Introduction Of Teamwork Research Articles

There's No "I" in Team but There is a "U" in Group: Student Reflections on Improving the Team Assessment Experience

In Australia, team assessment has been introduced into many undergraduate and postgraduate courses. A key driver for the introduction of teamwork is that the ability to work in teams is a significant employability skill for all graduates. Furthermore, working in teams is considered to be an effective means through which to develop other employability skills such as time management, communication and people management skills. Students in the Faculty of Business and Law at Victoria University (VU) in Melbourne are expected to undertake a range of assessment tasks as members of different teams. VU's Learning and Teaching policies make no reference to managing, designing or grading team assessment and teaching staffhave adopted diverse approaches to team assessment. As the issue of team assessment has been a common complaint from students, the project sought to collect student views about team assessment with a view to improving the experience. The paper presents findings from 228 student responses to a mix of closed and openended questions asked via an online survey. In particular, the study examined a number of factors that students identified as contributing to a positive and negative team assessment experiences at university. Students were not necessarily opposed to team assessment as such but were concerned about the recognition of individual effort and the need for students to have some control over team membership. © Common Ground, Carolyn Woodley, Naomi Augar, Despina Whitefield, Maxwell Winchester.

“We put teamwork back on the agenda again and again”

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on teamwork by focusing on the influence support systems, like industrial relations, have on teamwork. Teamwork is conceptualized through three dimensions; technical, governmental and normative.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a case study approach in a single company with available data over a long period of time.FindingsIndustrial relations conceptualized as local representation and partnership had a strong influence on all three dimensions of teamwork; technical, governmental and normative. Especially important is the union's involvement in the introduction of teamwork, shaping the arrangement and interpretation of it.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is based on a single company, describing a particular phenomenon. Also, the contextual environment with a strong partnership culture with cooperative industrial relations is important.Practical implicationsThe practical implications emphasize the importance for members of an organization to be involved in the introductory part of new organizational development such as teamwork in order to have an influence on arrangement of teams and the interpretation of teamwork.Social implicationsThe social implications are connected to industrial democracy and high level of involvement, which has consequences for the work environment in a company working along these lines.Originality/valueThere are not many available cases of semi‐autonomous teams working over a long period of time, and the paper gives an in‐depth understanding of the strength of this way of working. The main contribution is to highlight how local representation and labor‐management partnership has influenced the dimensions of teamwork.

Trabalho em equipe como forma da subsunção real

Este artigo procura mostrar que com base nos conceitos de antagonismo, alienação e controle, implícitos na relação capital-trabalho, é possível compreender a implantação do trabalho em equipe como meio de simultaneamente aumentar o controle sobre o trabalho e reduzir os custos associados às atividades de supervisão da força de trabalho. Argumenta-se que a diminuição do estoque de capital circulante, tanto constante quanto variável, torna o circuito do capital mais vulnerável e, portanto, requer um aumento correspondente do exercício de controle capitalista. Esse aumento do controle capitalista, em consonância com a necessidade de redução de custos relacionada à redução do estoque de capital circulante, se efetiva pela interiorização do controle efetuada pela interação dos próprios trabalhadores organizados em equipe. A redução do valor das mercadorias que advém dessas formas de consumo da força de trabalho permite classificá-las como formas da subsunção real do trabalho ao capital.

Employee participation and productivity

This paper measures the productivity impact of shop-floor employee involvement. On the basis of a representative German establishment data set, the study finds that the introduction of teamwork and autonomous work groups, and a reduction of hierarchies in 1996/1997 significantly increased average establishment productivity in 1997–2000. The estimation strategy controls for unobserved invariant establishment heterogeneity by using a two-step system GMM panel regression approach. It simultaneously takes account of endogeneity of participative work organization by instrument variable regressions. It is also shown that the productivity effect of shop-floor employee involvement is stronger in establishments with works councils.

Trade liberalisation and the restructuring of work in post-Apartheid South Africa: A case study of BMW

Abstract This paper focuses on workplace restructuring in the post-Apartheid era. BMW South Africa is used as a case study to examine the restructuring of the workplace. In doing so, the paper examines trade liberalisation through the Motor Industry Development Programme that has created new economic conditions under which workplace restructuring at BMW is taking place. In trying to remain competitive. BMW South Africa is trying to change the nature of control and exploitation from coercion, based on the Apartheid workplace regime, to dynamic flexibility. In this strategy there are training initiatives within the company, as well as the introduction of teamwork and suggestion boxes. One of the key components of the flexibility strategy is a shift to what I describe as ideological flexibility. This shift shows up in new forms of ideological flexibility through the introduction of a workplace language, a new dress code and attempts to change workers' identities and subjectivity. However, remnants of the Apa...

Works councils and teamwork in a German car plant

The paper contributes to the discussion on works councils and teamwork in the German auto industry. General Motors’ Opel plant in Germany has been chosen to study works councils’ participation in the process of introducing teamwork, and the effects of teamwork on workers’ representation on the shopfloor. The paper discusses the “dual structure” of works councils and union representatives, and will examine their role during the introduction of teamwork and relationship to their elected team spokespersons. The two key findings are: first, both levels of workers’ representation have contributed to the successful introduction of workplace changes and second, team spokespersons can be seen as a third level of workers’ representation.

The formation of teams: a British and German comparison

The aim of this paper is to examine the introduction of teamwork in a British and in a German car plant owned by the same American corporation. It contributes to the current discussions about teamwork (Kochan et al., 1997; Delbridge and Lowe, 1996). Using the German concept of a 'constitutional factory' vs 'adversarial' framework, a cross-country comparison is made. The research includes interviews and surveys. Conclusions have been drawn on the actual Gestalt (form, shape) of teamwork with special attention given to the relationship between team members and team leaders. Teams in a more 'adversarial management appoints team leaders' model seem to see team leaders as a new form of supervison and split team members and team leaders into 'us and them'.