Role Of Team Leader Research Articles

The social structure of leadership and creativity in engineering design teams: An empirical analysis

Creativity is essential for research and development efforts. Unfortunately, little is known about how the role of team leaders determines the team's creativity. Based on a sample of 39 engineering design teams in the space industry, this study examines the effects of leader position within different flows of communication on team creativity. The results indicate that the balance between holding a central or a peripheral position indeed determines the creativity of such teams. Specifically, very central and very peripheral positions of team leaders within the work-flow and awareness network hamper team creativity, whereas peripheral situated team leaders within the information network propel the creativity. In addition, team leaders stimulate creativity when they stay central in the external information network. In managerial terms, the analyses implicate that stimulating engineering design team creativity requires team leaders to smartly limit their involvement in communication and mainly act as gatekeepers to external sources of information.

Career development drives up customer service at Dial‐a‐Cab

PurposeThe paper describes how Dial‐a‐Cab, the largest supplier of licensed taxis in central London, has introduced a program to provide Level 2 National Vocational Qualifications to contact‐centre staff.Design/methodology approachThe paper details the reasons for the program, and the results it has achieved.FindingsThe program has delivered a significant improvement in staff morale and engagement, driving up customer service through consistency and professionalism.Practical implicationsThe author contends that, as a result of the improved career development, Dial‐a‐Cab is able to attract higher‐caliber candidates to its contact centre. The commitment to professional qualifications is gaining significant approval from customers, boosting satisfaction and supporting business growth in excess of 16 percent in the past year.Originality/valueThe paper demonstrates that the program has also provided staff with a greater understanding of the entire customer‐service process, including the role of team leaders, which has helped to drive up standards.

Disaster Medical Assistance Teams: What Psychosocial Support is Needed?

The objective of this preliminary study was to evaluate the perceptions of internationally deployed Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) personnel regarding the psychosocial support needs of these teams. The DMAT questionnaire was sent to 34 members of Australian medical teams involved in deployments to the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami and the 2006 Java earthquake. Twenty personnel (59%) completed this survey, which reviewed key deployment stressors, specific support strategies, and the support needs of team members, their families, and team leaders. A key aspect of the survey was to determine whether the perceived psychosocial needs would be supported best within with existing provisions and structures, or if they would be enhanced by further provisions, including the deployment of mental health specialists. There was strong support for brief reviews of stress management strategies as part of the pre-deployment briefing, and access to written stress management information for both team members and their families. However, more comprehensive provisions, including pre-deployment, stress-management training programs for personnel and intra-deployment family support programs, received lower levels of support. The availability of mental health-related training for the team leader role and access to consultation with mental health specialists was supported, but this did not extend to the actual deployment of mental health specialists. In this preliminary study, clear trends toward the maintenance of current mental health support provisions and the role of the DMAT leader were evident. A follow-up study will examine the relationship between team-leader, psychosocial support strategies and team functioning.

Using High Fidelity Simulation to Enhance Perceptions of Competency and Safe Practice in Anesthesia Assistants.

BACKGROUND: The Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences educates health professionals and addresses human resources requirements in healthcare in Ontario. In 2005 a new program for Anesthesia Assistants (AAs) was designed and implemented to address waiting times for surgical procedures. An AA under the supervision of an Anesthesiologist, can assist in the provision of anesthetic care, thereby potentially facilitating the flow of patients through operating rooms and reducing waiting times for procedures. High fidelity simulation was integrated throughout a 13 week didactic curriculum to aid in achieving competency in newly identified skill areas for AAs. A clinical education component followed the didactic phase of the program. The purpose of the study was to examine the perceptions of AA students as they pertained to enhancing competency and safe practice. METHODS: Following ethics approval, qualitative methodology was used to elicit the perceptions of the learners (n=24) in each of the first 2 cohorts of the Anesthesia Assistant program. Learners consisted of Registered Respiratory Therapists, all of whom had precious experience working in the Operating Room. Learners were asked to keep a reflective journal of their experience with learning via high fidelity simulation. Thematic analysis of was conducted of the learners’ reflective journals. In addition, a focus group was conducted following completion of the classroom/simulation portion of the curriculum. RESULTS: There were four major themes identified throughout the data: anxiety, comfort, patient safety and added value. Participants expressed initial anxiety with using simulation and a strong fear of being team leader. By week two, they began expressing their perceptions of the impact this method of training was having on their skill level and competency. Gaps in knowledge and weaknesses in skill demonstration were highlighted through simulation. Debriefing activities provided opportunities for formative feedback. By week six, most participants expressed a positive perception of their competency. They saw value in simulation use in the integration of skills and behaviours in a safe environment. They expressed gratitude that they were able to make mistakes during their learning process without endangering patients. By week six participants no longer expressed fear of assuming the role of team leader. While comfort with this role was widely variable over the first six weeks of the program, many participants expressed the desire to assume the role more frequently. Satisfaction with simulation as a method of teaching and evaluating AA competency based skills was strongly expressed in reflections and the focus group. CONCLUSIONS: Simulation activities integrated into the curriculum of an AA program were perceived as effective in enhancing skills and competency while maintaining patient safety. Participants were cognizant of the value of simulation with respect to both practice of new skills and assessment of competency. Although initially anxious about assuming the role of team leader, the simulation enhanced curriculum allowed opportunities to safely practice which resulted in increased comfort with this role. Further study could be done to explore the correlation between enhanced perception of competency and actual competency pre and post simulated learning experiences.

Critical care response teams: A step forward in patient care, or a step closer to an emergency physician manpower crisis?

In this issue of CJEM, Upadhye and associates discuss the potential roles for emergency physicians (EPs) in the formation and implementation of critical care response teams (CCRTs) in Canadian hospitals. 1 They suggest that EPs could be valuable members of such teams, even playing the role of team leaders in hospitals where there are inadequate numbers of, or no intensivists. The stated purpose of these teams is to “bring critical care expertise to the bedside of patients outside of ICUs [intensive care units],” thereby impacting the “early care of critically ill or deteriorating patients in order to improve outcomes and potentially reduce the rate of, or shorten the duration of, ICU admissions.” As written, this goal of better patient outcomes seems laudable. Certainly, Rivers and colleagues have demonstrated clear benefit of early, goal-directed therapy for patients in shock.

Development of a leadership skills workshop in paediatric advanced resuscitation

Background: Paediatric residency programs rarely prepare trainees to assume resuscitation team leadership roles despite the recognized need for these skills by specialty accreditation organizations. We conducted a needs-assessment survey of all residents in the McGill Pediatric Residency Program, which demonstrated that most residents had minimal or no experience at leading resuscitation events and felt unprepared to assume this role in the future.Aims: We developed an educational intervention (workshop) and evaluated immediate and long term learning outcomes in order to determine whether residents could acquire and retain team leadership skills in pediatric advanced resuscitation.Methods: Fifteen paediatric residents participated in a workshop that we developed to fulfill the learning needs highlighted with the needs assessment, as well as the Objectives of Training in Pediatrics from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. It consisted of a plenary session followed by 2 simulated resuscitation scenarios. Team performance was evaluated by checklist. Residents were evaluated again 6 months later without prior interactive lecture. Learning was also assessed by self-reported retrospective pre/post questionnaire.Results: Checklist score (assigning roles, limitations of team, communication, overall team atmosphere) expressed as % correct: initial workshop scenario 1 vs. scenario 2 (63 vs. 82 p < 0.05); 6-month scenario with prior workshop exposure vs. control (74 vs. 50 p < 0.01); initial workshop scenario 2 vs. 6-month scenario control (82 vs. 50 p < 0.001). Retrospective pre/post survey (5 point Likert scale) revealed self-reported learning in knowledge of tasks, impact and components of communication, avoidance of fixation errors and overall leadership performance (p < 0.001).Conclusions: Residents acquired resuscitation team leadership skills following an educational intervention as shown by both observational checklist scores and self-reported survey. The six-month follow-up evaluation demonstrated skill retention beyond the initial intervention. A control group suggested that these results were due to completion of the first workshop.

Resident as teacher: educating the educators

Context and setting Residents teach students informally, by asking and answering questions, giving mini-lectures, and providing clinically relevant, on-time teaching, whereas attending doctors often have scheduled and more structured time with students as assigned preceptors or teaching attendings. Why the idea was necessary Due to the time demands and economic pressures of contemporary medical practice, talented and dedicated teaching faculty staff are becoming more difficult to find. Residents are often called upon to teach in their stead and, although they are eager to teach, the literature argues that residents need training in teaching skills if they are to be most effective. What was done We created a 1-month elective at our institution that offers senior residents the opportunity to learn about educational theory and practise teaching while free of the constraints imposed by the role of ward team leader. This elective focuses on additional skills (e.g. adult learning theory and feedback) not addressed in depth in the required Resident Teaching Development Programme (RTDP) offered to residents in all core clinical departments at our hospital. We piloted this elective with a chief resident (MAW) in the internal medicine and paediatrics residency, who served as a clinical preceptor for Year 3 medical students during the paediatric clerkship, reviewing student case presentations, discussing relevant topics and teaching physical diagnosis at the bedside. During the pilot, the teaching resident met bi-weekly with a faculty mentor to discuss required readings and debrief on individual teaching sessions. Each teaching encounter was also supervised by an experienced teacher who provided immediate feedback to the resident. Unlike teaching on the wards, where time is a constant pressure, as a clinical preceptor the resident has more time to focus on teaching the communication and physical examination skills needed to be an effective clinician (as the presentation of 1 patient may last as long as 90 minutes). Evaluation of results and impact The teaching resident felt that the experience was a useful way to consolidate and practise the teaching skills addressed during the RTDP. It also allowed the resident to focus on the most crucial teaching points and interesting aspects of a case rather than on the minutiae involved in managing an acutely ill patient. Student evaluations of the experience were positive. Both students and mentor commented that the teaching resident was a strong teacher and role model. One student noted that the resident ... showed [them] just how big a role a [Year 3 student] can have on a team ... [the teaching resident] was a model for the type of resident I want to be . Another student described the teaching resident as a strong teacher who was very thorough and detailed . His faculty mentor described the resident as an outstanding preceptor to whom the students eagerly responded . As this elective is offered to more residents this year, we plan to assess the improvement in residents’ teaching skills using evaluations from students, preceptors and mentors before and after the course to better quantify the impact of this teaching initiative.

Elementary team strategies in a monotone game

We face a complex game between Alice and Bob where the victory probability of each contender grows monotonically by unknown amounts with the resources s/he employs. For a fixed effort on Alice's part Bob increases his resources on the basis of the results of the individual contests (victory, tie or defeat) with the aim of reducing the defeat probability under a given threshold. We read this goal in terms of computing a confidence interval for the losing probability and in a previous paper we identified this interval on the basis of two joint statistics regarding the game history. In this paper we move to a contest between teams where each member plays a monotone game with a member of the adversary team, with the additional benefit of a coordinating action on the parts of Alice and Bob in the role of team leaders. With analogous constraints on Alice's teammates and the same joint statistics collected by each contender, we show how the statistics combine to reach the goal of binding the overall losing probability of Bob's team. The analysis of the course of the bounds with the statistics suggests a pair of strategies for reducing the resources that are necessary to achieve the goal.

Single Assessment Process in Hertfordshire: Investing in Change Management

This paper describes how Hertfordshire met the challenge of providing a training programme to improve services for older people, with the introduction of single assessment, in the complex setting of a shire county with a number of PCTs, acute trusts, a county partnership trust and a county council social care service.Having set the context for single assessment, it describes the Hertfordshire approach. It focuses on some of the key drivers for successful implementation of such a radical programme of change: the siting of sessions by geographical location, the crucial role of managers and team leaders, setting the context of the sessions in the reality of staff experience, the importance of a shared language, common paperwork and clear protocols, and the role of the local implementation teams in supporting the process both through its implementation phase and into the future.Finally, it recognises that this training programme was only one aspect of equipping staff to be confident and competent in their assessments of older people, and that service improvements will be achieved gradually, requiring commitment from managers and support from the local implementation teams.

Exploring Team Support: The Role of Team's Design, Values, and Leader's Support.

This study addressed the issue of team support and explored the role of structural factors, namely, job enrichment designs; the role of cultural factors, namely, individualism– collectivism and power distance; and the role of the leader’s support, which served as support carrier in teams. With 56 nursing teams, the results demonstrated that whereas leader’s support, collectivism, and low power distance facilitated team support, job enrichment designs placed constraints on the accessibility of support to team members. Additionally, leader’s support and low power distance moderated the negative impact of job enrichment on team support. These findings suggest that support is not primarily a burst of altruism displayed by individuals, and they draw attention to the teams’ contexts that most likely serve to encourage team members to engage in support.

Medical Specialties Assuming the Role of Trauma Team Leader in Canadian Trauma Centers

Background: The use of medical staff from various medical specialties as trauma team leaders (TTL) is a subject of debate and varies from one region to another. This survey reports the current situation among Canadian trauma centers. Methods: Trauma centers were identified on the Internet through the provincial health ministry and regional health authority websites and the Trauma Association of Canada (TAC). Provincially designated or TAC-accredited trauma centers were surveyed by telephone and mail to obtain and confirm information regarding hospital designation and the medical specialties assuming the role of TTL. Results: 30 trauma centers in nine of the ten Canadian provinces were identified. Surgeons were assigned the role of TTL in 25 of 30 hospitals (83%), and assumed this role an average of 59.4% (± 39%) of the time. The use of emergency medicine physicians as TTL was reported in 18 hospitals (60%), and 34.4% (± 38%) of the time. Other specialties were reported as TTL in seven hospitals (23%) for 6.2% (± 19%) of the time. Conclusion: Surgeon involvement as TTL remains the most frequent approach used at major Canadian trauma centers, however nonsurgeon specialists, particularly emergency medicine physicians, lead a nonnegligible proportion of trauma team resuscitations.

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

SUMMARYTaking on the role of Senior Sister within a rapidly developing haemodialysis unit has been an inspiring challenge. The role inherited minimal numbers of staff, many of who were overworked and disgruntled with no clear direction. The increase in patient activity and the growing demand for renal replacement therapy had the potential to effect the quality of patient care. The need to provide effective leadership for staff, whilst maintaining a ‘hands‐on’ clinical influence within the role had become evident.A transformational leadership style as described by Bass (1) was adopted. Bass believed that transformational leaders envisage organisational goals in order to motivate followers to do their best and perform beyond their own expectation. The inspiration of a shared vision was paramount in order to build a nursing team enthused, uplifted and enabled to rise to the challenge of local reform. The role boundaries of the senior nursing staff were reviewed with a focus on supporting the development and clarification of the role of Team Leader.A strategy was successfully implemented to strengthen leadership. Through providing a support network for all grades of staff, a team culture has been fostered, improving morale and job satisfaction.Without effective leadership, support and encouragement, nurses could potentially withdraw from the emotional demands of the patients and loose sight of the intellectual challenges of everyday practice. Furthermore, this strategy has been a useful tool to encourage recruitment of staff, whilst providing a structure to develop today's skills in preparation for tomorrow's leaders.

How leaders influence the impact of affective events on team climate and performance in R&D teams

Recently, a variety of leading scholars have issued urgent calls for research into the emotional dimensions of work, arguing that progress in the understanding of organizational behavior is being hampered by a failure to consider the bounded emotionality aspects of human behavior in addition to the bounded rationality aspects. We report on findings from a longitudinal study of research and development (R&D) teams that sheds light on the emotional dimensions of teamwork and knowledge work, with particular attention to the role of team leadership. The paper contributes to the evaluation of the role of emotions and the value of Affective Events Theory (AET) in studies of leadership by (a) identifying the obstacles to innovation and performance in R&D teams, (b) testing the relations between negative events, team affective climate, and team performance, and (c) by identifying the role of team leadership in response to negative events in R&D teams. Practical and scholarly implications for leadership of teams are discussed.

Vertical versus shared leadership as predictors of the effectiveness of change management teams: An examination of aversive, directive, transactional, transformational, and empowering leader behaviors.

This study investigated vertical versus shared leadership as predictors of the effectiveness of 71 change management teams. Vertical leadership stems from an appointed or formal leader of a team, whereas shared leadership (C. L. Pearce, 1997; C. L. Pearce & J. A. Conger, in press; C. L. Pearce & H. P. Sims, 2000) is a group process in which leadership is distributed among, and stems from, team members. Team effectiveness was measured approximately 6 months after the assessment of leadership and was also measured from the viewpoints of managers, internal customers, and team members. Using multiple regression, the authors found both vertical and shared leadership to be significantly related to team effectiveness ( p .05), although shared leadership appears to be a more useful predictor of team effectiveness than vertical leadership. The increasing use of empowered teams and concomitant flattening of organizational structures (Mohrman, Cohen, & Mohrman, 1995) brings into question the more traditional models of leadership. What kind of leadership is more appropriate for this new team-based environment? Pearce (1997), Yukl (1998), Pearce and Sims (2000), and Pearce and Conger (in press) have suggested that shared leadership—leadership that emanates from the members of teams, and not simply from the appointed team leader— may provide the answer to this question. Thus, we investigated this issue within the context of change management teams (CMTs). The CMTs in this study are teams that, while not fully self-managing, have a very high degree of decision-making latitude for improving the operations in their respective areas of responsibility. Thus, our results are most applicable to highautonomy teams that engage in complex tasks, and they may not generalize to traditional work groups. The teams in this study are also all drawn from one organization, which helps to control for situational variables that might influence team effectiveness (e.g., organizational culture) but may limit the generalizability to alternate organizational contexts. More specifically, we explored how the behavior of the appointed team leaders (vertical leadership) versus distributed influence from within the team (shared leadership) accounted for the effectiveness of the CMTs. In this article, we briefly review the behavioral model of leadership that forms the basis of this study and then review literature related to the shared leadership process. We offer several hypotheses regarding the potential role of team leadership in team effectiveness. Subsequently, we describe our methods, present our results, and offer a discussion and conclusion.

The Role of Senior Management and Team Leaders in Building Collaborative New Product Teams

Most high-technology firms expect cross-functional new product teams to accelerate product innovation, increase creativity, and cut costs. However, the mere formation of teams seldom produces such results. This article reports findings from a recent study of new product development processes in 10 high-technology firms and highlights the actions of senior management and team leaders that are associated with highly collaborative new product teamwork.

Part 6: Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support

Part 6: Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support

Four tactics for improving behavior analytic services.

Applied behavior analysts are developing and supplanting existing children's services in many states. While many elements may determine success and failure with a particular child, some practices will greatly enhance success with clients. Four tactics are considered here: (a) shared basic knowledge of behavior analytic principles (b) application of the correct behavior analytic model of child development (c) a functionalist perspective that allows for individualization of treatment; and (d) consumer profiling. The Importance of Shared Basic Knowledge of Behavior Analytic Principles Behavior analysis services are greatly in demand for work with children in school, home, and community settings. Behavior analysts work as members of a team. Typically, they design programs that are then implemented by other people. In a school setting, the behavior analysts may be working with teachers and teaching assistants. In home situations, they will be working with families and staff to implement programs. Usually the behavior analysts do not work directly with the children (or do so infrequently for assessment purposes). Instead, they function as consultants working with staff and family implement the programs. For consistent and effective implementation of programs, it is essential that the individuals involved understand what they are doing and why. Therefore, it is imperative that the behavior analysts be able to communicate effectively about behavioral principles to people working directly with the child. Those implementing the plans must be able to identify the function(s) of the (problem) behaviors for the individual child and which factors in the environment are causing and/or maintaining the behaviors. It is not enough, for example, for a parent to follow a recipe for a token system, time out, or an incidental teaching protocol. Just as rote learning without understanding in children rarely generalizes to effective learning, so too individuals working to change problem behaviors will not be effective in doing so without understanding the principles involved. For example, using time-out when problem behavior is maintained by escape from an aversive task would likely function as a reinforcer and thus would fail to decrease problem behavior. Furthermore, motivation to follow through on all aspects of a plan, (particularly aspects which may be boring for the helper or be met with resistance from the child), often depends on understanding why these procedures are important. The premise here is that when all involved have the same basic knowledge of behavioral principles, it is easier to plan together, implement, and reassess treatment plans as a team. In order to take the role of team leader and educator of other team members, as described above, the behavior analyst should possess certain basic competencies. Shook and Favell (1996) list basic competencies which behavior analysts should be expected to demonstrate. This list was compiled through a national survey conducted by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation as a means of updating the Florida Behavior Analysis Certification Examination. Two hundred fifty-six individuals from 35 states participated in this survey. All were certified behavior analysts in Florida or Oklahoma or full members of the Association for Behavior Analysis. The results were compiled into a list of 108 competencies (divided into 12 content areas) which were judged by the respondents to be important skills in behavior analysis. These competencies, (see Shook and Favell, 1996, or Shook, Hartsfield, and Hemingway, 1995, for the complete list), include skills relating to conducting a behavioral assessment using various methods to collect assessment information, summarizing and interpreting this information and designing treatment programs based on these. In addition, credentialed behavior analysts must be able to identify the characteristics of behavior analysis (and distinguish between behaviorism, the experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis) and identify legal and ethical considerations (e. …

An ethnographic study of differentiated practice in an operating room.

An ethnographic study was conducted to investigate implementation of the clinical nurse III or team leader (TL) role as part of a newly executed nursing differentiated practice model. The six TLs studied were employed in the operating room (OR). Through participant observation, interviews, and document analysis, the TL role--as well as perceptions of the role by the TLs and OR staff--were studied. Problems related to performance of the role and its evolutionary process were delineated. Data analysis involved identifying categories and subcategories of data and developing a coding system to identify themes. Salient themes were related to the culture of the OR. Because of the OR's highly technical environment, the TLs defined their roles in relation to the organizational and technical needs of their surgical service. Refinement of surgeon "preference cards" and "instrument count sheets" was considered the initial priority for the TLs. Various controllable and uncontrollable factors were identified that affected implementation of the new TL role. Findings suggest that introduction of the role requires insight into setting and an emphasis on staging and orientation of employees to the new role.

The changing role of dental auxiliaries: a literature review.

A review of the literature on dental auxiliaries and their utilization in the dental workforce is presented, and their future role is examined in the light of broader issues relating to changing disease patterns and service delivery. Legislative factors, productivity, quality assurance and the potential scope for dental auxiliaries in both the public sector and private practice setting are discussed. A strategy for adopting a team approach in the delivery of dental services is suggested, which would necessitate the dentist taking on the role of team leader and maintaining responsibility for overall treatment planning and quality assurance. Dental auxiliaries could provide basic preventive and restorative dental services, allowing dentists to concentrate on providing more complex high-technology treatment. Implications for the future training of dental auxiliaries are presented.

Registered nurse role changes and satisfaction with unlicensed assistive personnel.

This study examines registered nurse perceptions of changes in the role of the registered nurse and registered nurse satisfaction with the use of unlicensed assistive personnel in acute hospital care delivery systems. Six major functional areas were examined: leadership, communication patterns, health teaching, evaluation activities, care management responsibilities, and unit tasks. Moderate to profound changes were reported in areas relating to the team leader role. Registered nurses reported dissatisfaction with unlicensed assistive personnel's ability to perform delegated nursing tasks, communicate pertinent information, and provide more time for professional nursing activities.