Team leadership research has largely relied on traditional dyadic models (i.e., those capturing one-on-one relationships between a leader and follower) to explain team-level phenomena. Despite recent advancements, much of this research falls short of addressing the complexity inherent to teams. One promising alternative to the traditional perspectives, functional leadership theory, moves beyond the constraints of dyadic models and instead advances a needs-based approach for understanding team leadership (i.e., effective leaders are those that meet any and all team needs). Although intuitive, the ambiguous nature of simply meeting team needs does not provide sufficient specificity as to how exactly leaders meet team needs. In an effort to address this issue, I introduce a multi-dimensional construct, called leader focus, to explain how leaders meet team needs by focusing their efforts on teamwork or taskwork (i.e., person-task focus) as well as different relational entities in the team (i.e., entity focus). In total, I propose six unique foci of team leadership: individual task-focus, team task-focus, subgroup task-focus, individual person-focus, team person-focus, and subgroup person-focus. Next, using social interdependence theory, I hypothesize that individual-focused leadership is most effective when task interdependence is low, whereas team- and subgroup-focused leadership are most effective when task interdependence is high. Further, person-focused leadership is hypothesized to influence team effectiveness by way of interpersonal processes; task-focused leadership is argued to influence team effectiveness via task-related processes. In a sample of 89 firefighting crews, partial support is found for the multi-foci model of team leadership. Team task-focused leadership influences team task performance indirectly through task processes; team person-focused and subgroup person-focused leadership influence team helping behaviors through interpersonal processes. Moreover, the relationship between individual task-focused and subgroup task-focused leadership on team processes is contingent on task interdependence. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Teams are pervasive in organizations and provide an important contribution to organizational productivity. Since Hackman's (1987) seminal work, the team research focus has shifted from describing teams to outlining how researchers might use points of leverage, such as team design, to increase team effectiveness. There has been a wealth of research on team design variables that relate to team effectiveness. However, more than 15 years later, the team design literature remains fragmented and is inconsistent, and conclusions regarding optimal team design are difficult to make. The present study sought to unify the team design research by proposing a conceptual model and testing hypothesized relationships between specified design variables and team effectiveness using meta-analytic techniques. Specifically, the objectives of this study were to: (a) identify team design variables over which researchers and practitioners have some degree of control, (b) summarize the literature related to each of these variables, (c) hypothesize how each of the design variables are related to team effectiveness, (d) assess the relationship between these variables and team effectiveness using meta-analysis, (e) assess the influence of specified moderator variables (e.g., study setting, team tenure) on the team design variable/team effectiveness relationships, (f) make theoretically- and empirically-based recommendations for the design of effective teams, and (g) highlight areas in need of additional research. Results indicated that several team design variables show promise as a means of increasing team effectiveness. The strength of the team composition variable/team performance relationships was dependent on the study setting (lab or field); however, the study setting had considerable overlap with the type of team assessed (intellectual or physical). For lab studies (intellectual teams), team general mental ability (GMA) and task-relevant expertise were strong predictors of team performance, while team personality variables were unrelated to team performance. In field studies (physical teams), team agreeableness and conscientiousness had stronger relationships with team performance than team GMA and team task-relevant expertise. Team task design variables (e.g., task significance) had consistent, positive relationships with team performance, and several team structure variables (e.g., degree of self- management) were also related to team performance.

This study emphasizes on the Scandinavian soccer leagues team performance and what shapes it. This has been a widely discussed area where previous researchers have focused on factors such as organizational structure, organizational strategy, team level and individual level. The study takes this field to a new level with a combination of these factors in order to conceptualize team performance on a new level. The purpose with this study is to explain how organizational strategy, structure, team level and individual level factors affect team performance, in the Scandinavian elite soccer leagues. In order to investigate this phenomenon we have used a deductive approach. Further, this study emphasizes a quantitative approach where the data has been collected through a document analysis. In this study the findings indicates that the variables that has been chosen are highly correlated to team performance. However, due to the short time frame this study has fostered, it has been hard to generalize how the variables affect team performance. The limitations are that the study´s findings are only based on a two year span, which makes it hard to generalize the results. However, it is clear that the chosen variables have a significant impact on team performance in Scandinavian soccer leagues. The original value of this thesis is a new conceptualization on team performance within the soccer industry.

Strategic consensus in work teams is a group process related to the shared comprehension among team members of the strategies defined to attain work goals. This study aimedto verify the predictive power of strategic consensus in relation to team performance. The prediction model was constructed based on data collected from teachers and coordi-nators of 70 educational institutions in Ecuador. The individual data were aggregated per institution to obtain group level scores. The results indicate that strategic consensus predicts about 6% of the team performance as rated by the coordinator. We concluded that more studies are required to gain a better understanding of the role of strategic consensus in workteams. / El consenso estratégico en equipos de trabajo es un proceso grupal relativo a la comprensióncompartida entre los integrantes, sobre las estrategias definidas para alcanzar las metas de trabajo. El estudio realizado buscó verificar la capacidad de predicción del consenso estratégico en relación al desempeño. Los datos fueron recogidos de docentes y coordinadores de 70 planteles educativos ecuatorianos, a partir de los que se construyó el modelo de predicción. Las respuestas individuales fueron agregadas por plantel para obtener puntajes grupales. Los resultados mostraron que el consenso estratégico predice aproximadamente 6% de los resultados del desempeño del equipo evaluado por el coordinador. Concluimos que son necesarios más estudios para entender mejor el papel del consenso en equipos de trabajo.

Aim: The overall aim of the thesis was to investigate patient safety culture, team performance and the use of simulation-based team training for building patient safety in intensive care nursing. Methods: Quantitative and qualitative methods were used. In Study I, 220 RNs from ten ICUs responded to a patient safety culture questionnaire analysed with statistics. Studies II-IV were based on an evaluation of a simulation-based team training programme. Studies II-III included 53 RNs from seven ICUs and ten RNs from a post-graduate programme (II). The data were collected with questionnaires (II) and measurement scales (III), and analysed with statistics. In Study IV, 18 RNs were interviewed and the data were analysed with a qualitative content analysis. Main findings: The RNs had positive perceptions of the overall patient safety culture in the ICUs. Hence, a potential for improvements was identified at both the unit and hospital level. Differences between types of ICUs and between hospitals were found. The dimensions at the unit level were predictors for the outcome dimensions (I). The RNs evaluated the simulation-based team training programme in a positive way. Differences with regard to scenario roles, prior simulation experience and area of intensive care practice were found (II). The expert raters assessed the teams’ performance as advanced novice or competent. There were differences between the expert raters’ assessments and the RNs’ self-assessments (III). One main category emerged to illuminate the RNs’ perceptions of simulation-based team training for building patient safety: Regular training increases the awareness of clinical practice and acknowledges the importance of structured work in teams (IV). Conclusions: Patient safety culture measurements have the potential to identify areas in need of improvement, and simulation-based team training is appropriate to create a common understanding of structured work in teams with regard to patient safety. / Baksidestext Intensive care represents potential patient safety challenges for critically ill patients. Human errors are the most common cause of incidents, and failures in team performance are identified as contributory factors. The measurements of patient safety culture and simulation-based team training are recommended initiatives to improve patient safety. The aim of the thesis was to investigate patient safety culture, team performance and the use of simulation-based team training for building patient safety in intensive care nursing. The nurses had a positive perception of the overall patient safety culture. A potential for improvements were found in incident reporting, feedback and communication about errors and organizational learning. The RNs evaluated the simulation-based team training programme in a positive way. The assessments of nurses’ team performance with respect to communication, leadership and decision-making in a simulation-based emergency situation showed a variation in competencies from advanced novice to competent. There were differences between expert raters’ assessments and nurses’ self-assessments. The nurses perceived that simulation-based team training on a regular basis increases the awareness of clinical practice and acknowledges the importance of structured teamwork.

The recent wave of globalization triggered by the end of the Cold War and stimulated by progressing liberalization of trade and international migration policies has led to a significant surge in numbers of bicultural individuals, i.e. people with more than one ethnic identity (Nguyen & Benet-Martinez, 2007), and thus, a surge in bicultural employees. An emerging stream of research from psychology and organizational studies indicates that bicultural individuals have a particular set of skills and competencies that can contribute to the performance of international teams and, in turn, organizations. However, to date there has not been a large sample empirical study investigating the oft-stated relationship between biculturals and performance. This dissertation seeks to fill this gap in the literature by examining said relationship by relating the composition of national association football teams to results in six consecutive FIFA World Cup and six UEFA European Championship tournaments (i.e. the results of 272 teams in 12 competitions). The results indicate that biculturalism improves team performance when moderated by the cultural diversity of the competitive environment of the team. / Graduate

The research aimed to investigate the influence of diversification on inter-personal trust, and how the perceptions of inter-personal trust affects work group performance in South African organisations. Experiments were used to determine the effects of demographic differences on inter-personal trust and to stimulate the perceptions certain demographic groups have regarding inter-personal trust. Data was collected from a representative sample using both in-depth interviews in conjunction with a standardised questionnaire. Research findings indicated that demographics still influence inter-personal trust in South African organisations, even 17 years after the demise of apartheid. It was evident that especially for white individual‟s race and culture differences influenced their perception of inter-personal trust. The study also determine that inter-personal trust has a significant role to play on the performance of work groups in South African organisations, and that the level of diversity correlates with the level of inter-personal trust. An unexpected result from the study was the influence that age-diversification had on inter-personal trust perceptions. It is evident that there are still lots of work to be done in South Africa, and that race continues to play a role in the country. A lot of responsibility lies with the organisations themselves and there are a number of solutions that they have at their disposal. The result of these solutions could be beneficial for these organisations and the country as a whole.Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

In recent years, a surprising new phenomenon has emerged in which globally-distributed online communities collaborate to create useful and sophisticated computer software. These open source software groups are comprised of generally unaffiliated individuals and organizations who work in a seemingly chaotic fashion and who participate on a voluntary basis without direct financial incentive. The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between the social network structure of these intriguing groups and their level of output and activity, where social network structure is defined as 1) closure or connectedness within the group, 2) bridging ties which extend outside of the group, and 3) leader centrality within the group. Based on well-tested theories of social capital and centrality in teams, propositions were formulated which suggest that social network structures associated with successful open source software project communities will exhibit high levels of bridging and moderate levels of closure and leader centrality. The research setting was the SourceForge hosting organization and a study population of 143 project communities was identified. Independent variables included measures of closure and leader centrality defined over conversational ties, along with measures of bridging defined over membership ties. Dependent variables included source code commits and software releases for community output, and software downloads and project site page views for community activity. A cross-sectional study design was used and archival data were extracted and aggregated for the two-year period following the first release of project software. The resulting compiled variables were analyzed using multiple linear and quadratic regressions, controlling for group size and conversational volume. Contrary to theory-based expectations, the surprising results showed that successful project groups exhibited low levels of closure and that the levels of bridging and leader centrality were not important factors of success. These findings suggest that the creation and use of open source software may represent a fundamentally new socio-technical development process which disrupts the team paradigm and which triggers the need for building new theories of collaborative development. These new theories could point towards the broader application of open source methods for the creation of knowledge-based products other than software.

Teams are being used more in organizations to do important work. However, both positive and negative effects come with the increased use of teams. One problem is the "bad apple" effect where a highly disagreeable team mate, for example, damages team performance. This research aims to study how this person damages team performance and what can be done to minimize the negative impact. I propose that a disagreeable teammate negatively impacts team affective states which in turn give rise to defensive behaviors among teammates. These defensive behaviors impact team processes which in turn impact the team's performance. In addition, I propose that team interdependence moderates the impact of disagreeableness on teammate affective reactions such that teammates in less interdependent contexts will react less negatively to the "bad apple." I designed a 2x2 lab experiment with a confederate, or trained research participant, to test these hypotheses. I manipulated disagreeableness through the behaviors of the confederate and I manipulated interdependence through the information, goals, and rewards of the teams. Results support all the hypothesized relationships. Of note, I found that interdependence interacted with disagreeableness to predict team affective reactions as measured by salivary cortisol - a well established biomarker for affective reactions. I also found support for a mediating model using team core affect or affective culture mediating the impact of disagreeableness on team process. Finally, I found support for a mediated moderation model demonstrating that the moderation of interdependence and disagreeableness on team process was mediated by team cortisol. However, the impact on process was in the opposite direction than expected. Namely, that more interdependent teams had higher processes despite elevated cortisol levels indicating a negative affective, or stress reaction. This counterintuitive finding has implications for future research attempting to discover useful methods of minimizing the impact of a disagreeable teammate on the team.

Global teams have become commonplace. As teams have become more dispersed, leveraging outsourced resources has gained popularity. Outsourcing can be a prudent move financially; however, when it is inappropriately applied, the damage it produces can easily overshadow any financial gains. Such ill effects can include impaired employee performance and morale caused by decreased job security. Moreover, it can lead to a less favorable team atmosphere and increased task conflict. This study examined the effects of team virtuality along with the strategic alignment of outsourcing on team performance. The research utilized the intervening processes theory (IPT). The IPT posits that the relationship between certain constructs cannot be measured directly; however, the impact can be measured through other constructs. In the case of this study, it was the impacts of the constructs of virtuality, job security, outsourcing, and team temporariness on team performance. The intervening constructs were team atmosphere and task conflict. The research instrument was an online survey. The results of this survey supported the hypotheses that task conflict was impacted by team virtualization, job security, and team atmosphere. Weak support was provided for the influence of team temporariness on task conflict. The impacts of team virtualization and job security on team atmosphere were not supported. Finally, team performance was influenced by team atmosphere but not task conflict.