Team-level Factors Research Articles

Quality improvement in long‐term mental health: results from four collaboratives

This multiple case study evaluates four quality improvement collaboratives (QICs) in long-term mental health care focusing on social psychiatric care, recovery oriented care, social participation and somatic co-morbidity of psychiatric patients. The aim is to explore (1) effectiveness in terms of objective outcome indicators and impact of changes as perceived by team members; and (2) associations between collaborative-, organizational- and team-level factors and perceived effectiveness. Most objective outcomes, such as health, loneliness and clients' problem areas, showed significant improvement. Because of the diversity in content no single measure for objective effectiveness could be computed across the four collaboratives. Perceived effectiveness of team members was used as an indicator of the overall impact. In all, 55 of the 94 participating team leaders and 117 remaining team members completed a written survey at the end of each quality improvement collaborative. Multilevel regression analyses indicated that innovation attributes, appropriate measures, usable data collection tools and an innovative team culture could explain variation in perceived effectiveness. In conclusion, overall positive changes for clients were realized as demonstrated by objective outcomes and team members' perceptions of improvements in care processes. The results supported the notion that a layered approach is necessary to achieve improvements in quality of care.

Advice networks in teams: The role of transformational leadership and members' core self-evaluations.

This article examines the team-level factors promoting advice exchange networks in teams. Drawing upon theory and research on transformational leadership, team diversity, and social networks, we hypothesized that transformational leadership positively influences advice network density in teams and that advice network density serves as a mediating mechanism linking transformational leadership to team performance. We further hypothesized a 3-way interaction in which members' mean core self-evaluation (CSE) and diversity in CSE jointly moderate the transformational leadership-advice network density relationship, such that the relationship is positive and stronger for teams with low diversity in CSE and high mean CSE. In addition, we expected that advice network centralization attenuates the positive influence of network density on team performance. Results based on multisource data from 79 business unit management teams showed support for these hypotheses. The results highlight the pivotal role played by transformational leadership and team members' CSEs in enhancing team social networks and, ultimately, team effectiveness.

Cross-functional integration as a knowledge transformation mechanism: Implications for new product development

The importance of cross-functional integration (CFI) teams involving workers with multiple forms of functional expertise to work on new product development cannot be overemphasized. CFI is an organic structure and it allows the team members' tacit knowledge embedded in individuals to be realized in the new product development team's collective knowledge – a holistic appreciation and understanding about how to achieve new product development goals. Specifically, despite the pivotal role of CFI and knowledge appreciation in new product development teams, scholars appear to have overlooked the integration of individual level factors, team level factors, individual tacit knowledge, and group collective knowledge within the context of achieving the new product development objectives. Adopting knowledge, CFI, and socialization theories, we propose a conceptual framework that stipulates that the factors at the team level ( goal congruence, task cohesion, interpersonal cohesion, and transformational leadership) and the qualification of team members ( common knowledge, functional expertise, and their positions in the network) influence the effectiveness of tacit-to-collective knowledge transformation.

Teamworking in healthcare: longitudinal evaluation of a teambuilding intervention

AbstractModernization of health services is a priority in the UK requiring changes in the working practices of all staff, and improved teamworking is a prerequisite of effective service delivery. This study evaluates a short teambuilding course delivered to health professionals. A longitudinal survey design was used to assess the feasibility of the course and the change in individual perceptions of team roles and team functioning, and communication skills by questionnaires immediately after the course (time 1), at 3 months (time 2) and at 6 months (time 3). Three questionnaires (Team Development Measure, Teambuilding Questionnaire and Teambuilding Questionnaire‐II) were administered over this period, and telephone interviews were conducted with team members and managers at time 3. Combined results suggest that the teambuilding programme lead to an apparent slight improvement in perceived teamworking at 3 months but this had disappeared at 6 months. Although the development of individual teamworking skills is important, interventions must consider the impact of individual, team and organizational level factors on successful translation of learning into practice. Several limitations to the study are discussed.

The development of collective efficacy in teams: A multilevel and longitudinal perspective.

The authors developed and tested a longitudinal multilevel model of collective efficacy formation. In 50 self-managing student teams, they investigated the effects of individual-level and team-level factors on observed behaviors and the subsequent development of collective efficacy for mastering a complex team task. Self-efficacy for teamwork, task-relevant knowledge, and collective efficacy predicted individual teamwork behaviors (rated by peers). Aggregated measures of teamwork behavior were related to subsequent collective efficacy, which was significantly related to final team performance.