna av team uppvisade ingen skillnad i antalet uttalanden, men skillnader fanns för olika kommunikationskategorier. De tränade teamen kommunicerade oftare angående sammanhanget och situationen, medan de otränade teamen oftare kommunicerade om de aktiviteter som pågick. Detta kan tolkas som en brist i den gemensamma förståelsen, styrbarheten och förutsägbarheten mellan teamets medlemmar (Klein, Feltovich & Bradshaw, 2005) hos de otränade teamen. Kommunikationsinnehållet förklarade 88,3 % av variationen i prestationen. / The Swedish Armed Forces research and development (R&D) project AVALO