Many contemporary scientific research projects are composed of large numbers of researchers working together to provide solutions to social issues that affect our society. In an attempt to understand and address these issues, projects have been implemented where researchers from a wide variety of disciplines come together and collaborate. As this research includes a variety researchers, it requires a unique approach. Questions such as how to make these projects as effective as possible, how to properly evaluate these projects, and how to gauge the quality and success of these projects need to be answered. These are directly addressed in this research by evaluating a large team science project called iUTAH (Innovative Urban Transitions and Aridregion HydroSustainability). The iUTAH project was established to address water sustainability in Northern Utah, USA, and to bolster the states capacity to address water sustainability. This research employs face-to-face interviews with researchers involved in iUTAH. Findings from this research highlight the important influence that team size, geographically dispersed team members, the importance of cyberinfrastructure, researcher rank, research focus areas, and in-person meetings have on scientific collaboration. Additionally, findings illuminate multiple dimensions of project success that include traditional indicators of research success (e.g. publications and citations), as well as project specific indicators (e.g. capacity building and relationships) that are unique to collaborative scientific approaches. These findings contribute to the literature and understanding of large team science collaborations, and can be used to inform future projects to ensure they are as effective as possible.

Although most working adults possess a lay understanding of understaffing in the workplace and may, in fact, feel they are experiencing such a stressor, a review of the research literature reveals a general lack of empirical work on understaffing and its consequences. Hudson and Shen (2013, Development and testing of a new measure of understaffing. Paper presented at the Southern Management Association 2013 Meeting, New Orleans, LA) recently proposed a new model of understaffing that distinguished between two types of personnel deficiencies, manpower and expertise shortages, and linked these dimensions to worker well-being and attitudinal outcomes and identified likely mediating mechanisms. However, Hudson and Shen focused exclusively on the individual level of analysis. Therefore, the current study extends their work by investigating whether prior findings also hold at the group level of analysis. Participants in this study were members of 66 intact work groups and their supervisors (N = 57 for groups with matched supervisor data) from a variety of industries and organizations, who filled out a one-time survey. Results supported that perceptions of understaffing, both manpower and expertise, are shared within work groups and that there is some convergence between work groups and their supervisors regarding levels of understaffing. Results from correlational and regression analyses also supported differential relationships between manpower and expertise understaffing and group outcomes. Finally, structural equation models generally upheld Hudson and Shen's (2013) framework at the group level of analysis; results were consistent with group quantitative workload, potency, and role ambiguity serving as key mediators in the relationships between shared group perceptions of understaffing and unit well-being and attitudinal outcomes (i.e., group emotional exhaustion and cohesion). This study broadens our understanding of the construct of understaffing and presents a number of promising directions to be pursued in future research.

Software systems are getting larger and more complex, while the requirements are becoming vaguer and more rapidly changing. These trends make current software development more and more likely a team work. To integrate multiple developers into a coherent structured management process and make team software development a positive-sum game for both higher productivity and better quality, many team soft ware development methodologies have been proposed and practised. An emerging methodology is collaborative programming, which allows a group of programmers to work together on the same source code for design, implementation of individual components, and integration of individual components. Compared with other team software methodologies that only address needs in some phases or situations, collaborative programming is more adaptive to the variety of different phases or situations in a team software development process. A core technical component in collaborative programming is collaborative editing, which allows a group of programmers to view and edit the same source code. To support different phases or situations in an Internet-based collaborative programming process, collaborative editing must meet the requirements of supporting unconstrained, responsive, real-time collaborative editing; unconstrained, syncretic, non-real-time collaborative editing; and smooth, flexible switching between real-time and non-real-time collaborative editing. This thesis research contributes several novel techniques to address these requirements, and an Internet-based collaborative programming environment to integrate those techniques. These research contributions have advanced state-of-the-art technologies on col laborative editing for supporting Internet-based collaborative programming. First, we contribute a collaborative highlighting gestural communication technique for unconstrained, responsive, real-time collaborative editing. This technique is particularly effective in improving the quality of real-time interaction on text-based source code documents. The contribution to the operational transformation technology is the extension of the technology to support group awareness. It includes a package of operational transformation functions and transformation control algorithms for consistency maintenance in collaborative highlighting, and a flexible undo solution that has the capability of undoing any highlighting operation at any time. Second, we contribute a flexible operation-based merging technique for unconstrained, syncretic, non-real-time collaborative editing, which is efficient and has the capability of textually integrating all changes, and automatically detecting and resolving syntactic conflicts according to application-dependent user-specified policies. The contribution to the operational transformation technology is the extension of the technology to support unconstrained, syncretic, non-real-time collaborative editing. Its includes a log compression algorithm, a textual merging algorithm, and a syntactic merging algorithm. Moreover, we contribute a flexible notification technique to support flexible collaborative editing: unconstrained, responsive, real-time collaborative editing; uncon strained, syncretic, non-real-time collaborative editing; and smooth, flexible switching between them. The contribution to the operational transformation technology is the extension of the technology to support flexible collaborative editing. It includes a new transformation control algorithm that has a linear time complexity, two notification algorithms that support propagation and acceptance of any notifications at any time, and a notification propagation protocol that is efficient for both real-time and non-real-time collaborative editing.

From an organisational perspective, the potential benefits of enhancing workplace cohesion are many, amongst which an increase in employee performance would be the most tangible and possibly the most desirable. The primary aim of the present research was to explore the capacity to increase levels of cohesion, and therefore facilitate team building, through the use of cooperative multiplayer computer gaming (CMCG). Study 1, involving 26 male and 23 female university students, required participants to play two, twenty minute, games of the commercially available computer game QUAKE(tm) as teams of 3 or of 4, against an equal number of computer generated artificial intelligence opposition. The interpersonal attraction and task focus facets of Cohesion, as well as Stress and Mood State, were measured using self-report questionnaires at both the pre- and post-test stages of the experiment. Results supported the prediction that exposing individuals to a computer game of a cooperative and interdependent nature would increase self-rated levels of cohesion, on both the interpersonal attraction and task focus sub-scales. Study 2 aimed to expand upon the findings of study 1, increasing the generalisability of the study 1 findings by surveying existing teams engaging in CMCG via the Internet. Those surveyed were individuals who currently played the Team Fortress module of QUAKE�, and who belonged to a Team Fortress Clan - the CMCG equivalent of a social sporting team. Individuals playing QUAKE(tm) via the Internet were found to be as cohesed with their team members as were the laboratory participants after the CMCG intervention. Further, important group dynamic factors evident in Team Fortress Clans, such as success being linked with higher levels of cohesion, were consistent with literary considerations regarding conventional, non-CMCG teams. Additional research exploration is required regarding the utility of CMCG, however, the present research indicates that such an exploration is warranted and should produce positive and practical results.

Thesis (M.A. (Psychology) - Rhodes University, 2000.

<p>Utvecklingen mot virtuell och mobil samverkan i organisationer har skapat utspridda team som samarbetar med hjälp av tekniska lösningar (t.ex. e-post och telefonkonferens). Arbetets positiva faktorer för individen och för organisationen utmanas i virtuella sammanhang. Genom en enkätundersökning (<em>N</em>=38) undersöktes hur arbetstillfredställelse, tillfredställelse med teamet, teamets utspriddhet samt ömsesidigt uppgiftsberoende var relaterade till organisations- och teamengagemang. Engagemang mättes med frågor ur OCQ (Mowday et al., 1979). Arbetstillfredställelse och tillfredställelse med teamet var de viktigaste faktorerna för organisations- och teamengagemang. Enkätmaterialet kompletterades med intervjuer (<em>N</em>=5). De mest centrala teman i intervjuerna var att arbete i virtuellt team innebar anpassning och acceptans samt ömsesidigt tillit. Att arbetstillfredställelse gjorde skillnad i organisationsengagemang när teamets utspriddhet var hög uppmanar till framtida studier avseende virtuella team. </p>

<p>This thesis investigates the possibilities to extend a tactical air combat simulator, named TACSI, with support for team behavior in fight and attack scenarios. A model for describing teamwork has been developed. The model uses plans and primitive team actions to achieve goals. A social structure is used to transfer the responsibility for making decisions from the team to a single agent within the team. Special care have been taken to allow an effctive distribution of targets within the team. In order to test the concepts of the model and to evaluate the applicability in TACSI, a limited implementation of the team behavior model have been made. The results show that the concepts of the model works and that the model is applicable in TACSI, but some things is left to be specified in order to make a complete implementation.</p>

<p>Denna kvalitativa studie undersöker personalens upplevelser av grupphandledning som ett yrkesmässigt stöd i psykosocialt arbete. Vidare undersöks hur grupphandledning kan bidra till personalens välbefinnande samt vilka egenskaper handledaren bör besitta. Studien utgår från en hermeneutisk forskningstradition med en kvalitativ ansats. Undersökningen bygger på semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra yrkesverksamma personer med erfarenhet av grupphandledning. Resultatet tolkas utifrån Kadushins handlednings modell i socialt arbete och en förenklad form utav Antonovskys salutogena modell. Resultatet visar att grupphandledning utgör ett yrkesmässigt stöd samt bidrar till personalens utveckling såväl personlig som professionell, vilket har en positiv inverkan i personalens välbefinnande. Handledaren bör ha kunskap om organisationens kultur, de handleddas arbetsvillkor och arbetsförhållande samt inneha goda kunskaper om att handleda. Andra intressanta slutsatser är att handledare samt deltagarna i grupp-handledning bär ett personligt ansvar och är i behov av kontinuitet för att åstadkomma förändringar.</p>

<p><p> </p></p><p>This thesis is based upon the assumption that in Swedish school today it is a wide gap regarding the information flow when pupils are switching school. This was one of the reasons Skolverket published a report clearly stating that this is the case. The purpose of this thesis is to examine and describe how teachers are working in a teacher team at transitions to see and understand what their work may mean individually, in a group and to the school as an organisation. The questions at issue is to see how the teachers cooperate during transitions and how they notice students in need of extra support and students level of knowledge during transitions. The two last questions at issue is first to see how teachers approach parent’s expectations on the school and the teachers, secondly it is to examine what implications their work will have on the school. The examined group is a teacher team in an independent school working in grade seven. The school has the grades six to nine. The result was achieved through two qualitative interviews and six qualitative questionnaires in order to describe the informants experience as good as possible. The analysis is based upon two concepts: organisational learning and reflection as a collective process and how these concepts are dependant on the other. The main points of the analysis show how important the teacher team’s work is to both the individual and the organisation’s competence and learning development. It also shows how it helps the pupils to get a smooth transition even though the lack of information teachers has to deal with when the new pupils arrive.</p>

<p>Under de senaste decennierna har det blivit allt populärare att organisera olika typer av verk­samheter i team. Vår avsikt med detta examensarbete var att skapa en förståelse för vad ett team är, när team är det bästa arbetssättet, hur man förankrar ett team samt vilka faktorer organisationer bör ta i beaktande i strävan att skapa ett väl fungerande team. I vår empiriska undersökning genomfördes semistrukturerade intervjuer med ledningen och teamledarna inom en organisation som nyligen infört en teambaserad organisation. I resultaten speglas ledningens och teamledarnas upplevelser av denna process. Våra resultat visar att det finns många faktorer som bör tas i beaktande då man organiserar verksamheten i team. Det som ter sig mest problematisk i den här skildrade processen är att hitta en balans mellan tillräckliga riktlinjer för teamen samtidigt som att ge dem tillräcklig autonomi för att de ska känna sig delaktiga. Ett sätt att hantera problematiken skulle kunna vara att ledningen försöker se till de individuella behoven hos respektive teamledare för att utifrån dessa komma fram till vilket stöd och vilken typ av riktlinjer som skulle kunna vara lämpliga. Teamledarna skulle också kunna ta hjälp av varandra för att tillsammans definiera rollen, få en klarare bild av vad upp­giften innebär och vilka behov de har för att kunna leva upp till egna och andras förvänt­ningar.</p>