<p>Engineering students are expected to develop professional
skills in addition to their technical knowledge as outcomes of accredited
engineering programs. Among the most critical professional skills is the
ability to work effectively in a team. Working effectively in teams has
learning benefits and also provides an environment for developing other
professional skills such as communication, leadership skills, and time
management. However, students will develop those skills only if their teams
function effectively.</p>
<p>This dissertation includes three studies that
together inform team formation and management practices to improve team
dynamics. The first study investigates mixed-gender team dynamics to determine
whether those teams are realizing their potential. The second study explores the
relationship of individual psychological safety and students’ team member effectiveness
and the moderating effects of team-level psychological safety. The third study
explores self-rating bias among first-year engineering students and its
relationship to student characteristics and dimensions of team-member
effectiveness. </p>
<p>Although mixed-gender teams had equal team
dynamics with all-male teams, more team facilitation and training are needed to
improve the experience of mixed-gender teams. Asian, Black, and Hispanic/Latino
students, as well as students with lower GPA, report lower psychological
safety, which is associated with lower team-member effectiveness. Team-level
psychological safety moderated this effect for Asian and Hispanic/Latino
students. Students’ effort in teams was associated with lower self-rating bias,
likely an indication of greater self-awareness. Together, these studies and
their findings contribute to a broader understanding that there are
interrelationships among team composition, team dynamics, and team-member
effectiveness, and that these relationships differ based on student
characteristics such as race/ethnicity, gender, and prior knowledge. This work
adds to the body of research demonstrating the importance of teaching students
about effective teamwork, conducting regular peer evaluations of team functioning,
and interpreting those peer evaluations carefully to avoid perpetuating any
biases. This work also demonstrates the usefulness of psychological safety as
an important indicator of marginalization.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/12797600 |
| Date | 12 August 2020 |
| Creators | Behzad Beigpourian (9234419) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/UNDERSTANDING_THE_RELATIONSHIP_BETWEEN_TEAM_DYNAMICS_ON_PEER_EVALUATIONS_AND_TEAM_EFFECTIVENESS/12797600 |
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