Yes / A new programme incorporating online study days delivered using team-based learning (TBL) for hospital-based trainee pharmacists (TPs) in the North of England was created. To our knowledge, TBL has not previously been used in educational programmes for TPs designed to supplement their workplace learning. The project aimed to investigate the experiences of TPs learning using online TBL by exploring their perceptions on their engagement, learning, and satisfaction with TBL. Data were collected using online anonymous surveys at the end of four online TBL study days. A bespoke survey consisted of 5-point or 4-point Likert scale and two free text questions. TBL Student Assessment Instrument (SAI), a validated survey, was used to assess TPs' acceptance of TBL. Survey data was summarized descriptively, and free text comments analysed using thematic analysis. TPs developed accountability to their team, remained engaged with TBL delivery online and stated a preference for and satisfaction with this method. TPs valued opportunities to apply their knowledge in challenging scenarios and learn from discussions with their peers, the larger group, and facilitators. TBL was also perceived to be an engaging approach to learning and helped to maintain their interest with the teaching material. However, TPs struggled to engage with pre-work outside of the class due to competing work priorities. This study shows that online TBL was well accepted by TPs and can be successfully used to deliver education to large cohorts of learners. The model developed shows potential for scalability to larger numbers of learners. / The teaching programme was funded by National Health Service England Workforce, Training, Education (NHSE WTE) (previously known as Health Education England).

Yes / Team-based learning is an active learning strategy that focuses on student’s engagement, development of critical thinking, and transferable skills needed in the workplace. While many pharmacy faculties around the world have applied team-based learning into their curriculums, the implementation of team-based learning into the Middle East is still in the experimental phase and poses its own challenges. This reflective statement elaborates on our experience and feedback of implementing team-based learning for the first time at the pharmacy faculty of Zarqa University in Jordan through the delivery of over-the-counter module.

Team-based learning (TBL) is one strategy for improving team-work and critical thinking skills. It has proven to be an engaging teaching pedagogy in face-to-face classes, however, to our knowledge, has never been implemented online in a 3-D virtual world. We implemented virtual TBLs in an online undergraduate anatomy course using Second LifeTM, and evaluated whether it engaged students. This study was conducted over 2 semesters with 39 total students. Surveys and content analysis of transcripts were used to evaluate student engagement. Our results indicate virtual TBLs were engaging for most students. The average engagement score was 7.8 out of 10 with 89.2% of students reporting a score of 6 or above. Students exhibited high levels of cognitive engagement during the clinical application portion of the TBL process. Males felt more emotionally engaged than females, however, most measures of engagement indicated no differences between groups of students (mode of communication, previous technology experience, gender, and performance); therefore, virtual TBLs may be engaging for a broad range of students. 95% of students agreed that this was a worthwhile experience. In light of this evidence, we feel that virtual TBL sessions are valuable, and could be implemented in other online courses.

In order to remain competitive, many American businesses implement team-based work strategies. In many cases, however, teams fail in American organizations, which may be in part due to a conflict between American culture and the cooperative environment necessary for teams to function effectively. By comparing the literature regarding American culture, challenges faced by teams, and then corporate culture, it becomes evident that there are aspects of American culture that pose challenges but also that an appropriate corporate culture can mediate some areas of incompatibility. A collaborative corporate culture can induce cooperation among employees without asking employees to work in a manner that is counterintuitive, thus gaining the benefits of teams.

Team-based management is a popular contemporary method of redesigning jobs in order to more effectively utilize the human potential of employees. The use of such management techniques should result in increased satisfaction and team commitment; however, many research studies have failed to demonstrate increases in affective outcomes on the part of the employee. The research question examined in this study is, "What specific job dimensions and situational factors result in higher levels of satisfaction and team commitment?" The Job Characteristics Model (Hackman & Oldham, 1975) provided a basis for this study. The model was designed for individual contributors and has not been extensively used in team research. As expected it was found that within a team-based environment higher levels of the five core job dimensions of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and job feedback were associated with increased satisfaction and team commitment. Organization-based self-esteem was found to mediate the relationship between the five core job dimensions and the affective outcome variables. Contrary to expectations, however, it was found that consultative team members experienced higher levels of satisfaction and commitment than substantive team members. In addition, consultative team members reported higher levels of two core job dimensions, skill variety and task significance, and on the overall Job Diagnostic Survey than did substantive team members. These findings have significant implications for companies undergoing organizational redesign and questions whether those companies should implement advanced levels of employee involvement activities if the organizational goal is to increase satisfaction and commitment. The study employed a survey research design in which data was collected using a self-report questionnaire. A heterogeneous sample of 183 team members participating in either a consultative and substantive team from four different companies in nine locations provided the data for this field survey. Multivariate analyses, including hierarchial set regression, were used to test the hypotheses.

There is a lack of academic research on sales teams, despite team selling becoming more prominent in recent years. Particularly in Inside Sales, there is a lack of clarity as to what are the drivers of optimum team-based selling and their degree of effect on sales performance. We utilize a team-based approach that aims to study the characteristics of Inside Sales teams and their interactions with business leads, using data from a well-reputed leads management software vendor. Based on prior team-based constructs in the literature, we built a framework that posits Quality of Team Composition, Task Utility and Intra-team Coordination leading to different categories of sales performance at various stages of the sales pipeline via their reflective variables. We tested our conceptual model in the following fashion: first, we used text mining on sales results to classify the different stages of the sales pipeline. Following that, we measured the conversion ratio at each stage as appropriate. Next, we discretized each conversion ratio into three levels of performance groups. The outcome variables in the model are different categories of team performance at each stage of the sales pipeline. Subsequently, we used multinomial logistic regression to regress our outcome variables on our team-based predictor variables in the hopes of establishing and validating important drivers for nuanced Inside Sales success. We uncovered new insight regarding team-selling best practices, using pre-identified constructs from the literature which are uniquely suited to teams and also constructs which are aggregated at a team level from an individual level. Our study is especially relevant to the Inside Sales process, as the outcome measures relate to the sales pipeline. Our main finding was that in there is a difference in skills required at different stages of the sales pipeline, in that more customization and experience is needed at the more advanced stages, whereas more repetition of activity is needed at the beginner stages. We also found that smaller team sizes tend to do better in Inside Sales, which was an unsettled research question in team research with plenty of evidence in favor of both smaller and bigger teams. Additionally, even if it was not a primary goal of our study, by virtue of classifying the leads by their final outcomes, we stumbled across an interesting finding, which is that an overwhelming majority of the sales leads tend to stay at one stage in their entire lifecycle. The implications of all our findings are very relevant to both practitioners and researchers of Inside Sales who are interested in team-based sales optimization. More research should be done in the field of Industrial Marketing, building upon what we found to be true for the B2B sector.

Improving patient outcomes has long been the rationale supporting calls to reform health care delivery systems and health profession education programs (Greiner, 2002; Institutes of Medicine, 2001, 2004; O’Neil & Pew Health Professions Commission, 1998). In 2003, the Institute of Medicine shared its vision statement for health professions education, asserting that “[a]ll health professionals should be educated to deliver patient-centered care as members of an interdisciplinary team, emphasizing evidence-based practice, quality improvement approaches and informatics” (Knebel & Greiner, 2003, p. 3). Despite the importance placed on teamwork in health sciences education, little attention has been devoted to understanding underlying factors influencing student attitudes towards team learning (Curran, Sharpe, Forristall, & Flynn, 2008). The purpose of this study is to explore the importance of emotional and cultural intelligence in shaping pre-health students’ attitudes towards team-based learning. A non-experimental, cross-sectional study design was used employing correlational and multivariate regression analysis. Findings indicate: a) significant relationships between emotional and cultural intelligence to the value students place on group work; and, b) emotional intelligence accounts for approximately 3% of variance above and beyond the Big Five personality factors in predicting student attitudes towards group work. This study will inform interprofessional education policy and practice in two fundamental ways. First, the study provides insight on the importance of non-academic factors in shaping students’ attitudes towards team-based learning. Secondly, increasing understanding of emotional and cultural intelligence in early stagse of a student’s development influences their preparation for health professions careers.

Despite indications that colorectal cancer (CRC) screening strategies can decrease mortality and morbidity, screening rates among veterans remains to be low. In the Veterans Affairs (VA), the performance measure for CRC screening is lower than the national standard. This quality improvement (QI) project evaluated the effect of a team-based approach, effective electronic information structures, and the provision of education to nurses and patients in increasing CRC screening rate in primary care from 77% to 85%. CRC screening data were retrospectively collected prior to the start of the project and then compared to screening data 3 months after project implementation. The t test showed a statistically significant increase (p = .009) in CRC screening post intervention. Descriptive analysis was performed to evaluate the knowledge and proficiency of nurses with regard to CRC screening by using pre- and posttest questionnaires. The findings showed that emphasizing the importance of CRC screening among team members as well as appropriately dividing the work was effective in contributing to an increase in CRC screening in primary care. This project contributes to positive social change by increasing the nurses' confidence and proficiency in promoting health and disease prevention among the veterans; decreasing patient suffering; and improving collaboration between providers, nurses, and other departments in the VA primary care.

The objective of this thesis is to develop a theoretical understanding of team-based knowledge sharing and creation in professional cyber-communities. In order to provide contextual richness in environmental, information technology, project, organizational, group, and individual contexts, we apply the grounded theory approach to discover essential factors affecting team-based knowledge sharing and creation across organizational boundaries. Moreover, the thesis summarizes five types of processes of team-based knowledge sharing and creation in professional cyber-communities, defined by the sequence of causal conditions, action/interactional strategies, and consequences, and concludes nine main propositions that can be tested empirically in the future research. The research results will support sustained development of professional cyber-communities and be a basis for further studies of team-based knowledge sharing and creation across organizational boundaries.

Conference proceeding from the Living the Future 6 Conference, April 5-8, 2006, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / From the mid-1990s through 2004, the University of Kentucky Libraries were organized in a team-based organizational structure. The team structure was implemented in concert with the opening of the new main library, and its focus was on service centers that featured rotating leadership and management by consensus. Over the course of six or seven years, the model thrived in some units and created difficulty in others. Find out about the process of reorganizing a library from a team-based structure, and discover how a small working group developed a new organization focusing on users, work redesign, and accountability. Learn the basic steps in a system-wide work redesign process and complete a brief assessment of your library's readiness for work redesign.