Team Problem Solving Research Articles

Effects of Schema-Enriched Communication in Teams With Diverse Hearing Status.

This study examined the effects of (a) schema-enriched communication and (b) computer-based messaging on the sharing of knowledge and problem solving in teams with deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and typical hearing (TH) postsecondary students. Four-member teams comprising either all DHH, all TH, or two DHH and two TH postsecondary students solved a complex problem. Measures consisted of (a) shared written information, (b) creation of a matrix with information for solving the problem, (c) recognition of information shared by team members, and (d) quality of the team's problem solution. A total of 126 DHH and 126 TH postsecondary students participated in the study in teams with one of the three combinations of hearing status. Enriched communication increased teams' sharing of written information, creation of a matrix, recognition of information shared by teammates and quality of the problem solution in teams.

Top management commitment and lean team members’ prosocial voice behaviour

PurposeTop management commitment (TMC) and prosocial voice behaviour in Lean teams are vital for the successful Lean implementation. This study aims to investigate how TMC influences Lean team members’ prosocial voice behaviour and how such changed voice behaviour affects the outcome of Lean implementations.Design/methodology/approachThe authors have used a qualitative research methodology to examine six dimensions of TMC (communication, involvement, support, empowerment, encouragement and monitoring) in two ready-made garment (RMG) factories in Bangladesh. Operational performance was measured by efficiency, quality, value stream mapping, single-minute exchange dies and 5S scores. Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) was assessed by acceptable head and back positions, machine safety, use of masks and housekeeping.FindingsThe findings reveal that TMC influences Lean team members' voice behaviour positively and, thereby, company's performance. Six dimensions of TMC are all critical for mobilizing prosocial voice, which then improves productivity, OHS and enhancing employee capacity and job satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsThis research involved two sewing lines in two RMG factories in Bangladesh. Cross-sector and large-scale international quantitative research is also needed.Practical implicationsThis research shows how TMC and Lean problem-solving teams can mobilize employee voice.Originality/valueEmployee voice is a central issue in the implementation of Lean. To the best of the author’s knowledge, for the first time, the authors show how the six dimensions of TMC influence Lean team members’ voice behaviour in the workplace and thereby how prosocial voice affects team performance.

Sharing of Knowledge and Problem Solving When Teammates Have Diverse Hearing Status

This study examined knowledge sharing and problem solving in teams that included teammates who were deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). Eighteen teams of four students were comprised of either all deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), all hearing, or two DHH and two hearing postsecondary students who participated in group problem-solving. Successful problem solution, recall, and recognition of knowledge shared by team members were assessed. Hearing teams shared the most team knowledge and achieved the most complete problem solutions, followed by the mixed DHH/hearing teams. DHH teams did not perform as well as the other two types of teams.

Application of team‐based learning for teaching food analysis

AbstractFood analysis courses introduce the theory and application of analytical procedures to characterize foods and their ingredients. Students learn the principles behind analytical techniques commonly used to analyze foods in the industry and evaluate their suitability for the analysis of specific food products. Food analysis courses have traditionally been taught in a lecture‐based format. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of utilizing team‐based learning (TBL), an established collaborative learning technique, in an undergraduate food analysis course to enhance student learning. Post‐course student surveys, quizzes, and exam scores were used to assess the effectiveness of the TBL implementation. TBL uses pre‐reading assignments, individual and team quizzes, and problem solving in teams to create an active learning environment in the classroom that increases student engagement and long‐term learning. The results from surveys, quizzes, and exam scores from the Food Analysis course show a successful implementation in the classroom: no significant difference in the average midterm exam scores was observed between the TBL and lecture formats (p ≤ 0.05), indicating that TBL maintained performance on midterm exams, students reported being engaged in the course, and the deliberately designed group work encouraged students to prepare for class and participate in the activities. The students also reported that they were able to recall information better, and that the effectiveness of TBL activities helped them strengthen concepts. In conclusion, the results suggest that TBL is beneficial for students in food analysis, and that implementation in additional food science courses could help improve student learning.

Team-Based Learning in professional writing courses for accounting graduates: positive impacts on student engagement, accountability and satisfaction

ABSTRACT The accounting curriculum has been criticised for failing to develop accounting students’ professional and generic skills for the future needs of employers. This paper describes a constructivist active learning approach, namely Team-Based Learning (TBL), to embed professional skills in a postgraduate professional writing course for accountants. The study explores TBL as an effective team pedagogy that enhances student engagement, accountability and satisfaction. Using a mixed-method approach to analyse student scores on individual and team Readiness Assurance Tests, responses to the TBL Student Assessment Instrument, mid-semester survey and end-of-semester team peer assessment, the study found the TBL method developed teamwork, communication, negotiation and problem-solving skills, and individual and team accountability. Since these skills are critical for successful accounting careers, the findings provide empirical grounding for adopting TBL methodology in accounting communication courses and could form the basis for implementing the methodology in other business and management disciplines.

Lidi Peeling Machine Technology in Pekan Sawah Village Kecamatan Sei Bingei Kabupaten Langkat

Pekan Sawah Village is located in Sei Bingei District, Langkat Regency, North Sumatra Province. This village is 75 km from the city of Medan, which can be reached using a four-wheeled vehicle in 1.5 hours with the asphalt road conditions that are quite good. The residents of Pekan Sawah Village are generally the Karo tribe, which covers 80% of the total population. In general, the population is now doing business with oil palm, rubber, and only a small portion of them still maintains land farming businesses such as corn, long beans, etc. The high number of oil palm planters, which reaches 80% of the population, causes high unemployment in this village. This is because the work to carry out maintenance to harvest is very limited. But on the other hand there is oil palm leaf midrib waste which is a result of the castration process and or the oil palm fruit harvesting process itself. This waste is now made into sticks, which are then sold per kilo to the estimator, which is increasingly expensive and the available stock is very limited, while market demand is high. However, the residents experienced problems in trying to separate the sticks from the leaves. Work is done conventionally one by one so it takes a long time. This results in low productivity of sticks in this area. The entry of the USU Community Services Implementation Team raises new hopes for the community to be able to find solutions that are faced by this community. Complaints about the production of oil palm stick broomsticks were immediately raised by the traditional leaders in Pekan Sawah Village. The USU Community Services Implementation Team immediately formed a problem-solving team. Several lecturers were involved in this activity, including providing education on the correct disposal of palm oil waste for residents. This activity is also assisted by 5 students who have been trained to take action to solve this problem. Now the people of Pekan Sawah Village can increase their lid production using this stick machine.

Optimizing Huddle Engagement Through Leadership and Problem Solving Within Primary Care: Results from a Cluster-Randomized Trial.

Leaders play a crucial role in implementing and sustaining changes in clinical practice, yet there is limited evidence on the strategies to engage them in team problem solving and communication. Examine the impact of an intervention focused on facilitating leadership during daily huddles on optimizing team-based care and improving outcomes. Cluster-randomized trial using intention-to-treat analysis to measure the effects of the intervention (n = 13 teams) compared with routine practice (n = 16 teams). Twenty-nine primary care clinics affiliated with a large integrated health system in the upper Midwest; representing differing practice types and geographic settings. Full-day leadership training retreat for team leaders to facilitate of care team huddles. Biweekly coaching calls and two site visits with an assigned coach. Primary outcomes of team development and function were collected, pre- and post-intervention using surveys. Patient satisfaction and quality outcomes were compared pre- and post-intervention as secondary outcomes. Leadership engagement and adherence to the intervention were also assessed. A total of 279 pre-intervention and 272 post-intervention surveys were completed. We found no impact on team development (- 0.98, 95% CI (- 3.18, 1.22)), improved team credibility (0.18, 95% CI (0.00, 0.35)), but worse psychological safety (- 0.19, 95% CI (- 0.38, 0.00)). No differences were observed in patient satisfaction; however, results were mixed among quality outcomes. Post hoc analysis within the intervention group showed higher adherence to the intervention was associated with improvement in team coordination (0.47, 95% CI (0.18, 0.76)), credibility (0.28, 95% CI (0.02, 0.53)), team learning (0.42, 95% CI (0.10, 0.74)), and knowledge creation (0.74, 95% CI (0.35, 1.13)) compared to teams that were less engaged. Results of this evaluation showed that leadership training and facilitation were not associated with better team functioning. Additional components to the intervention tested may be necessary to enhance team functioning. Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier NCT03062670. Registration Date: February 23, 2017. URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03062670.

공식적 교육훈련 참여가 인적자원 경쟁력에 미치는 영향 - 팀 문제해결 참여의 조절효과 -

The purpose of this study is to ensure that the quantitative and qualitative participation of enterprises in formal training has a significant impact on human resource competitiveness. In particular, the team's level of problem solving and decision-making participation is expected to moderate the relationship between quantitative and qualitative participation in training and human resource competitiveness. The study of the performance of education and training was limited because the financial point of view was studied a lot. Because the performance of education and training is not directly affected by financial performance, it is necessary to study in context of the organization as a whole because it develops individual capabilities to demonstrate capabilities within the organization and affects the improvement of internal processes within the organization. In addition, it is necessary to demonstrate the effectiveness of education and training from a homogeneous perspective in the middle position of managers and workers, although the prior research was conducted mainly from the perspective of the enterprise's management or workers. To test the hypotheses, Human Capital Panel Survey (HCCP) Data were used for this study. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to demonstrate the impact of formal education training on human resource competitiveness and the control effect of team problem solving. The analysis showed that, among the independent variables for human resource competitiveness, the number of days to participate in training and the degree to which training opportunities are sufficient, did not have a significant impact, but the level of training opportunities had a significant impact.In other words, the number of annual training days, which can be said to be a quantitative aspect of employees' participation in education, did not affect the competitiveness of human resources, but in terms of the quality of educational participation, the recognition of the sufficiency and fairness of educational practice proved to have a positive impact on enhancing human resource competitiveness. The results of the study provide some implication. the quality factors of training should be considered in order to enhance the effectiveness of human resource competitiveness. In addition, when participation in team problem-solving in training was added in the impact on human resource competitiveness, the impact of sufficient training was moderated. It has been demonstrated that the opportunity for education and training has a more positive impact on human resource competitiveness if the team has a high degree of problem solving and decision-making participation. The team members actively participate in problem solving and decision making, suggesting that human resource competitiveness will be further enhanced by strengthening motivation and self-efficacy for education. Corporate managers need to create an organizational culture and structure in which team members actively participate in problem-solving or decision-making at the site, and emphasize the direction of these organizations to team leaders and team members. In this study, it is meaningful in that the team leader's perception of the results of education and participation in team problem solving was used as variables to explore effectiveness from a balanced, site-oriented perspective.

Creative problem-solving techniques, paradigm shift and team performance

PurposeThis paper aims to consider why creative problem-solving techniques may not always produce useful results and sets out to explain why this might be and what steps should be taken to avoid it happening. The paper provides an understanding of how different creative problem-solving techniques are best suited to gaining insights into problems requiring different degrees of paradigm shift. It argues that team members’ personalities and thinking styles and team composition should be taken into account when using the techniques. It examines the role the facilitator plays in planning and conducting the ideation process.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides simple illustrations of some of the creative problem-solving techniques. It reviews relevant literature and argues how individual differences of team members along with team composition can influence team performance in using the creative problem-solving techniques.FindingsPersonality, thinking styles and learning styles are relevant to the effective use of creative problem-solving techniques. Team composition, team motivation and mood factors should also be taken into account. The facilitator is key in ensuring the efficacy of the problem-solving process.Originality/valueThis paper will be helpful to academics who study creative problem-solving as well as informing management practitioners and trainers about the procedures and potential pitfalls to avoid.

Escape the Womb: A Maternal Emergency

Background. Due to advanced maternal age, obesity, drug use, and other comorbidities, the frequency of maternal cardiac arrest continues to rise nationally and in our Midwestern community hospital. While still a relatively rare occurrence, the national rise in maternal mortality rates has created a need for population-specific resuscitation education for caregivers of obstetric patients. Educators are challenged with creating engaging, meaningful education that is inexpensive and effective. Educational escape rooms challenge participants to discover clues, solve puzzles, progress through the game and ultimately escape the room. The format offers team problem-solving and experiential learning with immediate feedback in an enjoyable atmosphere. Aim. In order to provide an interprofessional and economical educational intervention for labor and delivery teams, the authors created an escape room focused on principles of effective maternal resuscitation. Method. Participants completed an evaluation tool measuring perceptions of content clarity and confidence, and an author created pre-test and post-test to measure knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation medications and interventions for the obstetric patient. Results and Conclusions. Comparison of aggregated pre- and post-test showed an 11% increase in knowledge scores. All participants self-evaluation showed improved clarity and confidence and described the activity as a fun way to learn and reinforce knowledge.

Soft Skill-Based Training Model for Employee Retention

This study aims to assess the role and importance of Soft skills-based training in the hotels of Delhi NCR (national capital region). Such skill sets are required to motivate the employees so that they can work effectively and efficiently. The study signifies that such essential skills (e.g., team management skills, problem solving and conflict resolution, technical skills, communication and presentation skills, self-discipline, computer skills) are not only important for the personnel associated with hospitality industry but at the same time such skills helps in employee retention also. Data was collected through a questionnaire on Likert scale of 5 during a period of 9 weeks between October and November 2019. The findings suggested that employee retention which is a major issue in hospitality industry can be tackled when the service employees through proper training are coupled with the above-mentioned skillsets. This in turn can contribute significantly towards increased guest satisfaction, retention of both guests and employees and hence leading to increased revenue generation.

Plea-Bargaining Law: the Impact of Innocence, Trial Penalty, and Conviction Probability on Plea Outcomes

Despite the prevalence of guilty pleas, we know relatively little about factors that influence the decision to plead. Replicating and extending Dervan and Edkins’ Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 103, 1-48. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2071397, (2013), we conducted two experiments to examine the effects of guilt status, trial penalty, and conviction likelihood on plea outcomes using an adaptation of a high-stakes cheating paradigm. Students were led to believe that they were participating in a study examining team versus individual problem solving. Those randomly assigned to a guilty condition were induced to cheat on an individual problem by a study confederate (in clear violation of the study instructions). All participants were later accused of cheating in the research study, and were offered the analogue of a plea deal in an academic context. Across both experiments, guilty participants were significantly more likely to plead guilty than innocent participants. In Experiment 2, conviction probability affected plea rates only among the innocent. The trial penalty manipulation had no significant effect on plea rates. Reasons for pleading guilty differed between the innocent and the guilty, whereas the plea rejection rationales were similar across the two groups. Overall, this research highlights several avenues for further research aimed at improving the current system of pleas to reduce false guilty pleas.

Dynamic coordination via organizational routines

The organizational behavior literature refers to persistent interaction patterns among members of an organization with distributed knowledge as organizational routines. To formalize this concept, as well as intuitions about organizational routines, we investigate dynamic coordination within a problem-solving team where team members cannot communicate. Each team member has a finite number of actions. There is a single action profile with a positive payoff. The task is to identify that profile through repeated trials. For each of their actions, team members have private information regarding their confidence in that action being required for a solution. In this environment, we refer to deterministic sequences of action profiles, where actions are labeled according to their confidence ranking, as organizational routines. We show that there are equilibria that give rise to organizational routines. These organizational routine equilibria partially solve the team’s coordination problem by synchronizing the team’s search efforts. These organizational routine equilibria are resilient to changes in the environment by being ex post equilibria, to agents having only a coarse understanding of other agents’ strategies by being fully cursed, and to natural forms of agents’ overconfidence. If the distribution over team members’ confidences is sufficiently dispersed, this resilience of organizational routine equilibria comes at the price of suboptimality. In contrast, generically, when this distribution is sufficiently concentrated, optimal equilibria induce organizational routines.

Emotional Turmoil and Time Constraints Decrease the Ability of Team Members to Communicate Effectively and Make Decisions

Emotional Turmoil and Time Constraints Decrease the Ability of Team Members to Communicate Effectively and Make Decisions

Patients’ expectations for and experiences with primary healthcare services received from a patient centered medical home

ObjectiveExpectations for and experiences with healthcare services are summarized for 1143 patients receiving care in a statewide demonstration of Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMH). MethodsPatients were recruited from 91 primary care clinics for semi-structured interviews to determine what patients expect, what they plan to do and how they intend to execute their plans in partnership with their healthcare team. ResultsThe majority (78%) of patients defined the patient-team partnership as a collaborative and problem-solving effort. Overall, 68% defined responsibility for own health as a personal responsibility; 55% defined listening to patient’s concerns and answering questions as a responsibility of their healthcare team. Diet and exercise came up most frequently whether as a personal responsibility, issues for receiving additional help from their clinic, or plans for personal change. ConclusionPatients’ preferred a collaborative, problem-solving healthcare team partnership but also had boundaries for what additional services they wanted from this team.Practice Implications: Patients’ expectations for a collaborative partnership, acceptance of personal responsibility and interest in diet and exercise expands opportunities for patient education and teamwork. Clinics’ engagement with broader resources would be needed to address patients’ many and varied challenges to taking care of their health.

Applying multiple frameworks to establish effective virtual collaborative teams in academia: a review and recommendations

ABSTRACT Recently, academic health professionals have been increasing collaboration with peers at a distance for activities such as research, scholarship, and faculty development. Novel virtual technologies enable academic professional teams to overcome time and distance barriers to facilitate collaboration, but little research is available to guide academicians on how to effectively organize and manage virtual collaborative teams using these technologies. Based upon a literature review and six years of experience as a virtual collaborative team, the authors use Boyer’s Scholarship of Integration paradigm to identify and critique four models for virtual collaboration. The literature search devised from the four identified models found references that had a theoretical foundation for peer virtual collaboration and have been adopted in some professional context. The authors present a review of this literature, describe the benefits for adapting these models to academic health profession contexts, and provide a reflective critique about the challenges for their adaptation in these contexts. They also provide a hypothetical scenario to exemplify the application of these models for health-care professionals along with important considerations and tips when forming new virtual peer collaborative teams or problem-solving teams who are not optimally functioning.

Cross-Boundary Collaboration and Problem-Solving to Promote 21st Century Skills—Students’ Experiences

This study is part of an ongoing design-based research initiative, during which a new course on forest bioeconomics was designed and implemented in higher education context. The pedagogy of the new course was informed by the framework of 21st century skills, ideas of collaborative problem-solving and knowledge building, cross-boundary teaming, and online and blended learning. During the implementation of the pilot course, in-depth group interview data were collected and WhatsApp discussion threads were used as supplementary data. Participants included students (n=18) from Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences who enrolled in and completed the course. The data were analyzed qualitatively with the aim of finding out how 21st century skills were manifested in students’ experiences of collaborative problem-solving in cross-boundary teams in blended or online learning settings. It was also considered, if there were differences in the experiences of students from blended and online course options. The results of the qualitative analysis provide multiple implications for course development in upcoming design-based research cycles. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.18.13.3

A conceptual model of barriers and facilitators to primary clinical teams requesting pediatric palliative care consultation based upon a narrative review

BackgroundDespite evidence that referral to pediatric palliative care reduces suffering and improves quality of life for patients and families, many clinicians delay referral until the end of life. The purpose of this article is to provide a conceptual model for why clinical teams delay discussing palliative care with parents.DiscussionBuilding on a prior model of parent regoaling and relevant research literature, we argue for a conceptual model of the challenges and facilitators a clinical team might face in shifting from a restorative-focused treatment plan to a plan that includes palliative aspects, resulting in a subspecialty palliative care referral.Like patients and families, clinicians and clinical teams may recognize that a seriously ill patient would benefit from palliative care and shift from a restorative mindset to a palliative approach. We call this transition “clinician regoaling”. Clinicians may experience inhibitors and facilitators to this transition at both the individual and team level which influence the clinicians’ willingness to consult subspecialty palliative care. The 8 inhibitors to team level regoaling include: 1) team challenges due to hierarchy, 2) avoidance of criticizing colleagues, 3) structural communication challenges, 4) group norms in favor of restorative goals, 5) diffusion of responsibility, 6) inhibited expression of sorrow, 7) lack of social support, 8) reinforcement of labeling and conflict. The 6 facilitators of team regoaling include: 1) processes to build a shared mental model, 2) mutual trust to encourage dissent, 3) anticipating conflict and team problem solving, 4) processes for reevaluation of goals, 5) sharing serious news as a team, 6) team flexibility.ConclusionsRecognizing potential team level inhibitors to transitioning to palliative care can help clinicians develop strategies for making the transition more effectively when appropriate.

Silence is golden: team problem solving and communication costs

We conduct experiments comparing the performance of individuals and teams of four subjects in solving two rather different tasks. The first involves nonograms, logic puzzles that require a series of incremental steps to solve. The second task uses CRT-type questions, which require a single, specific insight. Contrary to the existing literature, team performance in both tasks is statistically indistinguishable from that of individuals when communication is costless. If a tiny message cost is imposed, team performance improves and becomes statistically better than that of individuals, although still worse than previous research on teams would have suggested. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to find that imposing friction on communication leads to more effective performance in teams. Message costs reduce the quantity of messages but increase the quality, specifically the mix of good and bad suggestions. The improved quality of communication with message costs allows teams to out-perform individuals. Our analysis suggests that organizations would do better by identifying an able individual to perform an intellective task rather than using teams; prediction exercises indicate that this will not harm, and will generally increase, performance relative to a team, and only requires the cost of paying one individual rather than many.

The Effects of Action Learning on Problem-solving Process, Team Efficacy, and Team Outcome of Nursing Students

The Effects of Action Learning on Problem-solving Process, Team Efficacy, and Team Outcome of Nursing Students