This research investigated the determinants and outcomes of shared mental models of skill use in autonomous work teams. A model of the determinants and outcomes (team task behaviors) of shared mental models of skill use was tested. Three components of shared mental models of skill use were investigated: shared knowledge pertaining to skill use in task performance (i.e., knowledge about the task, equipment, team, and team interaction), shared expectations for skill use in task performance in both routine and non-routine situations, and shared attitudes relevant to skill use in task performance (i.e., collective orientation and collective efficacy). The model included the interdependence, uncertainty, and complexity of the technology; the degree to which the team is cross-trained and its membership stable; and the level of prior experience team members have had with teamwork as the determinants of overlap in a team's mental model of skill use. The beneficial outcomes of a high degree of overlap in the team's mental model of skill use were four team task behaviors: flexibility, quality, verbal communication, and time required in task planning. The flexibility construct was defined as the degree to which a team allocated and used the multiple competencies/skills of each of its members in pursuit of team goals. A model of the development of flexibility was developed as was a theory of the role of shared mental models in flexible skill use. / Ph. D.

The theory of self-leadership is gaining credibility and support in the era of globalisation and knowledge workers. As with many leadership theories, culture has been proposed to have a major impact on leadership processes. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent that self-leadership is correlated with national culture dimensions. Self-leadership was measured through the Revised Self-Leadership Questionnaire developed by Houghton and Neck (2002). The cultural values were measured through the use of Hofstede’s Value Survey Module 94 (VSM94). Hypotheses were formed regarding relationships between national culture background and Self-leadership practice. Pearson r, Chi-square test with cross tabulation and multiple regression were used to determine the associations. The results from the statistical tests showed associations between national culture values and self-leadership dimensions. PDI and UAI showed a positive relationship with visualising successful performance but a negative relationship with self-talk both aspects of constructive thought pattern strategies. MAS had a positive relationship with self-talk while negatively correlated to visualising successful performance. IDV had positive relationships with behaviour-focussed strategies, natural reward strategies and constructive thought pattern strategies. Long-term orientation had a strong negative relationship with behaviour-focussed and natural reward strategies and a very weak negative association with behaviour focussed strategies. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / M.B.L.

This study investigates the effects of eight organizational support systems on virtual team effectiveness in five areas: communication, planning tasks and setting goals, solving problems and making decisions, resolving conflict, and responding to customer requirements. One hundred and eighty surveys were sent to information technology managers and collaborative team members, representing 43 companies. The results indicated that developing new roles for IT professionals and senior managers significantly increased virtual team effectiveness in several areas. The findings support the theory that organizations that utilize virtual teams must create high-level structures, policies, and systems to support the teams and the information tools they use.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / Due to the rapid development of technology, many simple tasks can now be automated, leaving more difficult and cognitive tasks such as planning, decision making and design to teams. Technology also allows these teams to be distributed through time and space. While this is becoming more and more prevalent in the business world, distributed teams also exist in the military where the stresses are much different. One of the key factors associated with collaboration in military teams is situational awareness. This research used a commercial command and control type video game to investigate the issues of collaboration and situational awareness. The amount of information subjects had access to was varied to see if there was a significant impact upon their level of situational awareness which was measured by the accuracy of maps that the subjects drew. Results from this research may provide insight into how much information is needed by distributed teams and when they need it. Ideas for future research in this area have also been proposed. / Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy

Self-Directed Work Teams (SDWT) are strategic organization designs based on the belief that the time required to make good decisions decreases when employees are empowered to tap their tacit job knowledge. Because this strategy requires employees to think differently about the way they perform their jobs, the supervisor plays a critical role in SDWT implementations. If leaders fail to adequately manage the challenges associated with the transition to the SDWT structure, employee commitment towards the team and organization at large may suffer, putting the realization of SDWT benefits at risk. To better understand this complicated process, this research describes a field study observation designed to explore the relationship between the constructs of Self-Determination Theory (autonomy, competence, relatedness) with employee affective commitment towards a SDWT transition. Additionally, this research evaluates the mediating role leadership influence tactics has on the relationship between Self-Determination Theory and employee affective commitment towards a SDWT transition.

The theory of self-leadership is gaining credibility and support in the era of globalisation and knowledge workers. As with many leadership theories, culture has been proposed to have a major impact on leadership processes. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent that self-leadership is correlated with national culture dimensions. Self-leadership was measured through the Revised Self-Leadership Questionnaire developed by Houghton and Neck (2002). The cultural values were measured through the use of Hofstede’s Value Survey Module 94 (VSM94). Hypotheses were formed regarding relationships between national culture background and Self-leadership practice. Pearson r, Chi-square test with cross tabulation and multiple regression were used to determine the associations. The results from the statistical tests showed associations between national culture values and self-leadership dimensions. PDI and UAI showed a positive relationship with visualising successful performance but a negative relationship with self-talk both aspects of constructive thought pattern strategies. MAS had a positive relationship with self-talk while negatively correlated to visualising successful performance. IDV had positive relationships with behaviour-focussed strategies, natural reward strategies and constructive thought pattern strategies. Long-term orientation had a strong negative relationship with behaviour-focussed and natural reward strategies and a very weak negative association with behaviour focussed strategies. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / M.B.L.

This phenomenological, mixed-method study compared and contrasted virtual K- 12 school leadership with traditional face-to-face leadership. All 106 participants served for a minimum of two years in each setting. The study was conducted in two phases in order to reveal consensus and dissensus points of view. Conceptually, a postmodern framework was used to deliberately create spaces for new leadership ideas to emerge through surveys and interviews. The data included teachers and leaders from charter, district, and state virtual K-12 schools. Phase one of the study used a modified Delphi methodology, consisting of an Internet-based survey and semantic differential survey. The second phase was a round of interviews, seeking similarities and differences between leadership in the two domains. Using the lens of postmodernism, the nuances of difference arising from contextual factors were examined, along with the often-unheard voices of dissensus within the ranks of virtual K-12 leaders and teachers. Among the major findings, the study revealed no significant differences in leadership between traditional and virtual K-12 leaders. A new paradigm of “leadership by design” was uncovered as one possible means of innovating through virtual K-12 leadership. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Leader-member exchange (LMX) differentiation, the extent to which the leader forms different quality exchange relationships with group members, is the fundamental premise of LMX theory. The present study tests whether, why, and when LMX differentiation increases group outcomes. More specifically, I suggest a dual perspective model of LMX differentiation and group effectiveness, which includes both leaders' and members' perspectives on LMX differentiation. To explicate the effects of leader- and member-rated LMX differentiation on group effectiveness, I delineate two group processes (task and socio-emotional processes) to link LMX differentiation to two aspects of group effectiveness (group performance and group viability). I propose that leader-rated LMX differentiation increases group performance via task group processes (group role clarity and group coordination) whereas member-rated LMX differentiation decreases group viability via socio-emotional processes (relationship conflict and group potency). Furthermore, I propose moderators (distributed expertise, leader-leader exchange, leader prototypicality, and group power distance) suggesting when leader-rated LMX differentiation relates to task group processes more strongly and positively, and when member-rated LMX differentiation relates to socio-emotional group processes less strongly and negatively. Survey data, based on the US and South Korean employees working in 57 teams, were collected from three different sources (group leaders, members, and upper-level managers) at two points in time (with 3-month time lag). Results revealed three important findings: (a) leader-rated LMX differentiation is positively correlated with group role clarity, group coordination, and group potency and negatively correlated with relationship conflict, (b) group mean member LMX and group mean leader LMX were more robustly, positively related to most group process and effectiveness variables, and (c) leader prototypicality moderates the relationship between member-rated LMX differentiation and relationship conflict such that the negative relationship is significant only when members perceptions of leader prototypicality was high. The present study contributes to the LMX and team leadership literature by (a) providing a theoretical framework of a dual perspective to understand the LMX differentiation-group effectiveness relationship at the group level, (b) providing empirical evidence showing that leader-rated LMX differentiation is positively related to some group processes although these relationships were not significant when controlling for group mean LMX, (c) finding that the leaders' and members' perspectives on LMX differentiation are not highly correlated, and (d) emphasizing the role of leader prototypicality in understanding the effect of member-rated LMX differentiation at the group level. Based upon these findings, I suggest future research directions such as ways to improve measurement and operationalization of LMX differentiation, development of a theoretical model explaining the low level of LMX agreement between members and leaders, and examining LMX differentiation in broader contexts (e.g., HR systems or strategy and cultural contexts).

<p>Although subgroups are a central component of work teams, they have remained largely unexamined by organizational scholars. In three chapters, a theory and measure of subgroups are developed and then tested. The theory introduces a typology of subgroups and a depiction of the antecedents and consequences of subgroups. The measure, called the subgroup algorithm, determines the most dominant configurations of subgroups in real work teams--those that are most likely to influence team processes and outcomes. It contrasts the characteristics within a subgroup or set of subgroups versus the characteristics between subgroups or a set of subgroups for every potential configuration of subgroups on every work team in a given sample. The algorithm is tested with a simulation, with results suggesting that it adds value to the methodological literature on subgroups. The empirical test uses the subgroup algorithm to test key propositions put forth in the theory of subgroups. First, it is predicted that teams will perform better when identity-based subgroups are unequal in size and knowledge-based subgroups are equal in size. Second, it is predicted that, although teams will perform better with an increasing number of both identity-based and knowledge-based subgroups, there will be a discontinuity in this linear function for identity-based subgroups: teams with two identity-based subgroups will perform more poorly than teams with any other number of identity-based subgroups. The subgroup algorithm is used to test these predictions in a sample of 326 work teams. Results generally support the predictions.</p> / Dissertation

Communication technologies have become a central characteristic of workplace functioning. The literature has suggested that the use of these technologies fundamentally changes the manner in which team members interact. The present study sought to reorganize previous research on the impact of virtuality on team emergent states and behavioral processes to elucidate how different degrees of team virtuality shape team functioning, and to investigate the manner in which these relationships differ according to team type, team membership stability, and publication year. Findings from 174 studies (total number of teams = 9204; total N approximately 26,050) suggest that there is not a strong relationship between team virtuality and emergent states and behavioral processes. However, moderator analyses revealed that a reliance on highly virtual tools may be most detrimental to action teams and ad hoc teams. Moreover, findings demonstrate that the degree to which virtuality shapes team transition and action process may be changing over time.