Team Autonomy Research Articles

It is like taking a ball for a walk: on boundary work in software development

In this paper, we explore how the choices of boundary work in software development influence the team autonomy enacted by team members. Boundary work is when people protect their professional individual autonomy, when they downplay that autonomy to collaborate over professional boundaries, and when they create new boundaries. Team autonomy is here defined as a team using their autonomy to collaborate in deciding their own output. We use an action research design, with varied methodologies carried out through three action cycles. Our findings show that when collective, collaborative boundary work is not performed, a sort of individualized zone occurs where individuals either try to do collaborative boundary work by themselves or seek individual autonomy. We propose that individual autonomy can be divided into professional individual autonomy and situationally dependent individual autonomy. This research contributes theoretically by showing how the absence of collaborative boundary work can lead to an individualized zone. Practically, it can improve team autonomy by enhancing the understanding of why teams should perform collaborative boundary work. The value of the concept of boundary work used in this setting involves studying the intentions for collaboration, not whether collaboration actually takes place.

Multifactorial Management the Development of Universities Innovative Educational Ecosystems

The article discusses the problem of multifactorial management the development of universities innovative educational ecosystems as a complex, multi-level educational community of participants acting within the framework of existing institutional norms and, at the same time, implementing development projects aimed at creating new social institutions. The methodology for managing the development of innovative educational ecosystems means a system of management principles, concepts, approaches and methods of managing an organization and personnel used in the processes of social self-organization and self-development of both the educational ecosystem as a whole and its individual participant. For a specific educational ecosystem, the set of methodological tools can be different, as well as their application at different organizational levels by different participants in the educational ecosystem. The methodology for managing the development of an innovative educational ecosystem makes it possible to determine the optimal set of processes for creating innovation-oriented methods of creating scientific and educational products or performing services within the framework of development projects characterized by the rapid development of prototypes within the framework of outsourcing and venture capital financing, trial marketing, compensation of costs for creation based on long-term "bonus", independence and autonomy of development teams. The success the development of the innovative educational ecosystem is determined by a number of factors: the sufficiency of funding and regulatory support; synchronized goal-setting in the primary and subsequent phases of development management; consolidation of efforts of business structures, government and universities; elimination of formal and informal institutional barriers; creation of favorable conditions and mechanisms for investing in the development of university innovative educational ecosystems; stimulating business structures in terms of using the scientific, educational and social potential of universities; state patronage in terms of the commercialization of innovations; integration of training with research, innovation and organizational activities at the personal level; promotion of innovations within the educational ecosystem and beyond. The success the development of innovative educational ecosystems will be determined not by single decisions from the federal level or individual private initiatives of universities, teachers and students, but by ensuring all factors of the development of educational ecosystems in their systemic unity.

SELF-LEADERSHIP AND EMPOWERING LEADERSHIP IN A WESTERN BALKAN CONTEXT

In to-day's dynamic business world, a trend is towards more flexible organisations with enhanced autonomy and self-leadership of employees and teams. This study introduces the concepts of self-leadership and empowering leadership in the Western Balkans. The study measures employed professionals' views of self-leadership and experienced empowering leadership. Special attention is given to possible differences in views by gender and by professionals with / without a leadership role. Two instruments are applied, the Revised Self-Leadership Questionnaire and the Empowering Leadership Survey (n=265). Subsequently interviews were conducted with 10 company directors to generate their viewpoints and experiences of self-leadership and empowering leadership. Results show correlations between self-leadership and empowering leadership and show differences between men's and women's reports. The study also notes that better understanding the potential of empowering leadership leading to more self-leadership demands another type of research. A discussion of the study and suggestions for future research conclude the article.Keywords: self-leadership, empowering leadership, self-management, Western Balkans, AlbaniaJEL Classifications: M12, M19, M54DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/irmm.10893

The effects of team human resource management and team autonomy on quality of working life: Mediating model of multiskilling in hospital organizations

The effects of team human resource management and team autonomy on quality of working life: Mediating model of multiskilling in hospital organizations

Quantum-Like Interdependence Theory Advances Autonomous Human-Machine Teams (A-HMTs).

As humanity grapples with the concept of autonomy for human–machine teams (A-HMTs), unresolved is the necessity for the control of autonomy that instills trust. For non-autonomous systems in states with a high degree of certainty, rational approaches exist to solve, model or control stable interactions; e.g., game theory, scale-free network theory, multi-agent systems, drone swarms. As an example, guided by artificial intelligence (AI, including machine learning, ML) or by human operators, swarms of drones have made spectacular gains in applications too numerous to list (e.g., crop management; mapping, surveillance and fire-fighting systems; weapon systems). But under states of uncertainty or where conflict exists, rational models fail, exactly where interdependence theory thrives. Large, coupled physical or information systems can also experience synergism or dysergism from interdependence. Synergistically, the best human teams are not only highly interdependent, but they also exploit interdependence to reduce uncertainty, the focus of this work-in-progress and roadmap. We have long argued that interdependence is fundamental to human autonomy in teams. But for A-HMTs, no mathematics exists to build from rational theory or social science for their design nor safe or effective operation, a severe weakness. Compared to the rational and traditional social theory, we hope to advance interdependence theory first by mapping similarities between quantum theory and our prior findings; e.g., to maintain interdependence, we previously established that boundaries reduce dysergic effects to allow teams to function (akin to blocking interference to prevent quantum decoherence). Second, we extend our prior findings with case studies to predict with interdependence theory that as uncertainty increases in non-factorable situations for humans, the duality in two-sided beliefs serves debaters who explore alternatives with tradeoffs in the search for the best path going forward. Third, applied to autonomous teams, we conclude that a machine in an A-HMT must be able to express itself to its human teammates in causal language however imperfectly.

The implementation of a digital service approach to fostering team autonomy, distant collaboration, and knowledge scaling in large enterprises

BACKGROUND: Autonomous acting of individuals and as teams are key elements of agile, distributed, and partly or entirely distant working environments. The availability of relevant processes, methods, tools, and guidelines is key to leveraging team autonomy. OBJECTIVE: This article presents the design and implementation of a digital self-service kit (SSK) approach featuring high scalability, as well as a quality assurance and continuous improvement mechanism. As consumers, the teams within an organization can use these SSK’s anytime and on-demand without any constraints in location, time, or quota. As producers (of knowledge and experience), they can also assume active roles in the extension and continuous improvement of the SSK’s. METHODS: This has been achieved in open community networks where feedback is actively leveraged and constantly integrated in the SSK’s design. Such open Communities of Practices (CoP) ensure that all interested parties can contribute to the adequateness of both the content and the provision of the SSK’s in both local and distant corporate settings. Both the design and implementation have been done and evaluated in a large-scale international corporate environment where high cultural diversity, as well as distant collaboration are of key importance. RESULTS: The results presented in this article include a generic digital self-service approach to distance learning and coaching of teams in the particular context of the agile transformation of large corporate organizations. Key elements include a strong and systematic expert team involvement in the process of the setup and design of such digital SSK’s, as well as a well-explained and understood kit structure for efficient and effective utilization and re-contextualization of the contained knowledge into team-specific project contexts. This contributes to team autonomy as a major prerequisite for the agile transformation, as well as knowledge scaling across the organisation. CONCLUSIONS: The key insights gained from this experiment confirm the high relevance and effectivity of the approach especially during periods where distant collaborations are essential (e.g. during a pandemic crisis).

Agile practices and performance: Examining the role of psychological empowerment

This study draws on the literature on psychological empowerment to conceptualize agile practices as a source of intrinsic motivation that enables the agile teams to deliver innovative outcomes. Then, drawing on the resource based view of innovative projects, the innovative behaviour of agile teams is cast as a project capability that affects project performance. To test this original conceptualization, data was collected to find support for the hypothesized relationships between agile practices, psychological empowerment, innovative behaviour and project performance. The statistical results showed that the agile practices of team autonomy and agile communication contributed to psychological empowerment that led to the innovative behaviour of agile teams. The innovative behaviour also affected project performance. The empirical validation of agile practices as a source of empowerment and motivation for agile teams is a new finding in the literature which has strong implications for both the theory and practice.

Editorial: The Innovation and Project Management Department in the Journal of Operations Management

Editorial: The Innovation and Project Management Department in the <i>Journal of Operations Management</i>

Putting the Team in the Driver’s Seat: A Meta-Analysis on Team Autonomy and Team Effectiveness

Autonomy is a ubiquitous team design feature, as it is purported to relate positively to team effectiveness. However, the theoretical link between team autonomy and team effectiveness is not well understood, and previous studies have found inconsistent relationships between team autonomy and various indicators of team effectiveness. To resolve the incomplete understanding of the effects of team autonomy and illuminate the “black box” by which it affects team effectiveness, we drew from the input-mediator-outcome framework to investigate task- and relationship-focused team functioning as mediators, while also testing the moderating effects of task interdependence, task complexity, and the autonomy measurement’s referent. We also expanded the construct of team effectiveness beyond team performance to include behavioral and attitudinal team effectiveness outcomes. Our meta-analyses, based on 291 effect sizes from 58 studies conducted on 4,130 teams, revealed significant positive effects of team autonomy on team effectiveness and task- and relationship-focused team functioning. We found significant indirect effects of team autonomy on team effectiveness via both task-focused team functioning and relationship-focused team functioning. Task interdependence strengthened the relationship between team autonomy and team effectiveness, whereas task complexity weakened the relationship between team autonomy and task-focused functioning. Team autonomy was also shown to relate differentially to the effectiveness outcomes, and its relationship to team functioning was strongly influenced by the autonomy measurement’s referent.

From We to Me: Social Identity and Task Autonomy in Student Teams

Although student team assignments have become a standard component of management education there are a lack of research-based strategies to help instructors facilitate effective working relationships in student teams. We propose that students can improve their working relationships in student teams by emphasizing both team social identity and individual task autonomy. In a quasi-experimental study of 557 business undergraduates, we tested strategies to enhance social identity and task autonomy by investigating students’ ability to self-select and name their own teams, and team communication. Team self-selection and communication (face-to-face and electronic) were positively associated with social identity, while communication was positively associated with task autonomy. Social identity mediated the relationship of both team formation and communication to personal skill development; task autonomy mediated the relationship of communication to personal skill development. We discuss implications for the design of student team assignments in management education.

Adaptive level of autonomy for human-UAVs collaborative surveillance using situated fuzzy cognitive maps

Collaborating with a squad of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is challenging for a human operator in a cooperative surveillance task. In this paper, we propose a cognitive model that can dynamically adjust the Levels of Autonomy (LOA) of the human-UAVs team according to the changes in task complexity and human cognitive states. Specifically, we use the Situated Fuzzy Cognitive Map (SiFCM) to model the relations among tasks, situations, human states and LOA. A recurrent structure has been used to learn the strategy of adjusting the LOA, while the collaboration task is separated into a perception routine and a control routine. Experiment results have shown that the workload of the human operator is well balanced with the task efficiency.

AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN PUBLIC SECTOR – METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS

One of the current approaches to improving business organizations is agile project management. It emerged in the software industry in 2001, but gradually entered other, non-software industries. However, the transfer of the approach to the public sector requires a specific transformation of the agile methodology, insofar as the two sectors are radically different. The public sector is predetermined by regulations, insufficiently oriented towards service users, bureaucratized and hierarchically organized. All this is a barrier to agile project management that aims at providing project team autonomy, frequent and honest feedback to clients and other stakeholders, flexibility of project scope, etc. The aim of the article is to present a conception of a methodology for agile project management in the public sector and to discuss the issues related to its implementation in governmental organizations.

TISM for analysis of barriers affecting the adoption of lean concepts to electronics component manufacture

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the analysis of barriers affecting the adoption of lean concepts to electrical and electronics component manufacturing. Design/methodology/approach Lean concepts are being increasingly applied by electrical and electronics component manufacturers to enhance product value through streamlined process. To facilitate smooth adoption of lean concepts, barriers need to be analyzed and prioritized. In this context, a structural model of 24 barriers is developed through total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) approach. Findings ‘Changing governmental policies,’ ‘poor selection of change agents and improvement teams,’ ‘lack of top management commitment understanding and support of the system,’ ‘lack of team autonomy,’ ‘lack of flexibility and versatility’ and ‘lack of customer focus/involvement’ are found to be the dominant barriers based on TISM study. Interpretation statements are being derived from TISM model. Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification analysis is conducted. Research limitations/implications In the present paper, 24 barriers are considered. In future, additional barriers could be considered to deal with managerial advancements. Practical implications The paper reports the practical case of analysis of barriers to lean adoption in electronics component manufacture. Hence, the inferences have practical relevance. Originality/value The development of structural model for the analysis of barriers to lean implementation in electronics component manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises is the original contribution of the authors.

Methodological support for formation of resource requirements in multi-project environment

The object of research is the processes of human resource management of projects in a multi-project environment. In a multi-project environment, the level of team autonomy within an organization can be different, and the lack of a resource control system at the portfolio level reduces the effectiveness of critical organization knowledge management. The main hypothesis of the study is the assumption that an adequate understanding of customer requirements is crucial to ensure project management, and the effectiveness of human resource management in a multi-project environment depends on the effectiveness of determining resource requirements in the formation of project teams.During the study, methods of system analysis are used in the study of human resource management processes and modeling of the formation of requirements for the project team. A competency-based approach is also used in the development of a method for generating resource requirements and an optimization theory apparatus for formulating and solving problems of forming project teams in multi-project environment under given restrictions.In order to reduce the likelihood of resource conflicts, it is proposed to analyze the initial data when forming requirements for the project team. Coordination of resource requirements at the stage of team formation will reduce the risks of resource conflicts during the implementation of projects included in the project portfolio. Possible results of the analysis of stakeholder requirements are considered.A method for generating resource requirements in a multi-project environment is proposed, based on an analysis of stakeholder interest in human resource management processes, taking into account the loyalty of stakeholders, which, unlike existing ones, takes into account the consistency of resource constraints defined by stakeholders. This will allow the formation of agreed requirements for the resources of projects and programs.The generated requirements are the initial data for building project teams using the proposed method of forming teams in a multi-project environment. A model of the process of forming requirements for the project team is built. For the purpose of automation, a software package has been developed that allows to generate options for building project teams with an indication of the characteristics of the options, which will further optimize the composition of the team.

Coach–autonomy support and youth sport team efficacy mediated by coach–athlete relationship

In most previous research on the relationships between coach–autonomy support, the coach–athlete relationship, and team efficacy in team sports, the focus has been on adult players, limiting the generalizability of the findings to other age groups. Thus, we investigated the mediating role of the coach–athlete relationship in the link between coach–autonomy support and team efficacy in a youth team sports context. Participants were 254 Korean youth athletes. Results showed that coach–autonomy support served as a crucial antecedent of the coach–athlete relationship and team efficacy. Further, the coach–athlete relationship had a significant effect on team efficacy. We also confirmed a partial mediating effect of the coach–athlete relationship in the link between coach–autonomy support and team efficacy in a youth team sports context. Our findings provide insight into the psychological sources of team efficacy in youth team sports.

Work process of river family health teams from the perspective of Primary Care managers.

To analyze the work process carried out by the river family health strategy teams in a municipality in the Amazon region through the perception of the managers. An evaluative study with a qualitative approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with managers of Primary Healthcare, document analysis and participant observation of the work by content analysis. Seven managers participated. Two thematic categories stood out: "Knowledge and practices in the work process of river teams" and "Reports of successful practice experiences". Integrated work and team autonomy are present in the work process; successful practices are encouraged, as well as the use of light and hard-light technologies.

STRATEGIC ACCORD AND TENSION FOR BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION: EXAMINING DIFFERENT TACIT KNOWLEDGE TYPES AND OPEN ACTION STRATEGIES

Both academics and practitioners are underlining the relevance of business model innovation in unlocking lasting, competitive advantages. To understand how business model innovation is achieved in the team level and which contingency factors drive or inhibit the process, this study scrutinizes the strategic accord and tension of analogous and opposing action strategies, as potential contingency factors controlling and balancing the effects of external and internal tacit knowledge on business model innovation. Using a research sample of 162 team projects, our empirical study supported the research hypotheses regarding how tacit knowledge fuels business model innovation, highlighting differed moderating roles of three open action strategies (team autonomy, team creativity, and team diversity) on the relationship between two transferred knowledge types and business model innovation of technology-intensive companies. This study shed light on how team management strategies, namely manifestations of open action strategies, moderate the effectiveness of tacit knowledge on business model innovation.

Organizational Design and Organizational Learning: The Moderating Role of Innovative Behavior and Team Psychological Empowerment in the Case of an International Sustainable Mobility Provider

We have investigated how organizational design facilitates organizational learning in the age of digital economy at exploring the cross-level interplay. In this inductive case study of a sustainable mobility provider, we conducted a three-level coding procedure. We found evidence for two moderators — innovative behavior at the individual level and team psychological empowerment at the team level — to propose the conceptual model of their interplay with regard to predicting organizational learning. Based on these findings, we developed a conceptual model of the cross-level interplay between organizational design and the moderating role of innovative behavior and team psychological empowerment in stimulating organizational learning. Specifically, we found support for three facets of innovative behavior — idea generation, idea promotion, and idea implementation at the individual level. In addition, we identified four facets of team psychological empowerment at the team-level — team potency, team meaningfulness, team autonomy, and team impact — which act as moderating mechanisms in predicting organizational learning.

Mediating Effects of Upward Communications on the Relationship Between Team Autonomy and Burnout: A Study of Employees at Care Facilities in Japan

The objective of the present study is to elucidate whether upward communication has mediating effects on the relationship between team autonomy and burnout at Japanese care facilities. Data collected from 21 care facilities for the elderly in Tokyo from February to March 2015 were analyzed. The questionnaires were distributed to 719 workers, and 386 completed questionnaires were returned directly to the researcher (response rate was 53.69%). As a result of structural equation modeling, Sobel test, and bootstrap test, upward communication to immediate leaders and superiors did not mediate the relationships between team autonomy and three dimensions of burnout, while upward communication to senior leaders/superiors fully and partially mediated the relationships between team autonomy and emotional exhaustion and between team autonomy and depersonalization, respectively. Based on those findings, some academic implications are discussed, and some practical implications for management to mitigate burnout are presented.

Spotify Guilds: How to Succeed With Knowledge Sharing in Large-Scale Agile Organizations

The new generation of software companies has revolutionized the way companies are designed. While bottom-up governance and team autonomy improve motivation, performance, and innovation, managing agile development at scale is a challenge. We describe how Spotify cultivates guilds to help the company share knowledge, align, and make collective decisions.