The performance of a team depends not only on the abilities of its individual members, but also on how these members interact with each other. Inspired by this premise and motivated by a large number of applications in educational, industrial and management settings, this thesis studies a family of problems, known as team-formation problems, that aim to engineer teams that are effective and successful. The major challenge in this family of problems is dealing with the complexity of the human team participants. Specifically, each individual has his own objectives, demands, and constraints that might be in contrast with the desired team objective. Furthermore, different collaboration models lead to different instances of team-formation problems. In this thesis, we introduce several such models and describe techniques and efficient algorithms for various instantiations of the team-formation problem. This thesis consists of two main parts. In the first part, we examine three distinct team-formation problems that are of significant interest in (i) educational settings, (ii) industrial organizations, and (iii) management settings respectively. What constitutes an effective team in each of the aforementioned settings is totally dependent on the objective of the team. For instance, the performance of a team (or a study group) in an educational setting can be measured as the amount of learning and collaboration that takes place inside the team. In industrial organizations, desirable teams are those that are cost-effective and highly profitable. Finally in management settings, an interesting body of research uncovers that teams with faultlines are prone to performance decrements. Thus, the challenge is to form teams that are free of faultlines, that is, to form teams that are robust and less likely to break due to disagreements. The first part of the thesis discusses approaches for formalizing these problems and presents efficient computational methods for solving them. In the second part of the thesis, we consider the problem of improving the functioning of existing teams. More precisely, we show how we can use models from social theory to capture the dynamics of the interactions between the team members. We further discuss how teams can be modified so that the interaction dynamics lead to desirable outcomes such as higher levels of agreement or lesser tension and conflict among the team members.

“When in Rome do as the Romans do” – this hundreds years old proverb is still very actual today. Even more, nowadays you don’t even have to go to Rome to feel cultural differences. The communication technology have changed the world economy, thousands of people work now for multinational companies, interacting daily not just with a culture, but possibly with as much as 5 or 6 different ones. Some teams even work in different geographical locations communicating exclusively by electronic means. Today’s managers just have to deal with culture whether they like it or not, but the whole employee-manager relationship may be turned upside down on another side of the globe. So what should we do and what do we do about it? Ho do we manage effectively? These are the questions that this study aims to answer at. The main research objects of this study are rather small software engineering teams and companies that are working in cross-cultural environment, but do have little or no special company policies and other formal ways to manage cultural differences. Yet we found out that managers develop there own understanding of cultural issues and are practicing different methods to deal with them. / mkitsul@yahoo.com; seza@km.ru

Communication is a challenge in multidisciplinary building design teams. The multidisciplinary nature of the team, in which team members contribute knowledge and skills from within the boundaries of their disciplinary domain, combined with the fragmented building design process, makes exchanging information among disciplines difficult. Addressing this challenge is important because communication impacts project outcomes. While effective communication mitigates project risk, contributes to conflict resolution, and reduces project waste and errors, ineffective communication contributes to project failure. Existing research on communication and teamwork provides us with two key insights: first, the presence of different disciplines – the functional diversity – on a team can lead to both positive and negative outcomes through different communication processes; then, communication in design includes three categories – communication as social behavior, as an information process, and the use of communication technology. However, this research comes from domains such as healthcare, manufacturing, and software design. As such, there are several gaps that limit our understanding of multidisciplinary building design communication: a. As literature on multidisciplinary building design teams is sparse, we do not have sufficient documented information about multidisciplinary building design practice to the extent that we use the terms multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary interchangeably although they indicate different kinds of team functioning. b. There are no approaches to studying communication in building design teams that account for the multidisciplinary nature of the team and the complexity of design communication. Identifying an approach to studying communication is a first step to improving team communication and project outcomes. c. Though it is acknowledged that functional boundaries in a multidisciplinary team influence team functioning, the lack of literature on multidisciplinary building design teams and the lack of an approach to studying team communication means that we do not know how functional diversity affects team communication and outcomes. My research contributes to our understanding of multidisciplinary building design team practice by developing a framework to explore multidisciplinary building design communication. Then, it applies the framework to three cases of multidisciplinary building design teams to explore the effects of functional diversity on building design team communication and outcomes. The exploratory framework allows for the systematic description and analysis of multidisciplinary building design teams, their communication, and their outcomes. When applied to the three cases, multidisciplinary building design practice is explored along three lines of inquiry: What constitutes a multidisciplinary building design team? How do multidisciplinary building design teams exchange information? And, what are multidisciplinary building design team outcomes? Data for the case studies are obtained from interviews of 32 industry experts spanning 13 disciplines across the three case studies. This data is analyzed using content analysis and a communication analysis approach that accounts for all three categories of communication. Findings from the case studies do the following: they posit a relationship between functional diversity, communication, and outcomes that is dependent not only on team characteristics, but also on project characteristics and timing; they offer modifications to the exploratory framework that allow for a more accurate representation of building design practice; and provide strategies used by team members to deal with the challenges and complexities of multidisciplinary building design communication. These contributions – the framework and the case study insights – provide building design researchers and practitioners with insights into building design teams, their communication, and their outcomes. They are intended to be a necessary first step towards improving building design team practice.

Virtual teams are defined as geographically dispersed teams who work together across time and space using information and communication technologies to accomplish one or more organisational tasks (Piccoli, Powell, & Ives, 2004). As virtual team members are physically distributed, they often need to work together as teams without ever meeting each other using only technology and electronic communication to collaborate, communicate and share information. Previous studies have shown that electronic tools are ineffective and do not aid in building trust and common understanding in a virtual team environment. This study challenges these previous findings and assesses the use of unified communication as a tool for leading virtual teams. Many organisations use different tools such as e-mail, instant messaging, IM presence, conference calls, voice calls and video calls. The concept around unified communications is the integration of data, voice and video into a single tool. Is unified communication an effective tool for leading virtual teams? This research paper defined the sample population as any team member working in a virtual team anywhere in the world. Data was collected from one large multinational with offices in 112 countries as well as virtual team members around the globe. The sampling technique used was based on non-probability (subjective) sampling. The sample size of 220 individuals, representing virtual team members was originally targeted for this research. Data was collected over a three month period with two hundred and thirteen (213) responses received from thirty seven (37) countries using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The study found that effective communication is vital for the success of virtual teams. It found that even though communication tools are vital, a unified communication toolset was not necessary as only some components of a unified communication tool were used on a day to day basis. Some components in a unified tool were regarded as nice to have but not vital. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lmgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Die Inrigting ontwikkelings en ondersteuningsbeampte ( IOOB) in die departement van onderwys vervul ‘n belangrike rol om te verseker dat onderwys transformeer en dat die skool se bestuurspan georiënteer word om ‘n kultuur van onderwys en onderrig te bewerkstellig. Onlangse konsepte van onderwysleierskap demonsteer ‘n beweging weg van tradisioneel-outoritêre modelle, na ‘n meer demokratiese en deelnemende wyse. Die doel van die navorsing was om die persepsies van die skool se bestuurspan ten opsigte van die rol van die Inrigting ontwikkelings en ondersteuningsbeampte (IOOB) in the Ekurhuleni-Oos Distrik 5, te ondersoek. Die IOOB’s moet die skole se bestuurspanne toerus en ontwikkel, sodat die gehalte van onderwys en onderrig kan verbeter. ‘n Gestruktureerde vraelys wat bestaan uit 32 items is aan distrik 5 se skole se bestuurspanne uitgedeel, sodat hulle persepsies van die IOOB’s vasgestel kon word. Vrae is geformuleer in verband met aspekte van onderwysbestuur en onderrig. Die voltooide vraelyste is aan STATKON by the Universiteit van Johannesburg oorhandig, waar die data verwerk is. Die ontleding en interpretasie van die empiriese data is bespreek. Die konstrukgeldigheid van die navorsingsinstrument is deur middel van twee opeenvolgende faktoranalitiese prosedures ondersoek en sodoende is die 32 items tot twee faktore gereduseer, naamlik: • Die doeltreffende leierskap en bestuur van die IOOB, bestaande uit 14 items met ‘n betroubaarheidskoëffisiënt van 0,967; • Die ingrypingstrategie en ondersteuning van die IOOB, bestaande uit 18 items met ‘n betroubaarheidskoëffisiënt van 0,964.Die statistiese ontleiding van die navorsing is beperk tot ‘n vergelyking van een voorbeeld van twee onafhanklike groepe en een voorbeeld van drie of meer onafhanklike groepe. Hipoteses is gestel en meervoudige statistiese tegnieke is gebruik om die data te ontleed en te interpreter. Na hierdie oorsigtelike opsomming van die aspekte wat in die huidige navorsing aangeraak is, word belangrike bevindings wat uit die navorsing voorspruit gemaak. / Prof. B.R. Grobler

The Gauteng Department of Education has issued new admission circulars for the past five years. The necessity for such policy regulation may well point to a problem which remains unsolved. What the circulars regulating the environment do not explicitly deal with is the fact that admissions impact heavily on the planning processes of the school. The process of admissions links to the subsidy received by the school as well as to the post and staff establishments of the school. While the Gauteng Department of Education has put into place a number of mechanism for dealing with admissions, it is at the level of the School Management Team that Admissions are actually dealt with. The research will highlight some of the challenges faced by the School Management Team when implementing the Admission policies of the department. / Dr. P. du Plessis Mr. T.S. Hlongwane

D.Ing. / An integrated project team strategy (IPTS) does not start with a detailed list of performance measures, but with the appropriate mindset of what is in the interest of the project. The purpose of IPTS is to unite the core project participants (the 20% of project participants responsible for 80% of the impact on the project success) with a common goal, so that they focus on what is in the interest of the project and not on their company’s interest or local optimisation. Like a tripod, Integrated Project Team Strategies (IPTS) is based on three core principles - a common project incentive scheme, well-defined project success criteria and project control systems and procedures that focus on the project’s needs and do not entice local optimisation. The first leg of IPTS is that all the core project participants share in a common project incentive scheme, therefore their actions are focussed on the same target because it determines the size of their bonuses and incentives. Project success criteria are the second leg and represents the common project target. However, determining priorities in a project strategy is regularly done incorrectly with negative impact, therefore the project success and failure criteria must be well defined for all three areas namely project management, product and relationship success. This is essential for measuring the project success because it forms the basis for reporting progress the project wellbeing during the implementation phase as well as the “successful” outcome at project closure Traditional project control systems and metrics, which were used to measure the progress of the project, tend to measure progress in isolation because they do not consider the overall need of the project. Local optimisation in terms of for instance tons steel erected per hour occurs because that is how managers on the project are assessed, however, that is not in the interest of the project. Although conventional project strategies do not exclude integrated team performance evaluation, all their systems and procedures are based on the performance of a single project participant or division of a participant, thereby creating the ideal breeding ground for local optimization and moves the focus away from the overall project. When looking at some of the latest business publications like that of Eliyahu M. Goldratt (“The Goal”, “It is not luck” and the “Critical Chain”[9]) it is clear that IPTS biggest advantage is to eliminate local optimization encouraged by the more conventional project controls strategies. Because the way people are measured has such a big impact on their behaviour, project control systems and metrics are the third leg of the IPTS tripod. For these reasons, IPTS is a completely new game, which relies on deep commitment to provide a broad flexible framework for doing whatever is required in the current context to ensure project success. It is not about what happened since the deal was struck, nor who is actually responsible for it, but about the success of the project because all participants will reap the benefits of a successful project. In a sense, the demand emphasis for IPTS is shifting from a purely financial to a more strategic approach. In so doing, it is prompting more and more clients and managers into systematic re-examinations of their business models’ structures, efficiency and effectiveness for factors such as local optimization. Often stereotypically conservative and with a cultural bias for control, most clients and service providers in the South African mining and mineral commodity industry have been late and reluctant to let go of their control and associated local optimisation. However, the array of challenges confronting the industry makes control for control’s sake a costly indulgence, which cannot be afforded any longer Not only does IPTS have the ability to change lose-lose relationships to win-win relationships, but most importantly it has the ability to unite all the core project participants in a single integrated project team focusing on the same goals. A number of typical IPTS cases have been developed as part of the research and are included in this thesis as guidelines for the implementation of the research results. These cases were also evaluated practically by testing it during interviews with industry practitioners.

M.Ed. / The introduction of School Based Management (SBM) in South African Schools ushered in School Management Teams (SMTs) whose responsibilities include, among others; planning, organizing, leading and control. These fundamental day-to-day duties also relate to school branding which is a new concept in South African Schools. School branding is a new concept that warrants empirical research so that school management teams can thoroughly understand and implement it professionally. Branding a school cannot be left to the ad hoc devices of the layman. School Management Teams need to be factually conversant and knowledgeable about cultivating a knowledge substrate of school branding for application by school management teams. Understanding and implementing the concept school branding stands to benefit schools in this era where learner mobility is determined by school choice. School choice in turn is a crucial aspect of the supply and demand of learners. These two market forces have a direct impact on the survival and existence of a school. Schools in this day and age are compelled to market and transform themselves into winning, compelling and powerful brands. In the past schools enjoyed the geographic and racial monopoly over parents and learner choice of a school. With the advent of the democratic dispensation the survival of a school needs a scientific and commercial praxis of concepts like branding. Branding itself holds a host of benefits for all the stakeholders in a school.

Magister Commercii - MCom / The use of one form or another of team based work organization (TBWO) management policies and practices by firms with the aim of improving organizational performance and employee morale is well documented in popular literature. Empirical research has however found that the implementation of TBWO management policies and practices such as TB training, TB incentive schemes, participation in decision making, work teams etc. had minimal influence on the performance of firms (Locke and Schweiger, 1979). This research investigated the factors, which account for the effective implementation of TBWO management policies and practices with specific emphasis on three firms in the metal fabrications sector. The reason behind the choice of the three firms in the metal fabrication sector in the Western Cape was that these sites offered a rare opportunity to study the process of the implementation of TBWO. It was a rare opportunity because not many firms have embarked on implementing TBWO in South Africa. It was envisaged that the lessons that emerged from this study would be invaluable for firms that intended implementing workplace change. The level of analysis was the shop floor level at the firms as research has shown that this is the level that plays a critical role in the effectiveness of the TB management policies and practices implemented by the firms. / South Africa

A two-stage study was conducted which examined role strain and its correlates among technical professional employees in team settings in 14 companies in the United States and Canada. A questionnaire was constructed based on the results of interviews with engineers and managers, and the analysis of simple plot data.