Interteam Coordination, Project Commitment, and Teamwork in Multiteam R&D Projects: A Longitudinal Study

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to shed more light on the complex relationship between trust and performance in the context of cross-functional project teams. This study presents a moderated mediation model that investigates the impact of team trust on team performance mediated by project commitment and moderated by climate strength (the consensus among team members on the level of trust).Design/methodology/approachTo test the proposed model, data were collected from 179 project team members in 31 Norwegian construction project teams.FindingsResults indicated that project commitment fully mediates the relationship between propensity and trustworthiness and team performance, while it partially mediates the relationship between cooperation and team performance. For monitoring, there results showed no mediation. The results yielded no support for the moderation effects of climate strength, suggesting that the mean-level approach to studying trust at the team level still is important.Research limitations/implicationsCross-sectional survey data suffer from being unable to test causality and samples are relatively small. Future research should test the models on other samples and in combination with data other than self-report. Longitudinal and multilevel studies are also warranted.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that trust has an impact on project commitment and both directly and indirectly on team performance. Interventions to develop a high trust climate in project teams can thus contribute to improved project performance.Originality/valueThis study offers new insight into the complex relationship between trust and performance and improves our understanding of trust in cross-functional project teams.

IntroductionEffective teamwork plays a critical role in achieving high-performance outcomes in healthcare. Consequently, conducting a comprehensive assessment of team performance is essential for providing meaningful feedback during team trainings and enabling comparisons in scientific studies. However, traditional methods like self-reports or behavior observations have limitations such as susceptibility to bias or being resource consuming. To overcome these limitations and gain a more comprehensive understanding of team processes and performance, the assessment of objective measures, such as physiological parameters, can be valuable. These objective measures can complement traditional methods and provide a more holistic view of team performance. The aim of this study was to explore the potential of the use of objective measures for evaluating team performance for research and training purposes. For this, experts in the field of research and medical simulation training were interviewed to gather their opinions, ideas, and concerns regarding this novel approach.MethodsA total of 34 medical and research experts participated in this exploratory qualitative study, engaging in semi-structured interviews. During the interview, experts were asked for (a) their opinion on measuring team performance with objective measures, (b) their ideas concerning potential objective measures suitable for measuring team performance of healthcare teams, and (c) their concerns regarding the use of objective measures for evaluating team performance. During data analysis responses were categorized per question.ResultsThe findings from the 34 interviews revealed a predominantly positive reception of the idea of utilizing objective measures for evaluating team performance. However, the experts reported limited experience in actively incorporating objective measures into their training and research. Nevertheless, they identified various potential objective measures, including acoustical, visual, physiological, and endocrinological measures and a time layer. Concerns were raised regarding feasibility, complexity, cost, and privacy issues associated with the use of objective measures.DiscussionThe study highlights the opportunities and challenges associated with employing objective measures to assess healthcare team performance. It particularly emphasizes the concerns expressed by medical simulation experts and team researchers, providing valuable insights for developers, trainers, researchers, and healthcare professionals involved in the design, planning or utilization of objective measures in team training or research.

A major challenge of modern teams lies in the coordination of the efforts not just of individuals within a team, but also of teams whose efforts are ultimately entwined with those of other teams. Despite this fact, much of the research on work teams fails to consider the external dependencies that exist in organizational teams and instead focuses on internal or within team processes. Multi-Team Systems Theory is used as a theoretical framework for understanding teams-of-teams organizational forms (Multi-Team Systems; MTS's); and leadership teams are proposed as one remedy that enable MTS members to dedicate needed resources to intra-team activities while ensuring effective synchronization of between-team activities. Two functions of leader teams were identified: strategy development and coordination facilitation; and a model was developed delineating the effects of the two leader roles on multi-team cognitions, processes, and performance. Three hundred eighty four undergraduate psychology and business students participated in a laboratory simulation that modeled an MTS; each MTS was comprised ofthree, two-member teams each performing distinct but interdependent components of an F-22 battle simulation task. Two roles of leader teams supported in the literature were manipulated through training in a 2 (strategy training vs. control) x 2 (coordination training vs. control) design. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANO VA) and mediated regression analysis were used to test the study's hypotheses. Results indicate that both training manipulations produced differences in the effectiveness of the intended form of leader behavior. The enhanced leader strategy training resulted in more accurate (but not more similar) MTS mental models, better inter-team coordination, and higher levels of multi-team (but not component team) performance. Moreover, mental model accuracy fully mediated the relationship between leader strategy and inter-teani coordination; and inter-team coordination fully mediated the effect of leader strategy on multi-team performance. Leader coordination training led to better inter-team coordination, but not to higher levels of either team or multi-team performance. Mediated Input-Process-Output (I-P-O) relationships were not supported with leader coordination; rather, leader coordination facilitation and inter-team coordination uniquely contributed to component team and multi-team level performance. The implications of these findings and future research directions are also discussed.

This study examines the relationship between software project team characteristics and team performance by focusing on two questions: whether or not different team characteristics in software project team affect project performance, and whether or not different types of team motivation lead to different level of influence to the relationship between team characteristics and performance? In this study, we argue that team motivation should be considered as a moderate between the relationship of team characteristics and performance. Different kind and level of team motivation can result in different project performance outcome. We examine the interaction effects between team characteristics and team motivation before their final impact to the performance. The results show that the relationship between project team characteristics and performance can be interfered with team motivation. Management should pay more attention to team motivation within project teams so that a better project performance could be achieved.

Introduction: The quality of team performance during medical crises impacts patient outcomes. Team performance can be enhanced by simulated or case-based education. Survival after pediatric cardiac arrest is excellent when effective CPR is performed. Measuring team performance during CPR events can identify errors, allowing development of focused team training. Multiple personnel are involved in resuscitative events and hence, multidisciplinary feedback of perceived errors must be sought. Hypothesis: There is a high rate of qualitative errors that occur during CPR events in the PICU and discordance in perception of errors by team members. Methods: A survey was created of demographics and 3 broad categories of errors- 1. Systems issues 2. Improper BLS/PALS application 3. Crisis resource management (CRM) deficiencies. Personnel conducting the surveys were educated about error categories and debriefing techniques. For all cardiopulmonary arrests(CPAs) in the PICU, the Critical Care (CCM) Attending, Fellow, PICU nurse and respiratory therapist that participated in the resuscitation were interviewed, using formatted, yet open-ended questions. Results: There were 30 CPA events from February to July 2012. 6 patients had 2 events each. Spontaneous circulation returned in 24 events (80%). 21 of the 24 patients survived to hospital discharge (84%). The team leader did multidisciplinary code debriefing following 10 events (33%). 360 degree surveys were successfully done for all team members in 28 cases(93%). Only 2 events(6%) were perceived as error-free by all primary respondents. Systems issues were identified by at least 1 team member in 18 events(60%), BLS/PALS deficiencies in 18 events(60%) and CRM deficiencies in 25 events(83%). More than 1 category of error was identified in 23 events(76%). In 14 events(46%), there was lack of clarity about team leadership. Conclusions: There is a significant rate of errors in PICU CPR team performance. Ample opportunity exists to improve the quality of CPR through team training. Based on our results, CRM is the commonest category of qualitative deficiencies during CPAs and must be primarily targeted during multidisciplinary simulation training and mock codes to enhance patient care.

As exploration of new frontiers continues, the need for team training in extreme environments grows. Operating in isolated, confined, and extreme environments (ICE) demands novel approaches to team performance measurement, as well as new strategies and methods for ensuring teams members are (1) equipped with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes critical for effective team performance over time, and (2) are supported by just-in-time training or other resources when breakdowns in performance inevitably occur. This panel brings together a range of experts in human performance in extreme environments to provide a comprehensive overview and discussion of the most current approaches and trends regarding team training and performance measurement in ICE environments.

With the increasing interest in the concept of justice in the group behavior literature, the procedural justice (PJ) climate attracts many researchers and practitioners from different fields. Nevertheless, the PJ climate is rarely addressed in the new product development (NPD) project team literature. Specifically, the technology and innovation management (TIM) literature provides little about what the PJ climate is, its nature and benefits, and how it works in NPD project teams. Also, few studies investigate the antecedents and consequences of the PJ climate in NPD teams enhancing the understanding of this concept from a practical perspective. This paper discusses the PJ climate theory in a NPD team context and empirically demonstrates how team members' positive collective perceptions of a PJ climate can be developed and how a PJ climate influences a project's performance in NPD teams. In particular, team culture values including employee orientation, customer orientation, systematic management control, innovativeness, and social responsibility were investigated as antecedents, and team learning, speed to market, and market success of new products were studied as outcomes of PJ climate in this paper. By studying 83 NPD project teams it was found on the basis of using partial least squares (PLS) method that (1) the level of employee, customer and innovativeness orientation as well as systematic management control during the project had a positive impact on developing a PJ climate in an NPD team; (2) a PJ climate positively affects team learning and product development time (i.e., speed to market); and (3) team learning and speed to market mediate the relations between the PJ climate and new product success (NPS). Based on the findings, this paper suggests that managers should enhance the PJ climate and team culture in the project team to enhance team learning and to develop products faster. In particular, managers should (1) open a discussion forum among people and create a dialogue for people who disagree with the other project team members rather than dictating or emposing others ideas to them, (2) facilitate information searching and collecting mechanisms to make decisions effectively and to clarify uncertainties, and (3) allow team members to challange project‐related ideas and decisions and modify them with consensus. Also, to enhance the PJ climate during the project, managers should (1) respect and listen to all team members' ideas and try to understand why they are sometimes in opposition, (2) define team members' task boundaries and clarify project norms and project goals, and (3) set knowledge‐questioning values by facilitating team members to try out new ideas and seek out new ways to do things.

List of contributors. Introduction (M.M. Beyerlein et al.). Foreword (L. Broedling). Acknowledgments. Empowering work teams with knowledge: enhancing performance in service and information oriented industries (V. Anand et al.). Cognitive engineering in team performance measurement (R.J. Stout et al.). Helping team members help themselves: propositions for facilitating guided team self-correction (K.A. Smith-Jentsch et al.). Influence in self-managing teams: a conceptual examination of the effects of content and context factors on training enrollment decisions (W.J. Smith et al.). Evaluating the capability formation potential of integrated project teams (P.F. Skilton, V. Smith-Daniels). Applying behavior modification to the management of team performance: a systems perspective (M.T. Barriere et al.). Organizational considerations in the evaluation and compensation of work team performance (D. Windsor). An integrative theoretical framework for understanding team reward allocation preferences (A.G. Parisi, L.T. Eby). Performance management in a fourth wave society: systemic measurement, evaluation, and incentives for developing a holonic performance management system (R.E. Debold, Jr.). Complex systems and sensemaking teams: conflict, connectedness, and leadership (D. Duchon et al.). About the editors.

This thesis hypothesizes that providing task specific information to individual team members will improve coordination and decision-making, and therefore team performance, at time critical tasks. Major themes addressed in this research include teams and team processes, mental models, team mental models, work domain analysis, and hierarchical task analysis. Furthermore, the theory behind the development of complementary models is introduced. A unique method to identify the information sources and requirements in a complex team environment is first discussed in general and then specifically applied in two domains. The findings are presented of two experiments examining the effects of imposing different information distribution strategies that range from no complementariness to full complementariness of information. Team communication, team and individual task performance, workload, and timeliness and effectiveness of team decision making were assessed in nominal and off-nominal conditions. The first experiment used an automobile simulator and examined team navigation while driving. A second experiment was designed to incorporate additional measures to more specifically investigate individual performance, team workload, and clarity of information requirements using a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter simulator. The procedures used for both experiments provided for dynamic yet controlled environments through which critical factors that influence team process and performance could be evaluated accurately. Results of these experiments provide empirical evidence that providing task relevant information to individual team members in a time critical environment, while limiting their access to non-relevant information, improves individual and team performance. Furthermore, there is evidence of increased individual performance that indicates this method of distributing information among team members may provide individual crewmembers with a more accurate “task relevant” mental model of their own environment. This research provides new insight into how the distribution of information among team members effects the development of mental models, information requirements, team and individual performance, and communications, and highlights several directions for future research. The information distribution design principles presented in this thesis address the heterogeneity of teams; teams cannot be thought of as groups of identical individuals. The results concerning the communication, workload, performance and team of mental models were consistent across the domains in this research.

Effective teamwork is not only essential for teams themselves, but also for organizations and our society. To facilitate team processes and enhance team performance, feedback interventions are a widely used means. However, different types of feedback (i.e., individual vs. team-level feedback, performance vs. process feedback) can have various effects leaving the question of their effectiveness unanswered. This is especially important when team members’ attitudes (namely collective orientation) are considered. Thus, understanding the interplay between types of feedback and team members’ attitudes would reveal new opportunities for fostering reliable teamwork. The methodology of the present study is based on a laboratory approach. Teams (N = 142) of two worked together over four scenarios to extinguish forest fires in a microworld. We examined the effects of collective orientation on team coordination and team performance. To understand the interplay between feedback and attitudes we examined the effect of different feedback interventions on team performance and on a change in collective orientation. For analyzing multilevel mediation and changes over time, Bayesian multilevel models were applied. Results show a positive relationship between collective orientation and team performance mediated by coordination. Additionally, team-level process and performance feedback seem to be slightly more beneficial for maintaining performance over time with increasing difficulty of the task compared to individual-level process feedback. Feedback can lead to an increase in collective orientation if these values are low at the beginning. Our research highlights the importance of collective orientation and feedback interventions on team processes and performance for interdependently working teams.

Teamwork is a critical aspect of patient care and is especially salient in response to multiple patient casualties. Effective training and measurement improve team performance. However, the literature currently lacks a scientifically developed measure of team performance within multiple causality scenarios, making training and feedback efforts difficult. The present effort addresses this gap by integrating the input of subject matter experts and the science of multicasualty teams and training to (1) identify overarching teamwork processes and corresponding behaviors necessary for team performance and (2) develop a behavioral observation tool to optimize teamwork in multicasualty training efforts. A search of articles including team performance frameworks associated with team training was conducted, leading to the identification of a total of 14 articles. Trained coders extracted teamwork processes and the corresponding team behaviors indicative of effective performance from these articles. Five subject matter experts were interviewed using the critical incident technique to identify additional behaviors. Team situation awareness, team leadership, coordination, and information exchange emerged as the four core team processes required for team performance in scenarios with multiple patient casualties. Relevant behaviors and subbehaviors within these overarching processes were identified to inform a pilot behavioral framework of team performance. The processes and associated behaviors identified within this effort serve as scientifically grounded behaviors of team performance in the case of multiple patient casualties simulated training scenarios. Future work can use and further refine these results to ensure that measures of team performance are grounded in specific, observable, and scientifically delineated behaviors.

Project Overview Team Situation Awareness (TSA), which is a part of team cognition, is a critical factor that influences team effectiveness. It can be defined as getting the right information from the right person within the right amount of time, in order to overcome an unexpected event (Gorman, Cooke, Pederson, Connor, & DeJoode, 2005). TSA is developed and maintained through team interactions, allowing for the measurement of TSA based on team interaction (Cooke & Gorman, 2009). In the current study, a specific measure, Coordinated Awareness of Situation by Teams (CAST) is used (Cooke & Gorman, 2009). CAST evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of team interaction under “roadblock” scenarios (Gorman, Cooke, & Winner, 2006). These roadblocks represent novel situations in the task and require effective team communication and coordination. Team members must assess the situation according to their own specialized role and/or resources and coordinate with other team members to overcome each separate roadblock. In this task, effective communication refers to team anticipation. That is, each team member needs to anticipate each other’s needs by pushing information rather than pulling information during the task (Demir, McNeese, & Cooke, 2017). In this study, we examined how pushing and pulling information, and CAST were associated with Team Situation Awareness (TSA) in both Human-Autonomy (HAT) and all-human teams in simulated Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) task environment. In this research, we integrated the synthetic agent to the Cognitive Engineering Research on Team Tasks Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems - Synthetic Task Environment (CERTT-RPAS-STE) which was designed to be both a flexible research platform and a realistic task environment with a view to researching team performance and interaction-based measures of team cognition. In the simulated CERTT testbed, there are three heterogeneous teammates who need to take good photos of each target waypoint by communicating via text-chat: (1) the navigator who creates a dynamic flight plan and provides information about the waypoints, the RPA’s airspeed, and altitude restrictions to the pilot; (2) the pilot, who controls the RPA’s heading, altitude, and airspeed, and negotiates with the photographer in order to take a good photo; and (3) the photographer, who monitors sensor equipment in order to take photographs of target waypoints and sends feedback to the other team members about the quality of the photo. This project aimed to understand how team behaviors and team performance differed between HATs and all-human teams in RPAS operations: (1) the synthetic condition—the pilot role was given to the synthetic teammate, which was an ACT-R based cognitive model (which had a limited interaction ability, see Ball et al., 2010; Demir et al., 2015); (2) the control condition—the pilot was a randomly selected human participant, just like the other two participants; and (3) the experimenter condition—one of the experimenters served as an expert pilot. Experimenter condition utilized a Wizard of Oz paradigm in which a trained experimenter (located in a separate room) used a script to imitate a synthetic teammate and communicated with participants in limited communication behaviors but pushing and pulling information in a timely manner (robust coordination). Method There were 30 teams (10 for each condition): control teams consisted of three participants randomly assigned to each role; synthetic and experimenter teams included two participants randomly assigned to the navigator and photographer roles. The experiment took place over five 40-minute missions, and the goal was to take as many “good” photos of ground targets as possible while avoiding alarms and rule violations. During each mission, teams were presented with “roadblocks” by the introduction of a new, ad hoc target waypoint. We collected several measures, but we focused on: the proportion of roadblocks overcome per mission as an outcome measure of TSA; the CAST which is a coordination sequence of team interaction across the team members (i.e. which team members share with team members their experience during the roadblock); and verbal behaviors such as pushing and pulling information. Results and discussion In this team task, effective teamwork involves anticipating the needs of teammates, which in turn means pushing information before it is requested. However, in addition to anticipation, effective coordination is also needed during roadblocks. HATs demonstrated significantly lower levels of CAST than all-human teams. These results indicate that HATs’ lack of anticipation and coordination resulted in poorer TSA performance. These findings help HATs to grow its coordination and communication methodologies. Finally, future studies might examine the relationships highlighted in this study via nonlinear measures in terms of team stability and flexibility based on their communication and coordination patterns during the novel events. HAT is here to stay but improvements to human-machine interactions must continue if we are to improve team effectiveness.

While prior research has focused on differences in entrepreneurial orientation between organizations, we direct attention to differences in entrepreneurial orientation within organizations. We propose that individual members in entrepreneurial teams may differ in their dispositions to act in entrepreneurial ways, that is, in their individual entrepreneurial orientation (iEO) and that these differences have meaningful implications for team performance. Drawing upon research in team diversity and entrepreneurial orientation, we argue that the three iEO diversity dimensions—proactiveness, risk taking, and innovativeness diversity—affect team outcomes in different ways, although they belong to the same diversity type and even belong to a common superordinate construct. Empirical data gathered in 104 dyadic entrepreneurial teams supports our theory: Diversity in proactiveness within a team impairs team performance. Risk-taking diversity also harms team performance by heightening relationship conflict. However, innovativeness diversity facilitates team performance. The present study contributes to two streams of research, namely, entrepreneurial team research and research on entrepreneurial orientation and is of practical significance to entrepreneurial team formation and performance.

В статті визначено сутність групової динаміки та її різні аспекти в команді проєкту та креативних групах, систематизовано моделі розвитку команд з врахуванням різних стилів комунікації та співпраці, технологій забезпечення згуртованості команди та адекватної поведінки на різних етапах співпраці. Встановлено, що групова динаміка може включати взаємодію, комунікацію, конфлікти, співпрацю, координацію та інші аспекти, що виникають під час спільної діяльності. В статті з’ясовано сутність різних моделей, що визначають ролі членів команди, стилі керівництва, типи взаємодії та конфліктів між учасниками команди. Доведено, що вивчення та використання сучасних моделей налагодження взаємодії, управління комунікаціями та конфліктами може бути корисне для розуміння ролей, які виконують учасники команди проєкту, а також (що більш важливо) як ці ролі членів команди можуть впливати на загальну ефективність команди, як враховувати той факт, що кожен учасник команди унікальний та може мати свої власні особливості, як краще зрозуміти специфіку бізнес-середовища та потреби конкретної команди. Встановлено, що врахування культурних відмінностей, поведінкових та інших індивідуальних характеристик різних психологічних типів учасників команди може допомогти забезпечити ефективну взаємодію та досягнення успіху проєкту. В статті обґрунтовано, що керівнику креативної команди та/або проджект менеджеру проєкту варто використовувати різні ефективні методи управління командою, залежно від потреб та характеру проєкту та бізнес-середовища, використовуючи різні моделі взаємодії, співпраці та обміну знаннями, згуртованості команди, лідерства, управління комунікаціями та конфліктами. В статті також аргументовано, що врахування цих аспектів може забезпечити ефективну роботу команди проєкту та / або креативних груп буде сприяти досягненню поставлених цілей. В статті запропоновано використовувати методологію «командних будинків», яка базується на ідеї, що для досягнення максимального результату в проєктній роботі необхідна гармонійна робота всіх членів команди, а також на уявленні про команду як будинок.

Collaboration with suppliers in New Product Development (NPD) is essential for business competitiveness. However, the management of such collaborative project needs to focus on interactions between team members from different companies since they performed inter-organizational activities. While the impact of collaboration with suppliers on NPD project performance has been widely studied, the investigation of practices to support daily collaborative activities between both teams has received limited attention. This paper aims at developing a framework of operational practices for successful inter-organizational collaboration in NPD. The practices enacted by both project teams in six case studies were examined according to the stages of the collaboration and a knowing perspective. The results revealed some peculiarities linked to the inter-organizational context. Practices interact with each other across stages with a specific dynamic. More particularly, early in the project, practices to justify the collaboration with the suppliers are determinant for practices related to the creation of social interactions between project members and project commitment. The results also show that boundary objects are useful formal socialization mechanisms for supporting the undertaking of collaborative work.