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Failure to recognize and respond to changes in a patient’s condition is a limitation in the effective utilization of Medical Emergency Teams (METs). A system that uses smartphone technology to facilitate vital signs collection at bedside has been developed. The alerts engine, based upon Mount Sinai Hospital’s (MSH) MET calling criteria, can automatically alert the MET of patients exhibiting abnormal vital signs. The system, without automated alerting, was piloted at MSH. Sensitivity and specificity calculations revealed that the MSH algorithm had a lower sensitivity and specificity than the Cuthbertson or the Modified Early Warning Score algorithms. This suggests that the MSH algorithm, compared to the others, was poor at identifying patients that did and did not require a MET consultation. Furthermore, the low positive predictive value suggests that the majority of alerts were not associated with a MET call. Therefore, the MSH algorithm is not recommended for the automated system.

Failure to recognize and respond to changes in a patient’s condition is a limitation in the effective utilization of Medical Emergency Teams (METs). A system that uses smartphone technology to facilitate vital signs collection at bedside has been developed. The alerts engine, based upon Mount Sinai Hospital’s (MSH) MET calling criteria, can automatically alert the MET of patients exhibiting abnormal vital signs. The system, without automated alerting, was piloted at MSH. Sensitivity and specificity calculations revealed that the MSH algorithm had a lower sensitivity and specificity than the Cuthbertson or the Modified Early Warning Score algorithms. This suggests that the MSH algorithm, compared to the others, was poor at identifying patients that did and did not require a MET consultation. Furthermore, the low positive predictive value suggests that the majority of alerts were not associated with a MET call. Therefore, the MSH algorithm is not recommended for the automated system.

Multicultural teams are capable of producing creative and high quality solutions, but are also prone to conflict (Stahl, Maznevski, Voigt, & Johnson, 2010). Thus, it is important to understand the conditions which encourage the development of strong identity in multicultural teams. Third culture, a team’s shared schema of task knowledge, team knowledge, and team motivational values (Adair, Tinsley, & Taylor, 2006), is a construct which may help fill this gap in knowledge. Two field studies were conducted (1) to examine whether participant expectations of productivity, satisfaction, and psychological safety differed among four types of third culture, and (2) to examine how individual differences in cognitive-motivation, ideology, national culture, and multicultural team experience are related to expectations of productivity, satisfaction, and psychological safety among four types of third culture. In general, results suggest that people expect more creativity and satisfaction in teams with Fusion and Mosaic third cultures, as well as less psychological safety. Future research directions are discussed.

The research aims at analyzing the internal communication in a new product development project of Sandvik with expectation to explore possibilities of improvement. Throughout the research, internal communication seems to have a great impact on innovation and project performance. Several critical factors in building effective communication were identified as team size, superordinate goals, centralization of communication, early involvement, physical proximity, and leadership. Meetings were considered as a major and efficient method of communication within the project. Based on these issues, recommendations for improving internal communication within the project were suggested.

This dissertation theorizes about why a team’s network structure might affect team performance immediately and over time when membership changes. I propose that the low substitutability of a central team member immediately disrupts the structure of interactions between remaining members and leaves the team without an important resource that is relied upon to facilitate team process. This performance loss is expected to decay as time elapses because the saliency of the event creates the focus and urgency required for the team to implement widespread systemic change. Dense interaction and task redundancy among core members in a centralized structure is expected to help offset this performance loss both immediately and over time. I examine the effect of network structure on initial team performance (performance immediately following member exit and entry) and performance over time (the rate of performance change following exit and entry) in professional hockey teams experiencing membership change due to player injury. Results show that the departure of a central player has a significant and negative effect on a team’s immediate performance, but the centrality of the absent member has a curvilinear effect on team performance over time. Teams that lost a central player experienced a drop in performance immediately after that player’s exit; but subsequently demonstrated an improvement in performance over time. Teams that lost a peripheral player experienced a more positive performance trajectory over time when compared with their performance before the exit, while the performance of teams that lost a mid-central player remains constant over time. While team centralization had no influence on initial team performance, over time it dramatically altered team outcomes such that, regardless of the departing player’s network position, teams with a centralized structure improved over time, whereas decentralized teams performed more poorly over time.

This dissertation theorizes about why a team’s network structure might affect team performance immediately and over time when membership changes. I propose that the low substitutability of a central team member immediately disrupts the structure of interactions between remaining members and leaves the team without an important resource that is relied upon to facilitate team process. This performance loss is expected to decay as time elapses because the saliency of the event creates the focus and urgency required for the team to implement widespread systemic change. Dense interaction and task redundancy among core members in a centralized structure is expected to help offset this performance loss both immediately and over time. I examine the effect of network structure on initial team performance (performance immediately following member exit and entry) and performance over time (the rate of performance change following exit and entry) in professional hockey teams experiencing membership change due to player injury. Results show that the departure of a central player has a significant and negative effect on a team’s immediate performance, but the centrality of the absent member has a curvilinear effect on team performance over time. Teams that lost a central player experienced a drop in performance immediately after that player’s exit; but subsequently demonstrated an improvement in performance over time. Teams that lost a peripheral player experienced a more positive performance trajectory over time when compared with their performance before the exit, while the performance of teams that lost a mid-central player remains constant over time. While team centralization had no influence on initial team performance, over time it dramatically altered team outcomes such that, regardless of the departing player’s network position, teams with a centralized structure improved over time, whereas decentralized teams performed more poorly over time.

Although diversity is often thought to improve team performance by expanding the range of ideas available to the group, reported relationships between team diversity and performance have been somewhat weak (e.g., Bowers, Pharmer,&Salas, 2000; Devine&Philips, 2001; Webber&Donahue, 2001). One possible explanation for the lack of findings on team diversity is that past research has largely taken an absolute (i.e., how much diversity) rather than a relative perspective (i.e., what pattern of diversity; Tsui&O'Reilly, 1989; Tsui, Egan,&O'Reilly, 1992). Conceptually and operationally defining team diversity using faultlines - i.e., the pattern of how different types of demographic divisions either do or do not reinforce the salience of the subgroup - is one way to study diversity from a relative perspective. This thesis posits that the relative approach using faultlines may better elucidate the relationship between demography and team outcomes. In particular, this thesis posits that the structural arrangement of diversity (i.e., faultlines) among team members gives rise to relational patterns of trust and coordination, which in turn determine team performance. Results support the notion of a negative relation between faultline strength and team performance.

ABSTRACT Title: The Study of Global Team Management & Job Involvement Author: Ju-Hui Tsai Advisor: Professor Bih-Shiaw Jaw The emergence of global teams has been caused by the globalization of the world economy. Multinational corporations are benefiting from the use of global teams; however, they are facing many management challenges as well. This research is to explore current global team management practice & job involvement. After the author interviewed 7 global teams in high-tech multinational corporations, the propositions are as follows: Proposition 1: The less global team experiences the members have, the more local managers¡¦ assistance they need. Local managers assist members engaged in local environment soon. Local managers are also consultative for local legal regulations, salary market & employee development. Proposition 2: The more global team experiences the members have, the higher degree of cross culture knowledge they have. The best way to learn cross culture management knowledge is to realize through daily working experiences. Proposition 3: Those global teams who emphasize more on culture diversity management have better performance. Proposition 4: The key successful factor to increase global team performance is to select mature, experienced & independent members. Proposition 5: The most important criteria for global team selection are language & communication capabilities. Proposition 6: The most challenging for global teams is unable to have effective communication in real time. Proposition 7: Global team model is not sure better than traditional team model for corporations. It depends on the industry & the business scope. Proposition 8: For team members, the advantage of global team experiences is to underst& other countries¡¦ environment. But on the other h&, the disadvantage is lacking in sense of belongings. Proposition 9: The most challenging for global team performance management is how to display one¡¦s capability or to realize employees¡¦ real performance cross time zones & boundaries. Proposition 10: Those global teams who set up regular communication mechanism have higher job involvement. Key words: global teams, cross culture management, job involvement

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 199-204). Also available on the Internet.