A presente pesquisa trata da compreensão e caracterização do papel do design dentro de uma empresa de desenvolvimento de produtos digitais por meio do ponto de vista de membros das equipes de projetos e seus gestores. Uma das principais motivações para a condução do estudo provém do fato de que poucas pesquisas do tipo foram realizadas em âmbito regional e direcionadas a projetos digitais, a fim de explorar o tema. Pretende-se com a pesquisa, fornecer subsídios para um melhor aproveitamento dos benefícios do uso do design e das habilidades dos designers. A investigação foi conduzida, a partir de um estudo de caso realizado na empresa onde a pesquisadora atua também como designer e fundamentada sob uma perspectiva temporal dos papéis do design e do entendimento sobre o funcionamento de equipes multidisciplinares no processo de desenvolvimento de produtos digitais. Foram selecionados dois instrumentos de fundamentação teórica para análise dos resultados, a Design Ladder e a Taxonomia dos Papéis do Design. Por fim, apresenta-se uma discussão sobre a percepção do design pelos membros da equipe e concluiu-se que o nível de maturidade em design detectado no objeto de estudo encontra-se no segundo nível da Design Ladder: design como provedor de diferencial estético, embora seja percebido através dos discursos o desejo pelo terceiro nível, que trata o design como processo. / This research deals with the understanding and characterization of the role of design in a digital product development company and through the point of view of members of the project teams and their managers. One of the main motivation for conducting this study is due to the fact that little research has been conducted at the regional level and oriented for digital products, in order to explore the topic, and also with the aim of providing subsidies to better exploit the benefits of the use of design and designers skills. The investigation was conducted from a case study in the company where the researcher works as a designer too and based on a temporal perspective of the roles of design and understanding of the functioning of multidisciplinary teams in the digital product development process. Two instruments were selected from the theoretical background in order to analyze the results: the Design Ladder and the Taxonomy of Roles Design. Lastly, a discussion is presented on the perception of design and was concluded that the ripeness level of design are in the second level of Design Ladder: design as esthetics, although it is perceived by the team speech a desire for reach the third level who treats design as a process.

Cross-functional teams are becoming increasingly common in organisations. However, a large proportion of these teams fail to meet their full potential as social and productive units. The present research was conducted under the assumption that a cross-functional team involves simultaneous intragroup and intergroup contact. The failure of cross-functional teams often involves the neglect of normal social psychological processes that occur in intergroup contexts that may potentially be employed to increase the likelihood of success with cross-functional teams. The social identity theory approach to intergroup relations was used to formulate two identity management strategies intended to improve the functioning of a cross-functional team. One strategy involved social interaction within an intragroup social frame. The intragroup aspect was apparent in that there was no outgroup present, with participants operating at the intergroup level of psychological processing after exposure to (successful) pre-task manipulations intended to facilitate acceptance of the task group social identity. The intragroup identity management process required increasing pre-task salience of the task group social identity, absence of any outgroup, wearing a team uniform, and performance of an intellectually challenging problem solving as a group. A second identity management process was based in an intergroup social frame. The intergroup procedure involved pre-task manipulation of social identity, wearing of a team uniform, and performance of a physically and intellectually involving problem solving task in a competitive intergroup social frame. Two separate studies were performed. In Study one, 110 university students were randomly assigned to 'mono-functional' teams (teams with no obvious basis for internal intergroup differentiation). The relative efficacy of either of the two identity management processes was assessed with regards to changes in social identity, subjective uncertainty, conceptualisation of the aggregate, similarity, heterogeneity, effort, and trust. Pre-post within groups differences were analysed Improving functioning of cross-functional teams by repeated measures ANOVA. Between groups differences were analysed with ANCOVA. The results indicated both identity management strategies resulted in improved team functioning. In general, neither strategy was notably superior to the other, however there was less subjective uncertainty reported by participants from the intragroup condition than those from the intergroup condition due to the effect of losing the competition. Participants from losing teams also became more aware of 'subgroups within the single group' than those from the intragroup condition. Participants from the intergroup condition were less likely to think of themselves as separate individuals than participants from the intragroup condition. The social identity theory approach to intergroup relations was useful for interpreting the results as well as developing the two strategies which suggests SIT/SCT provide a potentially useful conceptual base from which to develop team building processes in mono-functional teams. In study 2, 110 university students were assigned to cross-functional teams (composite task groups containing three academic subgroups). The identity management processes used in Study one were extended by drawing participant attention to the presence of subgroups within the cross-functional teams. The intragroup process involved pre-task manipulation of social identity, wearing uniforms which denoted both task group and subgroup membership, and performance of an intellectually challenging problem solving task which was performed with out an outgroup present. The intergroup identity management strategy involved pre-task manipulation of social identity, performance of a physically and intellectually involving problem solving task requiring integration of subgroup knowledge and inter-functional cooperation within a competitive intergroup context. As in the intragroup condition, participants were made aware of the social complexity of the task group through their uniforms. Participants responded differently to the two identity management processes, with the intergroup strategy proving more beneficial than the intragroup strategy. The intragroup process was marked by non-significant pre-post differences, indicating neither Improving functioning of cross-functional teams a marked improvement nor decline in group functioning. In contrast, participants from the intergroup condition reported results indicating increased post-task self-definition with the cross-functional team, increased trust, and higher effort. Losing the competition did not impact on post-task levels of any dependent variable with the exception of subjective uncertainty, where 'winners' reported less uncertainty than 'losers'. The intergroup condition gave rise to the most potential perceived 'distinctiveness threat'; however there was no sign of any threat across the array of dependent variables. Therefore it can be suggested that the intergroup identity management strategy provided some protection to the cross-functional team from the negative impact of inter-functional distinctiveness threat. All results could be explained with recourse to the concepts of SIT/SCT which suggests social identity theory has utility for interpreting results as well as developing team building processes in cross-functional teams. Future research in cross-functional team settings would benefit from the development of comprehensive measures of uncertainty, status, and heterogeneity with item content drawn from social identity and self-categorisation theories.

Working on teams with professionals from other fields is often challenging. Researchers from the fields of Management and Writing Studies have frequently emphasized the tension and conflict experienced in such inter-professional, or cross-functional, teams. Whether studying engineering project teams, groups of medical professionals, or business teams, researchers have found that inter-professional work is often complicated by misunderstanding and miscommunication due to problems associated with inter-group professional identity. This interdisciplinary research draws from the fields of Management and Writing Studies in the exploration of a modern, inter-professional proposal writing team working at a commercial enterprise. A modified version of Grounded Theory, coupled with Rhetorical Genre Studies analysis, serves as a methodological framework for the study. The analytical framework is provided by the combination of Rhetorical Genre Studies, a model of successful team interactions, borrowed from Management Studies, and an expanded version of Wenger’s conceptualization of multiple communities of practice (CoPs). The research reveals the complexity of inter-professional team work. Professional identity of the team’s member is also presented as more complicated than previously anticipated. The study indicates that the team has been heavily influenced by a former, or an antecedent, CoP to which some of the team members belong. The genre and leadership preferences of the antecedent CoP are shown to moderate much of the predicted tension and conflict in the work of the team. The interdisciplinary study reveals the effects of antecedent CoPs and professional identity of the team members on the inter-professional team dynamics. Both researchers and practitioners may benefit from the findings of the study and a broader interdisciplinary approach used to investigate and interpret the dynamics of inter-professional teams.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 218-237.

A presente pesquisa trata da compreensão e caracterização do papel do design dentro de uma empresa de desenvolvimento de produtos digitais por meio do ponto de vista de membros das equipes de projetos e seus gestores. Uma das principais motivações para a condução do estudo provém do fato de que poucas pesquisas do tipo foram realizadas em âmbito regional e direcionadas a projetos digitais, a fim de explorar o tema. Pretende-se com a pesquisa, fornecer subsídios para um melhor aproveitamento dos benefícios do uso do design e das habilidades dos designers. A investigação foi conduzida, a partir de um estudo de caso realizado na empresa onde a pesquisadora atua também como designer e fundamentada sob uma perspectiva temporal dos papéis do design e do entendimento sobre o funcionamento de equipes multidisciplinares no processo de desenvolvimento de produtos digitais. Foram selecionados dois instrumentos de fundamentação teórica para análise dos resultados, a Design Ladder e a Taxonomia dos Papéis do Design. Por fim, apresenta-se uma discussão sobre a percepção do design pelos membros da equipe e concluiu-se que o nível de maturidade em design detectado no objeto de estudo encontra-se no segundo nível da Design Ladder: design como provedor de diferencial estético, embora seja percebido através dos discursos o desejo pelo terceiro nível, que trata o design como processo. / This research deals with the understanding and characterization of the role of design in a digital product development company and through the point of view of members of the project teams and their managers. One of the main motivation for conducting this study is due to the fact that little research has been conducted at the regional level and oriented for digital products, in order to explore the topic, and also with the aim of providing subsidies to better exploit the benefits of the use of design and designers skills. The investigation was conducted from a case study in the company where the researcher works as a designer too and based on a temporal perspective of the roles of design and understanding of the functioning of multidisciplinary teams in the digital product development process. Two instruments were selected from the theoretical background in order to analyze the results: the Design Ladder and the Taxonomy of Roles Design. Lastly, a discussion is presented on the perception of design and was concluded that the ripeness level of design are in the second level of Design Ladder: design as esthetics, although it is perceived by the team speech a desire for reach the third level who treats design as a process.

A presente pesquisa trata da compreensão e caracterização do papel do design dentro de uma empresa de desenvolvimento de produtos digitais por meio do ponto de vista de membros das equipes de projetos e seus gestores. Uma das principais motivações para a condução do estudo provém do fato de que poucas pesquisas do tipo foram realizadas em âmbito regional e direcionadas a projetos digitais, a fim de explorar o tema. Pretende-se com a pesquisa, fornecer subsídios para um melhor aproveitamento dos benefícios do uso do design e das habilidades dos designers. A investigação foi conduzida, a partir de um estudo de caso realizado na empresa onde a pesquisadora atua também como designer e fundamentada sob uma perspectiva temporal dos papéis do design e do entendimento sobre o funcionamento de equipes multidisciplinares no processo de desenvolvimento de produtos digitais. Foram selecionados dois instrumentos de fundamentação teórica para análise dos resultados, a Design Ladder e a Taxonomia dos Papéis do Design. Por fim, apresenta-se uma discussão sobre a percepção do design pelos membros da equipe e concluiu-se que o nível de maturidade em design detectado no objeto de estudo encontra-se no segundo nível da Design Ladder: design como provedor de diferencial estético, embora seja percebido através dos discursos o desejo pelo terceiro nível, que trata o design como processo. / This research deals with the understanding and characterization of the role of design in a digital product development company and through the point of view of members of the project teams and their managers. One of the main motivation for conducting this study is due to the fact that little research has been conducted at the regional level and oriented for digital products, in order to explore the topic, and also with the aim of providing subsidies to better exploit the benefits of the use of design and designers skills. The investigation was conducted from a case study in the company where the researcher works as a designer too and based on a temporal perspective of the roles of design and understanding of the functioning of multidisciplinary teams in the digital product development process. Two instruments were selected from the theoretical background in order to analyze the results: the Design Ladder and the Taxonomy of Roles Design. Lastly, a discussion is presented on the perception of design and was concluded that the ripeness level of design are in the second level of Design Ladder: design as esthetics, although it is perceived by the team speech a desire for reach the third level who treats design as a process.

Today’s world of work, especially in highly specialized knowledge-based industries such as scientific communications, is increasingly complex. Leaders are challenged to drive growth through innovation. Cross-functional teams are challenged to bring innovative ideas to life. Despite a growing body of literature on team learning, current research does not extend to this highly specialized setting, especially around how innovation is implemented by cross-functional teams. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to discover how one cross-functional innovation team within a scientific communications agency learns, performs, and contributes to team and organizational outcomes, specifically what learning conditions are present and what behaviors are adopted. The research revealed how team members characterized their experience of cross-functional innovation teaming; what the team members perceived to be the optimal organizational and team learning conditions; what kinds of behaviors team members adopted to optimize their learning and performance; and what types of learning outcomes the team achieved. For cross-functional teams implementing innovative projects, conclusions were that: (1) successful implementation is facilitated by the organization’s approach to innovation, specifically their strategy and their support for cross-functional teams; (2) optimal learning conditions for the team are a shared aspirational vision, a climate of psychological safety, and innovation-responsive operating principles; (3) psychological safety and innovation-responsive operating principles facilitate innovation team behaviors of experimenting, crossing boundaries, and collaboration; (4) cross-functional innovation team leadership is emergent and may come from multiple sources based on the expertise of the team members and what leadership functions are most needed when; and (5) team outcomes include implementation of a new product, discovery of new ways of working, and team member satisfaction. Knowing this helps to determine what team learning models and research are most relevant to innovation teams in this practice setting and what additional practices or supports might be helpful to guide these kinds of cross-functional innovation teams and their organizations to greater success.

Recent research indicates that teams are an essential element of most leading organizations (Mohrrnan, Cohen, & Mohrrnan, 1995). With the proliferation of team use comes the need for research to better define the design and management requirements unique to specific types of teams. This research focused on cross-functional design teams tasked with the organizational redesign of sociotechnical work systems. A design team is a cross-functional multi-lex el team with the responsibility to create and often implement a plan for work system redesign. The research objective was to develop a deeper understanding of the team characteristics (called design features) that were most related to team effectiveness. Team effectiveness was defined to include both team performance and team member satisfaction. Cross-functional design teams were studied across two large organizations and key learnings were identified from a third large organization with substantial experience in team-based work redesign. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from team members using survey questionnaires and interviews. The data analysis strategy included Within and Between Analysis (which uses analysis of variance, correlations, and analysis of covariance) and multiple regression techniques to identify design features most related to team effectiveness at the team level. Results indicated that team skills and clarity in team sponsor expectations were significantly related to team performance at the team level (r= 0.83, p< 0.005, and r=0.89, p< 0.005, respectively). / Ph. D.

IT-avdelningar är många gånger pressade att leverera ett värde med kvalitet och inom en tidsbegränsad period, vilket kan resultera i ofullständiga leveranser. För att möta dessa krav behöver IT-avdelningar arbeta med att effektivisera sina verksamhetsprocesser och kontinuerligt lärande. Genom tvärfunktionella team kan effektiviteten öka genom en förbättrad samordning och minskat beroende av nyckelpersoner.Den här intervjustudien riktar sig mot en IT-avdelning inom ett försäkringsbolag, med syfte att studera fallföretagets nuvarande verksamhetsprocesser inom utveckling och förvaltning för att identifiera utmaningar som orsakar ofullständiga leveranser. Därtill avser studien att föreslå förändringsåtgärder som kan eliminera dessa orsaker. Inledningsvis genomfördes en litteraturgenomgång för att anskaffa kunskap inom området. Utifrån insamlad kunskap från tidigare studier och litteratur har en analysmodell tagits fram för att sammanfattningsvis visualisera faktorer som kan öka graden av avslutade uppgifter inom en leverans. Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ ansats i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Sex respondenter från fallföretaget har deltagit i studien, där samtliga respondenter har ett direkt beroende till fallförtagets utvecklings- och förvaltningsprocesser. Utifrån en analys av resultatet med stöd av analysmodellen har studiens undersökningsfrågor besvarats.Slutsatserna som kan dras av denna studie är att fallföretagets utvecklings- och förvaltningsprocesser är strukturerade i tre huvudsakliga områden: Fokussprint, Förvaltning och Projekt. Uppdelningen av nyutveckling och förvaltning i olika team har förbättrat effektivitet och fokus för teamet. Däremot har flera faktorer identifierats som orsakarofullständiga leveranser, inklusive komplexitet som upptäcks sent i genomförandet, brist på formella uppföljningar och kompetensglapp inom teamet. Studien resulterade i föreslagna förbättringsåtgärder för fallföretaget som inkluderar behovetav förbättrad tidsestimering, formella uppföljningar och en kultur av kontinuerligt lärande. Genom att införa mer strukturerade metoder för lärande, feedback och uppföljning kan företagets verksamhetsprocesser och resultat uppnå en omfattande förbättring.

This study investigates the team aspects of a process improvement project situated in an Internet banking system maintenance and modification phase. To investigate how team processes could be improved in this context, four interventional change techniques were introduced and implemented during an action research study in which the researcher was included as one of the team members and participated during group meetings and discussions. Internet banking is an important Internet-delivered service which is expected to provide benefits for both commercial banks and bank customers. Internet banking allows bank customers to have the freedom to perform their financial activities at their convenience. Developing, maintaining, and improving Internet banking systems requires large amounts of investment to maintain high levels of Internet banking service quality, and the maintenance and modification phase of the overall lifecycle cost is a considerable part of this investment. Therefore, in order to ensure high levels of usability, reliability, and quality for these Internet banking services, commercial banks need to make significant investments in the maintenance and modification phases of their Internet banking systems' lifecycle. The four interventional change techniques used in this study were: departmental participation, equal participation, holistic scenario, and management support. The four techniques were found to be influential in developing process improvements in the maintenance and modification phase of Internet banking systems. These techniques generated several significant improvements which directly affected the way team members managed their work. The significant contributions of these interventional change techniques were: the creation of cross-functional multilevel teams, development of effective departmental participation and communication techniques, extended scope and knowledge by the team members of Internet banking systems, an increase in team learning and understanding, techniques to change problem structure, and an end to end problem-solving approach. ii These contributions also directly improved the performance of the Internet banking systems maintenance team, and there was a significant improvement in the outcomes of the Internet banking systems maintenance and modification phase.