Team Flexibility Research Articles

Transformational leadership and project success: the serial meditating roles of team flexibility and team agility

The construction sector is known for its dynamic nature, and numerous construction projects have failed to reach completion due to inadequate development of leadership. As a widely recognized leadership, transformational leadership has shown the positive relationship with project success. However, the mechanisms driving this relationship remain unclear in the context of construction projects. In response to this topic, by adopting the Input-Mediator-Outcome model, this study seeks to investigate the mediating effect of team flexibility and team agility between transformational leadership and project success in the context of construction projects. Data were collected through a survey from 306 construction project members. The Structural Equation Modeling method was employed to test the proposed model. The findings demonstrate that (1) transformational leadership positively impacts team flexibility and team agility; (2) team flexibility and team agility positively impact project success; (3) team flexibility shows a positive mediating effect between transformational leadership and project success; (4) team agility shows no mediating effect between transformational leadership and project success; and (5) team flexibility and team agility play serial mediating roles between transformational leadership and project success.

Do humble leaders build more flexible teams?

Researchers have suggested that humility is an adaptive strength at the individual level, but the questions of whether, and how, leader humility influences team adaptation are yet to be addressed. In this study we explored the relationship between leader humility and team flexibility. Drawing on social information processing theory, we theorized that humble leaders would promote team flexibility directly and indirectly by fostering team reflexivity. Analysis of survey data collected from 625 employees of a company in China provided empirical evidence for the proposed relationship of leader humility with team reflexivity and team flexibility. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Evaluating ethnically diverse patients' perspectives of considering participation in renal clinical research.

Clinical trial cohorts do not often reflect target patient populations because minority ethnic groups are underrepresented in clinical trials. To increase minority ethnic groups' opportunities to participate in clinical trials, by evaluating ethnically diverse patients' perspectives of considering participation in renal clinical research. The authors gave patients participating in at least one research study the opportunity to take part in a structured survey. The survey explored preferences, barriers and opportunities that patients considered when deciding whether to take part in a clinical trial. The authors included participants from multiple ethnic groups so they could compare data for different ethnicities. Participation was a positive experience for most patients, mostly because of the research team's flexibility and professionalism. Researchers' gender and ethnicity did not affect the participants' decision to participate. Cultural preferences were not obvious from the data as 80% of the participants were white. Patients preferred a face-to-face approach and the expertise of the research team affected participation more than any other characteristics did. However, respondents were already research-engaged and conducting a similar study with those who have declined to participate in research may show different results.

A Questionnaire-based Study Exploring Participant Perspectives in a Perinatal Human Challenge Trial.

Pregnant women have historically been excluded from most medical research, including human challenge studies. The proof-of-concept Lactamica 9 human challenge study investigated whether nasal inoculation of pregnant women with commensal bacteria leads to horizontal transmission to the neonate. Given the unique practical and ethical considerations of both human challenge studies and interventional research involving pregnant women and their newborns, we sought to investigate the motivations, concerns and experiences of these volunteers. Pre- and post-participation questionnaires were given to all participants in the Lactamica 9 study. These fully anonymized qualitative and Semi-quantitative questionnaires used forced Likert scales, word association and free-text questions. Pre- and post-participation questionnaires were completed by 87.1% (27/31) and 62.5% (15/24) of eligible participants, respectively. Almost all pre-participation respondents agreed with altruistic motivations for participation, and most concerns were related to discomfort from study procedures, with few concerned about the theoretical risks of inoculation to themselves (5/27; 18.5%) or their baby (6/27; 22.2%). Participants most frequently associated the study intervention with the terms "bacteria," "natural," "protective" and "safe." For the post-participation questionnaire, 93.3% (14/15) found all study procedures acceptable, and qualitative feedback was almost entirely positive, with particular emphasis on the research team's flexibility, approachability and friendliness. The successful completion of the Lactamica 9 study demonstrates that human challenge research in healthy pregnant women can be acceptable and feasible. Participants' initial concerns of potential discomfort were outweighed by predominantly altruistic motivations and perception of the intervention as "natural."

Leading the transformation: agile success factors in an Irish manufacturing company

Purpose – This study aims to assess the challenges and critical success factors for agile transformation in an Irish manufacturing organisation. Design/methodology – Mixed-methods approaches were used to collect data for this study. A quantitative survey utilising the novel Kano model and qualitative analysis using semi-structured interviews with middle and senior managers were employed as part of a case study. Findings – Critical success factors are identified, analysed and prioritised based on the opinions of members of the organisation studied. The conclusions of this study show that factors such as people, culture, and leadership are critical to agile transformation. The most important components, in particular, are team empowerment, team flexibility, competency development, and creating and communicating a vision. Research limitations/implications – This research focuses on a single-site case study capturing context-specific data from an organisation that recently embarked on an agile transformation. Originality/value – This study bridges the gap between academia and practice by providing valuable insights to guide leaders in their journey to agile transformation. The findings provide new knowledge to leaders and academics concerning the most critical factors for a successful transformation.

P397 Can upskilling pharmacy technicians support a robust and cost-effective Inflammatory Bowel Disease patient review process? A single-centre prospective study

Abstract Background Immunomodulators are key to the management of Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). To ensure safety and efficacy, UK guidance recommend immunomodulator review. At University Hospitals Sussex (UHS), reviews are completed by a multi-disciplinary team (MDT), with specialised IBD pharmacists and nurses leading on autonomous blood monitoring and symptom review (figure 1). This workload puts considerable strain on the UHS IBD team. Upskilling and task shifting is recognised as legitimate strategy for service enhancement, care access, cost effectiveness and sustainability plus ensures team flexibility, boosted morale and career progression. The UHS IBD team includes a highly motivated pharmacy technician (PT). In the UK, PT are registered non-prescribing healthcare professionals, but training does not include autonomous blood monitoring and symptom review. Methods To ensure competency of autonomous blood monitoring and symptom review, a training package was developed and was approved by UHS Medicines Governance Group. Once accredited, PT prospectively recorded blood monitoring and symptom review activity over, 10-weeks (figure 2 and, 3) and referrals completed (figure 4). Results The training package was completed in, 10 weeks. Over, 10 weeks, PT completed, 699 distinct monitoring activities, with, 57 (8%) needing referral to the specialised pharmacist. The highest proportion of workload was observed in the IBD infusion clinic (314, 45%), followed by thiopurine monitoring (250, 36%) and then ‘others’ (135, 19%). ‘Others’ were essential IBD activities including faecal calprotectin levels (FCPL), pre-initiation tests (e.g. thiopurine methyltransferase levels (TPMT), viral screening, t-spots) and medication levels to optimise therapy. All referrals to the specialised pharmacist were appropriate as needed action by a prescribing professional. In addition, PT contributed substantially to data collection for virtual biologic clinic (VBIC) reviews;, 32 patients. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from all effected stakeholders (PT, IBD pharmacy and nursing team and gastroenterologists). Conclusion Identifying appropriate tasks and upskilling the IBD PT has enabled a more cost-effective and efficient use of IBD workflow, care standardisation, team robustness and staff morale. Approved training and support are required to enable upskilling and continued service safety and we recommend that skills are recognised locally and nationally.

Team Flexibility in Organizational Change Context: Antecedents and Consequences.

PurposeThe purpose of our study is to explore the antecedents and consequences of team flexibility in an organizational change context. In this regard, we considered team flexibility as an important theoretical mechanism under which the insiders would adapt to organizational change.Participants and MethodsA sample of 602 individual data that was nested in 108 teams and 43 organizations was used in this study, collecting from 43 enterprises located in mainland China through questionnaires. We adopted HLM 6.08 to testify all the hypothesized relationships and used the Monte Carlo method to create the confidence intervals for all the indirect effects.ResultsThe empirical results show that 1) balance dimension of ambidexterity and change leadership have a significant positive effect on team flexibility; 2) balance dimension of ambidexterity only has marginal significant effects on employee change-specific adaptive behavior, change-specific proactive behavior, and change fairness. And change leadership has significant positive effects on the three outcomes; 3) team flexibility has a positive influence on the three outcomes. 4) Team flexibility plays a significant mediating role in the links between the balance dimension of ambidexterity and the three outcomes. In addition, team flexibility only has a significant indirect effect on the relationship between change leadership and change-specific adaptive behavior and proactive behavior.ConclusionThe current study reveals how team flexibility is established and how such flexibility is associated with employee-level change-specific behavior and perception under an organizational change context. The study indicates that team flexibility is contingent on two factors across two levels: change leadership at team level and balanced ambidexterity at organizational level, which also contributes to individual outcomes of organizational change.

Realistic evaluation of the Flexmonitor, a team program to maintain and reflect on flexibility

PurposeFlexibility is necessary in a dynamic healthcare environment. However, balancing flexibility and consistency is difficult for healthcare teams, especially when working in threatening conditions. Methods are needed to help teams create, monitor and maintain flexibility.Design/methodology/approachThis study evaluates a practice-based program –– the Flexmonitor – which aims to help teams develop and maintain flexibility. Here, realistic evaluation was used to refine the program and define building blocks for future programs.FindingsThe Flexmonitor can be used to monitor implicit criteria and differences in interpretation and beliefs among team members to promote flexibility. It also monitors team behavior and the effects of this behavior on self-defined indicators. Using the Flexmonitor, team members can discuss their beliefs and the definitions and criteria of flexibility. Strikingly, teams were not able to effectively self-manage their flexibility using the Flexmonitor.Originality/valueThis article contributes to our knowledge of self-managing teams, particularly the question of whether team members can take responsibility for team flexibility.

Model and methods of forming the competencies of a flexible team
 of a sustainable enterprise project

In recent years, the concept of sustainable development has gained popularity, which
 is also reflected in project management. For the development of sustainable project management, the task of forming a project team that is able to provide the criteria for sustainability-a
 balance of economic, social and environmental indicators and effects, both in the current period of time and in the long term. The hypothesis proved in our study is that flexible teams are
 best suited for sustainable projects. However, the scientific and practical problem is that there
 are no recommendations on the competence of the flexible team of a sustainable project. The
 purpose of the research is to substantiate the set of competencies of a flexible team of a sustainable project and suggest ways to form them. The research methods were a functional analysis of the activities of sustainable project teams and an expert survey of project managers. Functional analysis of activities was carried out in 16 project teams of 12 enterprises.155
 managers and specialists of project teams of different enterprises in Russia took part in the
 expert survey. A model of competencies that provide both classical project management functions and team functions for sustainable and flexible project management is proposed. It is
 proved that in order to ensure project sustainability criteria, team members must have such
 competencies as planning, monitoring and achieving environmental, social and economic
 indicators of sustainability, the ability to promptly take into account the dynamic interests of
 different stakeholders, and the ability to manage the project in the context of environmental
 and social responsibility of business. It also shows the impact on the effectiveness of projects
 of such competencies as the ability to combine different functions, be interchangeable team
 members, timely and qualitatively modify their competencies to meet the dynamic factors of
 the project environment. In other words, the role of team flexibility as a factor of project performance has been proven. There are defined the main directions of formation of these competencies through project communications, team building, formation of project culture and
 project thinking, and formation of skills for sustainable project management.

High-performance work systems, management team flexibility, employee flexibility and service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors

Integrating the employee-adaptive capability and social-learning perspectives, this study examined the mediating process of employees’ flexibility through which high-performance work systems (HPWS) and management team flexibility (MTF) were positively associated with employees’ service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors (SOCBs). Data collected from multiple sources at a multinational food-service chain, including 162 restaurant managers, 472 management team members and 474 frontline employees, revealed that HPWS and MTF were positively related to SOCBs via distinct kinds of employees’ flexibility. Employees’ ability to be flexible could mediate HPWS–service delivery and HPWS–participation linkages. On the other hand, employees’ willingness to be flexible could mediate the relationships between MTF and all types of SOCBs. Finally, we discuss the important findings of this study as well as their theoretical and practical implications.

Drug Free Moms and Babies: Qualitative and quantitative program evaluation results from a rural Appalachian state.

The main objective of this study is to present qualitative and quantitative results of the Drug Free Moms and Babies (DFMB) Project pilot program. The program was designed to integrate and evaluate treatment and recovery services for pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorders. Qualitative assessment was conducted via interviews regarding programmatic design components (four West Virginia sites; 2012–2018). The quantitative assessment utilized a survey that included information on patients' (N = 550) demographic, medical and substance use histories, health care services, and maternal and infant health outcomes. The qualitative results noted that program development for this population is time- and resource-intensive, and implementation requires collaborative team work. A dedicated staff position and team flexibility were critical towards programmatic success. For quantitative results, among the 393 participants that completed the program, urine drug screen data showed a significant reduction of non-prescribed positive screens from 81% (N = 178) positive in the first trimester to 22% (n = 86) positive at delivery, p < 0.0001. The DFMB program reached high-risk, medically underserved women, and was associated with reducing drug use among program completers.

Team Situation Awareness in Human-Autonomy Teaming: A Systems Level Approach

Project overview. The current study focuses on analyzing team flexibility by measuring entropy (where higher values correspond to system reorganization and lower values correspond to more stable system organization) across all-human teams and Human-Autonomy Teams (HAT). We analyzed teams in the context of a fully-fledged synthetic agent that acts as a pilot for a three-agent Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) ground crew. The synthetic agent must be able to communicate and coordinate with human teammates in a constructive and timely manner to be effective. This study involved three heterogeneous team members who had to take photographs of target waypoints and communicate via a text-based communication system. The three team members’ roles were: 1) navigator provides information about flight plan with speed and altitude restrictions at each waypoint; 2) pilot adjusts altitude and airspeed to control the Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), and negotiates with the photographer about the current altitude and airspeed to take good photos for the targets; and 3) photographer screens camera settings, and sends feedback to other team members regarding the target photograph status. The three conditions differed based on the manipulation of the pilot role: 1) Synthetic – the pilot was the synthetic agent, 2) Control – the pilot was a randomly assigned participant, and 3) Experimenter – the pilot was a well-trained experimenter who focused on sending and receiving information in a timely manner. The goal of this study is to examine how overall RPAS flexibility across HATs and all-human teams are associated with Team Situation Awareness (TSA). Method. There were 30 teams (10-teams per condition): control teams consisted of three participants randomly assigned to each role; synthetic and experimenter teams included two participants randomly assigned to the navigator and photographer roles. The experiment took place over five 40-minute missions, and the goal was to take as many “good” photos of ground targets as possible while avoiding alarms and rule violations. We obtained several measures, including mission and target level team performance scores, team process measures (situation awareness, process ratings, communication and coordination), and other measures (teamwork knowledge, workload, and demographics). We first estimated amount of system reorganization of the RPAS via an information entropy measure, i.e., the number of arrangements the system occupied over a given period of time (Shannon &amp; Weaver, 1975). Based on information entropy, we defined four layers to represent the RPAS (Gorman, Demir, Cooke, &amp; Grimm, In Review): 1) communications - the chat-based communication among team members; 2) vehicle - the RPA itself, e.g., speed, altitude; 3) control - interface between the RPA and the user; and system - the overall activity of the sub-layers. Then, we looked at the relationship between layers and TSA, which was based on successfully overcoming and completing ad hoc embedded target waypoints. Results and conclusion. Overall, the experimenter teams adapted to more roadblocks than the synthetic teams, who were equivalent to control teams (Demir, McNeese, &amp; Cooke, 2016). The findings indicate that: 1) synthetic teams demonstrated rigid systems level activity, which consisted of less reorganization of communication, control and vehicle layers as conditions changed, which also resulted in less adaptation to roadblocks; 2) control teams demonstrated less communication reorganization, but more control and vehicle reorganization, which also resulted in less adaptation to roadblocks; and 3) experimenter teams demonstrated more reorganization across communication, control and vehicle layers, which resulted in better adaptation to roadblocks. Thus, the ability of a system to reorganize across human and technical layers as situations change is needed to adapt to novel conditions of team performance in a dynamic task

Rendezvous in Lunar Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits

Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits (NRHO) have been recently identified as suitable location for a cislunar space station, to orbit in the Earth–Moon vicinity and offer long-term infrastructural services to manned and unmanned missions to the Moon and further. Indeed, to reliably perform rendezvous and docking/undocking phases between space vehicles orbiting on highly non-Keplerian orbits, such as NRHOs, represents a fundamental key technology. Rendezvous is well-known for Earth-centred missions, while no mission ever performed it on non-Keplerian orbits. The paper critically discusses the adopted approach and the obtained results in modelling the non-Keplerian relative dynamics and in synthesizing the guidance, to safely rendezvous and dock on NRHOs. The entire study is strongly driven by engineering constraints and mission requirements which lead the practical implementation. The dynamics intrinsic non-linearity—which makes the trajectories highly sensitive to small deviations—is here exploited to benefit both rendezvous operations and safety. The paper shows the relative trajectories, designed in a way that both NRHO central and unstable manifolds are used: the former to ensure the chaser relative orbit to be periodic with respect to the target, the latter to answer the passive safety philosophy here preferred. In fact, chaser deviation from target is naturally obtained, whenever on an unstable direction. Along the approaching trajectory, two holding points are assumed: on the central manifold the farthest, at about 100 km from the target, to prepare for the final approach; if a no-go is commanded, the spacecraft hovers on the central manifold, waiting for the next approach opportunity. The closest holding point is designed to lay on the unstable manifold direction, to privilege risk mitigation through passive safety, since if no active control occurs, the chaser—now just meters away from the target—naturally drifts away. The relative trajectory and approach strategy design, driven by the guidance and mission operations definition in nominal and non-nominal scenarios, is discussed in the paper: the simulations and the analyses that led to the approach corridor shape, keep-out zones radius and collision avoidance manoeuvres settling are here reported. The practical case of the cislunar space gateway servicing is here exploited to present the proposed rendezvous and approach techniques for non-Keplerian scenarios and to highlight the GRANO software tool—developed by the authors at Politecnico di Milano, ASTRA Team—flexibility for general application in the n-body framework.

Managing Traps and Pitfalls During Initial Steps of an ECMO Retrieval Program Using a Miniaturized Portable System: What Have We Learned From the First Two Years?

The aim of this study was to provide early and mid-term results of the newly established extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) retrieval service in a tertiary cardiothoracic center using the miniaturized portable Cardiohelp System (Maquet, Rastatt, Germany). A particular attention was paid to organizational and logistic specifics as well as challenges and pitfalls associated with initial phase of the program. From January 2015 until January 2017 a heterogenic group of 28 consecutive patients underwent ECMO implantation in distant hospitals for acute cardiac, pulmonary or combined failure as a bridge-to-decision and were subsequently transported to our institution. Each cannulation was performed bedside on intensive care units (ICU) using the Seldinger's technique. Early outcomes and mid-term overall survival with up to two-year follow-up along with the impact of ongoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on outcome were presented. Also, changes in hemodynamics and tissue perfusion factors 24 h after ECMO implantation were evaluated. ECMO implantations were performed in 15 distant departments with the median distance of 23(10;40) (maximum 60) km. A total of 15 patients (54%) were cannulated under CPR with the median duration of 30(20;110) (maximum 180) min. After 24 h of support there were significant improvements in SvO2 (P = 0.021), mean arterial pressure (P = 0.027), FiO2 (P = 0.001), lactate (P = 0.001), and pH (P < 0.001). The mean ECMO support duration was 96 ± 100 (maximum 384) hours, whereas 11 patients (40%) were weaned off support and discharged from hospital. Overall cumulative survival in patients without the need for CPR was 61.5% at one week and 38.5% at 1 month, 6 month, and 1 year, whereas patients requiring CPR survived in 40% at one week, and 33.3% at 1 month, 6 month, and 1 year (Log-Rank (Mantel-Cox) P = 0.374, Breslow (Generalized Wilcoxon) P = 0.162). Our initial experience shows that launching new ECMO retrieval programs in centers with sufficient ICU capacities and local ECMO experience can be feasible and associated with acceptable "real world" results despite the initial learning curve. Rapid logistical organization and team flexibility are the key points to ensure comparable survival of patients requiring prolonged CPR.

Enhancing development team flexibility in IS projects

Information system development projects face tremendous challenges because of business changes and technology changes. Research has shown that software team flexibility has a positive effect on project outcomes, but specific requirements for enhancing flexibility are lacking. Drawing from the input-mediator-outcome (IMO) team effectiveness framework, this research investigates the contextual inputs and team processes that lead to development team flexibility and how well team flexibility improves project outcomes. A survey was developed to consider a model derived from the IMO framework. One hundred fourteen members of information systems development project teams in China responded to the survey. Partial least squares analysis was used served to analyze the data. Results indicate that a participatory culture and cooperative norms are an effective foundation for improving required processes that include project coordination of the project and knowledge sharing activities. In turn, the improved process performance extends responses to changes in technology and the business climate. The improved flexibility in meeting change is predictive of outcomes related to project performance and quality of the final product.

Team performance in a lean manufacturing operation: it takes the will and a way to succeed

As contemporary manufacturing companies embark upon the lean transformation, they are relying upon a more collaborative, cross-trained workforce that strives to deliver a quality product at the required time. This longitudinal study tracked five multifunctional work teams involved in a pull system implementation effort at an electronics assembly plant. This research examines the relationship between team characteristics including the inclination to collaborate, team flexibility and shared team priorities; and team performance measures that include performance to schedule, product quality and labour efficiency. Team member collaboration was positively associated with schedule performance and labour efficiency. Team flexibility was positively related to product quality. Finally, the concept of team priority consonance is introduced, which showed a positive association with schedule performance.

Better to be flexible than to have flunked

Purpose– High team performance helps achieve several organizational benefits, such as strengthened competitive advantages, enhanced productivity, and higher profits and market share. For these reasons, the purpose of this paper is to propose a model based on the framework of proactive motivation and the theory of collectivism to analyze the formation of service flexibility and team performance.Design/methodology/approach– To test the hypotheses, this study conducts a survey of service staff in teams from high-tech firms in a well-known industrial zone in Northern Taiwan. These teams provide service for their industrial customers. From the survey, this study confirms the full mediating mechanism of service flexibility among the teams.Findings– The test results reveal that service flexibility fully mediates the relationship between team performance and its exogenous factors. Whereas collectivism negatively moderates the relationship between team efficacy and service flexibility, it does not moderate the relationship between service recovery and service flexibility. Furthermore, collectivism positively moderates the relationship between service flexibility and team performance.Originality/value– This study provides important findings that complement previous literature by examining three fresh antecedents for explaining how team performance is motivated by the mediating role of service flexibility and how some of the study’s model paths are moderated by collectivism. The mediating role of service flexibility indicates that managers can apply service flexibility as a firewall that calibrates a team’s input and output. Managers should encourage the application of agile solutions and advanced technology for facilitating team flexibility, consequently improving team performance.

Team Foresight in New Product Development Projects

In today’s uncertain business environments, management tools, originally designed for more stable environments, no longer serve the purpose of the organization because high levels of uncertainty make the future difficult to predict entirely. In this sense, foresight, which implies both anticipating and designing the future in a proactive manner, seems to be a rising concept. Despite growing awareness of the importance of foresight capability in terms of predicting and enacting the future, empirical research on team foresight is scant. Based on sensemaking theory, this research explores the antecedents and consequences of team foresight within the context of new product development. In studying the data from 255 new product development projects using the partial least squares structural equation modeling, this study discovers that team flexibility—in terms of operational flexibility, task autonomy and resource flexibility—is a significant antecedent of team foresight. Moreover, the results particularly emphasize that new product development teams, with a proficiency in visualizing the future through making sense of technology-, market-, and project-related information, can successfully produce new products of quality in a timely manner. Managerial and theoretical implications of the study are discussed.

New Venture Team Flexibility and its Influence on Innovativeness and Performance

In this paper, we examine how flexibility in structure influences innovativeness and performance in new ventures. More specifically, we examine power fluidity and role fluidity, which represent two...

"HPWPs, Management Team Flexiblity, Employee' Attitudes toward Flexiblity and SOCBs"

Abstract Integrating high performance work systems (HPWPs) with the role- modeling view of leadership, this study propose that HPWPs and management team flexibility have joint effects on employees'...