Due to the progress in information and communication technologies, virtual teams have been widespread developed and adopted. People in different time zones and long-distance places can accomplish the same mission together with the help of virtual tools. It thus forces enterprises to review their structures and systems in their organization for accommodating to globalization economic. The concepts of accomplishing task via virtual team are spreads widely and rapidly in the business circle. It evoked many researches but most of these focused on the issues of communication among virtual team members or the computer-aided of forming groups, etc. There are few researches relative to virtual teams structure and their performances. In this study, we try to explore how the structure of virtual team influences their performances and discover whether the operational process affects the performances. The operational process in a virtual team will also be involved with knowledge management activities such as information gathering & dissemination and knowledge sharing. In this thesis, we explore the relationship among the virtual teams¡¦ structure, operational process, performances and knowledge sharing. The observation groups are 10 virtual teams from a class of Cyber University of NSYSU (http://cu.nsysu.edu.tw). Survey and content analysis research method were adopted to develop and analysis the datum collection and analysis. The finding of this study has proposed an integrated model, which was constructed by the concepts of virtual team¡¦s structure, team process, performances and knowledge sharing. This model may offer a concept as a reference for further research of virtual teams.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of team leadership on team value and how team leadership passes through team value to affect team effectiveness. Finally,we want to understand the relative influence of transactional leadership and transformational leadership on team effectiveness and team value. This study has adopted SPSS FOR WINDOWS as the tool for ststistical analysis.For sampling data in descriptive statistics and examine the correlated coefficient Cronbach¡¦s £\ of all variables.Relativity analysis is used to examine the relationship of all variables.Block regression analysis is used to examine the predictability of team effectiveness in relation to team leadership and teem value,and the predictability of team value in relation to team leadership. Major findings include the following¡G 1. Transactional leadership and transformational leadership have significant influence on team value. 2. The intermediate effect of team value between team leadership and team effectiveness is not very strong. 3. The predictability of team effectiveness in relation to transformational leadership is better than the predictability of team effectiveness in relation to transactional leadership. 4. The predictability of team value in relation to transformational leadership is better than the predictability of team value in relation to transactional leadership.

Abstract Thesis of the first semester 2008 academic year: Study on the Influence of Team Conflict of an Organization on Team Performance Total pages: 88 University: Institute of Human Resource Management, NSYSU Graduate student: Jen-Tsuo Yuan Advisor: Professor Bih-Shiaw Jaw Under the progressive development of technology and the main trend of globalization in the 21st century, teamwork cooperation has been the key for achieving successful enterprise organization. How a team can be flexible and efficient at low cost, is the critical focus of its existence. Therefore, it would be a significant issue for enterprise to use and manage the teamwork process. Empiricism is employed to analyze the correlation between team performance and the team¡¦s conflict, EI, as well as social capital expenditure on the part of the organization. The results of questionnaires revealed the following: I. The influence of team conflict on team performance when the social capital of an organization is involved. (a) When the social capital of an organization is involved, the team conflict has negative influence on its team performance. The higher the team conflict is, the social capital of an organization involved, the lower the team performance is. (b)When the social capital of an organization is involved, the task conflict has no related influence on its team performance. The higher the task conflict is, the social capital of an organization involved, the influence of task conflict on team performance will vanish. When the social capital of an organization is involved, task conflict has influence on team performance, but team conflict does not. II. The influence of team conflict on team performance when the team¡¦s EQ is involved. When the team¡¦s EQ is involved, the team conflict has no related influence on its team performance. The higher the team conflict or the task conflict, establishing a positive environment and team evaluation system will make the team conflict on team performance vanish. When the team¡¦s EQ is involved, especially under the positive environment and team evaluation, the team conflict on team performance will be influenced. Key words: team conflict, social capital, team¡¦s emotional intelligence and team performance

In this study, we explore what can affect the development of team cohesion in the entrepreneurial team. We show the relationship between team members' cohesion and team performance over five main categories: (Ⅰ) Prior Condition, (Ⅱ) Conflict, (Ⅲ) Strategy, (Ⅳ) Task Interaction in the team, (Ⅴ) Social interaction in the team. Based on the research method of comparative cases, we selected six Chinese entrepreneurial teams as research objects. We show how individual behaviour affects the development of team cohesion in the entrepreneurial team at the individual level and team level. More specifically, we consider that entrepreneurial team cohesion changes are more complicated than traditional teams. The team cohesion of the entrepreneurial team has certain randomness because there is no guidance from the leader. The influence of personal factors on team cohesion will be more intense. When the entrepreneurial team improves team cohesion, team members need to participate more.

The referral of a student for a psycho-educational evaluation is one of the most important responsibilities of school-based personnel, in particular for the general education classroom teacher (Abidin & Robinson, 2002; Artiles & Trent, 1994; Hosp & Reschly, 2003). A referral for evaluation or intervention is also one of the most important predictors of future special education eligibility. The Commonwealth of Virginia has traditionally used Child-Study Committees (CSC) to address the provision of supportive interventions within regular classroom settings to students prior to referral for special education eligibility. The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of the support given by CSCs to those students who were referred for academic and/or behavioral concerns. Effectiveness was measured by the alignment of the referral concern(s) with the assigned intervention to address this concern(s) as well as the notion that a referral was not delayed which would have delayed needed services for students. This inquiry addressed the intervention assistance given to elementary grade students who were referred in order: (a) to determine the outcomes of the CSC process by grade level, and by race and gender of students; and (b) to determine if the CSC process facilitated or delayed appropriate referral for special education services prior to the implementation of Response to Intervention (RTI) approaches in the state. Methods of quantitative descriptive content analysis were utilized. The findings of this study indicated that of the students (n=136) referred to the CSC, 62.5% were recommended for a complete evaluation and determined eligible for special education services. In addition, 77.2% of referrals were related to academic concerns, and 17.6% were for behavioral concerns; only 5.1% of the referrals were made for both academic and behavioral concerns. The percentage of students who recycled through the process was insignificant and there was not a delay in the referral for special education services, suggesting that the initial interventions were appropriate for the given student. Results further indicated that the retention and promotion status of the referred students was not affected by the process. As it relates to implications for practice, the CSC provided a systematic approach that school divisions may be able to utilize to determine the efficacy of interventions that address the current academic and/or behavioral needs of students in the classroom. It is recommended that future research in this area be conducted with a larger sample of the country, thus allowing more generalizability to other populations. In addition, as the CSC process develops, it would be interesting to examine the evolution of the process and the modifications made. / Ph. D.

This thesis describes the development of an instrument for assessing shared understanding in teams. The purpose was to develop an instrument that would be usable, understandable, objective, flexible and self-explanatory. Teams working in naturalistic settings are expected to have a shared understanding concerning common goals and how to achieve these. The problem investigated in this thesis is that current techniques and instruments for assessing shared understanding in teams generally suffer from one or more of the following drawbacks, namely that they are expensive, difficult to use, time-consuming, requiring expertise, and are often based on subjective perceptions. Departing from existing theory in team cognition techniques and theories, the research questions posed in this thesis are: 1) How can shared understanding be measured without the disadvantages of existing methods? 2) How can shared understanding be assessed without the bias of self-ratings and/or assessments by experts/observers? 3) Can team performance be better understood by the outcomes of an instrument that measures shared understanding? These research questions are answered through six studies that are presented in this thesis. Over the six studies an instrument was iterated and subsequently developed, called the “shared priorities instrument”. When using this instrument, team members are instructed to generate items and rank these in order of importance. By comparing these rank orders from different participants, a team measure of shared understanding can be calculated. The advantages of this instrument compared to earlier measures are that it is less expensive, easier to use, less time-consuming, does not require subject matter expertise, and that the instrument is distanced from subjective perceptions. Furthermore, the final study provides results where outcomes from the shared priorities instrument correlate with performance, supporting earlier research connecting shared understanding in teams with team performance. A structural equation model, a result of the final study, shows that the instrument is both valid and reliable. / Denna avhandling beskriver utvecklingen av ett mätinstrument för att värdera delad förståelse hos team. Syftet har varit att utveckla ett mätinstrument som är användbart, förståeligt, objektivt, flexibelt och självförklarande. Team som arbetar i naturalistiska miljöer förväntas ha en delad förståelse för gemensamma mål och hur dessa ska uppnås. Befintliga tekniker och mätinstrument för värdering av delad förståelse hos team är att de ofta lider av ett eller flera av följande problem: de är dyra, svåra att använda, tidskrävande, kräver expertis, och bygger många gånger på subjektiva bedömningar. Genom att utgå från teoribildningen inom teamkognition ställs följande forskningsfrågor: 1) Hur kan delad förståelse i team mätas utan nackdelarna hos befintliga metoder? 2) Hur kan delad förståelse i team mätas utan att riskera att färgas av partiskheten hos egenbedömningar och/eller experters värderingar? 3) Kan teamprestation förstås bättre med hjälp av ett instrument som mäter delad förståelse? Dessa frågeställningar besvaras i de sex delstudier som presenteras i denna avhandling där ett instrument (som kallas shared priorities) utvecklats för att mäta delad förståelse. Tillämpningen innebär att medlemmarna i ett team individuellt får generera och rangordna faktorer som de anser vara viktiga för att teamet ska nå sitt/sina gemensamma mål och därefter rangordna varandras faktorer. Genom att beräkna överensstämmelsen i dessa rangordningar erhålls ett mått på teamets delade förståelse. Fördelen med detta instrument, i jämförelse med tidigare mått, är att det kostar mindre, är lättare att använda, tar mindre tid, inte kräver någon domänexpertis, och att mätmetoden inte bygger på rent subjektiva bedömningar. I den sista delstudien erhålls resultat där instrumentet shared priorities korrelerar med prestation, vilket stöder tidigare forskning om delad förståelse. En statistisk modell (SEM) visar på instrumentets validitet och reliabilitet.

This thesis has been conducted inassociation with ÅF Infrastructure AB in Borlänge, Sweden. Within ÅF Infrastructure and other ÅF divisions it is common to make use of the geographically dispersed employees in virtual project teams. Some of the advantages from working in virtual teams are financial, due to the fact that a company can save money in recruiting costs, office rents and travel costs.Thanks to the technological progress since the start of the 1990’s the use of virtual teams is being considered a common way to cooperate nowadays. With the advantages though comes disadvantages, pitfalls and challenges to face for the virtual team toovercome.The purpose of this thesis was to conducta case study to find out how ÅF make use of virtual teams. With this in regard, the statement of issues for this bachelor thesis were the following: is the casestudy for this project affected by being geographically dispersed and how can the eventually negative consequences be fixed and improved, and how are the common virtual team pit falls and challenges handled and how can this make use in future projects? To answer these questions the decision was made to conduct a literature study, observation study and an interview study with the project members in the casestudy. During the literature study facts concerning the area of virtual teams and project management were gathered and made use of during the interview and observation study. The conclusion of this thesis was that the case study project isaffected by being geographically dispersed, but handles pit falls and challenges well in most cases. Some of the areas they can improve is first and farmost the meeting arrangements, where they are recommended to focus on effectiveness, preparations and include more videoconferencing. One of the approaches they can make use of in future projects are thekick off meeting, where they should focus on really make sure that every team member is aware of the projects goals, their own involvement and the scope of their assignment.

<p>Abstract</p><p>This is the paper you should read if you want to know more about working in team. Teamwork is a way of working and it increases more and more among societies and companies today, but it is not quite clear what the diffrences is from working in groups. We have in this paper tried to clear out the differences between groups and team, and we have also tried to give an oversight of how to work in team in organizations. Cultures of organizations, leadership and power and also development of qualifications are big parts of an organization´s daily work, and we have explained these concepts from a teamperspective.</p><p>We have, in this paper, done interviews with people that have been in contact with the central consepts that we use. And then we have analyzed their answers with help from litterature, which we have closely studied, thereafter we have presented our results. We have critically looked into both litterature and the respondents answers to get a versatile picture of the concepts in this paper.</p><p>Our results are, that team is an exceptional way of working for companies and organizations.</p><p>Many companies do not realise though, that it takes a lot of hard work to assimilate the positive effects of working in team.</p>

Abstract This is the paper you should read if you want to know more about working in team. Teamwork is a way of working and it increases more and more among societies and companies today, but it is not quite clear what the diffrences is from working in groups. We have in this paper tried to clear out the differences between groups and team, and we have also tried to give an oversight of how to work in team in organizations. Cultures of organizations, leadership and power and also development of qualifications are big parts of an organization´s daily work, and we have explained these concepts from a teamperspective. We have, in this paper, done interviews with people that have been in contact with the central consepts that we use. And then we have analyzed their answers with help from litterature, which we have closely studied, thereafter we have presented our results. We have critically looked into both litterature and the respondents answers to get a versatile picture of the concepts in this paper. Our results are, that team is an exceptional way of working for companies and organizations. Many companies do not realise though, that it takes a lot of hard work to assimilate the positive effects of working in team.

Hjärtsvikt är en sjukdom som är vanlig idag i Sverige och prevalens siffrorna stider. Syftet med denna stuide var att studera om hjärtsviktspatienter önskar ett team runt sig med ansats på olika egenvårds och omvårdnadsåtgärder och på vilket sätt de önskar få hjälp av teamet för att förbättra sin livskvalitet. På vilket sätt uppfattar de att ett vårdteam kan öka deras livskvalitet efterdiagnos. Åtta patienter födda mellan 1922-1942 deltog, fyra kvinnor och fyra män. Resultatet visar att informanterna har symtom som de tror beror på hög ålder, de anpassar sina aktiviteter efter vad de orkar göra, att det upplevs svårt att komma in i värdsvängen men när man väl är inne, är upplevelsen att man får bra vård. För att behöva ett team i sin vård innebär att man snart ska dö vilket är inte överensstämmande med nationella riktlinjer som säger att uppföljning ska ske genom ett teambaserat arbetssätt