Team Climate Inventory Research Articles

Team climate and attitudes toward information and communication technology among nurses on acute psychiatric wards

Objectives: To describe the association of team climate with attitudes toward information and communication technology among nursing staff working on acute psychiatric wards.Background: Implementation of ICT applications in nursing practice brings new operating models to work environments, which may affect experienced team climate on hospital wards.Method: Descriptive survey was used as a study design. Team climate was measured by the Finnish modification of the Team Climate Inventory, and attitudes toward ICT by Burkes’ questionnaire. The nursing staff (N = 181, n = 146) on nine acute psychiatric wards participated in the study.Results: It is not self-evident that experienced team climate associates with attitudes toward ICT, but there are some positive relationships between perceived team climate and ICT attitudes. The study showed that nurses’ motivation to use ICT had statistically significant connections with experienced team climate, participative safety (p = 0.021), support for innovation (p = 0.042) and task orientation (p = 0.042).Conclusion: The results suggest that asserting team climate and supporting innovative operations may lead to more positive attitudes toward ICT. It is, in particular, possible to influence nurses’ motivation to use ICT. More attention should be paid to psychosocial factors such as group education and co-operation at work when ICT applications are implemented in nursing.

The effect of interprofessional education on interprofessional performance and diabetes care knowledge of health care teams at the level one of health service providing.

Background:The increase in life expectancy and changes in lifestyle have led to prevalence of non-communicable diseases including diabetes whose treatment and care requires effective teamwork. This study was conducted to examine the effect of inter-professional education on performance and diabetes care knowledge of health care teams.Materials and Methods:This quasi-experimental study was performed as an inter-professional education on 6 healthcare teams (34 people) based on Kolb's Learning Cycle and consisted of a set of training activities to improve individual, group, and inter-professional capabilities of members of the health care team. The pre- and post-tests included Team Climate Inventory (TCI) and a knowledge assessment tool performed before the workshop and 3 months later.Results:Mean scores for knowledge of health care team before intervention and 3 months later were 7.06 ± 1.04 and 7.97 ± 0.97 out of 10, respectively, that showed a significant difference (P < 0.0001). Mean score of the pre-test and post-test for inter-professional performance comprised 47.03 ± 6.7 and 49.44 ± 5.54 out of 70, respectively, which did not show any significant difference. However, these mean scores had a significant difference for the domains of knowledge and exercising objectives of the teamwork (10.62 ± 1.37 and 11.41 ± 1.76 out of 15, respectively) (P = 0.013).Conclusion:It seems that inter-professional education can improve the quality of health care to some extent through influencing knowledge and collaborative performance of health care teams. It also can make the health-related messages provided to the covered population more consistent in addition to enhancing self-confidence of the personnel.

Teamwork assessment in internal medicine: a systematic review of validity evidence and outcomes.

Valid teamwork assessment is imperative to determine physician competency and optimize patient outcomes. We systematically reviewed published instruments assessing teamwork in undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education in general internal medicine and all medical subspecialties. We searched MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-process, CINAHL and PsycINFO from January 1979 through October 2012, references of included articles, and abstracts from four professional meetings. Two content experts were queried for additional studies. Included studies described quantitative tools measuring teamwork among medical students, residents, fellows, and practicing physicians on single or multi-professional (interprofessional) teams. Instrument validity and study quality were extracted using established frameworks with existing validity evidence. Two authors independently abstracted 30 % of articles and agreement was calculated. Of 12,922 citations, 178 articles describing 73 unique teamwork assessment tools met inclusion criteria. Interrater agreement was intraclass correlation coefficient 0.73 (95 % CI 0.63-0.81). Studies involved practicing physicians (142, 80 %), residents/fellows (70, 39 %), and medical students (11, 6 %). The majority (152, 85 %) assessed interprofessional teams. Studies were conducted in inpatient (77, 43 %), outpatient (42, 24 %), simulation (37, 21 %), and classroom (13, 7 %) settings. Validity evidence for the 73 tools included content (54, 74 %), internal structure (51, 70 %), relationships to other variables (25, 34 %), and response process (12, 16 %). Attitudes and opinions were the most frequently assessed outcomes. Relationships between teamwork scores and patient outcomes were directly examined for 13 (18 %) of tools. Scores from the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire and Team Climate Inventory have substantial validity evidence and have been associated with improved patient outcomes. Review is limited to quantitative assessments of teamwork in internal medicine. There is strong validity evidence for several published tools assessing teamwork in internal medicine. However, few teamwork assessments have been directly linked to patient outcomes.

Case Study on Leadership, Team Climate and Knowledge Innovation in R&D Teams

Through studying the case of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) , this paper focuses on the impact of leadership and climate for innovation on knowledge innovation. Besides, the paper measures knowledge innovation behavior in RD team climate for innovation plays an intermediary role on relationship between them.

Does servant leadership foster creativity and innovation? A multi-level mediation study of identification and prototypicality

The purpose of this multi-level study is to examine how servant leadership affects both employee creativity and team innovation. Drawing from social identity, in particular, relational identification theory, we found on the basis of a two-nation Asian sample of 154 teams that servant leadership promotes individual relational identification and collective prototypicality with the leader which, in turn, fosters employee creativity and team innovation. In addition, our study suggests that the mediated effect of leader identification is strongest when team climate for innovation is high.

The importance of multidisciplinary teamwork and team climate for relational coordination among teams delivering care to older patients

AimTo identify predictors of relational coordination among professionals delivering care to older patients.BackgroundRelational coordination is known to enhance quality of care in hospitals. The underlying mechanisms, however, remain poorly understood.DesignThis cross-sectional study was part of a larger evaluation study examining the opportunity to prevent loss of function in older patients due to hospitalization in the Netherlands.MethodsThis study was performed in spring 2010 among team members delivering care to older hospitalized patients (192 respondents; 44% response rate) in one hospital. Relational coordination was measured by the Relational Coordination survey; team climate by the Team Climate Inventory and questions were asked about participation in multidisciplinary team meetings and disciplines represented in these meetings. To account for the hierarchical structure, a multilevel analysis was performed.ResultsCorrelation analysis revealed a positive relationship among being female, being a nurse and relational coordination; medical specialists showed a negative relationship. The number of disciplines represented during multidisciplinary team meetings and team climate were positively related with relational coordination. The multilevel analysis showed a positive relationship between the number of disciplines represented during multidisciplinary team meetings and team climate with relational coordination.ConclusionsThe enhancement of team climate and attendance of diverse professionals during multidisciplinary team meetings are expected to improve relational coordination. Furthermore, this study underscores the importance of enhancing relational coordination between medical specialists and other professionals.

Characteristics of primary care practices associated with high quality of care

No primary practice care model has been shown to be superior in achieving high-quality primary care. We aimed to identify the organizational characteristics of primary care practices that provide high-quality primary care. We performed a cross-sectional observational study involving a stratified random sample of 37 primary care practices from 3 regions of Quebec. We recruited 1457 patients who had 1 of 2 chronic care conditions or 1 of 6 episodic care conditions. The main outcome was the overall technical quality score. We measured organizational characteristics by use of a validated questionnaire and the Team Climate Inventory. Statistical analyses were based on multilevel regression modelling. The following characteristics were strongly associated with overall technical quality of care score: physician remuneration method (27.0; 95% confidence interval [CI] 19.0-35.0), extent of sharing of administrative resources (7.6; 95% CI 0.8-14.4), presence of allied health professionals (15.3; 95% CI 5.4-25.2) and/or specialist physicians (19.6; 95% CI 8.3-30.9), the presence of mechanisms for maintaining or evaluating competence (7.7; 95% CI 3.0-12.4) and average organizational access to the practice (4.9; 95% CI 2.6-7.2). The number of physicians (1.2; 95% CI 0.6-1.8) and the average Team Climate Inventory score (1.3; 95% CI 0.1-2.5) were modestly associated with high-quality care. We identified a common set of organizational characteristics associated with high-quality primary care. Many of these characteristics are amenable to change through practice-level organizational changes.

Organizational Climate of the Association of Leadership Educators

Without feedback from members and former members, professional organizations run the risk of being stalemated. This study sought to explore perceptions of current and former members of the Association of Leadership Educators (ALE) related to the organization and the climate within the organization. No statistical differences were found in the perceptions of dues paying and non-dues paying members related to the climate of ALE as measured by the Team Climate Inventory (TCI); however, perceptions of both groups were fairly neutral. Open-ended questions were asked to elaborate, enhance, and clarify findings. Five themes emerged as successes achieved by ALE including the members, the ALE annual conference, information and idea sharing, networking, and the Journal of Leadership Education. Five themes also emerged as challenges facing the organization including a lack of direction or identity, recruitment and retention issues, lack of cohesion, lack of communication, and lack of participation.

Organizational Climate of the Association of Leadership Educators

Without feedback from members and former members, professional organizations run the risk of being stalemated. This study sought to explore perceptions of current and former members of the Association of Leadership Educators (ALE) related to the organization and the climate within the organization. No statistical differences were found in the perceptions of dues paying and nondues paying members related to the climate of ALE as measured by the Team Climate Inventory (TCI); however, perceptions of both groups were fairly neutral. Open-ended questions were asked to elaborate, enhance, and clarify findings. Five themes emerged as successes achieved by ALE including the members, the ALE annual conference, information and idea sharing, networking, and the Journal of Leadership Education . Five themes also emerged as challenges facing the organization including a lack of direction or identity, recruitment and retention issues, lack of cohesion, lack of communication, and lack of participation.

Better Interprofessional Teamwork, Higher Level of Organized Care, and Lower Risk of Burnout in Acute Health Care Teams Using Care Pathways

Effective interprofessional teamwork is an essential component for the delivery of high-quality patient care in an increasingly complex medical environment. The objective is to evaluate whether the implementation of care pathways (CPs) improves teamwork in an acute hospital setting. A posttest-only cluster randomized controlled trial was performed in Belgian acute hospitals. Teams caring for patients hospitalized with a proximal femur fracture and those hospitalized with an exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, were randomized into intervention and control groups. The intervention group implemented a CP. The control group provided usual care. A set of team input, process, and output indicators were used as effect measures. To analyze the results, we performed multilevel statistical analysis. Thirty teams and a total of 581 individual team members participated. The intervention teams scored significantly better in conflict management [β=0.30 (0.11); 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.08 to 0.53]; team climate for innovation [β=0.29 (0.10); 95% CI, 0.09 to 0.49]; and level of organized care [β=5.56 (2.05); 95% CI, 1.35 to 9.76]. They also showed lower risk of burnout as they scored significantly lower in emotional exhaustion [β=-0.57 (0.21); 95% CI, -1.00 to -0.14] and higher in the level of competence (β=0.39; 95% CI, 0.15 to 0.64). No significant effect was found on relational coordination. CPs are effective interventions for improving teamwork, increasing the organizational level of care processes, and decreasing risk of burnout for health care teams in an acute hospital setting. Through this, high-performance teams can be built.

Climate in Software Development Teams: Role of Task Interference and Procedural Justice

The objective of the study is to understand the role of task interdependence and procedural justice in influencing climate in software development teams. Data was collected from 192 software professionals from 33 software development teams. Team climate was measured using Team Climate Inventory by Anderson and West. Procedural justice was measured using a scale developed by Colquitt. Pearce and Gregersen's scale was used to measure task interdependence within the team. Teams were taken as the unit of analysis. Regression was used to study the moderating and main effects.Results showed a postive impact of task interdependence on all the sub dimensions of team climate. Procedural justice had a positive effect on two sub-dimensions of team climate (participatory safety and support for innovation). Perception of procedural justice also helped to improve the positive effect of task interdependence on the members' perception of support for innovation within their team.

Teams as innovative systems: Multilevel motivational antecedents of innovation in R&amp;D teams.

Integrating theories of proactive motivation, team innovation climate, and motivation in teams, we developed and tested a multilevel model of motivators of innovative performance in teams. Analyses of multisource data from 428 members of 95 research and development (R&D) teams across 33 Chinese firms indicated that team-level support for innovation climate captured motivational mechanisms that mediated between transformational leadership and team innovative performance, whereas members' motivational states (role-breadth self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation) mediated between proactive personality and individual innovative performance. Furthermore, individual motivational states and team support for innovation climate uniquely promoted individual innovative performance, and, in turn, individual innovative performance linked team support for innovation climate to team innovative performance.

The Influences of Transformational Leadership on Team Innovation Climate and Team Innovation Performance

Taking Yangtze River Delta Region as an example, this paper studies the relationship among transformational leadership(TL) and their behaviors, team innovation climate(TIC) and team innovation performance(TIP) under Chinese culture background through multiple linear regression. The results show that TL has a significant positive impact on TIC and TIP; TIC is partial mediator variable of TL and TIP; and it also plays partial mediator role on moral modeling, vision incentive, leader charm, and individualized consideration. It is beneficial to guide management practice to create more innovation and improve competitiveness of enterprises.

Systemisch-familientherapeutisches Arbeiten in der Akutpsychiatrie

Assessing long-term effects of a family systems therapy approach (systems therapy methods in acute psychiatry, SYMPA) on occupational stress and interdisciplinary cooperation of team members in three German psychiatric hospitals. Pre-post-follow-up survey using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and Team Climate Inventory (TCI) questionnaires complemented by semi-structured in-depth interviews (N = 56). Three years after implementing a family systems therapy approach, experienced work load and staff burnout remain significantly lower than before. Interdisciplinary cooperation was intensified and nursing staff status increased. Following systemic case conceptualisations and interventions the therapeutic alliance moved towards a need-adapted treatment approach. Seven years after implementation, the family systems therapy approach still included significantly lower workload burden, an intensified interdisciplinary cooperation, and a need-adapted treatment orientation that strengthens the alliance between staff and client system.

The influence of team climate for innovation on team performance: A comprehensive meta-analysis

Team climate for innovation is an important concept in management research and has stimulated a plethora of studies investigating how it influences performance. However, empirical research on the i...

Leadership, Innovation Climate, and Attitudes Toward Evidence-Based Practice During a Statewide Implementation

Leadership is important in practice change, yet there are few studies addressing this issue in mental health and social services. This study examined the differential roles of transformational (i.e., charismatic) leadership and leader-member exchange (i.e., the relationship between a supervisor and their direct service providers) on team innovation climate (i.e., openness to new innovations) and provider attitudes toward adopting evidence-based practice (EBP) during a statewide evidence-based practice implementation (EBPI) of an intervention to reduce child neglect. Participants were 140 case-managers in 30 teams providing home-based services to families in a statewide child-welfare system. Teams were assigned by region to EBPI or services as usual (SAU) conditions. Multiple group path analysis was used to examine associations of transformational leadership and leader-member exchange with innovation climate and attitudes toward adoption and use of EBP. Transformational leadership predicted higher innovation climate during implementation, whereas leader-member exchange predicted higher innovation climate during SAU. Innovation climate was, in turn, associated with more positive attitudes toward EBP for the EBPI group. Strategies designed to enhance supervisor transformational leadership have the potential to facilitate implementation efforts by promoting a strong climate for EBPI and positive provider attitudes toward adoption and use of EBP.

Team innovation climate and knowledge sharing among healthcare managers : mediating effects of altruistic intentions

This paper aims to provide empirical evidence concerning the impact of team climate on knowledge sharing behavior and the mediating effects of individuals' altruistic intentions in the context of healthcare settings. Questionnaire data were collected from 212 administrators employed at a medical center in Taiwan. Team climate was assessed by the Team Climate Inventory composed of four factors, participative safety, support for innovation, vision, and task orientation. The proposed hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. The influence of the team innovation climate on knowledge sharing behavior was evident. Furthermore, individuals' altruistic intentions played a full mediating role in the relationship between team innovation climate and knowledge sharing behavior. These results contribute to the field of the people-orientated perspective in knowledge management. The full mediating effect of employees' altruistic intentions provides healthcare team managers the direction to accelerate knowledge sharing behavior.

Making Virtue of Necessity: The Role of Team Climate for Innovation in Resource-Constrained Innovation Projects

The effect of financial resource constraints on innovation team performance is ambiguous. On the one hand, the majority of scholars have argued that financial resource constraints have an inhibiting effect on innovation, whereas budgetary slack supports creativity and innovation. Consistent with this notion, in most conceptual models on the management of innovation projects, the availability of slack, or at least adequate (rather than constrained) resources represents an important success factor supporting innovation. On the other hand, popular parlance has it that sometimes “necessity is the mother of innovation,” and literature in cognitive psychology suggests that resource constraints stimulate creativity and innovative behavior. Recent innovation literature indeed provides evidence that remarkable innovation outcomes can be achieved with constrained financial resources. Despite the rapidly growing research on success factors of innovation projects, and the high managerial relevance of budget questions, the influence of financial resource constraints has only very recently started to attract interest. The objective of the present study is to contribute to that research by investigating under what conditions financial resource constraints lead to innovation outcomes. Specifically, team climate for innovation is examined as a potentially important contingency variable of the relationship between financial resource constraints and innovation project performance. By explicitly focusing on team climate for innovation, factors of the work environment in innovation projects are addressed as influential boundary conditions for successfully innovating under financial resource constraints. The hypotheses are tested on a sample of 94 innovation project teams from a variety of industries. To ensure content validity and to avoid a possible common source bias, data from different respondents, i.e., team leaders, team members, and team external managers of the innovation projects, are used. Results of regression analyses show that there is no significant relationship between financial resource constraints and innovation project outcomes in terms of product quality and project efficiency. However, results show a significant interaction term of financial resource constraints and team climate for innovation in that team climate for innovation positively moderates the relationship between financial resource constraints and product quality as well as project efficiency. Thus, the findings of the present study contradict the widespread notion in innovation literature that financial resource constraints have a wholesale inhibiting effect on innovation, thereby providing a differentiated perspective on the relationship between financial resource constraints and innovation. On a practical level, the results of this study highlight a specific condition under which product developers can come up with more innovative solutions despite, or even because of, financial resource constraints.

Ownership type and team climate in elderly care facilities: the moderating effect of stress factors

This paper is a report of a study examining the association between ownership type and perceived team climate among older people care staff. In addition, we examined whether work stress factors (time pressure, resident-related stress, role conflicts and role ambiguity) mediated or moderated the above mentioned association. There has been a trend towards contracting out in older people care facilities in Finland and the number of private for-profit firms has increased. Studies suggest that there may be differences in employee well-being and quality of care according to the ownership type of older people care. Cross-sectional survey data was collected during the autumn of 2007 from 1084 Finnish female older people care staff aged 18-69 years were used. Team Climate Inventory was used to measure team climate. Ownership type was divided into four categories: for-profit sheltered homes, not-for-profit sheltered homes, public sheltered homes and not-for-profit nursing homes. Analyses of covariance were used to examine the associations. Team climate dimensions participative safety, vision and support for innovation were higher in not-for-profit organizations (both sheltered homes and nursing homes) compared to for-profit sheltered homes and public sheltered homes. Stress factors did not account for these associations but acted as moderators in a way that in terms of task orientation and participative safety employees working in for-profit organizations seemed to be slightly more sensitive to work-related stress than others. Our results suggest that for-profit organizations and public organizations may have difficulties in maintaining their team climate. In consequence, these organizations should focus more effort on improving their team climate.

Organizational Culture, Team Climate, and Quality Management in an Important Patient Safety Issue: Nosocomial Pressure Ulcers

Increasingly, policy reform in health care is discussed in terms of changing organizational culture, creating practice teams, and organizational quality management. Yet, the evidence for these suggested determinants of high-quality care is inconsistent. To determine if the type of organizational culture (Competing Values Framework), team climate (Team Climate Inventory), and preventive pressure ulcer quality management at ward level were related to the prevalence of pressure ulcers. Also, we wanted to determine if the type of organizational culture, team climate, or the institutional quality management related to preventive quality management at the ward level. In this cross-sectional observational study multivariate (logistic) regression analyses were performed, adjusting for potential confounders and institution-level clustering. Data from 1274 patients and 460 health care professionals in 37 general hospital wards and 67 nursing home wards in the Netherlands were analyzed. The main outcome measures were nosocomial pressure ulcers in patients at risk for pressure ulcers (Braden score ≤ 18) and preventive quality management at ward level. No associations were found between organizational culture, team climate, or preventive quality management at the ward level and the prevalence of nosocomial pressure ulcers. Institutional quality management was positively correlated with preventive quality management at ward level (adj. β 0.32; p < 0.001). Although the prevalence of nosocomial pressure ulcers varied considerably across wards, it did not relate to organizational culture, team climate, or preventive quality management at the ward level. These results would therefore not subscribe the widely suggested importance of these factors in improving health care. However, different designs and research methods (that go beyond the cross-sectional design) may be more informative in studying relations between such complex factors and outcomes in a more meaningful way.