Cooperative Teamwork Research Articles

A systematic literature review of spiritual leadership within African management philosophies

Orientation: Spiritual leadership has been proposed as an alternative to lead a generation where personal values and beliefs are central to employee contentment and organisational success.Research purpose: To critically analyse organisational spiritual leadership (SpL) from an African Management Philosophies (AMP) perspective and whether these are secular or non-secular.Motivation for the study: Knowledge would be drawn from two bodies of scholarly literature, namely SpL and AMP.Research design, approach and method: Literature will be systematically reviewed, focusing on three aspects of the body on knowledge, namely concepts, definitions and typologies (elements).Main findings: The concept of SpL seems empirically much more operationalised than AMP. Central to organisational spiritual leadership are the leader’s values, attitudes and behaviours that intrinsically motivate followers to have a sense of spiritual survival through membership and calling, while AMP emphasise traditionalism, communalism, co-operative teamwork and mythologies.Practical/managerial implications: The research seeks to highlight the existing gaps in literature of a contextualised African measure of SpL.Contribution or value add: A secular and non-secular approach to spirituality emerges, which looks at AMP as emboldened by Ubuntu ideality that is contrary to extant literature on organisational spiritual leadership.

Effects of cooperative learning on gender equality education in university students

Background: Coeducation in university settings is essential for fostering an inclusive, equitable, and diverse learning environment. In this regard, cooperative learning could play a crucial role in promoting coeducation by fostering collaboration, communication, and mutual understanding between male and female students. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the effects of cooperative learning on gender equality and cooperative skills in students. Methods: The design of the study was quasi-experimental with quantitative pre- and post-test measures. The sample was comprised of 60 students (female = 30, male = 30, age: 19,97 ± 1,21 years) enrolled in the 2nd grade of Sport Sciences, distributed into two groups (control and experimental). The Competencies Scale for Gender Equality Education (CEIG) and the Questionnaire for the Analysis of Cooperative Learning in Higher Education (ACOES) were implemented before and after the intervention in both groups. The experimental group participated in 7 volleyball lessons executed that followed a methodology grounded in Cooperative Learning, specifically using the Jigsaw method, which ensured the formation of mixed-gender teams. A Mann-Whitney U test was carried out to verify the intergroup effect of the intervention. Results: The experimental group significantly improved in 2 out of 3 dimensions of the CEIG and in 5 out of the 7 dimensions of the ACOES. Conclusions: Teaching collective sports like volleyball through a cooperative model, specifically with the Jigsaw method and including mixed teams, significantly contributes to improving not only cooperative teamwork skills but also gender equality in education. Key Words: didactics, volleyball, teamwork, coeducation, Jigsaw method, gender

Actions, not Actor Identities, Affect Beliefs About Cooperation in Human-Machine Teaming

The efficacy of future human-machine teams will be determined by the ability of machine agents to work cooperatively with their human teammates. The ways teammates engage in cooperative teamwork behaviors might affect human beliefs about expressed cooperativity, and these changes in beliefs might depend on the identity of a teammate as a human or machine. In the current experiment we investigated how violations of cooperation expectations, presented to participants in a narrative vignette, influenced ratings on a measure of cooperation derived from social interdependence theory. As expected, participants rated vignette actors as less cooperative if the story included violated cooperation expectations, but consistent with previous research, the identities of the actors as humans or robots did not appear to influence ratings. Overall, this is a useful expansion on previous work describing the factors that influence perceptions of cooperation in human-machine teaming.

Embedding evaluation in non-profit organisations: Lessons from evaluation advocates

Integrating evaluation initiatives in organisations as part of routine operations to support organisational learning and development can be difficult; extant literature lacks detail on the factors enhancing sustainability. This article presents research undertaken with evaluation advocates attempting to embed evaluation in their Australian non-profit organisations. The research involved interviewing seventeen participants, four of whom also were the focus of organisational case studies. The researchers used social interdependence theory to understand participants’ strategies for embedding evaluation and found that some elements of cooperative teamwork were more prominent than others. Participants in high hierarchical positions, or those who had influence, worked intentionally and incorporated strategies that aligned with all five elements. Examples of those strategies and their use in context presented herein may help leaders and internal and external evaluators increase the likelihood of embedding evaluation in organisational systems.

Spiritual leadership within the ambit of African Management philosophies using interactive qualitative analysis

Orientation: This research is about a focus group of managers and their experiences relating to spiritual leadership in the South African context.Research purpose: To critically examine mainstream spiritual leadership, within the context of African management philosophies (AMP), towards describing and prosing a southern African spiritual leadership scale.Motivation for the study: A systematic literature review revealed a stark gap in empirical evidence of the existence of spiritual leadership as a harbinger of employee contentment, welfare, and organisational success in Africa.Research design, approach and method: Through the interactive qualitative analysis (IQA) process, data from eight managers were collected and analysed, and an interrogation of the existence of spiritual leadership via the African lens using AMP typologies was conducted. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted via a focus group of eight managers drawn using biased sampling based on ‘distance and power’ analysis to the phenomena of spiritual leadership.Main findings: Connection to nature principles (nurturing) are a primary driver to employee welfare. Life as a universal current’s elements (compassion and empathy) influence Ubuntu principles, national culture principles (a set of behaviours, customs, and beliefs) and Indigenous knowledge systems (unadulterated knowledge). Ubuntu also influences co-operative teamwork (togetherness) which is a circulator in the scale that triggers intrinsic motivation which is impacted by traditionalism (adherence to accepted customs and beliefs), and communalism principles (belonging to a community). Intrinsic motivation impacts employee turnover which is influenced by engagement, performance, productivity, and mythology (African myths and lore). Employee turnover ultimately influences employee welfare which is a primary outcome.Contribution or value add: This research helps undergird spiritual leadership in the South African context by equipping leaders with a new paradigm that uses local management principles that measures its enablers and inhibitors.

Empowering Cooperative Teamwork for Community Service Sustainability: Insights from Service Learning

In the past decades, the demand for providing soft skills among higher learners has been met through cooperative teamwork commitment. The need to continue empowering such initiatives should entail finding a balance between accountabilities and capabilities to play a significant role in academic achievement and social community engagement. This paper aims to examine the strategies to empower cooperative teamwork to provide insights into community service sustainability, where this would entail designing its key roles to engage with higher learners’ practices. The literature from recent reviews was developed to construct a critical examination of the role of service learning in strengthening cooperative teamwork to contribute to community service sustainability. This approach used the keywords cooperative teamwork, community service, and service learning. The findings reveal that there are three main points representing the core attempts to help empower cooperative teamwork to support community service sustainability: expanding strategic management of cooperative-based experiential learning, community service with commitment to civic responsibility, and incorporating service learning into higher education (HE) contexts. The value of this paper aims to contribute to the knowledge development of service learning, specifically addressed with the experiential skills obtained through planning, implementing, and evaluating the service learning process. The ultimate aim was also to enhance cooperative teamwork with critical, creative, and innovative thinking as key performance skills.

Distributed Leadership and Inclusive schools

This article tries to answer the question of whether distributed leadership contributes significantly to the development of an inclusive school. For this, a systematic review of the literature has been carried out, based on the PRISMA strategy, of articles from 2011 to 2021 that describe 35 schools with distributed leadership. The findings reflect that there is a relationship between distributed leadership, promoted by the principal, and the achievement of an inclusive school. We found that elements of distributed leadership such as cooperative teamwork and decision-making lead to a focus on student-centred educational approaches, encouraging their participation, their families’ participation, and sometimes, the need to count on people outside the school itself. It is also noted that distributed leadership promotes inclusive teacher training. On the other hand, some barriers arise that hinder the participation of students and their families. It concludes with the need to train management teams in distributed leadership and promote legislative changes to favour the participation of all students without exceptions.

The Challenge of Developing Entrepreneurial Competence in the University Using the Project-Oriented Learning Methodology.

One of the objectives of the United Nations and the European Commission is to encourage the implementation of education plans and strategies to develop entrepreneurial competence. This refers to the ability to identify needs or discover opportunities and to act on them in order to create value for society. This paper aims to demonstrate the impact of the project-oriented learning (POL) methodology on the development of certain generic or transversal competences associated with entrepreneurship among first-year university students in Madrid. The competences associated with entrepreneurship analyzed in this work are: self-awareness, self-reliance, achievement orientation, proactivity, cooperative teamwork, team management, planning and organization by objectives and communication. The study used a single-group pre-test/post-test, quasi-experimental methodology with a sample of over 300 students of the Francisco de Vitoria University (UFV). The results show a significant increase in self-perceived development of transversal competences associated with entrepreneurship. These findings confirm the main hypothesis that POL is an ideal methodology for the development of transversal competences associated with entrepreneurship.

Succession Planning at a Medical Academic College in Saudi Arabia: A Mixed Research Design

Objectives: To ensure the proper replacement and the continuity of effective leadership in all the management positions in the institute, effective succession planning should be implemented. The aim of the study was to assess the perception of the managers at various managerial positions regarding the succession planning implementation at their academic institution. Methods: Using a mixed research method, this descriptive, cross-sectional research was carried out at a private medical college in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia taking a convenient sample of 61 employees holding different managerial positions. An electronic, self-administered questionnaire was developed by the researchers and filled up by the participants including close-ended and some open-ended questions to assess the perception of succession planning implementation, its facilitators, and possible obstacles. Results: most of the participants revealed that the current managerial position is their first managerial position and that they had one to five years of experience. Most participants preferred to have a structural succession planning program with a mentor before moving to any future managerial position. Multitasking, followed by miscommunication were the main obstacles to succession planning. However, having previous managerial experience, and having friendly and cooperative teamwork were among the main facilitators of the managerial duties and responsibilities. Conclusion: Educational institutions generally need to develop effective succession planning for managers by designing a structural successional planning program. The greatest proportion of the participants reported that the optimal succession plan is supposed to be 4 to 6 months.

Using Role Play in the Business English Communication Classroom at a Private College in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

This paper studies the use of role play in the Business English communication classroom at the tertiary level specifically for Diploma students. This research further elaborates on how role play can be utilized to enhance and maximize students’ participation in the Business English communication classroom exploring more on the productive skills specifically the speaking component. Role plays are extremely rich in content, skills, creativity and could provide the learner with the opportunity to fully utilize schemata and train specific communication skills as well as promote a good cooperative teamwork in the Business English communication classroom. This qualitative research incorporates a case study as a method of the research paper. This research uses observation and interview as a method of data collection for a duration of three months in a studying semester. Students are supposed to choose any cases related to business communication and perform a role play in the classroom as a tool of their ongoing assessment in the semester. The results in the research are obtained through observation and interview. The findings of the research are this would benefit academicians in incorporating role play as a tool in enhancing the communication skills in the classroom. The role play task has really shown a promising result in the effort to produce well equipped and well-rounded graduates who are ready to meet the real-life scenarios in the future.

A Recipe for Success: The Effect of Dyadic Communication and Cooperative Gameplay on Subsequent Non-gaming Task Performance

Abstract Cooperative game play has been associated with a growing list of prosocial benefits. However, less research has examined its constituent parts to determine their contribution to subsequent positive outcomes. The current study examined partners’ communication as a common and even imperative aspect of cooperative play that may largely account for its positive effects on cooperative behaviors and effective teamwork. Partners played a cooperative game (Overcooked 2) alone or with a partner, and in the latter case with or without the ability to communicate, before engaging in two puzzle-solving tasks that required effective and efficient communication for successful performances. Results suggest communication is unnecessary, and may even be detrimental to, subsequent team performances on non-gaming tasks, and that it seems unlikely to account for the cooperative norms proposed to be the theoretical mechanism behind cooperative play’s positive effects. The conclusion discusses theoretical implications and potential future research.

Peningkatan Hasil Belajar Siswa Kelas X IPS 1 dalam Pembelajaran Seni Tari Melalui Metode Jigsaw di SMA Negeri 1 Kerinci Tahun Pelajaran 2019/2020

This research was a classroom action research. The research objective was to improve the student’s achievement on Dancing Art subject by using Jigsaw method. The research participant was the students at grade X IPS 1 SMAN 1 Kerinci consisted of 20 students. The research was done in two cycles which had four phases (1) Planning (2) Action (3) Observation (4) Reflection. The data were collected by using observation, performance test, documentation, interview and questionnaire. The instruments of the research were field note, observation sheet, research sheet, interview guide, and Questionnaire. The analysis result showed that the student’s learning activeness during the two cycles improved. It could be seen from the improvement of the student’s activeness level. It was observed from their well enthusiastic and cooperative team work in forming dancing moves and floor pattern, the students were able to gather the dancing moves into a dancing creation, and they were performing both things confidently. The improvement in achievement was seen from the quantitative data that there were 5 students (25%) who got 75 in pre-cycle. It went better when Jigsaw method was implementd in cycle 1 and 2. There were 12 students (60%) who got achieved score, and 8 of them (40%) who got unachieved score in the first cycle. Then, the next cycle showed that there were 17 students (85%) who got achieived score and 3 of them (15%) who were at unachieved level. It concluded that Jigsaw method improved the student’s achievement in Dancing Art Subject.

Educational Tool and Active-Learning Class Activity for Teaching Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering

ABSTRACTTo incorporate active learning and cooperative teamwork in statistics classroom, this article introduces a creative three-dimensional educational tool and an in-class activity designed for introducing the topic of agglomerative hierarchical clustering. The educational tool consists of a simple bulletin board and color pushpins (it can also be realized with a less expensive alternative) based on which students work collaboratively in small groups of 3–5 to complete the task of agglomerative hierarchical clustering: they start with n singleton clusters, each corresponding to a pushpin of a unique color on the board, and work step by step to merge all pushpins into one single cluster using the single linkage, complete linkage, or group average linkage criteria. We present a detailed lesson plan that accompanies the designed activity and also provide a real data example in the supplementary materials. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

Social Entrepreneurship Education in Art Education of Future Primary School Teachers

Abstract As a part of the Art Education course, students of the primary school education develop competences in Art Education, Social Entrepreneurship Education and Human Rights Education (one sequence). For the students, a learning environment is created which is characterized by an artistic approach and input as well as by cooperative teamwork in the field of Social Entrepreneurship Education (SEE) and Human Rights Education (HRE). The focus lies on the development of creativity and on the awareness of sustainability as well as the experience of self-efficacy and the fostering of strategies that enable a change of perspective in order to arrive at innovative ideas. Common objectives of the three educational disciplines and connecting points within these three areas are analyzed.

Experiencias de trabajo cooperativo en la educación superior. Percepciones sobre su contribución al desarrollo de la competencia social

El Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES) exige el desarrollo de competencias clave para dar respuesta a las demandas de la sociedad y del mercado de trabajo. La Competencia Social incluye destrezas fundamentales para las relaciones sociales de calidad en el ámbito personal y profesional. Se identifica el Aprendizaje Cooperativo como método apropiado para lograr tal fin.En este artículo se presenta la experiencia de una investigación cualitativa durante los cursos 2009-2015 en la que se vertebra la investigación acción participativa como una técnica adecuada, puesto que investiga a la muestra, se diseña una metodología docente en base a las carencias y se vuelve a investigar la eficacia del aprendizaje debido a la metodología. Exponemos un caso en el que la investigación acción participativa ha sido aplicada al campo de la Educación universitaria en la que se asegura más la adecuación a la diversidad precisamente por la adecuación que otorga al aula investigada.Además, se exponen los resultados del análisis de esta investigación e innovación, en concreto, la percepción expresada por los alumnos acerca del grado en que el trabajo en equipo cooperativo contribuye al desarrollo de su Competencia Social tras participar en una experiencia de Aprendizaje Cooperativo. Se diseña un tipo de investigación aplicada, desde una perspectiva cualitativa, no experimental, en el ámbito de la evaluación de resultados para la toma de decisiones. Participan 126 estudiantes de Grado de primer y cuarto curso. A través de un cuestionario tipo Likert, se recoge su percepción sobre competencias emergentes al desempeño de la Competencia Social: Empatía, Consenso o Participación Democrática y Asertividad. Este estudio aporta novedad en tanto que explora sobre una muestra de estudiantes con perfiles diversos, tomando como punto de partida de manera integrada diversas variables y sobre la percepción que los propios estudiantes expresan de manera explícita. Se confirma que los estudiantes perciben que, a través del Aprendizaje Cooperativo, se desarrolla su Competencia Social. Las habilidades mejor valoradas son las que se relacionan con el ámbito cognitivo y se relega a un segundo plano otras de carácter emocional, axiológico y paradigmático.

A Mobile Agent Team Works based on Load-Balancing Middleware for Distributed Computing Systems

The aim of this paper is to present a load balancing middleware for parallel and distributed systems. The great challenge is to balance the tasks between heterogeneous distributed nodes for parallel and distributed computing models based distributed systems, by the way to ensure HPC (High performance computing) of these models. Accordingly, the proposed middleware is based on mobile agent team work which implements an efficient method with two strategies: (i) Load balancing Strategy that determines the node tasks assignment based on node performance, and (ii) Rebalancing Strategy that detects the unbalanced nodes and enables tasks migration. The paper focuses on the proposed middleware and its cooperative mobile agent team work model strategies to dynamically balance the nodes, and scale up distributed computing systems. Indeed, some experimental results that highlight the performance and efficiency of the proposed middleware are presented.

A qualitative study on the attributes of nurses' workplace social capital in Japan.

To identify attributes of nurses' workplace social capital in Japan. Much attention has been paid to nurses' workplace social capital to improve the quality of the work environment; however, few studies are available on the attributes of nurses' workplace social capital. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 nurses at seven hospitals. Nurses reported on the attributes of workplace social capital, such as characteristics facilitating individual positive action in an organisation, which were qualitatively analysed using the Kawakita Jiro method. The attributes of nurses' workplace social capital were organised into six groups: affirmation; exchange of appreciation; unrestricted information sharing; ability to trust; access to the strength; and altruistic reciprocity. The attributes of nurses' workplace social capital included a social structure that allowed nurses to make full use of their abilities both vertically and horizontally and were supported by a sense of security. In particular, newly emerged exchange of appreciation and altruistic reciprocity were important for nurses in Japan in building cooperative relationships with others. Managing human relationships, such as exchange of appreciation and altruistic reciprocity, in clinical settings based on nurses' workplace social capital may promote positive emotions in the organisation, positive ideas among staff and cooperative teamwork, which may lead to high-quality patient care.

‘I – from dreams to reality’: A Case Study of Developing Youngsters’ Self‐Efficacy and Social Skills through an Arts Educational Project in Schools

AbstractThis is a case study of a one‐year arts educational project ‘I – from dreams to reality’ in which artists worked at school with teachers and learning at the school was planned through arts‐based, co‐operative teamwork during one extra school year of 10th grade students in Finnish basic education. The theme of the year was ‘I’, and so the project was designed to highlight everyone's own way of thinking and expressing art. The research task was to determine whether long‐term holistic arts pedagogy and artist co‐operation at school have any significant connection to students’ self‐efficacy and social skills. Data has been collected through students’ self‐evaluations before and after the school year. Altogether 40 students from 10th grade participated in this case study. Half of the pupils participated in an arts educational project called ‘I – from dreams to reality’ and half formed the control group. Artists worked with the test group weekly during a period of one school year (altogether nine months). Students’ self‐evaluations concerning their self‐efficacy and social behaviour were collected by e‐questionnaire. The measures used were Likert‐based evaluation scores of pupils’ self‐assessment of their self‐efficacy and social behaviour in everyday situations at school. According to the results, artist–teacher co‐operation and learning through the arts can be worthwhile experiences to develop students’ self‐efficacy and social skills.

Teams at Their Core: Implementing an “All LANDS Approach to Conservation” Requires Focusing on Relationships, Teamwork Process, and Communications

The U.S. Forest Service has found itself in an era of intense human activity, a changing climate; development and loss of open space; resource consumption; and problematic introduced species; and diversity in core beliefs and values. These challenges test our task-relevant maturity and the ability and willingness to meet the growing demands for services. The Forest Service is now on a transformative campaign to improve abilities and meet these challenges. The “All-Lands Approach to Conservation” brings agencies, organizations, landowners and stakeholders together across boundaries to decide on common goals for the landscapes they share. This approach is part of a larger transformation occurring in the American Conservation Movement where large-scale conservation partnerships possibly define the fourth or contemporary era. The intent of this communication is to present one perspective of what large-scale conservation partnerships should include, namely an emphasis on rethinking what leadership looks like in a collaborative context, relational governance, cooperative teamwork procedures, and communications.

IMPLEMENTATION OF QUICK SETUP IN A THREE-DIMENSIONAL MACHINE CASE STUDY IN AN AEROSPACE METALLURGY INDUSTRY

The reduction of the time in the Rapid Tool Exchange (TRF) aims beyond the objective of reducing the preparation time (or setup) of the equipment, reducing non productive periods inside the factory floor. Bringing as a consequence, the reduction of the size of the production batches in the manufacture. The rapid exchange of tools is based on techniques where cooperative team work is of paramount importance to develop suggestions for creative ways of improving processes. This article presents a methodological proposal for the rapid exchange of tools, where the following steps are available: Define which project will be introduced; Planning of the activities to be developed; Training of the deployment team, monitoring, consolidation on the deployment itself. About the case study was developed in the aerospace metallurgy industry and illustrates the proposed methodology