The use of Virtual Teams has become substantially more common place as the “global economy” has grown. Technology has enabled teams to collaborate across time and space, but can these teams perform as well or better than their co-located peers? The answer to this question is critical for companies considering offshoring or near shoring specific job functions. This question is also important for companies that require specialized resources that are unavailable in the local market place. The cost of relocating and centralizing specialized resources can be high and can be altogether avoided if virtual team performance is high. This paper addresses the performance question, discusses contingency factors impacting performance, and provides recommendations based both on the research and real world experience of the author / text

Thesis (M.S.O.T.) PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The purpose of this study is to understand if readiness for advocacy is associated with attainment of participation and advocacy goals for youth with developmental disabilities transitioning into adulthood. The transtheoretical model is used to conceptualize youth’s readiness to act when new knowledge and advocacy skills are gained through Project TEAM (Teens making Environmental and Activity Modification). Project TEAM is a 12-week group curriculum that teaches a problem-solving approach to identify and resolve environmental barriers to participation. Parents (n=17) and youth (n=12) ages 14-20 with developmental disabilities each rated the youth’s readiness for advocacy at initial, outcome and six week follow-up. Initial responses were grouped into preaction (precontemplation, contemplation and preparation) and action (action and maintenance). Each youth set a participation goal prior to Project TEAM for which the primary interventionist and principal investigator wrote goal attainment scaling (GAS) levels. Attainment of this participation goal and the application of three advocacy knowledge goals were evaluated at outcome. At outcome, GAS T-scores were calculated based on the attainment of the four goals. No significant difference was found in the GAS T-score between youth who began Project TEAM at the preaction versus the action stage. Youth with varying levels of readiness for advocacy at initial achieved their goals at outcome. Parents reported a significant increase in the youth’s readiness for advocacy between initial and outcome, and youth showed a similar, statistically non- significant trend. There appeared to be no relationship between attainment of a participation goal and change in readiness for advocacy; some youth who have no change in readiness for advocacy still achieved a participation goal, and youth who do not attain a participation goal still had changes in their readiness for advocacy. Results point to the potential benefits of Project TEAM to support changes in readiness for advocacy and attainment of a participation goal for youth with varying levels of readiness for change. / 2031-01-01

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Tема управления формированием проектных команд входит в десятку наиболее актуальных в современном менеджменте как в бизнес сфере, так и в образовании. На основе анализа существующих подходов и моделей командообразования, а также полученных эмпирических данных, был разработан пакет конкретных практических рекомендаций, адресованных общеобразовательным организациям, осуществляющим инновационную деятельность. Определена научная новизна: определены сущность и содержание понятия проектная команда, как группы по разработке и внедрению инновационных проектов. Выявлены специфика проектной команды в общеобразовательном учреждении (организационное построение, разнородность состава команды, характер решаемых задач), что расширяет имеющиеся в науке представления о командообразовании в общеобразовательных организациях; разработан алгоритм формирования проектных команд в общеобразовательном учреждении; разработана и апробирована модель управления формированием проектной команды в сфере общего образования; выявлены и обоснованы нормативно-правовые документы, регламентирующие проектное управление в общеобразовательной организации; организацию деятельности проектных команд при разработке и внедрении инновационных проектов; определена эффективная система мотивации креативных сотрудников к участию в проектной деятельности в составе команды. / The topic of managing the formation of project teams is among the top ten most relevant in modern management, both in the business sphere and in education. Based on the analysis of existing approaches and models of team building, as well as the empirical data obtained, a package of specific practical recommendations was developed for general education organizations engaged in innovative activities. The scientific novelty is determined: the essence and content of the concept of a project team as a group for the development and implementation of innovative projects are determined. The specificity of the project team in educational institution (organizational structure, the heterogeneity of the composition of the teams, the nature of tasks), which expands the available scientific ideas about team building in educational institutions; the algorithm of formation of project teams in educational institution; developed and tested a model of management of development of the project team in General education; identified and justified legal documents, regulatory project management in educational organizations; organization of project teams ' activities in the development and implementation of innovative projects; an effective system for motivating creative employees to participate in project activities as part of a team is defined.

With increasing competitive pressures in today‟s market, it has become critical for businesses to recognise the significance of satisfying their customers so as to ensure their economic stability. Various studies have emphasised on the need for customer focus and project satisfaction in the construction industry sector. The industry, however, has not fully embraced the practice of project satisfaction, which is grounded on meeting the needs of the customer. Though most research on project satisfaction has focussed on the client, it is essential that the satisfaction of the project delivery team and in the wider context, the stakeholders be considered. In this case, the client is the centre of gravity of the project team. In order to satisfy the project team, there are challenges in assessing their requirements. This necessitates the need to develop a unique and robust method for capturing and analysing the level of integrated project team satisfaction. In this research, the project delivery team and the stakeholders have been lumped together as an integrated project team. Therefore, integrated project team satisfaction entails recognising the client and project participants‟ requirements that guarantees project successful completion and acceptance by the team. In view of this, this research presents a framework, which has been developed to plug these needs and challenges. The framework, known as the Satisfaction Assessment Integrated Framework (SAIF) involves an integrated approach that considers the participants of a construction project as a tree structure, and each member of that tree as an intermediate or top element. Relationships and interactions of the elements, and how these affect the overall satisfaction levels of a single project, are analysed based on understanding their requirements and invoking modern satisfaction attainment theory. The framework includes a method for understanding and identifying the satisfaction attributes; multi-attribute analysis for prioritising the satisfaction attributes of the clients and project participants; fault tree analysis strategy for defining the satisfaction relationship in a particular project team; and an assessment scoring system (a combination of multi-attribute analysis, and failure mode and effects analysis methodical approach) that evaluates how much each member of the project team meets the requirements or satisfaction attributes of other participants. Hence, SAIF, a novel assessment methodology, investigates and identifies possible links and the influence of integrating the construction project team and their satisfaction attributes with the aim of improving their satisfaction levels as a team. Through the findings of this research, recommendations are made to further explore the implications of satisfying a given participant against dissatisfying the participant; and subsequently improve the satisfaction assessment process.

Title: The Implementation of the Project "Neberte nám naši hru" and the Proposals to its Improvement Objectives: The main objective of this thesis is a detailed description of the project "Neberte nám naši hru" and based on the research methods which proposed changes for future years of the project. Methods: For a description of the project was used a method of observation in the role of a full member, and an analysis of documents. The parents of children were inquired by questionnaire construction to find out how they had perceived the project. To obtain expert opinions on the realization of the project and its media coverage were carried out two qualitative interviews. Results: The project "Neberte nám naši hru" is perceived by the target group very positively in terms of its main ideas and implementation. In other years can be recommended especially year-round communicate of the project ideas towards the football public in Prague. Within the year-round communication proposes the inclusion of new elements between project activities that should more attractive the project for the participants and for the media, which would contribute to increasing public awareness of the project and its ideas. Keywords: Project Management, Project Manager, Project Team, Sports Event

<p>Most multicultural teams are not as successful as expected. Germany and Sweden are close trade partners and one form of cooperation are German-Swedish project teams. In this thesis the reader will get answers to the following questions: What are the problems and benefits among German-Swedish project team members due to cultural differences and in which way can problems be coped with and benefits be enhanced. This thesis does not focus on virtual teams, the leadership of multicultural teams and the formation of German-Swedish project teams.</p><p>The main components of the theoretical framework are cultural models which serve as basis for our analysis are Hofstede’s five dimensional model, Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s model and Hall’s model. For our research we interviewed eight members of German-Swedish project teams. We discovered problems among German-Swedish project team members deriving from differences in the communication styles, in the focus on cooperation versus task and in dealing with rules. Beneficial in the German-Swedish collaborations is that the cultures complement each other in focusing on the facts versus broadening the subject and in the focus on team spirit versus goal achievement. Another beneficial characteristic is the similarity of the German and Swedish culture.</p><p>After analysing the problems and benefits due to cultural differences in German-Swedish project teams, we present our concept to reduce the problems in German-Swedish project teams. The concept consists of steps which build up on one another and therefore represent an overall concept which can serve as a basis and inspiration for enhancing the collaboration in German-Swedish project teams. Our concept includes the steps: intercultural training, a mentor system in the team, internal advisors in the company and a cultural evaluation.</p>

Most multicultural teams are not as successful as expected. Germany and Sweden are close trade partners and one form of cooperation are German-Swedish project teams. In this thesis the reader will get answers to the following questions: What are the problems and benefits among German-Swedish project team members due to cultural differences and in which way can problems be coped with and benefits be enhanced. This thesis does not focus on virtual teams, the leadership of multicultural teams and the formation of German-Swedish project teams. The main components of the theoretical framework are cultural models which serve as basis for our analysis are Hofstede’s five dimensional model, Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s model and Hall’s model. For our research we interviewed eight members of German-Swedish project teams. We discovered problems among German-Swedish project team members deriving from differences in the communication styles, in the focus on cooperation versus task and in dealing with rules. Beneficial in the German-Swedish collaborations is that the cultures complement each other in focusing on the facts versus broadening the subject and in the focus on team spirit versus goal achievement. Another beneficial characteristic is the similarity of the German and Swedish culture. After analysing the problems and benefits due to cultural differences in German-Swedish project teams, we present our concept to reduce the problems in German-Swedish project teams. The concept consists of steps which build up on one another and therefore represent an overall concept which can serve as a basis and inspiration for enhancing the collaboration in German-Swedish project teams. Our concept includes the steps: intercultural training, a mentor system in the team, internal advisors in the company and a cultural evaluation.

As global competition is increasingly intensified, radical innovation has become more and more important for corporations in high-velocity industries. Thanks to the advances of information systems and communication media, corporations can easily reach out to experts all over the world and form project teams dedicated to the innovation effort. However, research shows that while some innovation teams are very successful in achieving significant breakthroughs, many struggle to make their collaborations work. In this dissertation, we aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of the collaboration challenges that an innovation team faces. By considering the simultaneous needs for differentiation and integration in the innovation effort and taking a communication/ interpretive perspective, we develop a theoretical model to investigate how the processes of differentiation and integration are shaped through team communication and influence an innovation team's collaboration outcomes. Specifically, we delineate four structural properties of team communication to capture these two processes - the number of issue streams explored, the number of attention switches initiated, the conceptual linkage between issue streams, and the level of deliberation after each attention switch - and identify four categories of factors that influence the development of these two processes - team composition, semi-structures, communication contexts, and communication environments. We conduct a case study as a preliminary test of our theoretical model, and find that the model provides comprehensive explanations for the collaboration dynamics and issues of these teams. We believe such a theoretical model can contribute to a better understanding of the complexity involved in an innovation project and bring fresh insights to the design of information systems for supporting an innovation team.

Title : Cultural influence on decision making in project team : The case of telecommunication industry Level : Master Thesis of Business Administration: Business Management Authors : Etchu Oben Agborsangaya and Maryam Taheri Supervisor : Professor Akmal Hyder Date: 2013 June Purpose : In the last few decades, the effects of globalisation has changed the way many companies carry out their activities. Greater emphasis are now placed on project management in a dynamic and effective atmosphere. As a result of this, companies try to understand how culture influences decision making in project teams in different countries. The purpose of this research is to investigate how culture influence decision making in project teams through an empirical study of telecommunication industry in Nigeria and Sweden by using Hofstede's framework on cultural dimensions. Research Questions : (1) How does culture influence decision making in project teams? (2) what are the similarities and differences in decision making in project teams between Nigeria and Sweden? Approach : The research design for this study includes literature review and qualitative method. The primary data was collected using semi-structured interviews with project managers and workers in project teams. The secondary data was collected through articles, journals and books. Data from the findings were analysed using coding. Results &amp; Conclusions : It was found that culture influence decision making in project teams. In Nigeria, decision making in teams is more relax type because people try to avoid conflict by not hurting another person’s feelings while in Sweden decision making is more of a participating type in which each member in team has to be consulted and a consensus is arrived at before making the decision. Nigerian team values respect for senior colleagues and prefer hierarchy where codes of conduct exist, formality and inflexibility at work when compared to Sweden. 3 Contribution of the study : We recommend that prospective project managers of the mixed Swedish-Nigerian project team should encourage a participative involvement of all the members of teams in decision making and high degree of flexibility at work. This will lead to an efficient and effective project teams. The fact that this study was based on an important field of studies - project management, we could recommend that the impact of culture on project management could be explored in future research. Key words: Culture, project management cultural influence, decision making, project team, Telecommunication industry, Sweden and Nigeria.